Test Races [Jan 22th and Jan 24th]

Steve will not be able to make the test race tonight as he is stuck ooop North with work

I'll take Mikes #6 car for this evening

I'll be there

Please read the yellow flag explanations before the test race tonight, also be sure Homestead and Mid-Ohio are installed.

Here is the program:

Homestead
21h00 - Free Practice (20 mn)
21h20 - Qualifying (5 min, 2 flying laps)
21h25 - Warm up
21h30 - Race start (20 laps)

Mid Ohio
21h45 - Free Practice (20 mn)
22h05 - Qualifying (5 mn, 1 flying lap)
22h10 - Warm up
22h15 - Race Start (20 laps)

If needed, Homestead again
22h45 - Free Practice (10 mn)
22h55 - Qualifying (5 min, 2 flying laps)
23h00 - Warm up
23h05 - Race start (20 laps)

If you have already some questions please ask them before 21h00, it's more convenient to answer here and coul be read by everyone

I ve got one desperately important question...what you guys with time under 28sec think about sharing setups???

Only Austin really did it as JP and I were with the wrong chassis upgrade (which is not available anymore for this track)

The server is up

my four years old son refuse to sleep so I am affraid this could be a show stopper for my racing...I will try to change his mind before sunday

btw. couldn´t we start official races two hours later???

So my test report:

Homestead: Lee passed the leader under yellow, ran against the pace car which sped it up. I stayed behind the original leader and so wasn't close enough to Lee which meant I got a penalty for driving too slow.

I got another penalty for passing cars when I sped into pit lane during caution. I didn't serve that penalty during the race, so I finished 5th, but was classified 13th for that.

Mid-Ohio was pretty much business as usual. Full fuel tank, soft tyres -> the tyres won't last long! Thank me for that later.

Présent Samedi.

je viens de regarder les replays. Va falloir se discipliner un peu pour suivre le gars de devant de maniere constante et sans mettre des gros coups de patins tous les 10 secondes. Sinon, dimanche soir, le vainqueur sera au volant de la voiture de securité.

Yes, many people doing stupid things under yellow in the oval This is not F1, and not a road track with tight turns where you can accelerate and brake to keep tires warm when the other car makes the turn without causing problems. Distances and speed are difficult to judge here, and caution laps are long and at reduced speed so it is nonesense to try to keep the tires warm. You will not be able at those speeds, and you are not expected to do it. You also do not need to keep brakes warm.

Those who spun on the starts/restarts did not do it because of cold tires, but because of the power these cars have and the small grip with the speedway wings. For the starts you have to pick speed on a long gear and very carefully, especially if you are on the turn before the start line.

I am sure that everybody will have learned the lesson and the saturday test will be much better.

LOL I thought driving in a circle was easy......

You f1 guys should be ok you only have to turn left...

EVERYONE has to be "PATIENT" let the car come to you and pay attention to yellow flags and where you are! and wait till you have some heat in the tires before pushing it hard.

In response to Jacob's comment above:

1. I passed the leader under yellow because the game told me to pass him and fall in behind the pace car because, I believe, the then leader was driving too slow. Had I passed inappropriately the sim would have penalized me.

2. I never touched the pace car.  It sped up on its own on the back straight before entering the pit entry road.   Anyway, in this sim, touching the pace car does not make it go faster.

3. This sim will not allow you to accelerate too fast back to green.  It will make you all go around again under yellow if you aggressively jump the start.

As Lee very well says. We must follow the rules by the book so we get no penalties. Rules for ovals are very simple once one gets used to them.

Lee Simpson wrote:

In response to Jacob's comment above:

1. I passed the leader under yellow because the game told me to pass him and fall in behind the pace car because, I believe, the then leader was driving too slow. Had I passed inappropriately the sim would have penalized me.

2. I never touched the pace car.  It sped up on its own on the back straight before entering the pit entry road.   Anyway, in this sim, touching the pace car does not make it go faster.

3. This sim will not allow you to accelerate too fast back to green.  It will make you all go around again under yellow if you aggressively jump the start.

Ah, okay, I thought you were testing how the game would react in such a case. The game never told me to pass the Newman-Haas car, and I didn't see a server message either.

At restarts, is it okay to pass cars everywhere as soon as it says green flag? I passed a few on the outside without problems, but some games are sensitive to inside passes. Can't remember if rF is one of those.

Quote :

At restarts, is it okay to pass cars everywhere as soon as it says green flag? I passed a few on the outside without problems, but some games are sensitive to inside passes. Can't remember if rF is one of those.

Theoretically you can't pass before the start line. The rolling start gives you speed and prevents someone stalling or spinning at the grid with terrible effects for those who come from behind accelerating at full throttle (Think Ronnie Peterson) but you really go racing at the start line.

That is the reason I picked speed slowly on the first start, and I never slowed and accelerated but instead held constant speed till the SC was gone. Otherwise you cause the acordion effect as in daily driving on a highway with traffic. That one went smooth.

In the real races you can see lots of mental games and tricks being played between the pole sitter and the other guys. The pole sitter can't make it too obvious (Otherwise he gest a penalty) but he will play a bit with the throttle because the other guy can't overtake him before the start line, and he who has impulse and accelerates faster gets to the first corner first.

I will try to compile some tips and advice in a post, later.

But the rules say, in CART and in rFactor, that passing is okay as soon as the green flag flies. What I wonder is if rFactor lets you pass on the inside as well. I only passed cars on the outside on the restarts.

I keep "vehicle labels" on at all times. This is normally turned on and off via the tab key. On restarts the person in front of you should be highlighted in yellow. If you are following someone whose label is in white then you are in the wrong position. During the first practice race the yellow highlight switched from the lead car to the pace car and I responded. I agree, with everything else going on, it is easy to miss server messages. Following the yellow car is just a double check for me.

I have raced in nearly 100 1998 Cart League races (AtlasF1). This league is run by Art Pereira who is also racing here. We have seen many penalties thrown over the years and the vast majority are logical and just. Most tracks are perfect regarding this but some are buggy. We have raced at Homestead (never in a Swift as I do here) and I don't remember any specific bugs. Maybe Art does.

You did overall very well Lee, no worries. Your experience shows

Good to hear, Lee!

Has anyone else watched the old CART races from this track? The two races from when it was a "mini-Indianapolis" was pretty good. After the re-configuration, 1998 was great, but in 1999 they were so dialed in, it didn't make for a good race. From the little racing I had yesterday, I think this is going to be pretty racey, but not very bunched up. Oval racing hasn't been rF's strong point, but I liked what I saw yesterday.

This version of Homestead is ok for racing, imho.

One more comment: it is quite important to practice pitstops. Going faster than the speed limit there is the cause of the majority of the penalties, mostly drive-throughs. Also, since these cars use totally asymmetrical setups, it is not easy to brake in a straight line and so I´ve seen way to many spins at the entrance of the pits and also while exiting the track before the pitstop. It is very important to slow down early enough as not to be forced to brake hard there.

absent ce soir, finalement.

Will be there tonight

Je pense être présent aussi.