Generic Weekly Hotlap Challenge 179 – Praga Seca

http://www.radiators-champ.com/RSRLiveTiming/index.php?page=rank&track=15552&car=3532

This is the leaderboard TW is referring to. I don't think that there is an equivalent system for the ps4.

When you are at the limit and a little beyond, try concentrating on why you made the mistake. For example, did you touch the dirt on exit becuase of understeer - try to dial that out in the suspension, little changes might be the difference you need. Customizing a setup for your own driving style is important.

So if you have your car dialed in perfectly the next thing to adjust is your driving technique. I just came across this app - https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/brake-trainer.32511/

It might be helpful to use in order to make sure that your braking consistently at exactly the same points every lap. This should make it easier to isolate the behaviour of the car and tune it accordingly. Also, if you aren't able to do laptimes that are consistently within a few tenths of each other then maybe this app will help with that.

 

Thanks for the detailed response. I am on PS4 so I can't use the app. I have my brakingpoints pretty much figured out on Laguna and Indeed I can run steadily laps of 1:25:5xx.

Then I tried to go more towards the limits to see what is possible for me. I can improve a couple of tenths but there is always a point where I mess up and that comes down to practice. Time which I don't always have or can invest. A frustrating point of which probably many have to deal with. The setups don't do a lot for me in general, since I believe a setup doesn't make you faster to begin with, it's practice. I adjusted fuel and tirepressure but I don't count that as setup.

I can adapt pretty well towards différent cars and in general I am a consistant factor during a race. Less so in hotlaps if I need to go beyond my current skill.

I intend to stick to ACC when it lands on PS4 and maybe then, a day, some more of my potential unlocks

Meanwhile I'll be happy to run midpack

Would love to read thoughts of the others too on coping with your own "shortcomings" on track

Oh and thanks for the LB link !

 

Everything PR said above^^

If you are lapping at that pace already you know the answer to the last two seconds; part is to improve the setup and the rest is just getting the car exactly where you want it at all times whilst also right on the limit all the time; and that’s all in consistency.

I find once I really know a track and then get a good bit of practice in with a particular car there, I can almost go into an autopilot state where I am no longer thinking about gear selection, track position, braking points, apexes or any of it, the car just flows around the track and that for me is often where I reach my best pace.

This simply never happens unless I am racing actual humans. On the other hand when trying to hotlap / practice I am always slower.

I can do say the minimum of 10 laps practice for a league race or up to 50 laps or so during the week before the race; it doesn’t matter how much I do, I will 95% of the time beat my PB in quali with the other cars on track.

I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating...

Don’t try to brake later,
Just concentrate harder.

 

If you can run those times without any setup work then I guarantee that you'll be at least as fast as me, if not faster with a good setup. Just lowering the wings from 4 to 2 gained me a half second on this track. I was lapping consistent 25.3's until I dropped the aero and the fuel load.

I didn't even bother trying the stock setup. I will give it a go and see if I can match my time but I doubt it. I have done a laptime comparison before (wish I could remeber which whc it was though) where I compared stock setup vs a downloaded setup from the setup market, and a setup that I customized for my own driving style. I was slowest with the stock setup, and fastest with the customized setup. The difference was right around 2 seconds per lap... I am big believer in spending the time to setup up a car properly, if the adjustments didn't do anything then why include them?

 

I didn't think about it like that but I can't argue it makes totally sense what you guys are saying. I just never thought it could bé a 2s différence. I always had the assumption we were talking about a couple of tenths. My bad and thank you for educating me on this matter

 

I found it! It was whc 165 if you want to read through it and you'll see the setups and how they affected my laptimes.

 

Seems I really need to invest some time on setups and also invest time to understand how it all works. I'll check Aris vids to begin with and last week I got some great info already in the acc-forum part.

 

Improvement

Bastian Boillot
1:25:155
PS4



And the moving image, even with a few errors, very happy with the time.

Fuel: 5
Tires: Soft
Wing: 3
Rest: didn't touch

 

After watching your video, the first thing I notice is that your gearing is too long which is causing some of the understeer you are experiencing. Matching my gearing will make you quicker. The amount of understeer that you are dealing with can easily be tuned out of the car.

I have to say I am impressed with you driving, I'm sure you will overtake me on the podium

 

Thank you very much for the kind words

I'll try to change the gearing and set Aero to 2.

Don't worry about your podium position, I'll probably mess up before even getting close

 

Alexis_RS_MKII
1:26:320
PC

 

Improvement
Peggy11
1:26:545
PC



I'm slowly edging towards the magical (for me anyway) sub 1:26 mark. After reading the last few posts on this thread it looks like I may just do it if I take a little rear wing out and shorten my gearing. Either that or end up backwards in the tyre wall

 

Improvement
Bastian Boillot
1:24:852
PS4



Fuel 5L, soft default, Reduced gearbox, set frontcamber to 3, rideheight 20/15.

 

I'm getting worried now You gained half a second with minor setup changes, I'm sure you'll find more time the more you fiddle with the setup. I'm pretty sure that my setup that I showed at the end of my vid will translate to the ps4. Pause the video and input the settings to your ps4 and save it. I'm sure you will beat me with that setup, I'm curious to see how fast you can be with it.

 

Great! Head to head racing

While I agree with @Pretend racer about the importance of setup I think I am thinking a bit different when it comes to setup. First of all, I rarely spend lots of time on setup. So, e.g. for street cars I do not really care if I am running toe on -0.05 or 0.15 at the front. Even with the default setup I am often able to go near my PB, only when I really want to squeeze the last bit out of my track times I put my hand on a few settings (usually I have a base setup for every car anyway). So with a really perfect setup I might find up to 0.25 to 0.5 seconds (a rough estimate). I find positioning, braking, lines and general flow a much more important factor, for street cars that is. When looking at touring cars etc. setup starts to become more important, with GT3 a good setup is everything. Between base and perfect setup can be 2 seconds difference, even when you have your heart in a lap, base setup will usually not get you anywhere. For the Praga setup also plays an imporant role, I find it important to find a setup that lets you throw the car into the corner without the rear really getting nervous (something I usually like). So here I went for 4 ARB at the front and only 1 at the back. I used to rund rear ARB on 2, but you need to be more carreful, so I found it easier to just throw it into the corner without worrying about any kind of slide. Optimum camber should be between -3.2° and -3.4°. And pretend racer pointed out the effect of rear wing. Most cars in AC see a great benefit by reducing the rear wing, it increaes your straight line speed and make the rear turn in better.

 

I'll see if I can give it another go with your settings but not to worry. Cause that 1.24 caused me a headache



Edit: I've put in your setup, only I can't get the gears exactly to match on PS4. There are a few km/h difference in the gears but I put them as close as possible. For the rest I think I copied everything correctly. Will give it another try tomorrow!

@GoodGame.eXistenZ Thanks for your input too. I understand that setups are a part I need to invest in!

 

WHC179 Praga Seca - Thursday Timings


1. GoodGame.eXistenZ - 1:23:947 PC
2. Pretend racer - 1.24.835 PC
3. Bastian Boillot (P308R) - 1:24:852 PS4
4. LeiF - 1.25.519 PC
5. Alexis_RS_MKII - 1:26:320 PC
6. Peggy11 - 1:26:545 PC
7. Totall Wrytoff - 1.27.455 PS4

@GoodGame.eXistenZ is still out there, ahead by almost a second, but the real news is @P308R : the advice, work put in and response! Top experts - our second placed man @Pretend racer and GoodGame - have been piling in the advice about the importance of set-up. Thanks to both, very much, for your time and input. We all benefit, Bastian improves by half a sec and Pretend racer is right to be worried. I smell further improvement, the roll is on!

@Alexis_RS_MKII arrives with a 1.26.3, which slots him nicely into 5th, just ahead of an improving @Peggy11, up by 4/10ths and aiming for the "magical sub 26." Great to hear and it made me smile. "Magical sub 26" would be "mythical sub 26" in my case. In true WHC fashion, you are my target for improvement and the gap is seriously gapping!

As mentioned, very interesting discussion on set-up. This isn't something one picks up in a few months. In my experience it is often quite personal too. For example @Pretend racer likes a loose rear. I know he won't mind me saying that. It suits his style, he likes to chuck it in... (I hope he doesn't mind me saying that! Serious poetic license)
A key thing is to be able to identify what you would want to improve. For me in the Praga, I like the way the stock set-up feels and I don't have a feel for what I should change. Apart from the transmission, which I've shortened, to no avail. So I'm going to experiment with @Pretend racer's set up this morning, pre pre-prandials and see what happens.

Sunny again here... with a clear agenda. Have a great day everyone!

 

Improvement
Bastian Boillot
1:24:812
PS4




I've put on the setup of @Pretend racer which gained me a couple of hundreds. Not a real différence in feel except the rear is a bit more loose. I like the gearing since it is pretty much perfect like this. I miss a bit of stability in the rear but nothing to make a difference of default. The lap I put together has a better run through the blind lefthander which gained me some time over my previous chrono.

I pick up a bit more speed on the straights but loose some in the corners. It really comes down to drivingstyle between the 2 setups which one a person prefers.

I probably can get a couple of tenths out of it but as usual, knowing it and putting it together are 2 different things

To get an idea of general progression over multiple days and about 4 hours of running the track:

1:26:727
1:26:184
1:25:942
1:25:701
1:25:688
1:25:533
1:25:492
1:25:339
1:25:399
1:25:164
1:25:155
1:24:969
1:24:852
1:24:812

@Totall Wrytoff I really like your writing

 

Thanks Bastian!

I wish you could say the same about my driving.

PS: Lovely, consistent progression with your lap times. I'm jealous. Been spinning off with @Pretend racer 's loose rear this morning

 

Well you are fast too! We both have are good and less good days Concerning the pogression, I left out my spins, circuit exits etc and only noted the best times per session (maybe for the next one I note them all) I think @Pretend racer simply wants to make you dance