Has it really become this bad? I know Colin mentioned the same last week. If it's gotten that bad I might have to skip using that car for a while...
As i wasn't taking part this week, i spent the time working on lemans, managed to improve by 3 seconds and much stronger on the brakes, however the setup is really unconventional, i think s392 have broken it somewhere
I’m a fan of prototypes and I (still)like the Oreca, however I don’t race that car regularly so it might just be ‘ the difference in time’ spent with it. But the last Le Mans race we did here at RD I really had to be on it like crazy to get a low 3:32.xxx time during the race despite using my last known good setup in which I could push with some ease in to mid 3:27’s in race trim. And that setup is from a 2019 Le Mans RD club event. I went back to review the replays and results, to compare times, from three RD LM(see what I did there?
) club events from 2018-2019 after the one we did a few weeks ago as I felt 5 seconds is a huge gap, and I’m not even one of the fast guys! Saw some 3:24’s done by a few racers here with the old version, which almost sounds crazy from the other side of the spectrum. There might also be a difference with the track as that got updated as well for the virtual 24hr this summer.
The braking issue is actually something I feel have been consistent with the car since the release, you have to really adapt a certain braking technique(firm but smooth) which at first was frustrating but in no way illogical to me. The few main gripes that I have now is that the car just wants to rotate or snap during the slightest lift off/coasting and it is almost impossible to feel the rear when it happens. Also I can’t really feel understeer anymore eitherhat I had to mainly judge by the direction of travel and the amount of steering lock needed to point the car. So this, to me, resulted in a car when appearing to understeer I did not dare to correct it with applying the throttle(I’m allergic to throttle off during understeer) as I was afraid that the backend would either:
1. Keep shoving the car out wide.
or
2. Snap in an instant, unable to save it.
TL;DR Front=rear=no confidence.
But as I like to play with the devils avocados
; this whole thing might be down to my wheel or as mentioned earlier, perception, different tracksurface(Indianapolis=insta death, Porsche curves=less camber with frosting on the side) and using a old setup, albeit slightly dialled in accordance to the new car, isn’t really a optimal foundation for judgement.
I would be a bit heartbroken if this meant no more Le Mans with the Oreca, I’m a total sucker for LM and prototypes.
Maybe give it one more chance or look at Enduracers or the DPi’s?
OR perhaps just one big
GTE field?
Psst! As always huge appreciation to the work done by you guys hosting here at RD, I can’t get enough! And sorry for the wall of text and the slight incoherent structure!