Ballast or restrictor?

Hi, i know that ballast is adding weight to the car and restrictor is about reducing air intake, but which of these is better to use when balancing a grid? or should i use both? does ballast affect the handling of the car in comparison to the restrictor?

 

For me it depends on the car. Yes ballast will alter the handling a bit, often the car just feels a little more stable and depending how much a little less turn in or brake performance. I use the one that the situation calls for. A good example is the MX5 Cup and Abarth 500 AC. It varies track to track which is fastest, the Abarth is better in a straight line and the MX5 in most corners so if I need to slow the Mazda I add ballast reducing its braking/cornering/straight line performance without making the difference in straight line speed between the 2 cars too much worse. If the Abarth needs slowing down then it is restrictor every time as that is where it is faster, this brings the overall performance of the 2 cars closer together. I guess ballast will also affect tyre life and fuel more than restriction.

 

Great explanation and example, thanks!

I wonder, what ballast and restrictor do you use for the MX5 and the Abarth?? i was thinking of making a championship with them...

 

It depends on the track, more often than not it is the Mazda that needs slowing down and mostly between 20-50kg I'd say. I wanted to start a league with these before but didn't get enough interest. The way I would do it is using BTCC success ballast based on championship points for race 1 and race 1 results if it is 2 races each event. That would probably be enough along with strategic track selection to even things out without having to do track by track BoP.

 

Hehe as soon as I saw this thread I knew you would reply Andy

Just to add to what is already an excellent explanation..

In cases where one car is very traction limited; sometimes you can keep adding ballast and the car doesnt seem to get any slower because the increase in traction offsets the slowing down effect of the extra weight.

So for really high power low grip low aero cars I would go straight to restrictor personally.

 

I am total nob when it comes to this stuff any hints for tha RSS GT1 cars?

Thanks

 

Thanks, one last thing, i use CM and i keep putting random numbers to see what works, but what does these numbers mean? i guess that they mean Kg in case of ballast, but with restrictor? is there a range of numbers?

 

I don't I'm afraid, I don't own those. Assuming they are fairly similar pace probably just a bit of air restrictor. You can run with or without AI with restricition using championship mode or CM to test out different amounts.

 

It is percentage, restrictor is 0-100%. It also seems to vary car to car how much of an impact it has on performance. Same goes for ballast, certain cars carry it quite well. Oh and yeah ballast value is kg.

 

I have used both in my league. These are the results of my testing and experience in leagues.

Ballast affects the handling of the cars more than restrictor, and can have a bigger impact on tyre wear. Ballast typically slows the car down everywhere - corners and straights - whereas restrictor typically affects speed on the straights more.

Restrictor is limited to 100%, which will only slow a lap time by so many seconds. If you need to slow someone more, there's nowhere to go. With ballast, you can just keep adding more weight.

Ballast is more linear than restrictor. This means that doubling the ballast will typically double the slowdown, whereas doubling the restrictor might not.

 

Yeah they are quite close, The Lamborghini is the slowest car and also my favorite to drive......
I have to try to see if I can find a nice balance for the other cars to be around the times of that car.

Thanks