RD Rally Club - Rear Wheel Driven Monsters in Spain - Gr.B RWD @ Iberia - 8th to 13th Mar 2024

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Screenshot and livery by @Mengodriom can be found here
PS: ALL MODDING ON OWN RISK. THERE IS NO CONFIRMATION THAT YOU WON'T GET ONLINE BAN FROM CUSTOM LIVERIES!
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Our dear @Eckhart von Glan made a sound argument for using the Group B RWD cars in Spain. Sooo... that's what we are doing! It's that easy to convince me of something!


Session Open: 8th of March 01:03GMT to 13th of March 01:03GMT
Cars: Gr.B RWD
Itinerary:
Shakedown & 45 Min Service
SS1: Montclar - Dawn - Overcast (Wet) - 7.3km
SS2: L'Argentera - Sunrise - Cloudy (Wet) - 8.9km
Service - 45 Min
SS3: Montagut - Morning - Part Cloud (Wet) - 9.2km
SS4: Campdasens - Morning - Part Cloud (Dry) - 9.7km
Service - 45 Min
SS5: Botareli - Afternoon - Clear - 7.3km
SS6: Alforja - Sunset - Clear - 16.3km
Service - 45 Min
SS7: Valldossera - Dusk - Clear - 19km


Assists & Tuning: Allowed
Hardcore Damage: On!

Have fun!

To participate in the event, you must join our WRC-game Rally Club.
You can also read more about the Rally Club here.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

nice shot!

 

[AlleyViper]

Oh well. Could have been a decently clean run, but had a huge crash by 1/4 of SS4 after understeering into a corner (wet tyres on dry). Physics explosion included, 4 wheels in the air after an instant stop. Managed to limp the remaining stage with no RF tyre, broken steering and radiator, adding extra damage and a reset along the way -- significant time was lost. Using the spare wasn't a viable option, as the penalty would be even greater.

The rest went okay'ish, leaving me freer to take more risks in the final stage and definitely ending this event in a more positive note.
GL all!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

First four in the bag and just having played iRacing before asphalt still makes you cringe in WRC. At least in my t500 it feels wishy washy until suddenly the grip is gone and the back snaps around with no warning. I dare not touch the handbrake, lol, even in hairpins. Don't think I had a single stage yet without having to reset because the back stepped out and it takes ages to set it back 180 degrees in these tight passages. Lowering ride height and toughening the springs makes it better but deffo not good. I also played with diff and brake bias but cannot feel much of a difference. Used wets on dry road in stage 4 did not help ...

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

finished, finally managed two clean runs (but also one flip onto roof in the penultimate stage) and disappointed with my speed in the final long stage. It felt mostly smooth and clean but bagged me last of eight atm Does everyone else need to constantly steer with the help of trail breaking because otherwise it would just spin around almost at once as you try to turn in? Is this what real life drivers did, back in the day?
Whatever, survived and the Porsche looked epic in replay:

and Codies has a "brilliant" second paint scheme for it pre-installed:

 

[AlleyViper]

@Eckhart von Glan: You won't want to turn in sharply without brake/accel input on a RR car (or even MR) after lifting brakes, else the rear will snap/pendulum (with a wider rear track, can be after an initial slight understeer). In general, brake earlier and straighter so to gently get on power the soonest as possible into the corner before the apex, and only go full blast when wheel is almost straight and the rear weight works in your favor for added traction, so you don't have to countersteer (much). If you're trailbraking late into a corner, do it also while keeping some accelerator input to hold the rear (it'll move brake bias forward) anticipating countersteer, then transition into accel-only to exit.

Now, with me being a cheeky peasant on a pad* (and not particularly fast), there are many things I can't reliably advise on. Don't know if one of your issues driving on 3p+stick is not blipping throttle while downshifting to avoid locking on heavy engine braking, or doing it in while the car is already too unsettled/turning.

Spoiler: some extra bla bla

You could try the H3 RWD R5 Turbo as an exercise in frustration (MR, short wheelbase, wider rear, +turbo lag). If you figure/tame its temper, the 911 will feel much easier and predictable -- same can be said for the Alpine, but on the easiest side.
Still, in GR.B RWD maybe you'd have a far easier time with the Manta (FR is nicer on corner entry, then rear is looser on the way out but there's less hp to deal with, only its length can bite), or maybe even the faster 037 (nervous but predictable for MR, warns sooner than the 911, handbrake is a lifesaver). OTH, the M1 on top of being very fast, is also heavy and large, making it harder to save from any mistake.

*I have to rely exclusively on visual+sound cues, as pad haptics in this title only show too late, not as lateral load increases, so I can't risk using all available tarmac grip without prior practice; but I still have to do frequent brake+accel input crossing on MR/RR/FR cars to hold the rear into corners, with some degree of counter steer. Anyway, I just went with 037's default setup on this one.)

Also, to gain mech grip on corner entry (while losing sharpness/rotation on exit), imho, you should have done exactly the opposite, just softening the rear rates/less rollbar and if touching car height, also lower rear alone/more than front, some extra rear camber might help. If not enough, induce extra understeer with a stiffer front, so it starts to slide before the rear tries to swap places.
Hope anything will be of use, GL.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

interesting advice. I guess my main problem has to do with the still wishy washy feeling on tarmac, other than in iRacing, where you absolutely always know where each wheel is and what it is doing at any given point, here it is like walking in a fog, nothing can be felt, just guessed.

 

[Roy Magnes]

I will do my run in 50 minutes from now (20:30 CET)

 

[AlleyViper]

Again, sorry for commenting here as I can't on YT: M1 on tarmac can be meta as the 037 (Lancia is more dominating/nimbler on gravel), but survival chances go down when there's less grip (sheer speed + weight, size). On fast stages you'll see the M1 on top of TT near as much as the 037 (or even dominate CER spots), but imho for multi-stages without restart, just isn't as safe. Manta is easiest to drive and avoid trouble by far, but can be underpowered vs. the rest on faster sections -- on a longer event, just not crashing can be its big plus when not aiming for the very top. Still, it's a fairly balanced class.

Roy Magnes, for strat I also went with wet>wet>hard>soft. With less visibility on the final stage, and nothing left to lose after significant lost time on SS4, I favored a safer car to react on surprises for a final push. Good job evading the tree! That "3 right short" gets me often too, so as the next corner but in reverse.

PS: Myrvold, regarding the lack of RWD events in this club: I guess those are my favorite, but unfortunately on capable hands, H3 RWD TT has been dominated by the McRae MKII (a 04' restomod w/ custom ind. rear susp.), with even better P/W than the Gr.4 MR coffins, but without their downsides that could balance them against the later M3.
ATM, Colin's Nova in H1 FWD enjoys an even greater advantage: while P/W looks unfavorable, can easily sustain higher cornering speeds vs. the Fulvia and Mini, plus the 5 gear set. Then there's the McRae "R4" in NR4/R4, completely out of spec...
Rally2 is another problematic one. The 22' Fabia dominates it the same way as WRC2 (fair as IRL), but Rally2 is missing the other 3 more recent competitors (even the Mk8 back from DR2), so older R5s are more outclassed.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

If my RWD skills are as rusty as my voice. This will not be a pleasant experience!

But here we go! Doing it nao!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

some of us have started on the Greece rally already, great fun in the small cars. Picked the Vauxhall, never played it before. The old rule for underpowered cars: keep the momentum! applies big time here, especially around the hairpins. Very close battle for stage 03 atm, lost out by a hair's breadth because I misheard a call and nearly ran into the marshalls: