Round 7 - Rhône-Poulenc Grand Prix de France [May 3rd]

Some clarification required here: The V2.0 François mentions is his updated version of this mod for rFactor. It does not concern an update for the AMS mod we use at ISO.

If anyone is struggling with shifting, a quick fix could possibly be lowering or eliminating engine brake map. The more you have the harder it’ll be to quickly shift into gear. Admittedly it took me longer than I would have liked to realise this...

About the Ferrari 640-641 gearshift system:

According to Forghieri ("Forghieri on Ferrari", pages 254-259) in 1989 the gearbox was a sequential one, electro-hydraulicly operated, that did not allow the driver to jump gears. Problem was that you MUST use the clutch when starting, otherwise the engine stalls. You can not use it while upshifting/downshifting while moving. In 1989 it was awfully unreliable, it jammed all the time and it needed to be revamped. In 1990 it was still 7 gears + Rear, but was improved for the reliability and now allowed the driver to jump the gears. Still, you HAD to use the clutch while starting but you could've forgot to use it while driving without much hassle. It had an awfully short play, so it was trycky to feather at the starts. Same gearbox was used in 1991.

Same thing is reported on "TuttoFerrari" by Mondadori.

Proof about the actuation is a video of an Italian Journalist (Marco Frenzelli, for TivùSette, a RAIUNO program) shot in 1996: at minute 1:32 you can hear how it's actually operated. I'll translate it for you.

Mechanic: "First thing: be calm and relaxed. This is for "up" and this is for "down", in short "upshift" and "downshift". Got it? The first phase in order to start is to make contact [shows the button to press]: when you have contact..."

Frenzelli:"Do I press "On"?"

Mechanic: "You give the signal to the mechanics responsible for it start the engine up. Once it's started, you press the clutch totally..."

Frenzelli: "To the bottom?"

Mechanic: "To the bottom, the clutch must reach the bottom. Then you put the first gear. At that point, you keep the engine at around 4000 RPM (rather high) and then you leave the clutch. Be aware that the clutch has a short..."

Frenzelli: "A really short play?"

Mechanic: "Extremely short, it will jump immediately."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U45xU5xLMgA&t=260s

The tires were made with all the information available to me. We have testimonies of many drivers saying that they had to drive like taxi drivers to not upset or destroy the tires, not to mention temperature charts, telemetry and laptimes.

Simracing has been creating bad habits and teaching people the wrong side of motorsports history.

These cars go faster the softer and gentler you are. You can't expect to just try to turn more or try to turn understeer into turning without making the tires suffer.

Be gentle, learn the car, and it will reward you, believe me.

Yes it seems that way at first.

But once you become comfortable keeping the tires in their operating window it changes.
You will learn to pace yourself or push within this knife-edge of a window.

Best bet at first is to let the car do the work for you instead of forcing it. More often than not it's faster than we are

They seemed exaggerated to me at first, but after thousands of sim miles? I tend to believe these tires do a great job capturing what was probably going on in 91. Who ever said F1 was Easy?

It is possible to push, but very EASY to push too hard.
Can almost guarantee anyone who can acquire the sensitivity to be consistent in this mod, will probably do just fine in all others.
Another reason why I wont give up

BTW - The performance gap between cars is huge in some cases. BUT If you can get that car you're driving to finish anywhere near the top 6, you are a true Hero, and I will bust out the Champagne for you!!

Hope others back me up on all this babble lol

Seeing as Alberto will be in the broadcast booth I suppose I may as well pick up on the offer by Larrousse who were happy with my efforts in Mexico and would like for me to help them out at home in France.

So, may I have the remaining Larrousse for this round?


@ Jules: It may be that the Fondmetal is a little bit harder on the tires so that you need to run Mediums to make it work. The cars wear the tires differently so it will depend on the car what works.
For the Larrousse that I drove at Mexico, I could only use Softs, the Mediums were too cold and gave me no grip and no matter how hard I drove, they never heated enough, conversely(?), the Super Softs overheated immedietly no matter how kind I tried to be to the tires.
And trust me, if you can get yourself help from either David or Anders, you'll get a very nice base to work with, they are wizards with these cars

You can, but if Nick Confirms (Which I doubt) you'll have to vacate it.

The Lotus would be the best car to use round here to be honest mate.

Thiago vacated his.

I'll be there.

Sure thing, it's yours mate. Glad to have you around :-)

BUMP