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Want me to take a look? I'm not that good at OHV but a different approach might help... just tell me what you absolutely can't do without and I can try figure out the rest

The main thing I've noticed with my OHV experiments is that they really reward undersquare (long-stroke) configurations - you can't hardly rev them anyway, so it's basically free displacement. I think the one I tried for 1955 was right at the limit for the ratio, and it was comparable to the slightly-smaller-displacement oversquare SOHC I'm using in my latest coupe.

Also, because the OHV valvetrain is so cheap, you can afford significantly more on the head quality sliders.

Annnnd, I just broke 2:50....finally!!!!

My problem isn't so much the engine. I can't tune suspensions for shit! I'm just BARELY breaking 1.0g....

An approximation of how to tune suspensions would be: for each component, try to find the point at which the car has least understeer, without turning into terminal oversteer. Repeat for all components. Then adjust the front and rear for each component in tandem (when adjusting springs, ride height will also have to change). I'd start with camber, then sway bars, then springs, then dampers.

Of course, this rule goes out the window a bit when it comes to MR cars. They seem to handle quite differently.

This is basically my approach already. I just don't seem to have much luck at finding those elusive "sweet spots" everybody talks about. I have 1.04 in the small and 1.00 in the large circle on the 55. I almost died when I saw someone (or multiple someones) posting 1.2g's on their 55's....as you can probably imagine.

Oh, and I'm still pushing close to 200 hp (~215 at the crank) at the wheels on this dinky lil 175s. But certainly a far cry from the 270ish I started with. hahahaha

EDIT: Well, I did 30 minutes ago. And now it's all gone...back to previous version. If the submitted files don't work, oh well. 1955 is my last entry in any competition until saving is working as it should...or until I have control of what and when a save occurs again. So fucking annoying!!!!!!!

Saving is a big problem. My friend lost his car today and it was running 2:39.30. He had a remarkable engine too.

He actually provided the push I need to get my car down to 2:39.40.

Hmm... This will make the next test all the more interesting. Will a tyre compound be a clear winner, or will we have to choose and hope for the best? And which set of strengths or weaknesses will suit which track?

The tyre wear will need to be quite significant to make soft sports worth it I think.

Agreed, hence der Bayer increasing wear by a factor of 1.3-1.5. But I don't know if even that's enough... It would reduce end grip in the ten lap test to maybe 0.78-0.80 and 0.85-0.87 respectively? At least that's my guess.

The grip adjustments will indeed be interesting, they should better balance sports and slick tires for the race. Interesting dynamic with the slicks having quite an advantage in the first half... then becoming traffic for the sports tires later

You guys and your saving problems frustrating to see as I know what it feels like. This will all be sorted out with the next big update. I NEVER had any "my car didn't save at all or got corrupted" issues with saving, so let me tell you what I usually do (or do not do):

When you want to work on a specific aspect of your car (engine only / trim only), use the hold/revert function. Stay within engine or trim respectively in that case. Press hold again to keep your changes and retest the car/engine to make it save.
When you want to make bigger changes to engine and trim, clone the trim and select the clone to work on.
Whenever you change your engine, go to the engine testing tab and run the engine test (you can abort it of course).
Whenever you change your trim, go to the final testing tab to run the car test.
Name your creations with simple unique names, using no special characters.
When switching to a different car to work on, restart the game first to be sure nothing gets fucked up.

Adhering to these, the worst thing I had happen to me in the many many hours of playing the bugged version is something not loading in quite right, fixing itself on the first car test. No disappearing or corrupted files.

My friend lost his car when he was renaming everything according to the required name system for the car.

Some files just poofed, others stayed but were unloadable, then his game screen went black.

I have taken to naming the car as I make it but then end up with a problem were part of the name is GenJeFTP2 in the name and need to get rid of the P2 without losing the car. (I also back my car up now)

So far I have only lost a car in renaming, no other point.

I do the same thing...07CobaltGirl1, 2, 3, etc. Renaming is where I lost mine, though it wasn't lost. It just wouldn't get rid of the previous version so it kept loading the old one and never showed me the new one. I looked in the folders and it was there, but not available in game. Ended up deleting all but the most recent save to get it back.

Ahh interesting! Renaming is something I basically never do, I start out by giving the clone a name and then start working on it. I'll make sure renaming doesn't nuke things in the next update

Whens the next race?

Next Race will be on Tuesday - 2nd June 2015! Usual time (20.30CEST+1 - Berlin Time), usual Place! Annoucnement by NormanVauxhall will come!