Late Model Muscle Series is out of the gate - closed

[Drift2XL]

I have taken that into consideration, and the G35 is one of the cars that are close to the gallows. I could make it a V8-RWD only and force the use of the 390's V8. With the loss of tire and increase of turbo power. It might make it fall inline as a tail wagging muscle car rather quickly.

Certainly not the composed car that Bimmer and I have found it out to be. One of the keys to the list was a nose heavy weight balance. I knew that the ZR-1 was a wolf among sheep in the Muscle Inc runs. It just turns in so much better. I have to resort to tricks to simulate the feeling in the other cars. It is consistantly at least three tenths faster than my other cars, except for the blatant power tracks. And then its not off by much with its aerodynamic shape.

All the cars except the G35 have at least a 54 front %. The G is 53%.

That's why no GS Vette. Especailly in the hands of Land. lol

[Fit4aking]

I built out my orange Camaro SS to have a go at the hotlappin.  I was runnin around Mugello Short tweekin a bit here and there.  My times were in the mid 58's and I was able to pick up a tenth or so and then it became a couple hundredths.  I figured I was gettin it around pretty good.  Then I came here to check the board and wouldn't you know it smack in the middle, but closer to the bottom.  Dang-it !!!  Its already right at 3200lbs, has the widest slicks, all the platform parts and plenty of power goodies (even forced induction).  I may need to re-evaluate the build, add some more torque, who knows.

I've had the car for some time and it was already at 850PI but had the rear Forza bumper, and was slightly under weight.  I mildly adjusted the toon but not drastically from where I had it.  Unless I can find some fatal flaw in the cars construction I do beleive that the only way I can make it go faster is to run through the trans calculator to maximize the power.  I may move some of the weight to the front, I've been tuning out a high speed push from the start.  I figured by the time I go and do all that I'll come to realize that the problem is me, not the car.

I can't bring myself to change my CTS-V or my Panoz yet (I have to much time in their current state) so I may build something different to try.

On a side note, Hoplee, Spiny and Qmole (TheNewtonJohn) ran these cars online this afternoon.  I was suprised how close the cars are when racing them.  Me, hop, and spiney were nose to tail for 2-3 laps on Tsukuba till I went an buggered it up.  Great fun, close racing and the cars are fun.  The only issue is setting up a room to limit the other cars.  It may be a friends only kinda online series, until we can make these cars as fast as the unlimited ones.

[Drift2XL]

Guessing that I got all I could out of the GT500, I moved on to some of the possibly unloved cars.

Crossfire SRT6

SISR 58.448

Suz  50.428

Mug  57.321

166.197

Lexus SC430   58.222   50.633   56.982 165.837 That's what a good turn in with some front grip can do. The Crossfire runs dead even with the Shelby until sixth. And then it might stay even if I shortened it down like the Shelby. The decrease in time is from being able to trailbrake in harder. Getting out of the turns is dead even.

[bimmerlovere39]

Ford Mustang GT Super-Soft
3,389lbs, 574hp/531lb-ft

SISR: 59.337
Suz: 51.198
Mug: 57.960
168.495

[landstuhltaylor]

Camero SS

BLASPHEMY!

[Ske]

I moved on to some of the possibly unloved cars.

I was actually wondering why these cars and the G35 were in this challenge... they're not exactly muscle cars, or even American when it comes to the Lexus and Infinity.

[bimmerlovere39]

I moved on to some of the possibly unloved cars.

I was actually wondering why these cars and the G35 were in this challenge... they're not exactly muscle cars, or even American when it comes to the Lexus and Infinity.

If taking the company's big V8 and putting it into a small, RWD car doesn't make a muscle car, I don't know what does!

The Crossfire and G35 are odd ducklings here. But I don't mind 'em

[TheJohnNewton]

On a side note, Hoplee, Spiny and Qmole (TheNewtonJohn) ran these cars online this afternoon.  I was suprised how close the cars are when racing them.  Me, hop, and spiney were nose to tail for 2-3 laps on Tsukuba till I went an buggered it up.  Great fun, close racing and the cars are fun.  The only issue is setting up a room to limit the other cars.  It may be a friends only kinda online series, until we can make these cars as fast as the unlimited ones.

You guys may have been close but my dismal effort had me firmly planted in 4th watching your bumpers.  Sorry I had to leave but early my gf made me lunch.   

[Drift2XL]

I'll give a defense for the Crossfire. That thing is a handful. I had moments where it was swapping ends on me. And plenty of tire smoke. I realize that it is a hardtop Merc SLK. Still the numbers are there, its competetive. By the way a Charger is basically the old E class with Dodge sheetmetal and a Dodge engine. Even the five speed trans is M-B.

And as far as the "imports." Right now, there are possibly more import marque cars built in the US than cars by the Big Three. If you watch NASCAR, out of the four nameplates that started the season, the Monte Carlo, Fusion, Charger, Camry. Only the Camry is built in the continental US. The MC and Fusion are built in Mexico, and the Charger is built in Canada.

So the imports, aren't really. Sad but true.

[Fit4aking]

Had some time to sort out the SS this evening.  Spent some time watchin telemetry and adjusting the alignment, playin with aero and fine toonin the top 3 gears.  Still not the best times per the effort in my book but its what I have for now.

Camaro SS
SISR:   59.359
SuzE:   50.862
MugSh: 57.975
Total:   168.196

Went on and looked over the list of available cars and I found an old favorite.  The IS430 (Foose Project).  No import car has my vote for honorary muscle than that glorious sounding sedan.  Big V8, small car, love it.  I tooned it up and had to leave the weight high, add some power and what grip was available (Not Much) and went back to trackin.  I love this car.  It has been stock in my garage since I won it.  I had 2 but sold one, and still neither was ever upgraded.  Heck I have 3 saved paint schemes on this car and no toon.  Pathetic.  No more, I now have a solid LMMS car that can run with my Camaro and is most likely going to end up faster in the end.

Lexus IS430
SISR:    58.774
SuzE:    51.111
MugSh:  57.937
Total:    167.822

I still have several untouched possibilities for this challenge.  And I'm sad to say that I was able to beat my Tuscan S time on Mugello with both cars (dangit)  I may have to rectify that before this is over.

[Hoplee]

That Crossfire was running away from me in several races last night. I was checking a couple of his times (Spiny Anteater) last night and they were about top 500 on at least one track.

I built out a Vauxhall Monaro VXR. It was fun to build the car as all the options for hoods, skirts and cosmetic bumpers are not something I'm used to. However, it's maiden online race ended in disaster and it's subsequent races haven't been much better.

I also worked on a Camaro SS that's been sitting in the back of the garage. I first built it out for grip but wasn't running as fast as I wanted to. I went back through the build and added power to it. The best I could do was 574hp/600 lb-ft. The power was impressive and the sound was satisfying, but the lap times flat out sucked. The most interesting thing about the car is that you can build it with either the stock engine, the LS6 or LS7 and still be eligible. I built them all, but got the most power and the least weight out of the stock engine.

[Hoplee]

Scoreboard updated again. Someone knock that Lexus out of first, please? Doesn't count if you do it with a 6 cylinder!

[Fit4aking]

Firmly in the middle of the pack, dang it.  I think I'll build up a Charger SRT8 as a test piece.  I've had one in my garage for quite a while.  Worst case I'll be tearing into the old favorites, CTS, GTLM.  I should be OK with them as I have a ton of notes on them in A-class anyway, hmmmm.  I just didn't want to go straight for the Panoz since it has been deemed the "cheater" car.  I may be able to make up the 2 seconds on Ske with it but when he gets around to runnin one he'll probably turn even faster times.

I found that my high speed push is still present and accounted for but I have gotten rid of my slow spped push by increasing the decel diff settings in both the IS and the SS to around 55-65 whil the accel diff is set between 40-45 on both cars.  The SS is still a bit rear end happy and I know by tire temps that the camber is the issue, well rear camber is the issue.  I only made one tune for all tracks and the .6 setting was a solid compromise.  I'll have to experiment with a little more but I like to have the cars stable for the long run and the temps were high after 10-14 laps with more camber.  0.6 seems like a good all around setting for what I want out of the car.

Its kinda like how NASCAR used to be with qualifying motors and setups that were fast for 2-3 laps and wore the bejesus out of the tires.  I like to build cars to race not just to hotlap.  Perhaps I'll have to rethink my stance on that for the sake of bringin Spanky's Speedshop higher on the board. 

[Hoplee]

I need tips for driving down from the banking onto the track at the first part of Sunset Infield Short Reverse!

Right now I have two ways of going about this turn:

1) Get down off the banking inside early and set up for a normal left handed turn onto the main track.

2) Brake suicidally late and swing high up the banking before aggresively entering the turn. The 'whump!' as your car comes off the grading helps throw the rear end out enough to drift around the turn

I'm not sure which way is faster, I just know that one of them is probably going to be the 'right way'. How are you guys handling this one?

[Ske]

Slow and tidy is better, Hop. Sliding the car always seems to lose you a few tenths in FM2, no matter how much better the line is.