rF2 Indy Car @ Fuji 2012 - Wed 3rd Sept

[Nicolas Delamare]

So, a good event this night again ! Not much players but we can't be full all the time.

The 30 minutes format was very interesting, I have to say that !!!Then, I started on alternates tires (the red, which are faster than the primary, which are black).The parc ferme didn't allow me to change the tires (alternates or primary) neither the tire pressure...
Up to 15 minutes, my front left tire was litterally destroyed ! For a simple reason: I carried much speed in the fast right-handed, and at this pace it's allmost half a square by lap that you clear !

So, after increased the gap, (up to 18 seconds) on the second, I was forced to pit but I have refueled 48 liters (a stupid lapse of memory).
I went out of the pit 28 seconds behind the first, and with a massive attack, but with more fuel than the guys in front of me, I was able to finish only 6 seconds behind the winner !

So next time, if I do a most proper job, I will be able to finish much more closer ! Definitely, a good mix time race/tire choice !

Now the car itself: graphically, the tires are too big compared to the real life and the steering whell seems to be a toy !
Physically, the car is too easy to handle, too much grip (it's unreal) !

But I think that we must try that car on fast speedway: good thing, the IMS (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) is available and it's a very good track, very faithful to the real one, and we can have more fun, according to me !

 

[Joao Fernandes]

Well i started with a slow pace hoping that the other cars had tires problems early than me so i could push in the middle of the race. I guess it worked because i finished first.

Had a high downforce setup so top speed on the straight was low but the fast and twitchy corners i gained time. With this i could control the car better even with the tires in the red. The last few laps i was very careful with the right hand corners to avoid the imminent disaster when i saw how bad the left front tire was.

Thanks to all and see you on the next one.

 

[Gijs van Elderen]

T H E . R E S U L T S
Click here
​

 

[Gijs van Elderen]

Sorry, I couldn't be there the whole time.

About the physics of the car. I really don't know. I've never driven an indy car in real life.
But i've driven a real race car on a race track a couple of times. The immersion is completely different.
You can feel every G-force on your body, especially during braking. Much more easy then in a sim-seat.

Driving a car on a racetrack is more easy as i first thought. I've never crashed the car .
Grip levels of slick (WTCC) tires are huge compared to road tires.
The first time on the race track is a bit scary: Try take a highway exit without braking: your brain says it's impossible. While the car is steady as a rock.

So too much grip and easy to handle is so unreal. I've to try the real one first.
A race car is designed to handle easy at high speeds. If not! It's a crappy and dangerous race car.

Anyway, everyone is entitled to his opinion.

 

[Rob Milliken]

Quallyed 3rd was all set for the 30 min tire test then Blam ISP down .. 5 hrs later my internet is finally back but I missed the race ... to bad .... although the cars may not be to realistic spec's I enjoyed driving them
Lots of fun !
sry I missed it ...
Right now my isp=


lol

 

[Bjorn de Haas]

Great car but after 5 laps i was so tired that i could barely keep me eyes open haha so i decided to stop and get some propper sleep instead of those 2-3 hours lol

 

[David O'Reilly]

Well i started with a slow pace hoping that the other cars had tires problems early than me so i could push in the middle of the race. I guess it worked because i finished first.

Had a high downforce setup so top speed on the straight was low but the fast and twitchy corners i gained time. With this i could control the car better even with the tires in the red. The last few laps i was very careful with the right hand corners to avoid the imminent disaster when i saw how bad the left front tire was.

Thanks to all and see you on the next one.

Nice strategic work Joao.

My race was fraught with issues.
Because I'm super hard core I ran manual clutch and no assists........and stalled on start line.
Gijs told me I could exit and rejoin so I did....but accidentally on hard tyres so was a bit slow but managed consistent 1:19s.
In fact I was running with reasonable pace to P2-3 just 4 laps down (poss due to their tyre wear)
So tyre choice in a longer one would be interesting.
Then it appears that after losing a front disc at Suzuka due to cooling level 1 I didn't remember to increase it. After 12 laps my front disc went.

The Car
I don't know how real life it is. We must remember that F1 is always trying to limit speeds with rules about wings, diffusers, floor dimensions, ride heights, tyres and get ultra high tech power units. When 20 years ago an F1 car would spank an Indy car today I don't really know. Whereas Indy want the fastest car they can have at a low price for teams. Find a track they both race on and compare maybe? At Suzuka the F ISI will match the DW12 but only on supersofts. DW12 has a huge floor and poss nice aero. esp around floor and rear tyres.
But in any case its fast and an easier open wheeler to drive than F ISI or FR3.5 which is not all bad.
It produces great racing, cars spun off, guys with less aero were slower in tight bits and guys with more wing kept tyres cooler. As we read above conserving tyres can get you the win.I broke a disc through less cooling. The lap time delta was 2 sec + in Quali.All very legitimate. If it was fully "arcade" we would have all raced flat out and had none of these issues.
So its not the trickiest but its great racing. Drivers get to race and finish (unless they make all the errors I made).

IMO there is a big place for this type of car in club racing. Fast, fun open wheelers.
We ran a 90 min at Suzuka and it tended to bring the field a bit closer together.

Thanks all.
Edit: It seems that fuel capacity IRL is 70 litres after all. 18.5 US Gallons. (3.78541 litres). Elsewhere a gallon is 4.54 litres.

http://ryanracing.com/the-car/

 

[Gijs van Elderen]

But I think that we must try that car on fast speedway: good thing, the IMS (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) is available and it's a very good track, very faithful to the real one, and we can have more fun, according to me !

We have tried it before, and is was fun to do. But oval racing and safety-car/ full course yellow go hand in hand.

I think it was build 770 and there were a lot of issues with the safety-car procedures (click here). But many are solved now. (they don't do solely graphic improvements )

Shure, I want to do again.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Nice strategic work Joao.

My race was fraught with issues.
Because I'm super hard core I ran manual clutch and no assists........and stalled on start line.
Gijs told me I could exit and rejoin so I did....but accidentally on hard tyres so was a bit slow but managed consistent 1:19s.
In fact I was running with reasonable pace to P2-3 just 4 laps down (poss due to their tyre wear)
So tyre choice in a longer one would be interesting.
Then it appears that after losing a front disc at Suzuka due to cooling level 1 I didn't remember to increase it. After 12 laps my front disc went.

The Car
I don't know how real life it is. We must remember that F1 is always trying to limit speeds with rules about wings, diffusers, floor dimensions, ride heights, tyres and get ultra high tech power units. When 20 years ago an F1 car would spank an Indy car today I don't really know. Whereas Indy want the fastest car they can have at a low price for teams. Find a track they both race on and compare maybe? At Suzuka the F ISI will match the DW12 but only on supersofts. DW12 has a huge floor and poss nice aero. esp around floor and rear tyres.
But in any case its fast and an easier open wheeler to drive than F ISI or FR3.5 which is not all bad.
It produces great racing, cars spun off, guys with less aero were slower in tight bits and guys with more wing kept tyres cooler. As we read above conserving tyres can get you the win.I broke a disc through less cooling. The lap time delta was 2 sec + in Quali.All very legitimate. If it was fully "arcade" we would have all raced flat out and had none of these issues.
So its not the trickiest but its great racing. Drivers get to race and finish (unless they make all the errors I made).

IMO there is a big place for this type of car in club racing. Fast, fun open wheelers.
We ran a 90 min at Suzuka and it tended to bring the field a bit closer together.

Thanks all.
Edit: It seems that fuel capacity IRL is 70 litres after all. 18.5 US Gallons. (3.78541 litres). Elsewhere a gallon is 4.54 litres.

http://ryanracing.com/the-car/

ISI said they had very limited data and the car is currently a lot fast than a real indycar.

 

[Nicolas Delamare]

Thanks for that info. Indeed in that state, the DW12 is very good to play but it needs more improvments and fixes to be more realistic: I don't worry, it will come in time !

 

[Martin Bulgin]

I got off to a great start from last to 2nd by turn 1, I started last because I had a bit of a spin on my qually lap, I really tried to protect my left front down the long right hander and I didn't have much left on it by the end of the race but did my fastest lap on the last lap, I was a bit disappointed with my lap times though generally being about a second slower a lap than in practice but then I wasn't trying to protect my tyres so I suppose that cost me.

 

[Nicolas Delamare]

So, after an hour of setup on the car at Fuji (again !), I was able to make the car more oversteery: it's just a question of put the springs and the ARB stiffier, in order to make the car much more reactive.
Unfortunately, in that event I ran with about the default setup, and with a bad driving style (too agressive !).

In the right-handed, the front left tire temperature can raise up to more than 250°C if we attack, with a terrible consequence for its wear...
But, if we just take that corner easily and let 3-4/10 of a second, the temperature raise up to 120-130°C only, and the wear is much reduced ! .

Finally, compared to my shitty race two days ago, I am now able to do 9-10 laps before the yellow color apears on the tires, and with THE ALTERNATES TIRES !!

So very good news for me, I am looking for the next race with that car !

 

[David O'Reilly]

So, after an hour of setup on the car at Fuji (again !), I was able to make the car more oversteery: it's just a question of put the springs and the ARB stiffier, in order to make the car much more reactive.
Unfortunately, in that event I ran with about the default setup, and with a bad driving style (too agressive !).

In the right-handed, the front left tire temperature can raise up to more than 250°C if we attack, with a terrible consequence for its wear...
But, if we just take that corner easily and let 3-4/10 of a second, the temperature raise up to 120-130°C only, and the wear is much reduced ! .

Finally, compared to my shitty race two days ago, I am now able to do 9-10 laps before the yellow color apears on the tires, and with THE ALTERNATES TIRES !!

So very good news for me, I am looking for the next race with that car !

ah yes the default is quite driveable but destroys front tyres.