C-class: 2012 S3

[Yoeri Gijsen]

Share you experiences in the one of the several C-class series with the rest of the community.

What C-class series do you race?
How do the cars feel?
How is this week's track working out for you?
What are the series/races like?

Whatever you want to talk about, as long as it's C-class stuff you can dump it here!

 

[Carl Abrams II]

Taking a serious whack at Trucks this season, complete with extensive testing and learning sets. Pocono was a blast and found some speed, as well as my typical long-run success. But my last run of that week was absolutely sterile, it's almost like something changed.

Daytona, of course, is a typical fustercluck. Besides the usual madness, I just didn't have a truck worth a damn, which was curious since my Week13 truck was a rocket. Turns out that sometime during Pocono, my pots went to hell and I was only getting 85% throttle out of my pedals. A quick fix and tweak to the set and I had a rocket again (which of course got taken out by nonsensical drvers lol) In any case, I'm sitting around 40th in Div3 and only expect to climb.

While I'm not much a fan of the new gauges, I gotta say, whatever they did to the tires is awesome. Much more feel on the edge, much easier to save, it's all around a fantastic experience. Instead of being fearful of hitting the edge and definitely crashing, you're now fearful of hitting the edge just because it's scary and you'll lose time. It gives a lot more leeway to pretending you're as good a wheeler as K Busch, which is a damn good bit of fun. I can't think of a "game" that's ever felt as good as this last build does.

 

[Yoeri Gijsen]

I took a dive in the trucks again too near the end of last season. I'm mostly stuck to fixed at the moment with some escapes to the open series when I have time to tweak a set. I love the cars. Pretty stable but still rewarding careful driving over pushing it to the edge all the time.

Daytona turned out ot be a frustrating week. Lots of crashes and lots of people not keeping their lines and such. I made some mistakes of my own as well. I pushed a guy all the way to the front - succesful tandem - and then tells me to "keep low" while he pushes up a bit. My lack of experience made me think he was moving out of the way, while he was trying to get me some fresh air to cool my engine with. Me stupid...

Michigan here we come!

I'm also giving Grand Am a try. I finally got a hang of the shifting in the Mustang and can keep up with the front runners reasonably well. The occasional traffic-crash is really frustrating, but generally the driving is quite good - better than I expected after driving the Prototype and GT Challenge for seasons on end. Fun thing about the Mustang is that it's relatively easy to set up and once you've got a set working for you, it works at other tracks as well, perhaps with minor tweaks.

 

[Niel Hekkens]

I'm driving the Silverado too this season. I'm hoping that I can learn a lot about making setups this season.

I love the new gauges. But you don't look at it a lot when you are driving, except Daytona of course.
Can't wait to tackle Michigan. Does anyone have tips about that track for me?

 

[Yoeri Gijsen]

Can't wait to tackle Michigan. Does anyone have tips about that track for me?

The word on the street is that you got to keep away from the bottom lane for the sake of your tyres.

 

[Yoeri Gijsen]

Just finished a fixed race at Michigan. I love the groove on this track. The car feels like it's continuously looking for balance and finding it gives a thrill. I'm looking forward to a fun week.

 

[Niel Hekkens]

Just got to a 40.767 with a setup from season 2. I think I haven't found the right line yet.

 

[Carl Abrams II]

Definitely stay away from the yellow, Niel. Besides the tires, it's simply not faster. You scrub too much and the straights are too long. Other than that, I'm at a loss. I likewise found a Season 2 set and ran it, tweaked .4 off from it, and it was still trash. I mean, I'm less than a second off the pole (40.0x poles in the top split) which is all I require. I can usually overcome that hotlapping garbage in the race and fight for a podium by the end. But I'm absolutely impotent here. Started 16th and only made one pass all day long, and instead of my usual "trucks wears away and comes to me", it just wore away, further and further from where I wanted it. In all my races, I've never felt as lost as I do this week.

 

[Niel Hekkens]

Yeah I've noticed that. What I do now is driving on the 2nd lane (the lane with the different color, I think lighter) or slightly above it in T1 and 2.
But in T3 and 4 I don't know what is the ideal lane? The 2nd or the 3rd one?

 

[Chris Preston]

http://www.mediafire.com/?1p8kd4oqyomemf1

Check out the replays I uploaded, that's the line I run.

 

[Niel Hekkens]

Thank you! I'll take a look.

 

[Carl Abrams II]

And report back! T3/T4 kills me, too. I can follow the same line, hold a guys bumper all the way into the corner until the car sets. But as soon as I get on the gas, even when it hooks up and I can fully mat it, people pull away. I don't get it. I'm as competetive as ever in top split A, as slippery-slimey as the car is, but I'm complete garbage in the Truck.

 

[Yoeri Gijsen]

And report back! T3/T4 kills me, too. I can follow the same line, hold a guys bumper all the way into the corner until the car sets. But as soon as I get on the gas, even when it hooks up and I can fully mat it, people pull away. I don't get it. I'm as competetive as ever in top split A, as slippery-slimey as the car is, but I'm complete garbage in the Truck.

Funny, for T2 is the killer on Mich. I just can't get the balance so that I can be sure I get though there peacefully.

 

[Carl Abrams II]

Funny, for T2 is the killer on Mich. I just can't get the balance so that I can be sure I get though there peacefully.

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I've been killing them on T2, I think because it creates the exact situation I look for in a setup. Dive into T1, and whether you get loose or tight, throttle fixes it. A blip either gets weight off the front and plants the rear to prevent a spin, or it loosens the rear and rotates preventing a push. I love it. Whenever I can cure all problems with throttle, I consider a corner perfect. The trick is mid corner through T2. Once the car sets, you have to maintain throttle a bit since the corner's so long. I usually set at the dark black writing on the wall. I roll through from this point at maybe 25% throttle until I come to the red writing on the wall. This is where the track starts to twist and unload into the flat. Once here, you can roll back on the throttle and it should rotate nicely. The key is 1) don't roll on so hard you get really loose, as you'll either lose time saving it or four-wheel drift into the wall, and 2) don't carry too much speed to the red writing or you'll just push up into the wall. As almost always, entering slower is faster.​

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T3/T4, on the other hand, is a handful of LOL. I get to T3, turn left...and, uh...push some pedals up and down a bit, turn left more, maybe turn right real quick, more pedal pushes...admire the paint schemes of the trucks that pass me, maybe give a friendly wave, and finally cross the S/F line in a ball of confused bewilderment. I've been sim racing NASCAR since '93, and not once ever have I ever figured out T3/4 at Michigan.​

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EDIT: OMG Too much flippy-floppy between A and C Class; that entire write up was based on the A car lol. I'd like to correct it, but after running Trucks last night, I'm completely clueless. Ram it in, hope it sticks, and avoid wrecks. That's all I got. If the race is clean, I finish 17th. If it's a mess, I finish 2nd. Thank god it's Sunday...​

 

[Niel Hekkens]

After 3 failed attemps (where 2 of them ended on lap 1), I've finally managed to finish a Bristol race in the Trucks
And the best part is, with 0(!) inc's.

It was a great, hard but fair race. If you race with the right people, the small tracks are way more fun than Super Speedways imo!

 

[Niel Hekkens]

What is the ideal line at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Truck?

 

[Chris Preston]

What is the ideal line at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Truck?

It used to be for the first lap you can run flat out on the bottom, I actually haven't tested there with the trucks yet just the A class car. Normally replays are posted on the forums, but I haven't seen any yet.

 

[Niel Hekkens]

Aw man. I hate Atlanta. I can't make the car loose. I've tried trackbar, ride heights, bumps.

 

[Chris Preston]

Where do you want the car to be loose? Set the RR track bar to the top position for it to be loose off of corners especially. I ran 10 laps there the other day and just using the fixed setup worked well for me.

 

[Niel Hekkens]

Just had an set, but it became tight in the long run (of course). So, I wanted to make it more loose. Especially at the exit. But nothing worked so far.

I will try your tip, thanks.