[Wally]

Yeah, we did ballast in the FR3.5 - I quite liked it but the only issue was that it seems after a certain weight, time lost almost squares with ballast added.  It's not a linear penalty.

Yep. And it was lap-times based, not position based...

Season 8 was the Lotus GTC/GX season with success ballast, with the top 10 getting: 75kgs – 66kgs – 57kgs – 48kgs – 39kgs – 33kgs – 27kgs – 21kgs – 15kgs – 9kgs as per the British Touring Cars.

[grat]

Yeah, we did ballast in the FR3.5 - I quite liked it but the only issue was that it seems after a certain weight, time lost almost squares with ballast added.  It's not a linear penalty.

Yep. And it was lap-times based, not position based...

Season 8 was the Lotus GTC/GX season with success ballast, with the top 10 getting: 75kgs – 66kgs – 57kgs – 48kgs – 39kgs – 33kgs – 27kgs – 21kgs – 15kgs – 9kgs as per the British Touring Cars.

I thought we were talking about the FR3.5 season. The GTC/GX ballast system worked pretty well, I think. It was my first season, so my opinion should not count too much, but it was quite fun and decently close. The FR3.5 was a bit too much a headache with the ballast, especially because you had to setup the car for it and at some point I had 150kg+ of ballast and I did not know at all what I was doing. Also, there was the issue of using the best lap or other laps... it was very complicated to manage. The success ballast in season 8  was simple and nice enough, I think.

[Bruce]

Just give the lower order drivers an outrageously better car than the rest of the field,   sorted!

[marty]

Just give the lower order drivers an outrageously better car than the rest of the field,   sorted!

I think it was Phil that made an interesting suggestion in a server once. Have 3 separate class cars and run them all at once splitting the field equally, then give season points per class and make it that you end up driving each class in the season. If a season like that was run and groups were split into for example past season results. You could have 8 drivers in each group that would be fairly competitive in a 24 driver field with each driving in each car for 3 of the 9 rounds. You could have a slow race car like the Abarth 500 assetto corsa or M235i, second level could be a gt car and final level could be a fast open wheeler or prototype like the c9.

[Phil.8]

It was my idea, I have been thinking about it for Thursdays next season.  You could also have 3 winners per round and at the end of the season 3 class winners and an over all winner,

[marty]

It was my idea, I have been thinking about it for Thursdays next season.  You could also have 3 winners per round and at the end of the season 3 class winners and an over all winner,

No need to hog the idea for thursday's  if each winner gets the big bucks we race for Tuesdays then I may try to make the Thursday series too. 

[Phil.8]

lol, i think would be awesome on Tuesdays, I just thought we could guinea pig on Thursdays

[Wally]

One of the future season ideas, Gratulin's I think, is the multiclass race like Merc C9 and the Merc 190e.

[Wally]

I just put some times up, and here they are, for interest:


1. F458, 1:45.805
2. M3, 1:46.372
3. C7R, 1:46.535

I'm still fastest in the Ferrari.

[Wally]

I've plugged all the Barcelona laps into my spreadsheet and come up with a slight reduction in ballast:

C7R = 35 kg
458 = 25 kg

This makes the number of people faster and slower in each car pretty equal, but it does mean that the Corvette would dominate the BMW at a track like Brands.

Might as well put up one more combo Marty with this new ballast, just for fun, as it's still a few weeks to the next season. You can choose a track.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

I've plugged all the Barcelona laps into my spreadsheet and come up with a slight reduction in ballast:

C7R = 35 kg
458 = 25 kg

This makes the number of people faster and slower in each car pretty equal, but it does mean that the Corvette would dominate the BMW at a track like Brands.

Might as well put up one more combo Marty with this new ballast, just for fun, as it's still a few weeks to the next season. You can choose a track.

It's funny, Marty and I were chatting when we were running these at Barca and came up with about the same figures.

I don't think the BMW is that much slower really - it's certainly more "drive-able" than the other two.  From memory I think I set my fastest times at Brands and Barca in the BMW (Barca had the other cars with lots of ballast though).

[Wally]

I've plugged all the Barcelona laps into my spreadsheet and come up with a slight reduction in ballast:

C7R = 35 kg
458 = 25 kg

This makes the number of people faster and slower in each car pretty equal, but it does mean that the Corvette would dominate the BMW at a track like Brands.

Might as well put up one more combo Marty with this new ballast, just for fun, as it's still a few weeks to the next season. You can choose a track.

It's funny, Marty and I were chatting when we were running these at Barca and came up with about the same figures.

I don't think the BMW is that much slower really - it's certainly more "drive-able" than the other two.  From memory I think I set my fastest times at Brands and Barca in the BMW (Barca had the other cars with lots of ballast though).

You've been able to get similar times out of all the cars, no matter what the ballast. It's lower down in the times that they start to spread out for the greater unwashed masses.

Barcelona is a really tricky track. I cannot consistently get turns 1, 5, 7, 10 or 12 right. I always feel like I've screwed those corners up a little.

[grat]

@Wally: I am no GB, but I thought I'd put down my 2 cents. Mostly I am interested to see if others think the same way (which would suggests my impressions are not complete bulls**t)

T1: I'd say you just find a good braking point and try to be patient for turn in. Then you should sacrifice t1 anyway, as all that matters is a good line through 2 and 3.

T5 is notoriously evil. Martin Brundle this year mentioned "you always had to miss the apex and stay a bit wide there". I think it's less important for GT cars, but it is very steep and bumpy at the apex and it's preferable to sacrifice speed there for a cleaner exit (letting it slide slightly to complete rotation often works nicely, though).

T10: my impression is that without abs this is a very tricky braking point. Because you need trail-braking to turn in and get a decent line to accelerate as soon as you can without losing the back, but it is a bit bumpy, so it so easy to block the front tyres (if brake bias is right... otherwise you lose the back, which is even worse). I have seen some following a double-apex line, but it seems to me that the fastest guys manage to take a clean apex at the beginning and then just keep it kind of in the middle of the road for most of the throttle-on part.

T12: one of the most "patient" corners out there. In the GP track, I often find it easier to take a double-apex, a bit like Luffield at Silverstone. But in the Moto version, it's probably better to just take a slightly late apex, follow the inside line using a bit of throttle to rotate it nicely, and then find some markers to tell you when to start to give plenty of gas. The only important thing is to have it straight by the time you are on the green concrete and kerb on the exit.

[Wally]

Good tips, Grat. I think the way I usually stuff up most of those particular corners is by coming in too fast and pushing wide.

[marty]

Ive moved the server to Imola with Wally's new ballasts, I think c7 maybe needs about 50kg and suspect it will be just a touch quick here.