Weigh in as to whether you're keen to run the success ballast again or have an unrestricted season for a change It's all or nothing.. Let's wrap this up by Thursday so everyone still has half a week to practice confirmed race weights. Cheers.
I enjoy the ballast system, it brings the aliens back to the pack and gives others a chance for a win.
We already know which drivers are aliens, at least success ballast makes it a challenge for them Also the engine intake restrictor is probably a bit more subtle in these cars, weight ballast may be too penalizing.
Good point Mael but I think for this season we'll stick to all or nothing on ballast as that's a mature system. Would need to invest some testing hours to start and effective restrictor success system.
I dont think ballast would make a huge difference in these cars, last race I started with a full tank and was less then .15 off my pb on lap 5 with 75% of fuel left at the end of the lap. I assume fuel is measured in kg in AC so 75% of 65 would be 48.75kg still and at least 40kg over a qualy fuel load lap. Last season I think 10kg was about .2 around a regular lap, race cars tend to be effected more by ballast then road cars which are quite a bit heavier so the weight gain is not as big a percentage of total weight. I voted no ballast this season but really don't mind so much either way, my reason to vote no would be mostly to have a proper straight out battle with the other guys up front. Last season there was usually 20kg between me and Koaster all season and between us we really didnt have many on track battles even though we were close at the end of the season. With a 20kg difference most races it was about .4 per lap and whoever had the lower weight would finish ahead most rounds. The advantage of the ballast is that it brings the midfield up a bit and even gives guys not likely to battle for the lead to do so with 0 v 50kg being about 1 second this was about the gap from the lead to the mid pack. Overall it worked fairly well and even top weight still had a good chance at a podium even if wins depended more on others misfortunes then race pace giving up maybe 15-20 seconds over a race distance making a clean win on pace unlikely. At the end of the season with the ballast as used here the season champion wont change but they simply wont win as many races as if there was no ballast and have lower results then they would otherwise where top weight may win the first 2 rounds but then get 5-7th in the 3rd race.
Outsiders opinion: Don't run ballast. Yes it makes the field closer, but for official seasons, IMO keep it the same weight. This means that slower guys who WANT to be able to get to the pointy end need to push for it and/or practice. (I have run series with penalties like ballast to even out the field and it has worked well in community events)
Even though I don't have a chance of winning races I voted against ballast. Obviously it would be insane if we were all very close to each other but if the day ever comes I'd like to win knowing Koastr, Marty, Ed, etc. were in the same car as me. Like Marty mentioned about him and Koastr usually missing out on battles thanks to ballast differences, I'd like to see them being able to go at it more - which could actually slow them down? I'm ok with not being the fastest, as long as there's a few guys I can battle with and they respect the rules I'm happy
Great discussion. I have enjoyed the ballast system but as others have eluded to performance parity gives satisfaction of knowing you placed based on merit not the penalty your competitor had. Same reasoning as why the original official GT leagues was always single make and fixed setup. For this reason I voted No ballast for this season but would like to see it (or restrictors) back again in future as it has added another dynamic to the seasons and it's own satisfaction if you are able to place well carrying a penalty... even if that leaves you wondering what might have been with no ballast.
Yea maybe a battle for 2nd and 3rd behind you. Just had some pracy races at Donnington some amazing racing with @Shaun_A last race I got him to the line by a full .002 Oh and here was the race before where we were close into the last chicane but I missed a gear went up in smoke but limped across the line still. Shame in MP you dont get to see other peoples smoke after they killed their engine or gearbox. Funnily enough in my r33 I did destroy a gearbox on one poor upshift too so this isnt too far from reality.
