Albert Park

[MattB]

I just raced Albert park, with the N-GT 360 ferrai:D , after 5 laps i managed a 2:04, im not sure if thats good or bad.

Any of you guys tried albert park yet?:)


BTW, D-Man, i just watched your reply, im sure i could save atleast half a second if i took the first corner as you do)=)


Matt:beer:

[D_Man]

The way I take the first chicane is quite conservative compared to some guys :) The ripple strip is part of the racing surface and some people barely have 2 wheels on it. I try to keep at least 2 wheels on or inside the white line :D

Dave

[MattB]

Originally posted by D_Man
The way I take the first chicane is quite conservative compared to some guys :) The ripple strip is part of the racing surface and some people barely have 2 wheels on it. I try to keep at least 2 wheels on or inside the white line :D

Dave

Heh, u would be shocked at how bad i take that cicane,:D

[D_Man]

Matt, I just tried some laps of Albert Park in the GT3. I didn't manage a good lap with a best of only 2.07. I would say that a 2.04 is pretty good from what I managed. I had a good lap going and was -1.4 seconds on the 2.07 at the first split, but went wide on a corner and lost about 5 seconds finishing with a 2.09. I figure that was a 2.04 lap if I hadn't over-cooked the corner.

With a good setup a 2.02 should be possible.

Dave

[chris]

I've not raced on Albert Park recently, with the 360GT, only the Diablo, but, even so, that wasn't so recent.. I can't remember the time, but, I'll try to get some times done, and post them as comparison.

You'd be surprised by some of the lines through corners I take, especially that tight left hand corner, with the huge paved area on the outside of it.. I use a lot of that, on the corner exit, just like the F1 cars do in real life.

Through the first chicane, I prefer to keep most of my wheels on the road, and I'm pretty cautious accelerating out of that turn, in the Diablo GTR, because it has a lot of torque, and can wheelspin easily.

[D_Man]

Well I just did a 2:03 in the 360, but it wasn't a really clean lap. I messed up 2 corners and lost at least a second. It is a hard track to put together a clean lap because when you push harder you are more likely to run too deep into the corner under brakes and there are so many corners :D

Dave

[MattB]

heh, i noe what u mean Dave, i had a quick time going, but i pushed the last corner to hard, ended up in the grass:D

[chris]

The last corner isn't so difficult, but the sharp 90° left hander just before you go into the pits, that is the 2nd last corner, catches me out a lot of times..

Sometimes you can be tricked into going into it too hard under brakes, and not realise how sharp it is. The last turn requires patience, and gradual acceleration, I find.

That really quick chicane, that goes left, then right, about 3/4 of the way through the lap, is a bugger.. If you enter the first part wrong, then you are off-line and very slow for the second part.. =[ (or you run off into the grass and have to do a Michael Schumacher to get back onto the track).


I think I've mastered his trick of driving smoothly along the grass, and on the gravel, now.. Just steady, constant throttle, no sudden braking, and steady steering and you can get back onto the track without losing too much time.

[MattB]

just dis a 2:04:150, err not too good, but a start:D

had a few little mistakes, and a pretty big mistake on the 2nd last corner, that corner is realli getting to me)=)

[D_Man]

Strangely enough those last 2 corners aren't a problem for me ;)

Dave

[MattB]

Originally posted by D_Man
Strangely enough those last 2 corners aren't a problem for me ;)

Dave

Yes, but im a slow learner^_^

[D_Man]

You aren't a slow learner Matt. I have raced Albert Park in GP3, F1 2001, F1 2002 and GP4 and know those corners well enough after many close inspections from about every part of the surrounding terrain :D

It is the corners that require braking from high speed and working down through the gears from 6th that catch me. I am either too heavy on the brakes and sliding into them or not hard enough and over-shooting them :rolleyes:

Dave

[D_Man]

What times are you guys doing at Albert Park in the GT cars? I just did a series of 1:59s in the 550 with a best of 1:59.046. That was with me going a bit sideways entering the main straight and losing over half a second :rolleyes:

I can attach a replay of that lap if anyone is interested.

BTW, I am doing 1:58s in the 550 in the ALMS/LeMans mod and it is harder to drive &(

Dave

[MattB]

i havent done any GT times yet, but'll try some tommorow:D

Currently on my mobile talking, chatting up girls is more important then games guys;) :beer:

[D_Man]

Hey Matt, it's great to see that you have your priorities right :D

Dave

[MattB]

Originally posted by D_Man
Hey Matt, it's great to see that you have your priorities right :D

Dave

I try my best Dave:D -^

I didnt get to be at my computer today at all, so didnt get a drive at Albert park (it was rather hot, so i went to the beach;) :p )

Perhaps tonite i will get something done:beer:

[chris]

I was too busy with "other" things, so, no replays from me until now.

Here is a cautious lap of Albert Park, in the Ferrari 360 GT, and the lap time is about 2:02.9. As you can see, I could probably go a bit quicker still, since I was being rather cautious, and didn't want to outbrake myself, into the turns.

My line into the 2nd last corner was awful, and not very fast.

But, it's a pretty smooth lap, and I didn't throw the car around. See the attachment.

[D_Man]

Thanks Chris, I will have a look at it and see if I can learn anything :)

I did a low 1:58 in the 550 earlier losing time in the second half of the lap. It should have been a mid to high 1:57 :(

I'm going to have another shot at a 1:57 - fingers crossed :rolleyes:

Dave

[chris]

I'll have a go at the big GT cars, as well, and see what I can do..

[MattB]

Just watched your reply, pretty good stuff chris-^ -^ :D

[chris]

Here is another one, this time no 3586cc Ferraris, but, a hulking big 7.0 litre V12 Lister Storm. It handles well, but, it requires considerable finesse with the throttle. ;)

See the attachment. The lap is 1m:57.010s. Again I was trying to get a smooth lap, rather than push the limits and make silly errors.

[chris]

I think we are well off the pace, though, since the computer drivers @ 100% strength can do a 1m:52s lap of Albert Park..

I don't know how the hell to do a lap that quick.. &(

Edit: I think we are even slower.. Some guy has done a 1m:42s lap of Albert Park in a Ferrari 360GT.. Makes our times seem like old news..

Edit2: Something tells me that time couldn't be right.. Even the records listings don't show times that quick, even for the 550 GTO.

Edit3: Now did a 2m:01.503 lap around Albert Park in the 360 GT.

[D_Man]

When I watched your 2.02 lap Chris I thought that you would get a 2.01 soon. You made at least 3 mistakes on the 2.02 lap that cost you at least a second ;) I am still to break 2.03, but I think I am close now :D

Dave

[D_Man]

Well, I just did a 2.02.267 :) I had another 2.02 2 laps earlier which was faster through the second sector. If I could put the two laps together I'd have a 2.01 ;)

Here is the replay.

Dave

[chris]

I'll take a look at that lap, soon.

Right now, I've got to get something to eat.. I missed lunch, and, worked on the GT NFS modification website, just before the launch of the GT Demo.

Take a look, on http://gtmod.m4driving.sm/

[D_Man]

Nice work Chris :) It looks like the new tacho Bruce Johnson did for the Brabham in GPL - see pic ;)

He did 2 versions - one upright and one rotated slightly so the redline is vertical.

Dave

[chris]

That tacho is from a Porsche 917. It's an exact replica of the real thing. :) Rather than using a photo, I created it in a graphics program. The original size is nearly 3000x3000 pixels.

I was going have a 917's flat-12 screaming away, to match the tachometre, too, but decided against it.

[D_Man]

Okay, I tweaked the gears a bit and tried again. My first timed lap was 2.02.678 so I thought it looked promising. I pushed too hard the next lap after being up a second after 2 sectors and spun out just before the pits. I went hard again on the 3rd lap but was down on sector one compared to the first timed lap, but was pleasantly surprised to see I was looking good for a 2.01 after sector 2. I was very surprised to see the final time of 2.01.214. watching the replay I saw that I rode the kerbs a bit more than I like but, given the fact that the lap felt smooth and controlled, I am still happy with it :D

Dave

[D_Man]

I forgot to attach the damn replay :rolleyes:

Dave

[chris]

I'll have to see if I can outdo that.. :) (My competitive spirit coming into play.)

I think I've got some ideas on how to go a little bit quicker. Maybe I might try and be a bit more aggressive with the throttle..

On my 2:01.503 lap I was kicking the tail of the 360 GT out into slight oversteer on some occasions, quite readily. After 5 laps or so, it really starts to come good, in terms of grip. You can really start to push hard, when the tyres are working right.

[D_Man]

Nice to see the competition pushing us to improve :)

I just tried the Lister out for the first time. Man that thing is quick. I did a 1.55.930 and I think I can do better :eek:

Dave

[chris]

They really fly, when you have the right, optimised setups for them..

[D_Man]

I think this is about as good as I can do - 1.54.566 in a Diablo :)

Dave

[D_Man]

This is where we can compare ouselves with the best :)

http://www.findthelimit.com/gtr2002/php/db_list_circuit.php?track=1&show=&carid=&buddies=&ngt=&top=-1

Dave

[chris]

Just did a 2m:00.30s in the Ferrari 360 GT.

I'm quite happy. (un understatement if ever their was one). The replay will be here soon. I'm just going to watch over it a few times, to see if I can improve any further.

I think my trick of not revving hell out of the engine all the time works, too. You've probably noticed that on some parts of the track, like, in the section between the last 2 corners, I have the engine only doing around 4000-5000rpm, and I'm using the torque, to do the work. It makes it easier to accelerate, as well.

[D_Man]

Congrats on the world record for the N-GT class Chris -^ That beats the best time by over half a second.

I downloaded a 1:51 GT lap to see if I can learn anything :rolleyes:

Dave

[chris]

Here is the replay of the hot-lap:

http://gtmod.m4driving.sm/hotlap.zip

It's 673kb because it's actually in a race practice session. You can see another Ferrari 360 GT behind me, and a Lister Storm following it.

I was a little bit on the edge in some parts, but, overall, not too bad. I still think I could have got under 2 minutes, though.

Now, it does seem like the Australians are taking over that site with all the lap times listed.. So many Australian flags appearing their.. -^

[chris]

I've just tried the Viper around Albert Park, and, did 1:55.917, but, I didn't like the lap very much..

The thing wouldn't stop quickly enough, and it felt like a bloody big truck, to drive. Not nice at all. :(