Thanks to everyone for the support on the SE46 car for Assetto Corsa. We have an updated build to share!
Here’s what is new:
Front and rear anti-roll bars are now adjustable.
The car now comes with additional base factory colors for the car. The sponsored race car livery is still the same and the default but now you have new options.
The .zip file now contains a new folder called “Templates”. This folder contains a Photoshop file (.psd) that you can use to create your own livery.
The passenger side cage tube now goes in the proper location (aesthetic change only).
Wheels now have motion blur.
Enhanced levels of details and interior is now optimized for low resolution graphics cards/monitors
The rear-view mirror has been adjusted down so it is more easily viewable when not in VR mode.
The description, power figures and graphs have been updated.
Dyno graphs are based off a real-world chassis dyno and 15% added to torque and whp for drive-train losses.
How to get the update:
For those who already purchased the car, an email has been sent (including initial contributors to the build) where they can access it and all new purchasers will get the new build in the download link. Click here to check out and buy the car!
How to install the update:
Download the update
Make sure Assetto Corsa is not running.
Right click the .zip folder and select “Extract All” – do not just double click into the folder.
Find the “contents” folder and copy that folder
Go to this path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa\content\cars
If you already have the previous version, delete the previous version of the car, which should be a folder called “bmw_m3_e46”. If not, skip this step and go to step 7.
Go up to levels in that director to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa\
Paste the “contents” folder you copied above
Close the file explorer window
That’s it!
Over the next couple months, via our friends at Track Attack, we will have the capability to log telemetry data from Assetto Corsa and compare it with the real world data we already have from several tracks. We’ll use this data to further fine-tune the physics model.
As always, let us know what you think and thanks again for the support!
I’ve been to Imola before. 2 years ago, we were in Italy for a hackathon week with my teammates on Track Attack, who are based out of the Friuli region, in the northeast area of Italy. My wife, 1-year old son and I spent a week in a tiny medieval town centrally located to Pisa and Firenze (Florence). One day, we took a day trip to Autodromo de Enzo I Dino Ferrari, also known as Imola.
Visiting Imola in 2015 during a Lamborghini private event and 100F+ temps.
Lamborghini was holding a private test event, but we were still allowed in, because technically, Imola is a city park. We walked the grounds, from the outside and inside the track. My favorite Top Gear episode of all time is the Imola episode, where the crew tries to match the lap time of the Stig’s Italian cousin. I drove Imola for the fist time in the Formula 1 car simulator at the Imola museum. I drove the track for 30+ hours in a Mercedes AMG GT3 on iRacing, to prepare. We did a track walk on Wednesday evening before the Thursday free practice.
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It still scared the shit out of me.
Thursday, May 24th, 2018: Optional free practice
We signed up for the optional free practice. 2 sessions. 90-minutes each. 4 drivers. We decided to give each driver 20 minutes at each session. Seth would go out first and get a sense for the car and lay down some reference data for us to chase. And he did just that; a 2:06.XXX and not a single clean lap.
When I played football in high school, I was always scared, and I didn’t suck. Especially in the games. One of the coaches could sense it in me and other players, so he said once “half the battle is showing up. Just show up to compete and your training will take over.”
That is why I raised my hand and asked to go second. It was surreal, overwhelming and humbling. I’ve read articles from other first time and regular pro drivers, who have said that in these pro series, the time on track for getting up to speed is limited and regularly interrupted by incidents. To be honest, I shrugged those stories off and thought, “could it really be much worse than a competitive club racing weekend?” Yes. That is exactly how it is.
Not a single driver had a clean 20 minutes. None of us had a single lap where we weren’t being overtaken by at least a few cars.
This was our new reality and pretty much everything we articulated to explain our pace was an excuse. Dan Rogers, came up to speed the fastest outside of Seth, having a ton more experience (a 2:10.XXX best lap), then me (2:12.XX) and then Rob (2:16.XXX).
We reviewed data to look for places and ways to get up to speed but it was obvious. We were driving tentatively, over-slowing on pretty much every corner in general and especially when being overtaken, which was almost every corner.
A common site throughout the weekend. Drive, debrief, data and repeat. Photo credit: Petr Frýba
All my racing has been multi-class racing, with rarely being in the fastest car on track but this is a whole other level. The closing speeds and acceleration of pretty much every other car was insane, especially the GT3 cars. The message from Seth was clear, though he tried to be gentle with us – time to drop excuses and drive. Yes, the other cars are faster, but we have to figure it out and at least mid-corner speed, we could hang with almost all the cars; Seth had already proved it. I was driving almost dangerously slow.
When it was time for the second session, it was the same, I got three (3) complete laps over a ~25 minute period. But I was determined to drive confidently and hard. A couple of 2:10.XXX on the last two laps and on the third lap, where I came into the pits due to another Code 60, I had a 2:09.XXX going, backed up by a rolling best lap of 2:09.269.
Dan would get down to a 2:08.XXX and Rob got down to a 2:10.XXX – we were all progressing! Seth would not drive the second session, to give us more seat time but he would qualify the next morning and start the race.
By the end of the day, we had no real idea how we stacked up against the competition. We only knew that we were improving at a good pace and that the 131 car had a stacked lineup of drivers, with one of them being the reigning European BMW Cup champion. He had been driving a specific M235i Racing car for close to two years and he was/is good.
Code 60: Your new best friend or mortal enemy
Instead of full course yellows, Creventic has “Code 60’s”. Purple flags come out, with a big circled 60 in the center. When the Code 60 comes out, all cars a required to slow down, in a smooth deceleration to no more than 60 Kmph. It’s intended to get cars down to a safe speed so whatever caused the incident can be cleaned up and maintain the gaps between the cars.
See it. Remember it. Respect it. You’ll see it a lot.
In the race, if a Purple 60 comes out and you are near the pits, it gives you an opportunity to swap drivers, change tires and/or fuel up while losing the least amount of track position. The other side of the blade though is that if you are past the pit exit, it will take up to 4 minutes to make it back to the pit entrance and in that timeframe, the issue might be cleaned up.
Cars do not bunch up for the restart, it’s a simple call for green flags when the Code 60 goes away. There are random radar guns around the track to check for speeding and they also look at your lap time for a complete lap of a code 60. If it is faster than a 4:55, you are penalized. We ended up serving a 12 second penalty one time during the race.
Friday, May 25th, 2018: Practice, qualifying and race part 1 (4 hours)
The next morning, we all went out and made improvements. I got down to a 2:08.643 in my only complete lap and then a code 60, with a 2:07.XXX on the board. Rob got down to a 2:09.XXX and Dan to a 2:06.XXX.
Next Seth went out to qualify and though we had strict orders to stay off the yellow curbing on all corners, so we could make sure the car survived the 12 hours, the restraints were off for Seth and he went hog wild! He got down to a 2:02.719, putting is in P2 for the race.
The race started off crazy but mostly clean! Seth was able to get a good start and stay in P2. He was in the car for just over 1 hour and 40 minutes and then a Code 60 came out and it was my turn. Being the driver on-deck, there were several false starts, where it was almost time to go but then not.
I got in the car, refueled and then got going. Generally, I was able to get up to my speed quickly, steadily improving lap times and topping out at consistent 2:07.xxx’s regardless of traffic. When I was at the fuel station, I was told on the radio to have my windows up, but that requirement was only during re-fueling, at the refueling station (we couldn’t refuel at our pit spot). I interpreted the message as “have them up at all times”, which meant I wasn’t feeding fresh air to the air-conditioned helmet blower. Somewhere after the 1 hour and 15-minute mark, the heat really started to get to me; everything was hot. Like a heat I’ve only experienced once before when my cool suit didn’t work in a PRO3 car and 100F weather. I figured I’d get the call at any minute to pit but no call and no Code 60. What would end up being about 90 minutes into the stint, I started shaking and getting cold shivers. I radioed in that I probably only had 10 or so more laps in me.
To be honest, I had no idea what was radioed back but it was not “ok, pit next lap”. I kept driving, trying to remain focused, keep a semblance of a pace and not crash. Finally, the call came in to pit. I thought it was because they realized that I was in bad shape, but it was because I was minutes away from going over the 2-hour at a time driving limit.
Driver change! Photo credit: Petr Frýba
I come in to the pits, stumble out of the car, Rob goes in and I start looking for any source of hydration. About five minutes after being out of the car, I do a heart rate check on my Apple Watch and… 136BPM. Holy crap. And I am still on fire and can’t seem to drink enough water or the special Italian “Gatorade”. A few minutes later, back in the trailer changing, I get the news that Rob is in the beach after an incident with a GT3 car. With only ~4 minutes left in the first 4 hours, the workers do not pull us out of the beach and we can’t get it back to the pits for inspection and repairs. The first 4 hours come to an end we are down 3 laps from the lead.
The end of our day 1 with less than 5 minutes to go.
An hour or so later, we were able to look at the car, from afar while it sat in parc ferme (impound).
Our chariot in Parc Ferme – dirty and slightly broken
Luckily, the car is in the corner and the Sorg crew checks it out and determines we have some bent and broken suspension components. This eliminates the option to have Dan start the race with the car as is, shake off the rocks and get a sense for how the car runs.
We decided to take a 10-lap penalty, so we could make repairs before the race restarts Saturday morning. That night we had an excellent spaghetti dinner at the Villa we stayed at (was built in 1420 and owned at one point by Napoleon Bonaparte’s grandmother) and finalized the plan.
Dinner at Napoleon Bonaparte’s grandmother’s villa. Built in 1420 and furniture from the 1700’s…
We were P1 for a good chunk of part 1 of the race because of good luck with Code 60’s but our fastest pace was still slower than our main competition (#131). With the 10-lap penalty, all we could really do is put our heads down, put down clean laps, stay out of trouble and hope the endurance gods would punish the competition.
Saturday, May 26th, 2018: Race part 2 (8 hours)
Dan would start the race, put down solid laps, stay out of trouble and then hand over the car to Seth. Seth would go in and do the same, getting back as many laps as possible – hoping that Seth could match lap times with their fastest driver and we would be faster than the rest of their drivers.
Over the general race pace, that would end up being the case – we steadily clawed back laps from the 2nd place car but slowly we’d lose ground to the first place #131.
Dan Rogers (@epsdan) riding the curbs to get us some laps back. Photo credit: Petr Frýba
In the third stint, I went back in for what would end up being about 1 hour and 45-50 minutes, safely clear of the 2-hour driving limit. I was able to get up to speed even faster than Friday and in the second half of the stint, when the heat soak returned, and I realized the Camelback with a mix of water and Italian Gatorade was not connected to my helmet, something clicked. Something that Seth had been preaching to us for the past 24 hours (and will be reserved for another time). I trusted his advice and just did it, and the car didn’t go off into the dirt or in a wall – it held. The times started steadily falling, the 2:06’s started coming effortlessly, almost regardless of where traffic was interfering. And then, a 2:05.xxx! And then another 2:05 in the predictive lap timer but spoiled by traffic and another, spoiled by… me (I was getting greedy).
Traffic or not, need to make up time! Photo credit: Petr Frýba
I was ecstatic but drained and as I’ll write about in another post, I didn’t have the stamina to sustain 2:05’s. I had already started driving with the windows cracked and on the straight-aways, I’d put my hand out of the window to funnel outside air in and help cool me down. The time went by much faster this stint and before I knew it, the call was in to pit. There was a Code 60 for a badly damaged car which would take 10-15 minutes to clear up, so though the Code 60 came out right after I had passed the pit entrance, I was able to circle back around and pit, under the Code 60 and Dan was able to get back in the car and on track before the green flag flew.
Dan had a great second stint, consistently hitting 2:07’s and staying out of trouble. We had clawed back more laps and with Seth going in for the closing stint, it would be close. Enough green flag running or advantageous Code 60’s is what we needed. Seth came out with a full head of steam and immediately started putting down 2:03’s and 2:04’s – getting back 8-12 seconds per lap to P2. With an hour left in the race, the cars started falling like flies. One car after another, breaking down on track or barely limping back to the pits for a repair but no Code 60. Finally, with about 15 minutes left in the race, one of the leading GT3 cars, a beautiful matte-red Mercedes AMG GT pulled to the side of the track with a collapsed front wheel. Even though it pulled off in a decently safe area, the Code 60 came out, leaving only a few minutes to finish the race and with that, our chances of P2 washed away.
One of the overall race contenders, broken down with less than 15 minutes to go in the race.
After 8 hours, we had clawed back a full 10 laps and were only 20 seconds away from P2. Another few laps of green flag running… but that’s racing!
Seth Thomas (@racerseththomas) bringing it home in P3 Photo credit: Petr Frýba
Podium finish to top off a great weekend
Despite not being able to claw back P2, we still made it on the podium and it was also my first experience actually standing on a podium, let alone the same podium and podium room that mega stars of racing have been in and stood on. Overall it was a great experience and looking forward to the next race, which we’re targeting the 24 hour race at Circuit of the Americas in November or possibly Barcelona in September.
My first on-track experience was a 1-day High Performance Driving with Proformance Racing School at Pacific Raceways. It was a actually a birthday present for my wife. She had a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 and I had a 400whp 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
His and her’s AWD turbo beasts! I still miss that STI!
That day I learned that I had no clue what I was doing behind the wheel of a car from a ‘racing’ standpoint, especially one with that much power and in general the capabilities of the car. I also realized that learning to drive a car on-track with skill and being fast was going to take time, but I was up for the challenge.
Over the next 12 months, I did several track days and learned about the then, GRAND-AM Continental Tire Series where production-based race cars, like my Subaru, raced in the GS and ST classes. Further, here in the PNW, we had several drivers who had started out in local club racing and driven or were driving in series like that at the ‘professional’ level.
I have dreamt and continue to dream of owning and racing cars like this!
Since then, it’s been a goal of mine to at least once, drive in a professional racing series in a production-based sports car.
Getting the invitation
Over the past four years racing in primarily PRO3 class, I’ve met several former PRO3 drivers who have or still do drive professionally. One of which is Dan Rogers and through him, Seth Thomas, of which they have co-driven in multiple race cars and series over the years. In 2018, they decided to see about putting together a program to do at least a handful of the Creventic 24/12 Hour Endurance racing series, which has races in the most iconic circuits all over Europe and at Circuit of the Americas.
They reached out to several drivers who presumably have a minimum level of proven speed, ability to keep a car clean and ultimately, afford to take part in all or some of the races. When I first got the email, I almost brushed it off completely, assuming it would be way too expensive for me to afford but it turned out to be not too bad and in the grand scheme of this type of racing, a solid value. Coupling this with an extended family vacation and a couple of business meetings, taking part in the race went from a pipe dream to a bucket list reality.
12 Hours in a factory race car | BMW M235i Racing
The race will be a 12-hour race, split over two days. I’m not exactly sure why this is but having visited Imola a few years ago, I can imagine it being a noise ordinance issue as Imola is actually a city park, with residential buildings right on or next to the track property and park. I’ve also heard from organizing bodies that holding a race over-night is much more expensive than running during the day due to the required workers and lighting.
The BMW M235i Racing factory race car – raced in professional TC series all over the world.
The weapon of choice is a newest generation BMW M235i Racing 2-door coupe, built and sold directly by BMW motorsports as turn-key solution for the ‘entry levels’ of professional racing. I don’t know the exact class we’ll be racing in but the car is capable of pace just slightly slower than the new global TCR cars.
Sorg Rennsport’s BMW M235i Racing car in for a pit stop
It has a 3.0L, twin-turbo in-line 6-cylinder engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission, with paddle shifters. Dan Rogers, who has driven the car previously described it as essentially a bigger PRO3 or Spec E46 car, in terms of handling characteristics. This is music to my ears as it means, well balanced, plenty of brakes and enough power to have a great time but not so much that you could get into too much trouble. The car is owned and managed by the Sorg Rennsport Racing Team, out of Germany.
Learning the track
Having never driven Imola in-person, my main resort to learning the track was iRacing! My simulator is primarily setup for iRacing, so even though I realized a couple weeks ago that Imola and a close sibling to the M235i Racing was available on Assetto Corsa, I decided to do all my training on iRacing and using the Mercedes AMG GT3 race car. The AMG has a lot more power than what we’ll be driving but I figured it had similar characteristics from previous driving; rear-wheel drive, paddle shifters and more under-steering characteristics relative to something like a 911 GT3 or the Audio R8 GT3.
Over the past 4 months, I’ve logged over 1,000 laps and 30+ hours of seat time. I’ve also used Virtual Racing School’s data pack feature, to compare myself with one of their coaches with a reference lap time of 1:42.xxx. The data pack is from a different season where multiple updates to the car, tire model and track have been rolled out, so trying to replicate the lap time exactly isn’t possible but my goal was to get as close to it as I could. My personal best ended up being a 1:45.2xx but most importantly, the last few weeks I was able to jump in and start hammering away high 1:45’s and low 1:46’s, with relative ease and regardless of fuel load. In an endurance race, yes being fast is important but being consistent and keeping the car clean is even more important.
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari – IMOLA!
So how well do I know the track? We’ll find out for sure but by just closing my eyes, I can recite…
Turn 1, full throttle and get ready to straighten the wheel and brake past the 200 marker for the first chicane.
Turns 2/3, make sure to hit the backside of turn 2, so that I can square off Turn 3 and get a healthy full-throttle run at apex. Stay off the big bumps on the curbs.
Turn 4, slight left hander of which the goal is to stay flat but might need to lift depending on the angle of entry and how well the right rear tire is holding.
Turns 5/6, similar chicane but there is more distance between the two turns. Similarly, hit the back side of 5, square off turn 5 and get a healthy full throttle run at apex and use the exit curbing as needed. Do not touch the big bumps on the inside of the corner, they will destroy your time and your car.
Turn 7, very slow left-hander that feels like a decreasing radius corner. Important to get the car turned and then back on throttle quick and somewhat aggressively.
Turn 9, very fast left-hand turn with a stab of the brakes and then quickly back on throttle – let the car nibble at the exit curbs but don’t get too greedy. It’s hard to stay full throttle with being too much on the curbs as the rear end tends to kick out.
Turns 11, 12, 13 – an interconnected, high-speed and critical sequence of turns. A brush of brakes to do a full ‘send it’ into turn 11 and making sure to hit the apex curb. A stab of throttle before 6 out of 10 brakes, downshift to 3rd gear and bite off a decent size of the apex curb for turn 12 and then full throttle as quickly as possible to go up the hill and Turn 13 ends up being more of the exit curbing of Turn 12 than anything else.
It is very easy to let the car run over the big exit curbing here but iRacing will punish you for track limits so make sure to only get a max of 2 tires over the white line.
Turns 14 and 15 make up the last chicane of the lap, that feels a lot like Portland International Raceways. Take a big chunk of the T14 curb, flick the car to the left and get to full throttle at or before the apex of T15. It’s ok and even sometimes the curbing of T15 helps rotate the car, let the car release to the exit curbing but only go 2 wheels off.
Turn 16, a full throttle bend in the road – create a straight line that helps you get to driver’s left to setup for a very tough T17.
T17, a very intimidating and high speed right-hand corner, where you are flat and right at shifting to top gear. Position the car for a late apex and be ready for 10 out of 10 braking effort, in a straight line and shifting from 6th to 3rd
Turns 18 and 19, the last set of real corners before the front straight away and start/finish. Important to get the curbs on both corners and T19 is the most important to get to and stay full throttle as quickly as possible. Just a brush of brakes is needed and use all of the exit curbs.
Turns 20 and 21 are essentially bends in the road. Take them full throttle and have as little steering input as possible. Steering input = friction = slowing the car down. Make down the straight away as quickly and frictionless as possible.
Generally speaking, I think I have 80% or so of the track down in my head and developed muscle memory so that when I get into the car, I can focus on driving the car and figuring out how to go fast, versus figuring out my way through the track.
Physical training
This is an endurance race, in Italy at the start of the summer. I’ve been in Italy around this time of the year in the past and it can get hot, really hot. I’ve been working on my cardiovascular endurance – 60+ minute runs and cycling sessions.
I’ll be honest that while I’m in decent shape, I’m nowhere near where I wanted to be. Life has gotten incredibly busy on all fronts and I’ve been lucky to get in 3 workouts per week and a few simulator sessions. To top it all off, this past weekend, I did a PRO3 race weekend and only did one run group. The driving felt great but, I improved my personal best lap time during the actual race but by Sunday afternoon, my lower back, on my left side was sore. I’ve only experienced this last year, when I was a couple months post a surgery and next to no working out.
No expectations
Overall, I am sitting on this airplane with next to zero expectations. There will be four total drivers, one of which I know will be faster than me (Seth). Dan will either be around the same pace or faster because he has a ton more experience in professional races and Rob, the third driver – I don’t know at all.
I will work at being as fast, safe and consistent as I can possibly be but overall, am going to focus on having fun and taking the experience all in.
We’ve long heard and talked about drafting and bump drafting – how they can make or break a qualifying time, depending on what kind of car you are in and what section of the track you can catch a tow. The fundamentals behind a draft are simple:
The goal is to get from one point on the track to another point, as quickly as possible.
You can do that by slowing down less through a corner (carrying a higher minimum speed). This could be through having ‘better’ tires for better grip, adding downforce for better grip, braking less and/or getting back on throttle quickly.
You can also focus on accelerating faster between the two points by adding more power, reducing the friction on the accelerating drive-train (lightened flywheel, gears or driveshaft as examples), increasing grip on the tires that are driving acceleration OR reduce the forces that are barriers to accelerate through – such as the air itself (e.g. reducing down-force).
We’re going to assume that you are not in formula 1 or some other series that has active aero such as a Drag Reduction System (DRS), so the only option you have to reduce down-force is to have another car punch a hole in the air, for you.
I don’t get it – the air, is the air. Why does this matter?
For the uninitiated, let’s take a minute and explain why this is important. You know those videos of reporters that go outside and report on a big wind storm or hurricane? They go in front of the camera and try to walk against the wind and they get pushed back or can barely move forward. This is analogous to what your car is experiencing. The reporter is trying to walk against a 100mph+ wind and your car is trying to drive through the air, at 100mph+.
When the reporter steps inside from the hurricane, it is much easier for them to walk, jog, run and even sprint! The reporter not only moves faster but they use up less energy.
When a car is in front of your car on a race track, they are somewhat eliminating that “100mph” wind resistance, letting you step into a bubble of protection and as you get closer, that effect gets even stronger, making it almost feel like you and your car get sucked.
You gotta shake it, before you bake it!
Now we all know from the documentary/autobiography “Talladega Nights, The Ballad of Ricky Bobby“, that you can even use this to create a sling-shot effect. Where the trailing car tucks into draft of a car, gets sucked in and at the very, very last-minute pops out and can motor past the car that gave them the “tow”.
Ok but for reals now – here is the real thing.
This is used quite often in wheel to wheel racing conditions and sometimes, can be used in qualifying or time attack situations, when the stars align.
What does a draft look from the data perspective?
Below is a session from Spokane County raceways in June 2017. Spokane is an old school track with a very long straight away, 1,300+ yards long and in most cases, hitting near the rev limiter ( at the top of 5th gear in a PRO3 car. At least in a PRO3 car, after exiting Turn 8, it’s full throttle past three turns, before braking for Turn 2.
On this day, it was a dry and windy Sunday, with qualifying in the AM and temperatures in the low 70’s. I went out knowing that I had to setup to get my fastest laps in lap 3 or 4 – when tires would be in their optimal performance window. If I couldn’t get my target lap time then, I’d have to back off, let the tires cool off and have another go at it.
After getting things warmed up, I put together two flying laps where I felt like I gave it nearly my best and being one of only two people to get into the 1:37’s over the weekend lap time from Saturday.
Check out the gradual increase in lap time delta – usually evidence that one lap has a draft and the other doesn’t.
So, what do we have?
The purple lap is where I caught an ok but not great draft.
Towards the end of the green lap is when I started catching the cars in front.
Air Fuel Ratio seems to be about the same on both laps
At the start of the lap, there was zero difference in lap time.
As I start making it farther down the straight-away, the speed difference starts growing, reaching a peak of almost 2mph
By the end of the straight-away and right before the brakes were hit, the green lap was already .188 seconds slower.
I felt like I had left some on the able and backed off to let things cool down for a couple laps and setup two more laps, trying to catch a draft on those as well.
This time, with some video evidence! What happened:
The red lap ended up being faster than the green lap but that was with not much of a draft.
The red lap, I got a solid draft on the back straight away, where we’ll focus the analysis.
Like the previous lap, the difference in straight-away speed was between 1-1.5mph, through the whole back straight.
You can see the delta graph, where the green lap was shaping up to be just as good as the previous lap.
Engine RPM was also consistently 50-100 RPM higher for the green lap, indicating that the it was able to rev more freely with the lower resistance from the air.
Unfortunately, the car that gave me the tow on the back straight, also didn’t give me the easiest of paths to go through turn 4 (which is totally within their right) and that essentially killed the lap.
Conclusion: The draft is strong!
There is a ton of variables that go into determining the impact of the draft, such as the weather conditions, the track and the type of car. In this case, with a PRO3 car, which is more of an aerodynamic brick, having something else punch a hole in the air made a difference of .15-.2 seconds on each of the straight-aways.
I think that if I could have lined up a draft on both straights, it could have reduced each of those fast laps by another .2 seconds at least. How big of a deal is this? I lost pole position on both days but less than .1 seconds. In fact, in this video below – we took the video of the fastest segments from that session, stitched them together and this would have been a 1:37.437 – almost .5 seconds faster than the fastest lap and .2 seconds faster than my fastest rolling lap.
This has generally been what I’ve experienced at most tracks on the calendar because each as a decent straight-away.
Catching a draft in qualifying versus in a race is the same but it is very difficult to control this in a race. My suggestion is if you can, work with another driver and help each other out. Take turns having one car have a go at it and then switch, allowing that switch lap to when you let the tires cool down.
Working together is very common in karting and in light-weight and powered classes, like Spec Miata. In the future, we’ll do a write up like this with a spec Miata and looking at the quantified impact of bump drafting!
As I mentioned yesterday, today was the first official day of the race weekend, with four sessions on the schedule:
Group 1 Qualifying
Group 8 Qualifying
Group 1 Non-Points Sprint Race: ~20 minute race with results not counting towards the PRO 3 championship but your fastest lap counting towards the final qualifying grid)
Group 8 Race: 1 Hour mini-endurance race that counts towards the 2017 Mini-Endurance championship (I’ve won the championship the last two years in a row!)
Yesterday, I felt like I had established a new level of performance with the car and my driving, by improving my personal best lap time at Pacific Raceways by nearly .5 seconds and being able to repeat it, though in just one lap, with a set of brand new tires on a ‘heat cycle’ run.
Today, my goal was to take those new tires, and do a qualifying run in them for Group 1, improve on my personal best lap time and then put them away until Sunday. Then swap back on the older set of tires, which would be going on their 10 – 12th heat cycles and while still good from a tread standpoint, I fully expected the performance to start wearing off towards the end of the 1 hour endurance race.
How’d it go?
Group 1 AM Qualifying
Time of Day: 9:26 AM
Conditions: Mostly sunny, 61 degrees Fahrenheit
Result: 1:37.617 (new personal best by ~.2 seconds)
Similar issue as I had during qualifying for Group 1 in Portland but I didn’t position myself best in the pack during pre-grid. I got out early in the line up and while I was at the front, I didn’t have the benefit of a draft like when running in a pack. I did about 4 laps but not cracking the 1:38 barrier. So I decided to back off a bit and get behind a pack of PRO3 cars to catch their draft. After a couple laps, I was able to get a 1:37.766 but then was too close to them and basically started ‘racing’, so I tried to back off a little before the start of a lap and then make a run but I’d get too close about halfway through the lap and the lap would get ruined. Either way, minor improvement and felt like I at least collected enough data of several low 1:38’s, which used to be my personal best and figure out what to do.
Group 8 (Mini Enduro) AM Qualifying
Time of Day: 11:30 AM
Conditions: Mostly sunny, 68 degrees Fahrenheit
Result: 1:37.533 (new personal best by ~.1 seconds)
With the field being lighter for Group 8, track position wasn’t as important, so I just went out and tried to put down fast laps immediately after doing more of a warm up lap on my out-lap. Since these were the old tires, we were trying to make sure we’d get them up to temperature and pressures for the race in the afternoon. I did two fast laps of 1:37.855 and then 1:37.533. BOOM! Another personal best. What was I doing? Just focusing on having next to no transition period from ending trail-braking to throttle application, especially on the longer corners like turn 2 and turn 8. I came in to the hot-pits for a pressure and tire temp check and was out but was only able to put down a 1:37.792. The good news? 1:37’s were starting to feel like the new normal!
Group 1 – 20 Minute Non-Points Race
Time of Day: 1:50 PM
Conditions: Mostly sunny, 75 degrees Fahrenheit
Result: 2nd place finish and 1:37.258 (new personal best by ~.3 seconds)
These races are interesting. It’s racing but it doesn’t count towards point, so this year they changed it so that the laps count towards qualifying. So, you should never try to win at all costs but the goal is more to get into a flow and go for some fast laps. I qualified 4th but started third in class, because the pole setting car decided to start from the back OR they were late to grid. Either way, my goal was the same – get a good start and stick my front bumper to the rear-bumper of the fastest PRO3 this year, Brian B in the Blaupunkt liveried car.
And that’s what happened! Man, I am so happy about how this race went (video link below soon). I knew at least at the time that I would have to work really hard to get the start I wanted and then work even harder/smarter to stick with Brian. I pushed myself even more to be on maintenance, plus a little more, sometimes mid-corner and I found myself using throttle to get that final phase of rotation going in the slower corners of 3a and 3b.
2nd Place and a new personal best lap time!
The best thing? Mid 1:37’s became the new normal, even in greasier but not horrible conditions.
Group 8 – 1 Hour Endurance Race
Time of Day: 4:30 PM
Conditions: Sunny, 78 degrees Fahrenheit
Result: 1st Place finish and 1:37.364 (only .1 seconds off of personal best)
The fields aren’t typically super-stacked for the endurance races, usually only about 10-15 cars per class and with the SCCA Majors Tour happening in Portland this weekend, the overall field was much lower, with only about 19 or so total cars on the grid. There would only be one strong competitor battling me, Jeff M in the newly painted green and black #24. Jeff and I have shared many battles the last couple of years and he and his car are a rocket. With tires nearing the end of their top end performance life, my goal was to just drive clean, consistent laps and hopefully win but not do anything stupid.
Enduro’s are an opportunity for more seat time for me, in a racing environment and over a long period of time to try different things. I also like that one mistake won’t kill you and there is a strategy aspect to the race.
In the end, Jeff and I traded spots a couple times. I was able to get him in the beginning and get in front but a mistake in turn 8 gave him the position back and I had to work to get it back. After the mandatory pit-stop, I was able to get him back but due to traffic, worsening track conditions and his driving, I wasn’t able to pull away. Aside from winning, what I am incredibly happy about is being able to put down a 1:37.364 in the second half of the race! Man, I am so happy about that.
1st Place and almost matching my personal best!
Takeaways? A new normal and 1:36’s – here I come!
Today was an absolutely awesome day and from a driving standpoint, I believe the reason is that I have fresh in my body and mind, what it feels like to drive, look at data, see what to do differently, visualize what that looks like and make it happen. I will create a separate post that looks only at the data analysis I did over the whole weekend and what I did to prepare myself to do things differently.
The last thing here, especially from the lap times from the endurance race, if I am getting near my personal best lap times on a nearly 80 degree day, in the second half of a 1-hour race and on 11 heat cycle tires, that means this car is capable of so much more. If the driver can get it together or with a pro-level driver behind the wheel, today, this car could have probably turned a low 1:36.xxx. Lots of progress but so much more to go!
