1936 Delage 15S8
Assetto Corsa 1936 Delage 15S8 “Dick Seaman Special”
Below is from the author Fourty-Too!
REQUIREMENTS/IMPORTANT NOTES:
Requires CSP for extended instruments functionality and real mirrors. The car will run in vanilla AC, but some of the gauges won’t work. Tested with the latest CSP preview version.
Requires Nicecuppatea’s Driver 23 driver model which can be downloaded here on RaceDepartment. AC usually will sub in a different driver model if you don’t have it downloaded but if it doesn’t, you can modify ext_config.ini to swap in another driver model.
Here’s my second car mod for Assetto Corsa, the 1936 Delage 15S8 “Dick Seaman Special.” This mod is more of a smaller project as it shares probably 70% of the models with the standard 1927 15S8. The car features updated models, improved sound, and physics to match the 1936 specifications. A quick overview fo the updated power figures:
195 bhp @ 8,000 rpm (claimed) /
185 bhp @ 8,000 rpm (actual)
Here’s some background on the car:
After the close of the 1927 racing season, Louis Delage shuttered the Delage racing department to focus on building road cars, and sold all of the 15S8s to various private collectors.
This particular car, chassis #4, was raced in the 1929 Indy 500 by Louis Chiron. Robert Senechal bought the car in 1930 and raced it until his career-ending injury in 1931. He then sold the car to Earl Howe.
Earl Howe already owned a Delage 15S8 so chassis 4 was more of a backup car, that is until Howe crashed the other 15S8 at the 1932 Monza Grand Prix. He then raced chassis 4 until the end of 1935, when Richard Seaman bought the car from him.
Seaman had been racing MGs and ERAs through the 1934 and 1935 seasons, but with the Delage 15S8 his racing career really took off. He commissioned famous engineer Giulio Ramponi to upgrade the car to 1936 specifications.
Ramponi stiffened the suspension, removed weight, added a larger supercharger, and replaced the aging brakes with a set of hydraulic brakes. The 10-year-old car was a beast with the new upgrades, and Seaman was able to win 3 races in the voiturette class using the car.
Seaman’s performances impressed Mercedes-Benz manager Alfred Neubauer so much that he gave him a contract to drive with the German team for 1937. Richard Seaman would eventually crash fatally in the Mercedes-Benz at the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix.
After the 1936 season, the “Dick Seaman Special” saw very little racing. Seaman sold the car to Prince Chula. His nephew, Prince Bira, raced the car in a couple of races in 1937 before switching to ERA cars. Prince Chula sold the car to Reg Parnell after the close of WWII. It has since changed hands several times, most recently (as of this posting) being sold in 2021.
MOD INFO
Data:
Most of the data is the same as or similar to my previous mod. The things I have changed are the power/torque figures and curves, the supercharger output, suspension geometry for the front suspensions, suspension stiffness, weight, and braking power.
Handling:
This car is much faster than the standard 1927 15S8, but significantly trickier to drive. It is very reactive with a slight tendency towards oversteer. It is also quite finicky under braking. The brakes are powerful and can stop the car very quickly but only really work properly in a straight line. Therefore if you try a lot of trail-braking you are likely to end up spinning out. Try to get all of your braking done before the corners as much as possible and pick up the throttle early on exit.
Performance:
The car has handmade LODs, a custom sound, and custom driver animations. Performance should be on par with the 1927 Delage 15S8. LOD A is slightly larger but the other LODs are slightly smaller. I am able to get 85-89 FPS in VR with high world detail and a grid of 10 cars on most well-optimized tracks.
Skins:
I have included two skins for this model, a black/silver livery for Richard Seaman and a light blue/yellow skin for B. Bira. These were the only two drivers to race the car before World War II.
