1000km of Fuji

Server is back. I am going to do a few laps now but its probably too early for you guys on the other side of the Atlantic!

I'll try your set again tomorrow. About under steer I suppose on the last section I have understeer and perhaps entry to slow corners but corner exit is the place that I think is most important and oversteer is the predominant characteristic with this super powered car

Flat Out In a Le Mans Winning Porsche 962 - CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS

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Here is some interesting commentary from the car designer Norbert Singer and Chris Harris regarding setup effects and braking also the expectations of Harris’s regarding the understeer which he expected and Singers comment of how to go about creating a setup for it.
I have finished up my practice sessions for the CMS special at Sebring. The race was 2 hours (12 hr simulation) petrol P1’s against GT1’s. I qualified 4th (fastest of the slow guys and finished 6th. This was my first time in a LMP1 so I was quite amazed and very happy with the result. Those fast guys really use the boost which I didn’t, another lesson learned and I wish I had more buttons on my G25 wheel.
Anyway I am free now to put some serious time in on the 962 with only a race this Thursday at Rd Atlanta in a LMP2. I finished 3rd there in the practice race so I am hoping for a good season in the P2.
The real learning curve with this step up in speed and handling is judging traffic and how to pass the slower cars.
I will try to get on line in the afternoons for practice. See you there.

Richard if you can let me know when you can meet me on the
track I think we should sort out our race plans for next weekend. As I am such
a poor typist we should log on to the HSO teamspeak server and make our plans
for the race.
Just an update, I finished my first race in the LMP2 at Rd Atlanta and finished
4th of 13 P2's. Started 6th and ran in second for much of my first stint but
the guys who passed me ran a no stop race. Or maybe a very short splash and
dash and used hard rubber compared to my mediums. They complained that the
hards were very twitchy in the esses but not so bad I could catch them. I wish
the 962 was as easy to drive.
Let me know so we should not leave any problems till too late. The 1:13's times
are incredibly fast and I looked up the 87 pole time which was 1:19:2xx. I
guess when you life is on the line you try to save yourself. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Michael sorry I missed you this weekend. Any evening would be ok this week. I am GMT +0 (because Britain is the centre of the world ;) ) Anytime before 12:00 should be ok. Can you post the latest setup here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I will check on the HSO server tonight at 11 GMT just in case.

Dont worry about speed. I am not expecting to be at the front. Just to enjoy driving the cars and of course try to finish with as many completed laps as I can.

Ok Richard 11 your time (YT) is 7 (MT) my time. I had to check as we went to daylight saving time yesterday which usually screws me up. I will be on teamspeak at 11 YT and on the track. We can talk setup then.

Richard
Last night Tiago Malafaya took pity on me and shared his setup. I ran quite a few laps and he sat in giving some much appreciated instruction on how to use it. He was insistent on my shifting at the red line marker (8000 rpm) and I was soon in the high 1:17s. I did a few tweaks to eliminate the twitchy front end and did 1:17,019.
Your pointing out how to read tire temps was great. I am as dumb as a stick at times. I have a rfactor manual but who has time for that sort of stuff.
I send his setup using filedropper. The setup works for me when I drive as instructed. I still want to explore my sets with a new eye regarding tire temps.
I will be on line this evening.

To share the setup with me using file dropper you have to post the link to the file. The link appears on the page once you have made an upload, copy and paste it.

You will probably have to reupload in order to see the link.

Thats a great time btw. I definately think you should do some laps in quali.

Is shifting before the redline for performance or is it to stop the engine blowing up?

A few degrees less steering angle really helped my consistancy but my laptimes are not better than yours right now.

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Currently Michael is 10th.

9th well done!

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We are both pleased with ourselves after a good race that was a lot of fun. The cars were incredibly tricky to drive with a lot of power, Michael says he will write a report of sorts.

The full race results are here.

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Group C
When I got the invite from Richard I was very pleased to join him. I down loaded the mod and track and took the car out for a spin. Second thoughts, oh ya. I wondered if it was possible to handle this car. So much power with just the slightest pressure on the throttle. I am sure that Richard must have wonder if things were out of hand when I left the pit box after our swap. More on that later.
After a few days running the Kremer #11 I started to get control of the amazing horsepower and torque. I tried to come to an understanding of the physics of the 962C Porsche with Motec but problems prevented that route. I tried just to fiddle with it and again could not come to terms. I received some setups from fellow racers but only Tiago Malafaya of Joest Racing took the time to drive around with me and help me adapt to the setup and car at this very fast track. I went from 1:20 to 1:17 in about 10 laps.
I made a few changes to the setup and shared it with Richard. We finalized the setup to our satisfaction and both seemed to adapt to it and did similar lap times in practice. During the 2 qualifying sessions we trade fast laps and Richard put in the best one placing us 18th in the 24 car field with a 1:15:585.

Richard took the first two stints (103 laps) and dealt with the opening hazards of the first few laps. He was hit in the rear while going through the carousel on the first green flag lap but damage seemed to be minor as he put in some roaring fast race laps at times dipping down in the 1:17:xxxs. Then as with myself the cars spread out and it looked more like a competition between the driver and the car. Attrition was high in the first part of the race but most settled in and the laps flowed by until the next burst of DNF’s near the end when the front runners began to push for a better finish. I am sure Richard could cover his race with a few insights of his own.

I got up early Sunday morning and setup all my tools for the race. Did a few practice laps and was ready to go. Richard started and I tried to follow the race on the monitor that was provided but it kept crashing so I was in the dark as to what was going on with his race. He contacted me on TS and told me was running with about 20 laps to go to our swap. I jumped in the car to do a few laps to warm up and was mortified to find that my controller file had become corrupted??? Unbelievable. When I pushed the RACE button I was looking at the rear wall. No, no, no, I was just frantic. I reloaded it but no luck, I rebooted then went to other controllers and replaced the file but still no joy. I knew Richard could do another stint but I so wanted to start. Finally minutes before the swap I found one that worked. I tried to sit still and collect myself but I was still flustered when I took control of the car.
All this and I wasn’t even out of the pit.
Out of the pits well that nearly never happen. When the message came up to GO I blipped the throttle and did a 360 out of the box and hit the wall. You don’t blip the throttle on cold tires in a 962C. Amazing it did not prove to be much of a hit regardless of the excitement. Needless to say I was very tense for the next 15 or 20 minutes but I realized it wasn’t going to get easier so I settled in to the pattern and decided to not push to hard and for most of my drive kept it in the 1:20:xxs and on the track. This proved to the right decision. I began to notice that I was being passed by the same cars time after time yet I held my position so I did not feel like pushing myself into trouble. I was never going to keep up with the fast guys. When I saw the checkered flag after 114 laps I was so engrossed in the race I kept asking Richard if it was really over.
My lasting impression of this race was tension. I don’t think anyone who has raced these cars will state anything different. That is the reason I feel such a big sense of satisfaction with our 9th place finished. I had a few close calls with some slides off track when my attention was diverted by some closing cars or dicey passes. I took one hit at turn 1 but it all ended well.

To quote myself from the CMS form and my first impression after the race,
”This was a very tough race in a car that felt like it was just waiting to snap your butt off. It took a 1 hour walk after the race to burn off the excess adrenaline. We started in 18th and Richard handed over the car in 8th a very fine accomplishment. I was just so pleased to finish and amazed we held on to a top 10 finish. I have a great deal of respect for the guys that drove these cars in the real world.”
Until the next Group C race.

A good read Michael. I am glad you both had a fun time.

Thanks Marcel. It seems a bit twisted to say it was fun but it really was. I am going to post this report on a few other sites as it more or less covers it all.

Richard
I see that HSO has another Group 8 race coming up. There will be two 44 minute sprints, - 1987 Kyalami Sportscar Sprint [May 5th] and without a driver swap. I signed up and took the #11 Kremer. Hope you can make it.
Regards
Mike