Sebring 12 hour 2024 RACE!

[Nejtun]

Right mates,
So far as far as I know we got 6 people who have expressed an interest in Sebring on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th
That is enough for 2 or 3 teams.
@Deb @Kenadian @Noodleguitar @Second_Mate_Kayte @Skid_Marc_ Ogami is flying that weekend so cannot make it.
For anyone not tagged, please let everyone know here if you want to race so we can organise some teams!

I was originally going to two man this with Kayte, but we can go to 3 no problem if it makes doing the teams easier.
We are driving the Ferrari 296 GT3 with the attached setup (thanks Deb)

I am easy on any time slot that fits anyone else's schedule so please also state which slot you want.
There should be 4 slots as usual with 1 on Friday night and 3 on Saturday.

The classes are IMSA so 6 GT3 cars 4 GTP cars and the LMP2.

 

[Noodleguitar]

I am not attached to any particular car yet, but I would probably prefer a GT3.

Any timeslot could work for me because I took the Friday off. Although I would prefer #2 or #3. In timeslot #1 and #2 I think there will be many teams that are testing out the rain and are likely to drop out if they get in an accident.

 

[Deb]

I would prefer timeslot #3 or #4. I can do #2 as well, but will likely only be around for the second half of the race, given it would start at 2 AM my time. But I don't need a lot of stints, 2 or 3 would be fine.

 

[Nejtun]

If #3 is good for everyone, I am ok with that too

 

[Deb]

All, I am going out of town on Monday and will be back Friday, so I won't be around for practice. I have been practicing on my own, so feel I am ready as I can be with the new rain. If you could post any information here on teams, times, etc., I'll be checking the forum.

 

[Noodleguitar]

I will be hosting a Sebring practice session with some AI tomorrow at 13:00 GMT. I am thinking heavy rain before the start and then let it dry out with high temperature/wind. Then after it has been dry for a bit it could be good to test the transition back to light or medium rain. I am also considering making it a race session (with no damage) to prevent the AI from pitting constantly.

If you're somebody who thinks GMT means Galactic Moon Time, see the iRacing Discord channel for a local timestamp.

 

[Noodleguitar]

Once the Sebring 12H series is available in the iRacing UI, we should be able to see the precipitation chance over time, so it will be easier to see during which parts of the day it is likely to be raining.

 

[Noodleguitar]

@Kenadian , what preferences do you have? Marc and I are leaning toward the Mercedes. If you were to join as a third driver then we would have two 3-driver teams.

 

[Noodleguitar]

Scary looking weather pattern for the 12 hours :O . Three periods of rain, with one of them right at the start. That should make things interesting.

 

[Noodleguitar]

My stint length in the wet is quite a bit longer than in the dry:
Dry: 29 laps @ ~2:03 = ~60 minutes
Very wet: 31 laps @ ~2:22 = ~73 minutes

 

[Nejtun]

For anyone who wasn't with us and the AI, I drove both the BMW GTP and the P217 so I had more idea of what we would be up against with humans in the prototypes.

The P217 feels like it is on rails (relatively) and I went 2:07 in the heavy rain with a lot more time on the table. I struggled hard in the BMW with a 2:08 which was particularly difficult on new tyres, so keep this on mind when people are coming out of the pits.

Worth noting also that you can easily outbrake the GTP cars in a GT3. This is of course not worth it, especially if they are poking their noses in. Braking a little earlier will either see them making the turn and driving away or sailing right off the track and not taking you with them.

Also take care not to trust the Prototypes to accelerate away out of the slow corners, it is very easy to run them over.

 

[Kenadian]

@Kenadian , what preferences do you have? Marc and I are leaning toward the Mercedes. If you were to join as a third driver then we would have two 3-driver teams.

Merc is fine by me.

I know you and Marc like to drive so I'll be fine with 1 or 2 stints this time around.

In all honesty, my back and knees took a real beating at Bathurst so it makes sense for me to ease into Endurance again rather that just jump in with both feet.

 

[Kenadian]

My stint length in the wet is quite a bit longer than in the dry:
Dry: 29 laps @ ~2:03 = ~60 minutes
Very wet: 31 laps @ ~2:22 = ~73 minutes

Oh man, I knew I was gonna be slow but...

So far, the quickest time I've done is 2:24.6 on moderate wet/baseline setup, full fuel.

I knew this was going to be tough but holy crap

 

[Nejtun]

Oh man, I knew I was gonna be slow but...

So far, the quickest time I've done is 2:24.6 on moderate wet/baseline setup, full fuel.

I knew this was going to be tough but holy crap

I would like to think that 2:24 on a wet track is pretty reasonable :S

 

[Noodleguitar]

Audi R8 LMS EVO II GT3: -1% power, -1% fuel capacity
BMW M4 GT3
Ferrari 296 GT3: -.5% Power
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO: -1.75% power, -1% fuel capacity
Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020: -1.25% power, -1% fuel capacity
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): -1.5% power

 

[Noodleguitar]

@Kenadian , you said you were going to turn some laps tomorrow, right? Do you know around what time? @Skid_Marc_ and @Nejtun mentioned they are also around somewhere tomorrow. I can join from about 18:30 GMT.

 

[Kenadian]

@Kenadian , you said you were going to turn some laps tomorrow, right? Do you know around what time? @Skid_Marc_ and @Nejtun mentioned they are also around somewhere tomorrow. I can join from about 18:30 GMT.

I have the day off so whatever time is good for me, provided it's not 3 - 6 AM (I rarely get to bed before 1 - 2 AM as I work to 10 PM, Mon - Thurs).

Mid-day'ish is preferential if possible; 11 AM being ideal.

...so that's not really anytime lol.

F, sorry.

 

[Noodleguitar]

That sounds pretty good, I think you're 8 hours behind me at the moment, so around 12 your time would be good for me.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

View attachment 5774

I like this. I thought they had stated before that official sessions wouldn't have "heavy rain", so I was confused when the original 12-hour forecast called for it. I don't mind racing in the wet, but it has to be reasonable, especially if they're calling for "realism". Let people race in torrential downpours and thunderstorms on their own time. The 2019 12 Hours of Sebring spent the first 40 minutes under yellow. When they finally went green it was barely misting but it was enough to maintain the track at "fairly difficult conditions". Once the track is wet, it doesn't take a lot to keep it wet. I think the first session we did, week 13 in medium rain, was fairly misleading due to the fixed track state. If it had been medium rain for 3 hours straight, on a dynamic track, the track would have become a literal swamp.

 

[Nejtun]

@Deb @Second_Mate_Kayte
This is what I have come up with for our stints, let me know if you want to change anything

1.Marc
2.Nejtun
3.Kayte
4.Deb
5.Nejtun
6.Marc
7.Nejtun
8.Kayte
9.Deb
10.Marc
11.Deb
12.Kayte
Little reshuffle due to having 7 drivers, again stint 7 or any else can be dropped depending on how time is going vs stints