V8 Supercar...a second opinion

[Troy Dalton]

I hate to say this and gawd knows I'd never post this over in the iRacing forum, but the more I drive this car...the less I like it. [shrug]

WHAT! "KILL HIM!", screams the iRacing mob!

I know, I know...what's wrong with me! Everybody else is just falling all over themselves in some weird, self aggrandizing, masturbatory bliss; meanwhile I'm having difficulty summoning even a minor chubby.

Hey, before everyone burns me in effigy, let's not forget that I'm a self proclaimed iRacing whore...period...dot. I simply love iRacing and unlike Tiger, my relationship with iRacing is an exclusive one. I don't cheat on iRacing, but if it were last call and the V8 was the lone chick at the bar, I'd have to ask myself, "How drunk am I?" Don't get me wrong, I'm taking the V8 home and we're gonna do the nasty, but I don't envision any long term relationship...if you know what I mean.

Yes, I'm being factious, but the simple truth is that I'm not that thrilled with the Ford V8. The car is very difficult to drive (IMO) and it's even more difficult to setup and that's what I dislike most. I guess I was hoping for something that didn't require an engineering degree or the reflexes of Sebastian Loeb. [Double Shrug]

The wife asked me how I like it and I said, "It is literally the fastest covered wagon I've ever driven."

More specifically...the car just loves to pull to the right from a standing start. It is maddeningly erratic at half throttle, completely unpredictable mid-corner, and will try to kill you in each and every high speed turn. No really! Take it out to Barber and if you can prevent the car from killing you every time you climb the hill heading towards the hairpin...SEND ME THAT SETUP!

Other than that...it's great.

Most interesting is it's penchant to turn right from a standing start. With full soft springs, the left front will rise off the ground, while the right rear squats as if to take a dump. With no steering input what so ever, it quickly yaws to the right and if no left rudder is applied, it will begin a death spiral. It reminds me quite a lot of the Silver Crown car, but that would be doing the SC a disservice, because the V8 is the only tin top that I've found that reacts in such a manner. How a car can lay down to two equal tracks of rubber and turn so quickly to the right is beyond me. If only Marisa Tomeii were here whadize me with her expertise in general automotive knowledge.

I am truly shocked that the V8 Ford is a "C" class car. I guess from a financial aspect, the more people that buy it the better, but it's a very difficult car to drive and I'm certainly having second thoughts about competing in an "Official" series with it. The carnage that I'm envisioning is reminiscent of my early days in the "Rookie" class Legends.

Maybe I wrong...I have been known to be completely off base on more than one occasion...maybe with 500 or 600 hours of practice I'll change my tune....or...maybe I just need to go back to school and get the automotive engineering degree. Either way, at the moment my love affair with the V8 appears to be a one night stand.

[JMH714]

Yeah... I found it difficult to drive on Phillips Island track - I could survive few turns and then couldn't survive on next round of turns. I've drove it 4 laps and the tires are already in 50%! I wasn't even pushing myself (average 1:48 the best).

Just letting you know, I willing to race Daytona Prototype if you decided to drop V8.

And I want to correct you the name of actress of My Cousin Vinny - Marisa Tomei - with one "i".


Edit to add:

This is interesting information from iRacing staff that posted in Phillips Island thread (in V8 forum)

try increasing the front caster. That may make it better in the middle of the turns. As far as the oversteer is concerned... Anytime you're off-throttle, it's prone to understeer. Park it before the turn, get it pointed the right general direction and get back on the gas--GENTLY. The smoother you are, the smoother the transitions from understeer to oversteer.

I'm not as fast as Grant here, but I can control and set up the car to my general liking. The baseline setup isn't a 50% cross weight, because acceleration causes the left rear to load up, taking weight off the right rear. That's why the LF-RR cross has more than it's 50% weight distribution. It's intended to reduce some of the asymmetrical handling a solid rear axle induces.

Higher Watts link causes oversteer. I ran a little earlier, and ran the baseline with a softer rear bar. (I think I ended with it on 2, with the baseline 0.5" rear sway bar) Front barsetting at full-stiff on whatever bar comes with the baseline setup. Watts Link was still at 10.00. I think I'm going to ty lowering it to 9.5" to try to tame some of the tail-happy nature at this particular moment.

[Bob Dunlop]

Well it was really tough at first but now w/ about 2 hours at PI under my belt I'm running consistent 1:35's and 6's w/o wearing the tires out.I think it took so long because I was not only driving a new car but also a new track.
Driving this car just really takes allot of discipline and patients.
I think this is the best example of slower = faster I've ever seen in Sim racing.
If we don't run these I would vote for the DP's or Spec racer but I would really like to see everyone give these cars a fair shake.

[neilfro]

I enjoy them and I'm not the biggest road racing fan. I have a question?

What were you expecting them to be.

The V8 is an aussie rules-nascar, and thats what I feel like im driving when im racing one. A COT that actually can turn....sort of.

And I think keeping the v8 is the way to go on the road series side....just because they are so new and everybody wll be helping each other out that much more...just my 2cents.

[JMH714]

I agreed with Neil... however, if people dislike the vehicle, they would stop racing with us - that's not something I wanted to see. I don't mind racing with V8 for whole season, but I don't want us to lose members something they don't like.


Edited to add:

I finally finished my V8 paint - Spent too much time trying to figure out which side it should go (door handles and rear wing brackets). Ugh.

[Charles Stout]

So far im liking it. It had to grow on me as i learned it. As for PI, eh - its ok. I've tried it at Mosport and Brands also. Each was pretty challenging yet fun in its own way. You really gotta brake early and then into the apex to make it rotate. Even at that, its still pretty hard because if you miss a mark it just keeps pushing even worse.

Being smooth with the throttle is also very important. Too much too soon induces a push if the car hasnt rotated yet.

I suggest giving other tracks a try if you havnt already. I think Mosport would be really fun in these with race conditions. However, i do think several pit stops might be necessary in 50 lap races.

[Troy Dalton]

Whoa fellas, just to be clear, WE ARE running the V8 Supercars in the Wednesday road series!

...and to answer Neil's question, "What was I expecting?" Quite frankly, I expected a "C" Class car to be easier to setup and drive. Really, if it's the Australian equivalent to the COT, then it should probably be in the hands of the Pro's or at the very least "A" Class licensed drivers (I'm not the only one to voice that opinion). Like I said, I was shocked that this car is a "C" class car. As a "C" class car, it's open to anyone with a "D" class 4.0 license. Which means that there will be a lot of fresh meat jumping directly from the Skippy and/or Jetta into this car. That seems like a big jump IMO. Last season the DP was an "A" class car and it is arguably a lot easier to drive than the V8.

Regardless, we're going to have fun and I'm looking forward to it. Sorry if I gave you guys the wrong impression. I was just having a little fun and expressing my "I don't think it's the greatest car ever" opinion.

[Troy Dalton]

Bob's right, this car does require a significant amount of patience and discipline. Funny, I was watching the Speed coverage of the V8 Supercar series the other day and neither of the words "Patience" or "Discipline" came to mind.

Anyway, having only seen these cars on TV, I always had the impression that the drivers were firmly grasping these cars around the neck and wringing the life out of them. Watching them zip around Adelaide or Bathurst and it's hard to imagine that these cars need to be finessed...but...I suppose I was wrong about that.

[Bob Dunlop]

One thing I noticed early on is that I have almost no sense of speed in these little cars and once I realized I was going 150 MPH that made all the difference in the world in my driving style.
Lets face it guys...these little Ford sedans ( Focus?) were never designed to go 95 MPH through a turn

[BryanH]

I'm surprised by the number of people that find the Falcon V8 difficult to drive. To me it's possibly the most communicative car in iRacing, with the most natural feeling and behavior at the limit. And this is coming from the guy who cut his teeth on mid-engined cars, none of this nose heavy silly stuff.

I'm really enjoying not only driving this car, but racing it. Tire management counts. I like cars that require a little discipline.

Here's a setup that was shared in an open practice session I was in. I changed it a little to make it suit me. But I found it fairly progressive and good to drive. One of the setups posted at the iRacing forums (by a guy named Jesse) feels fast but it's crazy twitchy mid-corner. I may try to tame it at some point and see what happens.

IIRC the solid rear axle's watts linkage, and the nearly locked differential contribute to the car's desire to turn one direction when applying power. If I remember right, something like a 48% cross-weight helps even it out. See what it is in the setup I posted, at least.