AC GT3 @ Laguna Seca - Sunday 1st October 2023

[johnny85ac]

Congrats to the podium! Was a fun race for me although I spun multiple times and finished only 6th in the end. But after a several months break I really enjoyed your company on track

 

[Kek700]

Went for a pee, got back just as the count down started. Only had 6 litres aboard, still could not keep up with the two in front.
After a somewhat protracted period in the pits , did some laps, lost the will to live.
Extracted myself from the race for a G & T and Muller rice. Vanilla flavour. Mmmmm yum yum.

 

[Shed 17]

A strange event for me, I had reasonable pace in practice and qualifying and set off in the race full of hope.
All was going well until I had a half spin in T1 and from there it was all downhill.
It felt like the mid/ rear engine car phenomenon that I have experienced in all Kunos GT3 cars that don’t have an engine up front, in that all of a sudden you the rear goes and there is nothing you can do to get it back. The tyre app didn’t show any overheating of the rears but once I had the spin it was happening every lap. I had done a race simulation in practice staying on the same tyres for the hour with no trouble at all so very confused.
So back to the pits to see if I could find the answer but no good so with nothing in the fridge as comforting as Ernie’s creamy delight , I hopped in the M4 for a test. By then I had lost the will to live and pulled out before I took someone else out.
Congrats to the podium and thanks Brian for introducing these very nice mods. I admit Laguna Seca isn’t one in my top 100 tracks and driver error aside, if anyone has any advice on keeping the GTD on the black stuff it would be appreciated.

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Sounds odd paul, didn't notice anything described like that while driving. Were you need kerbing? I know at laguna it can be a little funky sometimes.

Loved the cars, both the drive and the new silhouettes added to our grid. Barely was able to hang on to hank at the start and after his pit, but after that he was gone. Great pace and consistency

Also Brian after our talk about set ups, I took a look at the RSS Lexus... it has 2 gear sets options and open diff power and diff coast settings

 

[Interslice]

Great race with a good ending for me. The Big Mac paint job probably brought me luck. The Bayro 4 is really fun. Is the restrictor thing coming back now?

It will stay the same for the next 2 races and then return.
Going to Okayama next Sunday.
Plan is to fix the gearing. Also the diff power and coast on the m4 and corvette to bring them within the same regs of the others. Should reduce the amount of restrictor and ballast that may be required to balance them all in the long run. On initial impressions, they seem a touch faster than the rest.

How about including all Kunos GT3s at the next event. I don't know how it fits together in terms of performance, but I think the idea is good.

In race trim about 2 seconds slower per lap so not really in the same ball park as these.

Great event as always!

Congrats on the win, Hank!

 

[Interslice]

Also Brian after our talk about set ups, I took a look at the RSS Lexus... it has 2 gear sets options and open diff power and diff coast settings

See how it works out. Makes sense to fix it to one if it is one of the faster cars. As above to reduce the amount of restrictor/ballast it ultimately ends up with.

 

[Kek700]

@Shed 17

I have been reliably informed that AC uses a single point contact patch for its tyre model. if that is true I certainly cannot argue that wee point.

But it does help me understand why most of us have problems with some cars, if not most,
I suppose with very over steering cars of the 60's, it does not matter so much, as there does not seem to be anything much in contact with the road.

I particularly notice that with the Agile I have been running at Losil, any curb and it's gone. With the DF it generates that should not happen, but if I think of it as momentarily loosing the tyres single point contact then it does.

Any input welcome, I am just guessing.

 

[Shed 17]

Thanks Ernie,
I was running the default set up .........except the gearing which I had gone down a click or two to try to give me more punch up the hill to the corkscrew. I noticed Robert and Hank were taking the tightest turns in 1st gear and T2 and T3 in 3rd gear. I was doing 2nd gear for the first and last turns and 4th gear for T3.
So maybe that’s where I went wrong. T1 was where it all started going pear shaped, it felt like I needed a slipper clutch on the downshifts to stop the back locking up. So probably mostly driver error.
I am away as from tomorrow and hopefully back in Sunday action on the 15th so will try again then.

 

[Interslice]

Sounds like typical 488 huracan type behaviour! If you post a video it might help pinpoint it. The few laps I had in the michigan, around road atlanta, it felt like starting a journey of discovery. Most MR cars it seems a mixture of adjusting both setup(towards safer at the rear!) and driver habits to make them not spin.

 

[Kek700]

These cars remind me so much of ACC, there seems to be very little to be gained from setup, if you go down the AC route, ironically you make it slower.
But if you are very sensible with the setup options, which there are many, you can make positive inroads into getting the car to work for you.
I rather like Brian’s idea, of a video and some what I suspect are subtle changes he will suggest.

 

[The Almighty Snark]

@Shed 17 for what it's worth, I was also on default setup short of a fuel change and did a the whole race with a single set of tyres, didn't notice any strange degradation. Just that my times became slightly slower later on during the stint which makes sense. Car definitely felt happier being a bit heavy to me. Might just be different driving styles and you were pushing it a bit more!