shrapnel1977

I wrote an article, first time in a good while... Yay. racesimcentral.net/a-grand-legend…

I started a Substack newsletter, go on and subscribe if you want.... shrapnelsims.substack.com/p/unravelling-…

@Aristotelis As you say this is a problem that will never go away. Even with no Parc ferme, the drivers will want to run as low as possible and raked for a more forward CoP. They will always take the risk because their confidence tells them they can handle it.

@Aristotelis True. Had this been Suzuka or Imola more walls would have been met. Or they'd have driven slower ;)

Snappy handling, small window of operation, amplified issues on changing conditions. #silverstoneGP produced an exciting race, but also highlighted all that is wrong with the core decision of F1 to go for ground effect rules. In my very limited experience of aeromaps simulation, it's evident from real data that the more downforce you generate from the floor (ground effect) the more sensitive to ride height the car becomes. Even in GT3 cars that have 1/3rd or 1/4th of the downforce of F1 cars, changing the ride height of a car by 10mm (0.4inch) can change the aerodynamic balance front to rear by 5% to 10%. That is on cars that are much more stable and "simple" in terms of aerodynamics. Formula 1 cars are way more sensitive. On top of that, professional drivers are so sensitive that 1% of aero balance change makes a big difference to them. One way to mitigate this, is by adding a big rear wing. The rear wing creates steady downforce that is not sensitive to ride height, so it averages the floor sensitivity and makes the car more stable and predictable. Unfortunately it also makes the car understeer and understeer is slow. Formula 1 drivers are of a different level, trust me you'd love to have half the skill of the worst driver on that grid. So most of them go for as much forward downforce balance possible, to get the car to turn. Being on the edge of a similar aero and handling balance with so ride sensitive cars, results in high unpredictability when the conditions change. Tyre temperatures, tyre pressures, air temperature or dirty air from following a closer car. You can imagine the disaster that happens if you find yourself into a wet, drying and wet again track. Even a thin 1mm film of water on the surface of the asphalt can change your car aero balance, let alone a thick water spray and changing tyre temperatures! When F1 introduced the ground effect cars, the impact was small and the races interesting, but that was only because most of the cars had very simple floors. Do you remember 2-3 years ago the comparisons between the simple floors of Ferrari, Williams, Mclaren and the very complex floor of the then dominating RedBull? As F1 teams catch up, all the floors became complex and the amount of downforce produced, multiplied, as well as their aero sensitivity. This will always be the case with ground effect, there's no other way around it. The only way to counter balance this effect, is to create significantly more downforce and efficiency than your opponents, so you can use a more conservative aero balance and bigger rear wing angle to make your car "easier" for your drivers, while still staying ahead. That's why Mclaren is dominating and why their drivers can drive so close to each other and their opponents even on dirty air. Everybody else is driving forward balanced cars with low rear wings (see Verstappen's RB) and at the slightest change of conditions, not even Max can handle them. Good for a flying qualifying lap though. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Yes I'm aware that everything is more complicated than what I wrote and we can overanalyze this to death, also hindsight is 10/10.

@Aristotelis I'll add though that one of the reasons I watched F1 in life is to see the best drivers handle difficult cars - so I have no issue with this balance shift situation given by changable conditions.

@Aristotelis A lot of this could be helped by removing the parc ferme rule if conditions change between qual and the race. It won't help RBR or Ferrari catch McLaren, but it would make their cars a bit more drivable in the wet.

@DomDuhan @MartiniAlex The good old days. This sidebar was a highlight 😂

@shrapnel1977 @MartiniAlex Got it, wow, what a mod, what a shitstorm that time was 😅

March 16th 2005, twenty years ago we published issue 4 of Autosimsport magazine. Controversy as ever as we cover Redline's GTP mod. @MartiniAlex @domduhan

@DomDuhan @MartiniAlex Oh and it is issue 3, not 4.

@shrapnel1977 @MartiniAlex Send me a copy pls

@DomDuhan @MartiniAlex You can download it here mate issuu.com/autosimsportme…

@FinnSim @iRacing Just a shame that the Hybrid system isn't modelled properly.

Can't wait to try it! Ferrari 499P coming to @iRacing youtu.be/oKsatb624lk?si…

Interesting piece on AI in Simracing by Phil Iwaniuk in @pcgamer Issue 402 (UK). Alas, it doesn't take a huge amount of fact checking to be aware that @realDriver61's father isn't Nigel Mansell.

I was today years old when I found out that only the Japanese release of Richard Burns Rally featured an Arcade Mode. #simracing #richardburnsrally

@Aristotelis If there isn't enough elec. power to push against the drag then they have to work on these drag reduction rules. The design of the chassis rules has been dictated by the PU rules. Racing? Entertainment? Not sure where that fits in.

@Aristotelis The aero regs have come this way as a result of the PU specs being energy starved versus current regs. With a 350Kw drop when clipping, the modern aero would see cars downshifting on straights. As it stands we might see the ICE being used mid corner for recharge.

They reduce ground effect to avoid porpoising. They introduced it to make cars better at following closerly. Less ground effect, will force teams to create more downforce from wings so more difficulty to follow because bigger wings, dirtier air. Enter active aero…

@LeMansUltimate @T4RG4 VR support please.

We dive a little deeper into the June update, with Stephen Hood taking us through the update next week and wider 2024 plans. The full video is now on our YouTube channel 👇 @LeMansUltimate" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube.com/@LeMansUltimate #LeMansUltimate #WEC #LeMans24🎙️@T4RG4

@FinnSim @iRacing Indeed but sims should not shy away from complicated if it means accuracy.

This Le Mans Ultimate release makes me want the properly modeled GTP hybrid system for @iRacing as well. Would be a nice additional strategy component to longer races. Can be a bit complicated, but interesting for sure.

@Aristotelis I guess they're not struggling to make the minimum weight as much in WEC.

F1: “carbon fiber…” @ProtonRacing : “this is WEC, we don’t do that thing here…”

@Aristotelis @davidperel The problem is that overtaking with DRS is not overtaking. The rest of it is fine, remove DRS, and remove constant radio comms - Done.

@davidperel Very fair and objective points. Still many times it feels like it’s more quantity than quality racing. Maybe the number of races is too much, maybe the tv coverage is unexciting, maybe the distance with the fans, maybe a bit of all of this.

If we mean fastest cars ever, more fans than ever, a grid where 90%+ of the drivers are paid, more overtaking than in the last 30 years, some of the least field spread in history. Then yea… disgraceful