I've just started out here in LFS by trying to get to know the slower cars on Blackwood GP track (as that is what im most familiar with, since the demo) and getting decent times. What i'm curious about is the setups used... Most of the faster laptimes are set with cars using the Hybrid tires (as they have better grip?) either on front, back or both sets of wheel. Now to my question... Is this "proper" tuning as per racing rules or do one have to change the tires for racing? I'm curious as I'm still running my hotlaps on standard "Road Normal" tires.

You're probably talking about the XFG. Most of the sets do, indeed, use hybrid tyres on the rear wheels, because they're easier to get up to temperature than normal road tyres. A tyre that's up to its ideal temperature offers better grip than a cold tyre, so there's your reason. I don't think I've seen setups that use hybrids on the front (and driven) wheels, or on all four.

It's perfectly acceptible for online racing. I don't know about real life racing, though.

Well, i've seen some full hybrid setups both for XFG and XRG in the upper positions on the HotLap lists...

Thnx for your clarification, i don't want to enter a server using something explicitly forbidden

Back to practicing (i dont see how im going to shave 3 secs off of my times, but its worth a try)

Hybrids are ultrasoft tyres so warm up quickly, which is helpful as the rears dont do much and have a habit of cooling down on a hotlap.

Depends on your driving style though - I like my cars to be setup "loose" and while on a RWD car I have to go for as much rear grip as I can on a FWD car I prefer to have less grip at the rear as I like the extra manoeuvrability I can get round corners out of it.

Quote from gridghost :

Well, i've seen some full hybrid setups both for XFG and XRG in the upper positions on the HotLap lists...

Thnx for your clarification, i don't want to enter a server using something explicitly forbidden

Back to practicing (i dont see how im going to shave 3 secs off of my times, but its worth a try)

yes ozan uses 4 hybrid tyres for xrg and pretty regularly breaks the world record

Ok, this goes under "other stuff" in the topic description...

I did an online race last week in which i didn't do that good, but not that bad either. One thing that has bothered me tho, is wether or not it is good to go for a full tank (as in, enough to last the entire race) from the getgo and just do a pitstop to change the tyres (which we have to do) or to go for a, say half tank (to last half the race) and fill the tank at the pitstop too.

I know that the added weight will give me slower laptimes at first, but at the same time, filling up the tank takes a while too... which one is preferred?

Quote from gridghost :

Ok, this goes under "other stuff" in the topic description...

I did an online race last week in which i didn't do that good, but not that bad either. One thing that has bothered me tho, is wether or not it is good to go for a full tank (as in, enough to last the entire race) from the getgo and just do a pitstop to change the tyres (which we have to do) or to go for a, say half tank (to last half the race) and fill the tank at the pitstop too.

I know that the added weight will give me slower laptimes at first, but at the same time, filling up the tank takes a while too... which one is preferred?

it depends. we need a little more details. what car and how many laps

If you knew the extra time the extra weight of fuel cost you, per lap, and the amount of time needed to refil that fuel, you could calculate which should work out fastest. For the road cars, which refil slowly, and don't have huge tanks, it's usually faster to start with more fuel. Add to that it's a lot easier to pass a car in the pits than racing on the track, I'd want to be in there for as little time as possible.

"blank" pitstop takes depend on track (pitlane length) 10-30s, when you refuell and change tyres you lose another seconds, aprox 5-10s...
so count, how much laps long must race be when laptime with full tank and saving_tyres driving style is 0,5-1s slower.
its part of "pitstop strategy", usually if pitstop is not required, never do it in races shorter than 1 hour, when pitstop is required, never refuell, never change your tyres, never repair your car.

Quote from Bob Smith :

If you knew the extra time the extra weight of fuel cost you, per lap, and the amount of time needed to refil that fuel, you could calculate which should work out fastest. For the road cars, which refil slowly, and don't have huge tanks, it's usually faster to start with more fuel. Add to that it's a lot easier to pass a car in the pits than racing on the track, I'd want to be in there for as little time as possible.

My thoughts are the same here... Its easier to pass people in the pits and i dont want to spend an eternity waiting for the car to be filled up so i think i will go with a "full" tank this time around... just to see if it makes any difference...