Hey guys, I'm Joshua Yu and I ran with you guys in Daytona and I'm back to help out for Le Mans.
I turned some laps with the HPD on the LeMans track and everything feels great. If we do end up using the HPD or running two cars, I have a really solid setup I'm willing to share. The setup is well balanced and feels planted even with the downforce at the lowest setting. The TC in the car is truly great and you don't lose tons of time due to oversteer like you do in the GT3 cars. Braking is a bit tricky as the car really does not like trail braking, so it takes a bit of practice to get it right. All in all, super-comfortable car and incredibly fun to drive!
-Fuel-I ran a full fuel stint and found that running at a lower fuel map really is not worth the time in pace for the fuel saved. At 8 (max) fuel setting, I was getting ~9.8lbs burned per lap and with setting 4, I was getting ~9.7. So the difference was .1lb per laps with a 1-2 sec drop in pace with loss in acceleration and a 5mph slower top speed. The tank holds ~137lbs of fuel to make about 13 laps around the circuit for a pit. The time between stops comes in just under 45 minutes, but I imagine with traffic during the race, it will be 1-2 minutes more.
-Tires-Tires held up really well and pace increased as the fuel burn made the car lighter. The sweet spot for pace comes with 50lbs left in the tank. I think it is possible to double-stint the tires, but after the first stint, care is needed and a little more time to get back on the throttle after a corner. The car will begin to oversteer a bit, but is purely manageable. As long as you're not stomping on the gas on corner exit, you'll be fine.
-Pace-My current fastest is a 3:35.2 and I'm making consistent mid-3:35s, but I've been making progress and I'm hoping to bring it down to 3:32s which apparently is the competitive time. Fully loaded with fuel, the car feels very heavy and you will lose ~2-3sec a lap.
-Track Notes-The car seems to thrive on this track, but there are some points where caution needs to be taken. The most time lost so far has been the chicanes on Mulsanne as it's tricky to get the timing of braking and gas right. I found that braking at around the 150m mark downshifting to mid-range rev of 1st gear, light throttle mid-corner and gradual increase to full throttle while taking a wide exit is the fastest way. Upshift to 1st to 2nd may result in oversteer if the car isn't straight and will lose you a lot of time. This is also a tricky corner for braking as too much brakes in this corner will usually result in locked rear wheels and a spin into a wall. This applies for both chicanes.
Another tricky point is Indianapolis. It is really important that you do not overcook the high-speed entry into the braking zone as the car will be too fast into the hard braking zone which will either lock up front wheels, destroying your tires, or lock up the rears, destroying the car. Playing it safe would be just lifting off before entry and taking as much time as needed to set you up for the hard brake zone for the left hander. Lifting off early for entry won't necessarily lose you too much time, so it's better to just play it safe for the race.
Last corner I'm concerned about is the Esses in the early part of the track. Make sure you hit the apex of the first left-hander. If you do not hit the apex and go a bit wide, you may be going too fast and you will hit a wall on the exit of the next corner. Or if you hit the first apex but are going wide due to excessive speed and not set up for the second corner, best bet is to let off the gas and save the car.
Corners with time penalty problems would be the exit of Porsche Curves and the exit of Tertre Rouge.
So this is obviously a long write-up so you can tell I'm pretty pumped for this race. I think if we put some time into practice we can be really competitive especially with one month to go before the race. This write-up is for the HPD but I've also heard that we might be running the Ford, so I'll buy that car and try it out and hopefully get a good setup to put some laps in. If any of this comes off as confusing, or you need me to elaborate on something just let me know. Thanks guys!
