Skip Barber Race Series - 2015 Season 1 - Week 2
Racing begins Tuesday 23rd December
Suzuka International Racing Course - West Chicane (10 turns)
16 Laps (34.464 mi / 55.472 km)
Fuel - 3.1 gal / 11 L
Race weather: 71°F , Wind NW @ 8 MPH , Humidity 63% , Mostly cloudy - [Track temp: 82°F]
Lap Times [More information...]
Bihan = Under 1:30.8 (100.2% / +0.1s)
Fast = 1:30.8 - 1:32.7 (102.2% / +2.0s)
Good = 1:32.7 - 1:34.8(104.5% / +4.1s)
Forum thread from our last visit - 2013 S1
http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts ... 85429.page
For our second week, we set off for less familiary territory - a classic track loved by many, Suzuka. The West course will be used with the chicane after the hairpin. Don't frown if you think you will miss the GP layout. The shorter layout offers closer action with most of the technical bits still in place. A lap around the West Course starts at the auxiliary pit lane after the Spoon curve. Right away, you'll face the 130R at Turn 1. Only a lift of the throttle is needed to complete this exhilarating corner at speed. Overcook it here and you are dicing with death - keeping the car balanced through the apex becomes tricky, whilst if you dip a wheel onto the concrete strip at the corner exit you will spin in an instant. Turns 2 and 3 uses the shortcut before the Casio Triangle on the main circuit, so there's a shorter run after the 130R. Be sure to brake in a straight line for maximum stability and be careful not to clip the outside grass on exit. The Degnar curves are next up. Turn 4 just needs a slight lift, while Turn 5 is taken with a little bit of brake and a downshift. Fast laps take a good deal of curbing here, but a fraction too much can dangerously unsettle the car so great accuracy is needed. After a small straight and a quick sweeper (Turn 6), you'll encounter the hairpin. Be sure to maintain your stability going in by quickly getting straight for your braking, to help set up a good exit. Next up is the challenging right-left-right chicane normally seen on the Moto layout. You'll need to slow yourself down enough so that you can get back on the power when you're at the middle of the chicane. Use as much of the inside curb as you can to shorten the chicane. The final turn on the West Course is the Spoon curve, a long left handed corner that starts fast and quickly tightens towards the end. This is a devilish corner - most safely treated as two separate turns (with a stabilising burst of throttle between them) when starting out. Our most advanced pilots sometimes tackle this as a single decreasing radius turn, but this is extremely difficult. Suzuka can bite you harder than most tracks if you attempt to copy the control inputs and speeds of the fastest drivers; it's more important here than ever to stay within your limits and gradually build speed step by step. Do so, and this magnificent circuit is bound to become a firm favourite.
Fast Demonstration Lap
Track notes, more information on this lap by Conrad Makow and the RPY file, are on the How to Drive the Skippy thread.
Driven with Glenn Chalder's recommended set up. In iSpeed.
From Last To Fast - Track tutorial by Edward Ricci Jnr
Narrated lap guides at slow, 'good' and 'fast' lap times. Note this demo was recorded with default weather which is slower than this week's conditions.
High SOF races
To be confirmed for this season
Please review this thread for details of high SOF races
Most recent "pole" laps
2013 S1: 1:31.191 - Nicolas Bihan
2012 S4: 1:30.954 - Riku Alatalo
2012 S3: 1:31.409 - Jon Tanko
2012 S2: 1:31.764 - Jan Niesiolowski
Setup Help
If you are having trouble getting a grasp on the car, please feel free to download and use the setup at the bottom of this post (not yet available - will be added soon). The values of this setup are those recommended in Glenn Chalder's setup guide. When you're in the garage inside the sim, you can click on the notes tab and you'll see a very brief guide on what to expect when you change a certain setting. It is still recommended that you read the setup guide if you're new to tweaking setups (link below). In order to use this setup, download the setup file to "...\My Documents\iRacing\setups\rt2000". Others are encouraged to share their own setups so that there is a variety of setups for new drivers to try out.
Helpful Links
New Drivers Guide
Guides to Skippy tuning - Full Guide / Quick Guide
How to Drive the Skippy (Videos/Replays)
Braking and Changing Gear in the Skippy
Use F3...For The Love Of God, Use F3
