Round 3: Road Atlanta - Full Course (17 Jan)

[TRG]

Time of day: Morning
Race Length: 45 minutes
Max Incidents: 24
Max. Fuel: 40%
Start: Standing
Fast Repair: 0


Pre-Race Interview

1- From Japan we head all the way to the USA to race at Road Atlanta! With a good flow and no shortage of elevation changes, it is sure to be a fan favorite.  So you have lots of experience here to master the blind corners? Or are you like me, and learning this track for the first time?

2- After a very short lap at Tsukuba that produced a lot of traffic, we will likely see more of the same here with a sub 1:18 laptime expected. Do you embrace the challege of navigating traffic to try and separate from your rivals? Or do you feel like you are usually on the losing end of that battle? 

3- We saw quite a large track temperature swing last race, and it dramatically affects laptimes. Do you take this potential into account with your setup and be prepared for the hot weather? 

 

[mclachlanol]

I can't remember the last time I raced here. I almost had to relearn the track. I'm in the mid to low 1:17s but I'm guessing the fast guys will be in the 16s or even 15s. Hopefully I'll get a little bit more speed but with the 24 coming up not sure if I'll get a lot of practice here.

Attached is a safe set that's probably not fast but felt pretty stable to get around the track and could manage the bumps and curbs. The default Road Atlanta set wasn't bad either but I felt like it needed just a bit more grip (I'm a wimp I need downforce ). Turn five and turn seven were the most critical for me to get right to have a good lap.

 

[Gunner]

Pre-Race Interview is up!

Thanks for posting a setup Owen! I am very new at this track, so am still using the iRacing provided set to learn the track better. Might venture into setup changes later this week.

 

[TRG]

Looks like I may have to miss this one. It will be very close, so I'm hoping I can get home in time!

 

[DEADZERO]

Just put in 70 laps of practice with coaching from Kenny Duval, plus 30 minutes of telemetry review. You guys should see a massive difference come Thursday. I'll be smoother and in control.

 

[paulwildridge]

1- From Japan we head all the way to the USA to race at Road Atlanta! With a good flow and no shortage of elevation changes, it is sure to be a fan favorite. So you have lots of experience here to master the blind corners? Or are you like me, and learning this track for the first time?

I have many laps at this track. Has been my favorite to drive for a long time.

2- After a very short lap at Tsukuba that produced a lot of traffic, we will likely see more of the same here with a sub 1:18 laptime expected. Do you embrace the challege of navigating traffic to try and separate from your rivals? Or do you feel like you are usually on the losing end of that battle?

I do enjoy the traffic game as it adds to the excitement. You win some and lose some but it usually ends up evening itself out. With traffic at a track like this you could really lose out as the esses are definitely a 1 lane section. So this could play big into the risk factor of making the pass or letting the pass happen earlier. 1 thing to always remember is its not only slower to fight to lap someone but also slower to fight to not be lapped.

3- We saw quite a large track temperature swing last race, and it dramatically affects laptimes. Do you take this potential into account with your setup and be prepared for the hot weather?

Nah, just grip it and rip it!

 

[eshhh]

Just put in 70 laps of practice with coaching from Kenny Duval, plus 30 minutes of telemetry review. You guys should see a massive difference come Thursday. I'll be smoother and in control.

One of the things I do when running the official series which you may want to consider is to both do test sessions with 60% track usage and to ghost a race or two to get accustomed to the different track state in race from open practice. I believe the hosted session last night was 30% (moderately low usage) which is typically what you would see in open practice in the official series. Practice, qualifying and race track state changes to moderately high usage (whatever percentage that may be) once the split(s) are created and degrades as the race goes on. Good thing about doing this in test session is you get to run your setup with less grip but there's no traffic. Ghosting an official session gives you the traffic but you have to run the fixed setup. Grip is quite different here in race state with the high speed elevation changes.

 

[SuperHawk]

One thing I noticed about people's setups last week, was they were bottoming out alot. This car when it bottoms out, it is easy to spin. If you start with the weekly baseline setup from the official races, they are set to not bottom out. So if you drop the spring rates, you must not only raise the car back to original height, but more than that, because of the softer spring it will compress more and bottom out again. If you stiffen the springs, then you can lower the car a little bit.
I have attached a setup for this week. Full disclosure - I am not good at this track, as I have only ran a few laps before doing this setup. I ran about 35 laps for this setup and did a 25 lap run. My times started in the mid 16's and as fuel went away, managed a 15.8. It is a pretty safe set as you can run over curbs without too much worry of spinning it. It also doesn't drag the ground when going into the corners.

 

[SuperHawk]

I am also attaching a setup tuning guide that might help some fine tune their vehicles.

 

[DeamingPie]

1- From Japan we head all the way to the USA to race at Road Atlanta! With a good flow and no shortage of elevation changes, it is sure to be a fan favorite. So you have lots of experience here to master the blind corners? Or are you like me, and learning this track for the first time?


Road Atlanta is easy to learn but tough to master. Precision is key as there is little room for error when going for the fast lap.

2- After a very short lap at Tsukuba that produced a lot of traffic, we will likely see more of the same here with a sub 1:18 laptime expected. Do you embrace the challege of navigating traffic to try and separate from your rivals? Or do you feel like you are usually on the losing end of that battle?

The long back straight will offer more passing options with the draft. I think lapped traffic will be less here than at the goat track we just left.

3- We saw quite a large track temperature swing last race, and it dramatically affects laptimes. Do you take this potential into account with your setup and be prepared for the hot weather?

I stink at high temp low grip situations, so this will be very interesting how it plays out. Testing in warmer conditions with full fuel helps make those adjustments.

 

[bonaduce]

will host a practice session 1/15/19 for 3 hours starting at 7:30 est password prl

 

[paulwildridge]

I will be there.

 

[crich88848]

1- From Japan we head all the way to the USA to race at Road Atlanta! With a good flow and no shortage of elevation changes, it is sure to be a fan favorite. So you have lots of experience here to master the blind corners? Or are you like me, and learning this track for the first time?

Learning this track for the first time. But really enjoying this track so far. This is one of those circuits when you hit the corners just right it is almost euphoric. This is my kind of track though, not too technical and all about momentum.

2- After a very short lap at Tsukuba that produced a lot of traffic, we will likely see more of the same here with a sub 1:18 laptime expected. Do you embrace the challege of navigating traffic to try and separate from your rivals? Or do you feel like you are usually on the losing end of that battle?

I don't mind the traffic when everyone is considerate of those around them. Looking forward to a track where we aren't all bunched up together. I don't know how many more first lap a$$ rammings I can take.

3- We saw quite a large track temperature swing last race, and it dramatically affects laptimes. Do you take this potential into account with your setup and be prepared for the hot weather?

Yep, got my sunscreen and Speedo with just in case.

 

[Charles Huffstetler]

1. Home track for me lots of real laps turned here.
2. like a good battle with people
3. I try to make my race sets stable and race-able I do not look for the fastest lap time. To finish the race you have to be around to see the checkered flag

 

[eshhh]

will host a practice session 1/15/19 for 3 hours starting at 7:30 est password prl

Thanks for hosting last night!

Think I was the last one in session when it ended. Track temps were up to 112 degrees. Couldn't get within half second of fastest session time towards the end and even when I put that lap down temps were 92. I imagine race track state will behave similarly.

 

[DEADZERO]

1. I have only really raced on here once before but I enjoyed it very much. Back then the esses were very bumpy and I lost control of my car going into a wall, this time around the car feels planted and can see myself actually finishing the race.

2. I will always prefer a good battle but I hope to have a few quiet moments throughout the race to give me a chance to breathe.

3. I would have said that this will absolutely change my setup but after being coached by Kenny Duval and being told that it's more about the driver than the setup, I'm focusing on keeping my driving consistent over trying to find a setup for the race.

Side note, anyone else notice the mouse cursor on the track screenshot? Haha

 

[TRG]

The mouse cursor is marking the secret tunnel that takes you make to pit lane so you can avoid the tow! Don't tell anyone!

You're welcome!

 

[DeamingPie]

Race prediction time.

Kenny will remember to put his car in gear and to turn off pit limiter and get a clean start on his way to a flag to flag victory.

Overbay will have forgotten to take his monthly shower and plant his car into the wall but will blame it on a sighting of the Road Atlanta Yetti.

Jefferson will be wearing his pink tights but it will be a different shade of pink thus causing him to lose victory.

I will try and occupy the same space as my teammate and it will create a ripple in space/time. A new timeline will emerge and Mark will be born as a woman instead,

Charlie is going to remember how fast he is and podium.

 

[CajunGrit]

1- From Japan we head all the way to the USA to race at Road Atlanta! With a good flow and no shortage of elevation changes, it is sure to be a fan favorite. So you have lots of experience here to master the blind corners? Or are you like me, and learning this track for the first time?

I’ve only driven this track in the Skippy, so it took some getting used to. But it’s been feeling real good lately, so I’m excited for the race.

2- After a very short lap at Tsukuba that produced a lot of traffic, we will likely see more of the same here with a sub 1:18 laptime expected. Do you embrace the challege of navigating traffic to try and separate from your rivals? Or do you feel like you are usually on the losing end of that battle?

I like being lapped traffic. It makes me feel relevant.

3- We saw quite a large track temperature swing last race, and it dramatically affects laptimes. Do you take this potential into account with your setup and be prepared for the hot weather?

I’m not thinking about that at all when I’m driving. I just try to get through the lap as fast as i can without crashing.

 

[Mark Phile]

Im hosting a private session tonight  starting at 7:30pm eastern, the password is HFD1. I hope to see some drivers!