I love racing on the Redline Racing servers as there are usually people there and the majority of them are nice. For a couple months I've been trying to compete on the FOX/BL1 server and have gotten my PB down to 1:08:24 today in hotlaps using Maurizio's WR set. I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong on this combo.

I seem to be missing something that is keeping me from dropping my times to 107. I'm not trying to set any WR's but I would like to be able to keep up in a full grid in the RR1 server. Right now I am middle pack running low 1:09 and can sometimes get a 1:08:80. I really struggle with T1 and rarely get a 1st split under 23:70. Today I got my lowest of 23:32 by sheer dumb luck and realized that I had to almost drift my car around that corner to get a decent split.

The only problem with that strategy is the fact that the FOX is amazing unforgiving in a slide and 1 out of 2 times I oversteer too much and loose exit speed trying to correct. My old PB of 1:08:34 was set with a 24 second 1st split so I think I have sector 2 down pat. Anyways, I was hoping someone could take a minute out of racing to watch my replay and tell me where I can improve my times.

That's not bad driving, not even close.

Huh? bad driving, i dont think so,

Haven't watched the replay, but 1:08.24 is almost one second faster than the 103% benchmark of the world record. That's about as close as I usually get to wr times after a little over 16.000 online-kilometers in LFS (which is nothing considering that I've been playing LFS for more than three years, but it's still valuable experience). Seeing that you have put in 4.487 km since december 2006, and that you're obviously a dedicated FOX-racer, I'd say your driving is just as one would it expect it to be. If you keep going at that rate, you'll soon find out that you'll get faster the more you race, but progress naturally won't be as fast as it was in the beginning.

Still, I have 3 suggestions for you:
1. Also drive other cars every once in a while, as that will help you to find different lines and different techniques which might just help you finding those extra 10th in the FOX.

2. Download wr-replays and see what's different. Where are the braking points, which lines do they take through turns, and how much speed do they carry into, through and out of turns and how fast does that maybe make them on the straights?

3. Practice!

1:08.2 is considered BAD driving in the FOX around BL???

My best is 1:11.99. :dunce: Now THAT is BAD.

I've just seen your replay and what you need to improve is your lines, you are not using all the track in some corners, maybe if you get closer to the inside so you can get faster to the apex and exit corners at a greater speed you could shave that hundredth of a second to get to 1.07.XX, try breaking a little bit earliear so you can get to full throttle before the apex.

hi bhs,

I occationally frequent Redline BLGP (when hiding from girlfriend) and have seen you there, your not *SLOW*

ive not seen the replay, but you definatly need to work on split one times - i can regulary get low 23.2's, i use a line that the top guys says is imposible to do those times and they try and convice me to use their line, the difference is that i dont use the curb on the left into turn one i also have a lower entry speed, because infact i beleave that the most time to be *gained* is between corner 1 and find the perfect line into and through the chicane, once im at the apex of t1 im full throttle untill i reach the end of the striaght, the only drawback to this line is a) i get rammed from behind in t1 b) every tom dick and harry thinks they can outbrake me in t1, also there is one trick that i use to stay full throttle in the chicane and that is to change gear as i touch the left curb in the middle, this stops the rear kicking out

The only other advise i can give is that you need to learn how to take the last corner flat out.

Simon

Thanks for all the opinions, I realize I am not slow compared to the majority of players but when I run hotlaps so much I realize that I'm still +1.00 from WR times at my best. I just get discouraged when I watch the WR and hotlap replays and can't figure out where I'm losing so much time.

I can go through the chicane and hit 99mph as I touch the third curb. This seems to be 1mph slower than the top hotlappers. I'm somehow losing out on alot of time in the middle of T1 and can't seem to find out where. I've tried different lines and the fastest for me seems to be something like FlintFredstone talked about. If I try to follow the same line as someone like Maurizio would take I do it WAY too slow I guess. If I try to take all the track I can(touching the exit curb) I find myself having to make a sharp turn to get into the chicane and usually oversteering.

Quote from FlintFredstone :

The only other advise i can give is that you need to learn how to take the last corner flat out.

Simon

I take this corner full throttle with no braking beforehand. I hit the 2nd curb at 107mph which is a bit slower than I should be going. Probably 2-3mph slower.

The only things I could see wrong with it was that you missed the apex on the corner exiting the straight, and again over the back of the circuit. Not much, but you're losing a tenth or two there. Though, on L1, you hit them It's what that place is all about tho - putting together the perfect lap

One other minor thing: use more of the exit (even a bit of grass) out of the last turn, and the turn before that, let the dif rotate the car more (imo).

Sorry, I did not watch the videos because, well, although I could spot mistakes (LFS Racer for over a year), I do not have s2 and will then be ... well .. I don't know enough about s2 so my advice would be deemed pointless.

I did download the video anyways, I might watch it in a few minutes and post again.

Don't have to sound so humble. You seem to be wanting a bit of attention, as everyone is exclaiming how you did well, maybe you might just want to ask for some....wait a second! How come my topic did not recive this much good feedback!?

/frustrated ^_^

You couldn't watch the replay anyways, demo racers can't watch S2 replays.

What?! dang.

Ah, I wanted to see how a car handled, for once.

This stinks. And i'm still researching how to pay for s2..

Quote from bhs :

I take this corner full throttle with no braking beforehand. I hit the 2nd curb at 107mph which is a bit slower than I should be going. Probably 2-3mph slower.

yeah 107 is what i hit when normally in a race, hotlapping ive hit 110+ there, its just one of those corners where you just need to keep the car inline and going forwards as much as posible, i also set my gearing up here so that im not having to change gear untill almost at the top of the hill so i dont loose time on the steep bit in neutral, those 100th's all add up

Also something i have noticed in the first corner is that if i use all of the road on exit (right upto but not on the curb) im a 10th slower to the first split, it seems that about half a car width from the curb seems to be optimum for me.

Simon

Quote from Cr!t!calDrift :

Sorry, I did not watch the videos because, well, although I could spot mistakes (LFS Racer for over a year), I do not have s2 and will then be ... well .. I don't know enough about s2 so my advice would be deemed pointless.

I did download the video anyways, I might watch it in a few minutes and post again.

Don't have to sound so humble. You seem to be wanting a bit of attention, as everyone is exclaiming how you did well, maybe you might just want to ask for some....wait a second! How come my topic did not recive this much good feedback!?

/frustrated ^_^

If I was looking for attention I'd be at your mother's house. In all seriousness, I am not looking for an ego boost in this thread, I really do need some help getting around that track. I ran a race in Redline1 where every lap but the first was a 1:08. I'm at a loss as to how I did it but I got within 0:00.03 of my hotlap PB and was running 23:30-40 1st splits. An hour after winning that race I couldn't get below 1:09 in hotlaps. Maybe I'm just not experienced enough? I feel like I know how to drive around the track but I can't do it consistently enough to get better lap times.

Like Troy said, work on keeping it tight, and getting on gas early. Don't be afraid of the foxxy getting the rear out.

From experience, try not to copy what the WR guy is doing on T1 exactly. This will probably mess you up, and irritate the crap out of you! You will figure it out on your own, and when you do you will continue to perfect it, and get 107s like nothin. I remember when I couldn't get outta the 1:08s, I just over tried, and now I have a pb at 1:07.3. Just give it time, and when you least expect it will come.

good luck, and cya on the track.

It's funny you mention not copying the WR guys. I recently watched Axabaxa's WR replay and had sort of a meltdown after a day of trying to spin my car around to heat up the tires like he does in the beginning of his hotlap. Then I tried to do that awesome drift around T1 for the rest of the day and decided to make this post. I'll no longer be watching his replay to learn from because I honestly believe he is a cyborg.

BTW,

Why not watch mine or jasons (i have a 107.550 on lfw, jason a .460) mines not perfect and certainly not alien.

Simon/Troy