1
R Factor 2 Advanced Car Set Up Guide.
The Formula Formula S im R acing World World Championship Championship g rid. B ahrain 2015 2015
1) Introduction and scope. Page 3 2) Set Up Parameters explained. Page 4 3) The set-up Process. Page 27 4a) Developing a race strategy. Page 40 4b) Set -up for qualifying. Page 44 4c) Set -up for Endurance Racing.
4d) Wet Set up. Page Page 44
5a) Problem Problem solution matrix/table. matrix/table. Page 45 5b) Tyre wear impact/solution table. Page 46 6) Bibliography, credits. Page 47 7) Index to content (and abbreviations). Page 48
2
R Factor 2 Advanced Car Set Up Guide.
The Formula Formula S im R acing World World Championship Championship g rid. B ahrain 2015 2015
1) Introduction and scope. Page 3 2) Set Up Parameters explained. Page 4 3) The set-up Process. Page 27 4a) Developing a race strategy. Page 40 4b) Set -up for qualifying. Page 44 4c) Set -up for Endurance Racing.
4d) Wet Set up. Page Page 44
5a) Problem Problem solution matrix/table. matrix/table. Page 45 5b) Tyre wear impact/solution table. Page 46 6) Bibliography, credits. Page 47 7) Index to content (and abbreviations). Page 48
2
C hapt hapter er one: Introdu I ntroduction ction and s cope. This guide is unnoffical and so is not endorsed or supported by ISI.
Why There have been some very good and some exceptional set up guides written for ISI G Motor (and other) sims in the past including the Racer Alex Advanced Advanced F1 set-up guide which was written 13 years ago for the EA F1 2002 Challenge Challenge game. A lot of water has passed under the bridge in sim-racing and simulation engines in those 13 years! More stuff works like real life and so there is more to know. know. Our goal in writing this guide is to respect but also build on such guides and to bring them up to date with some more contemporary information on what works in the current build (Build Max 998) of RF2. We also see an opportunity to bring into the picture the knowledge base and skill of some race winning drivers and engineers from what is i s the highest level open wheeler competition available in the R factor f actor 2 environment, Formula Sim Racing. It is aimed at saloon as well as open wheeler racing. My fellow contributors Kuba Brzezinski from Poland is a race winning FSR World Championship driver who arrived on a the FSR scene with a bang in 2014 and was all but unbeatable in Pro division. He was given a World Championship drive for 2015 and is seldom outside the top four. He took his maiden victory in Monza with a Pole and a lights l ights to flag victory. victory. He sits in fourth place in the World Drivers Championship as we go to press. He has also qualified to go to Dubai in the Nissan Playstation GT academy finals. Kuba has a great technical knowledge to match his obvious feel and driving prowess. This rare combination along with his work ethic makes him super fast. Kubas set-ups are the reference most of the time. Michi Hoyer from Germany is a race winning FSR Ace driver and the head of strategy for Avid Chronic Racing. Racing. Michi has both speed and a very analytical approach approach to set-up. As well as winning races of his own Michi race-engineers for Kuba and the other Championship drivers from ACR. Many ACR drivers run with one of Michis set-ups. These drivers made significant contributions to the document for which I want to thank t hank them. I also want to thank the team mates who have educated me almost every time I have jumped on the server and driven with them. However the responsibility for any errors or omissions rests solely with me. David O'Reilly September 2015
3
What What is s et up? up? Setting up a racing car in real life or in a high end simulation is essentially about extracting the maximum available performance from that car for that particular driver and race. Drivers have differing strengths, styles and preferences so it's also about getting the car suiting these strengths, weaknesses, needs and preferences of the particular driver so that he is comfortable with it and able to push to extract his best performance. This means getting (from the ground up) the tyres, suspension and chassis, brakes, differential, engine and power train and aero working all at their maximum potential over a lap and over the race r ace distance. It usually involves some trade-offs and compromises between what's perfect for say a qualifying lap versus a 90 minute Grand Gr and Prix, or perhaps what's perfect for one sector of a track and another, or perhaps what's perfect on fresh tyres versus worn tyres, or perhaps in an endurance race what one driver can handle and what his team mate prefers or indeed what the car or it's tyres can handle for multiple hours. Done well it involves getting all rather than just a few of these parameters working well. Changing one parameter can have an impact on others so as a driver where do you start? How do you get it all working together? That's what this guide is about. Its too long! It's a big subject with many parameters and each one has it's basic effect and its subtle nuances that might take effect say late in a long stint. We want to share the knowledge we have so that the interested reader can enjoy and develop their own knowledge and skills so that they may enjoy the depth of this great sim and the pu re satisfaction that come from simply moving a car from under-steer to neutral or over-steer in one go, or f rom driving a fast car and knowing “ I built that!”. As such we need to do it justice so there is quite a bit of content. There are other summary guides that give you the quick and dirty approach. Several are listed in the bibliography. bibliography. This one is about the details, the impacts and the interconnectivity of parameters. What goes on and what's realistically do-able? Setting up the car is a little open ended. There is always one more thing that maybe can be improved. In the top level of R factor 2 open wheeler racing - Formula Sim Racing it's not uncommon for 3-4 or more drivers to be working simultaneously on set up and it's seldom from scratch other than at the first race of t he season. More often it's from a previous race set. In Avid Avid Chronic Racing, 4 or more drivers will quite often do 4-500 laps each as they practice and refine the set. Some drivers will have their areas of focus or “pet parameters”. Most often drivers will take a set up they liked and start there and share it, with later work centred around refining it. It means that the set might have had up to 2000 laps of work prior to race day just on the adaption and refinement refinement from the previous set. One driver could easily easily spend an afternoon with a proven set-up just working on for example diff lock. I guess that's why in real life F1 there might be 40 engineers. 4
Such an approach is totally impractical for one or two drivers to replicate. It's just not possible to match that sheer volume of work let alone combined expertise. So we want to give you a practical but thorough t horough approach. This approach “If the only tool t ool you have is a hammer then every problem becomes a nail”. What we have tried to do here is give you an explanation of what the parameters and their impacts are and what gets assessed/changed assessed/changed through such a process. Then provide a list l ist and procedure so you can progress through it in a logical, an informed and organised way. way. It takes you from scratch (defaults) as that's probably where you will begin. Hopefully it will give you some insight into some areas ar eas that were a bit mysterious beforehand. As well as getting the critique and input input from race winning Formula Sim Racing Racing drivers and engineers it was stress tested with the author working blind and from scratch in a one week period with 114 laps at Nazareth and 200 at Spa and then bench marking with what the whole team had done with say 2000 laps of work on a previous set. It was about .65 sec / lap slower (in the authors hands) over a 1m 49 sec lap. If we can help you do that it's not a bad start. So lets get started.
C hapt hapter er 2: The Pa P aramet rameters ers of S et up. Key terminology: We will often refer to under-steer and over-steer so best we explain them here. Under-steer is where the front grip is lower than rear r ear grip. Fronts are sliding (heating) more, car is unresponsive to steering input, fronts run wide first. Over-steer Front Front grip is greater than rear r ear grip. Rears are sliding (heating). Car is overresponsive to steering input. Or as Walter Rohrl famously put it, “If “If it is understeering you will see the tree before you hit it.” Motec. We refer to Motec in this document. The Motec plugin by Lazza and of course Motec itself is a fabulous tool in Rfactor 2 and we encourage you to get familiar with it. Some key things to t o know. know. Tyre Tyre temps over a lap will tell you a lot. Use mid rubber depth and core for general trends as well as surface temp which tends to fluctuate wildly and give you moment by moment feedback. You can use Motec for checking many things. Simple parameters like temps or ride height. More detail like suspension velocities and set up conundrums like: Why do I keep losing time at that exit? Where is my team mate faster than me?, Did my last change help with tyre wear? Comparing a lap can sometimes make it easier than staring at one lap for answers. It may be two laps you have done with a change to set-up or your lap and a team mates lap. The F3 key will show you the gains and losses of time over a lap.
5
General note on tyre wear and performance. Setting up the car is all about adding grip and moving grip around. It's the tyres that finally deliver that. One of the biggest differentiators between Rfactor 2 and it's contemporaries is the depth, complexity and authenticity of the way the tyre model works. It connects the car's performance to the road and consequently the management of the tyres and their performance is connected to what you will be doing most of the time in set ting up the car. Performance-wise, other than what you can feel from the cockpit and see in the lap time delta their temperatures will be the first sign to indicate to you what is happening with your set up. Whereas from a wear perspective most changes you make will have an outcome at the tyres as well as in lap time. One lock-up in an open wheeler can result in a flat spot that may well mean an extra pit stop. A set up that is too “under -steery” will result in a car that's easy to drive but one that's performance will erode over a long stint as front wear kicks in and creates worse and worse under-steer until loss of pace means extra pit stop/s. The final check on any set up you have created will normally be a long run to check its effect on tyre temperature and wear. Tyres are however not a standalone adjustable item. Their reaction is an outcome and connected to most of the other items you will work on. So we will mention the impact on tyres of many parameter changes and we will include a table that summarises tyre temp/wear impact. Temperature and friction are the two creators of wear. Normally a well balanced set will generate similar fore-aft tyre temp and wear over a lap. There will be moments when one end works harder than the other but over the lap it should (ideally) even out. If the fronts are being nuked you have under-steer. If the rears are being nuked you have over-steer ( #or significant traction related wear issues). As you work to get a good balance in your set up the grip/temperatures and resultant wear should become more even. You will make changes that create better grip at the end that's sliding and get more movement into the end that's not.
6
Tyre temperatures telling their s tory.
7
Part 1: C has s is adjus tments We will commence with chassis as in broad terms, improvements within chassis balance and performance come with little or no trade-off cost. This opportunity is unlike all other settings such as aero where more wing yields grip but costs speed, or differential where more lock gives stability but can cost wear or even braking where more cooling costs drag. So chassis adjustment can yield an edge not to be found in these other areas. How does it work? You can't add grip! The cars total grip is determined by the tyre contact patch and the aero load. The chassis adjustments will improve the amount of time the contact patch is working with the road surface and also move grip from where it's excessive to where and when (in the turn) its needed.
8
Dampers-General We are going to start with dampers because for many it's the area where there is the most to gain. To understand what dampers do it's sometimes helpful to imagine the chassis hanging from the springs above. Following driver inputs and track undulations the chassis is continuously moving about over the 4 wheels in the range allowed by the springs (and bump stops or packers). UN-damped it would wobble about somewhat like an apparatus in a child's play area and disperse its weight with similar abandon. The dampers job is to control the behaviour of the chassis over the springs by assisting and controlling better the behaviour of the springs. The way they do it is by taking an (adjustable) amount of energy out of the movement by passing fluid through an (adjustable) set of baffles. More baffles=more resistance=higher damper setting. The energy is converted into heat energy. In real life the f luid itself can become overheated and result in “damper fade”. To the best knowledge of the author this is not simulated in-game. If you have ever tried to bounce the front of a car that's dampers had worn out it just bounces up and down. One that's working will stop it after one movement and make that fluid type of hissing sound. Adjustments to the dampers influence where and for how long the chassis weight is balanced/directed. A higher damper setting will create more resistance and make that movement slower. This moves grip around. Along with springs and Anti Roll Bars (ARBs) they control the ( mechanical) handling and grip balance of the car. Bump = upwards movement of wheel/suspension and downwards movement of chassis. Such as front end during braking and turn in. Rear end during acceleration. Rebound = downwards movement of wheel-suspension and upwards movement of chassis. Such as front end during acceleration. Rear end during braking and turn in. Dampers Slow Slow bump and rebound dampers control the movement of the whole chassis and it's weight over the springs. IE The movement largely created by the drivers inputs: fore-aft by brake and throttle and lateral by steering*. For this reason slow front bump / rear rebound adjustments affects the entry balance. So to increase it's front grip at turn entry for example we would reduce the slow bump damping at the front. This lets the chassis as it oscillates about the place settle earlier and longer on the front axle. The stiffer, more resistant damper settings at the other end will help it settle on this end earlier. This is why raising damper settings at one end has a fairly similar effect to lowering at the other end. A car with only 2 way adjustable dampers (ie 1) bump and 2) rebound) will have fast and slow bump settings tied to one-another. So a slow bump adjustment also means a corresponding fast bump adjustment. Cars with 4 way adjustable dampers (IE 1) Slow Bump, 2) Slow rebound, 3) Fast Bump, 4) Fast rebound) can have these done independent of each other. *Another way of understanding the different jobs and impacts of slow and fast bump dampers is to look at the car. The movements can be differentiated between the big movements of the whole chassis above the suspension arms (usually referred to as “sprung weight”) and the smaller more rapid movements of the wheel, hub, brake and suspension components that hang off the car and the springs. These parts are grouped together in the term “unspung weight” as they don't rest on the springs but are below the springs. If you push hard on a parked car it's the sprung weight that moves about. 9
A bove: A bas ic damper.
10
A s et of 4 way adjus table dampers . The brown s leeves on the ri g ht are the pack ers or bump s tops .
Dampers Fast Where slow bump dampers control the chassis movement (controlled largely by the driver), fast bump dampers essentially control the road wheel movement (largely controlled by the track surface undulations), IE what happens when the wheel hits for example a bump or a curb (a fast shock compared to a slow chassis movement!). Without any such damping the wheel would continue to go bounce up and down for quite some time. This doesn't help grip or performance. In general terms a lower setting will allow the wheel to move without upsetting the cars balance but too low a setting will allow the wheel to oscillate for too long and while its doing that its not giving you grip. (see “suspension velocity” in Motec). Springs Along with the dampers the springs control the chassis movement and thus decide where the weight and grip spend most of its time. Springs -general. The first misconception we need to dispell is that stiffer is better. It possibly comes from a generation of guys that have lowered and stiffened cars to make them look and feel like race cars. A softer spring will allow that end (or corner) to compress more easily and for longer thus allowing more compliance with the road surface so a softer spring offers more terminal steady state grip. However that is within the limits that you need some response and directional stability and you need the spring to stop that end or the car from grounding on the road surface (unless packers or 3 rd spring are available). In racing, If you want to add grip to one end of t he car you actually want to soften the springs at that end or stiffen the springs at the other end. The springs have a similar effect to the damper settings. As with dampers, the chassis as it oscillates about the place will settle earlier and longer on the axle with the softer springs. The stiffer, more resistant spring settings at the other end will push it away and help it settle on that ( softer) end. Front springs The limits of softness will be felt as once they get too soft the front end gets 11
a bit “wallowy” and floaty. It takes too long to respond. The potential extra mid corner grip is swallowed up in a great delay in getting initial turn into the corner .In practice its nice to have a bit of “crispness” in the front ends response (which you won't get with the softest setting). Matching this setting with a lower slow bump setting will keep response but allow the car to settle quickly on the front springs and still give you a strong front end. So what I am suggesting is that if in pursuit of more over-steer instead of going to the minimum front spring leave yourself some downside room and instead add some rear spring. Stiffer springs will generally increase tyre wear.
The image above illustrates a front 3rd s pring . The rocker device means that if one corner i s s quas hed the main s pri ng s can artic ulate around it and the black 3 rd s pring is not recruited. If both s pri ng s at the one end are squashed they will lean on the 3rd s pri ng g reatly inc reas ing their combined res is tance.
3rd Spring Appeared in F1 around 1999 and it is a clever device that reduces the compromise needed to get one corner soft and grippy but still allow that end as a whole to be stiff / strong enough to stop the car grounding under accelerative / decellerative forces or the massive high aero loads generated at maximum speed. In essence that corner can be run softer and 3rd spring kicks in when both springs at that end are being compressed and adds more resistance. It's what you use when that end is being compressed by those 12
forces but you don't want to stiffen the main springs. Anti Roll bars (ARBs) control the amount the chassis can lean over at that end. They are rated in thickness or strength. A Thicker ARB will lower roll at that end and force the other end to react more to the lateral forces spreading the load more evenly. A softer ARB will allow more lean, more compliance at that end thus increasing grip. Hence if you need more grip at one end either soften the ARB at that end or stiffen the other end. However, you don’t want to make the ARBs too soft as you will hurt the car’s ability to change directions quickly as it will take longer to shift weight from one side of the car to the othe r. For example: In corners like Maggots-Beckets at Silverstone you want to have stiffer ARBs. Also making the ARB softer may not reduce tyre wear on that end of the car despite making it more grippy as it will put more load on the outside tyre.
Weight balance. Weight balance plays an major role in the car balance. Before going into detail the two main possibilities are: -
Put weight to the front increases over-steer
-
Put weight to the rear increases under-steer.
You might expect the opposite to happen, because of the law of inertia from physics. Saying: a weight sitting in the front makes the front end lazy – so when you try to turn it around the weight still wants to go forward while you want to go the right for example. That would be the effect of under-steer. But for a Formula-car another variable has much greater impact : down-force. Down-force is the gross-weight that pushes the car on the ground. The more down-force you have, the more “grip” a tyre creates. So with the weight balance more to the front. You put more of the forces pointing to the tarmac on the front wheels. And that’s the reason why they have a better turning and more grip than the rear axis. The rear axis is then more likely to slide (because of the missing down-force). Another effect is that you place the “centre of gravity” to the front. The longer the distance to the centre of gravity of your car the less reactive it is on new inputs. Saying the shorter/longer the distance from a front/rear axis to the centre of gravity of the car, the more/less grippy it is and the better/worse it follows your steering inputs. Camber
13
Because G-Forces in a corner cause cars to lean over and lateral forces are also trying to pull the rubber to one side a tyre needs some negative camber to put the working surface of the tyre onto the road and maximise it's performance mid corner. Negative Camber (tilting the top of the wheel towards the car) means that when its mid corner the tyre is flatter on the road and a greater area of the tyre is working. The trade-off is that greater camber means less effective straight line performance. Acceleration and braking are impacted negatively (depending which set of wheels are driving the car , only camber on the driven wheels impacts acceleration!).Because of the need to drive the car forwards as well as brake and turn, the driven wheels will need to have lower camber than the free wheeling ones. Note: A front wheel drive car will need lower front camber than a rear wheel drive due to the front wheels having the extra longitudinal job of pulling the car. Its may also be possible to run more rear wheel camber. The set-up will seldom if ever be perfect for every section of the track. So the art is to find the trade-off where the gains in one area exceed the losses in another thus resulting in a net gain.
14
For mula R enault 3.5 with minimum negative camber (-1.0 deg – front)
A perfect example of this is Suzuka. The author was working on a set up and increased camber brought about better performance through the Sector 1 (S Curves, Dunlop, the two Lesmos) but it was slower in Sector 3. It's cornering was better but acceleration and braking were worse. . When the car was cornering the load was well spread giving good performance but when required to push longitudinally it was running too much on the inside edges of the tyres. In this Suzuka example the Sector 1 gain was .7 sec and the sector 3 loss was .3 sec. Net gain .4 sec. In practice it's a case of increase or decrease front camber and check lap time. Repeat until lap time degrades, then reverse as required. In a rear wheel drive car rear camber will be somewhere near ½ way between front camber and zero. In one example EG Front-3.2, rear -1.4 (½ way being -1.6).
15
For mula R enault 3.5 with maxi mum neg ative front camber. A ni ce dynamic example of the need for neg ative camber as the cor nering for ces try to peel the “tread” surface off the road and rip the tyres off the rim. (F ISI Masters/FSR Car, Spa, Eau Rouge).
Empirical Temperature Data. Temps vary so much in the RF2 tyre model that at this moment its not easy to give an empirical view on optimum delta between for example inner and outer temps. Certainly the old adage that the middle of the 3 temps across the tyre 16
should be the average (middle) of the outer and inner does not apply. It seems that with good (grip) camber settings the inner and middle temps are quite close and the outer edge temp much lower. The delta across the tyre can often be 30 degrees (mid rubber depth ). So we really are in a “suck it and see” scenario. Do not attempt with camber to get the middle temp to read as the average (middle) of the inner and outer temps as it won't work. It will be higher than that and much closer to the inner temp. EG 95/90/70. Edit recent tests (build 982) indicate that on good front camber settings on a rear wheel drive GT car a delta of 25 degrees across the tyre is normal.) .We suggest you adopt an “output approach”. IE Suck it and see Ride Height Within limits the lower the car the better it handles due to lower centre of gravity and better (diffuser) efficiency. The problems that arise are when you drop it too low and it is scraping on the road surface which creates friction/drag and lowers the efficiency of your tyres in giving grip. The car will also have less suspension travel and thus need (all things being equal) stiffer springs or more packers to stop it grounding. This lowered travel can make the handling a bit twitchy and the stiffer springs may actually reduce grip. In practice it's lower the ride height and check in Motec. It will normally be at the fastest section where aero load squashes the car to the road or the bumpiest section where bumps are an issue that will be apparent as an issue. You then have a choice given the rest of the cars handling to either a) raise ride height, b) Stiffen springs, c) add some packers or 3rd spring. Generally a lower car needs to be a stiffer car.
Packers Packers (or bump stops) are a physical sleeve that sits in the suspension travel and will completely stop movement once they are reached. In a slightly similar way (albeit stiffer and unforgiving) to 3rd spring they again allow the use of a softer spring but provide a point that will avoid grounding. The car will run faster sitting on the packers than it will sitting on the road surface. So packers also deal with ride height issues. So you use packers if you are lowering the car, getting ride height issues and don't wish to stiffen the springs. You only need an amount to do the job, any extra denies you suspension travel. Some open wheelers will offer 3rd spring packers. If available, then (like the 3rd spring itself) you use them when its the whole end rather than one corner that is grounding. Packers when needed can yield as much as 12-15 kph at the end of a long straight. Toe 17
Toe in determines to what extent you wheels face inwards. Some toe in will create stability (less nervousness over bumps at speed ). Higher toe in settings will normally improve turn -in at the front end and stability at the rear. They will however create some drag and tyre wear and lower top speed due to increased friction.
E xtreme caster. The chopper s hows the impact of cas ter on camber. Note the wheel leans as well as turns.
18
Caster The degrees from vertical of the angle of the suspension (around which the wheel hub pivots) of a steered wheel. Increase in caster effectively puts the wheel hub more forwards of the steering rack. This has a couple of impacts. There is FFB feel created by the “mechanical trail” advantage that increased Caster gives to FFB. Also there is an increase in camber when wheel turned. So all other things being equal an increase in caster can allow a slight decrease in camber. This means more of that braking efficiency in straight line but increased camber when turning. Increased caster can slow response at the front end a little. Sometimes that's nice.
Tyre Pressures
A ver y bas ic i llus tration of the impact of under and over in flation on tread face contact.
At the time of writing (build “Max” 998) the tyre model in RF2 is still evolving and developing. Certain cars have an updated contact patch model and others don't. What we do know is that tyres with increased pressure heat faster and maintain a higher pressure. The grip level in some cars grows with tyre pressure/heat. Front tyres offer a little more feel with a little higher pressures ( due to FFB pneumatic trail). In many cars the fronts will have a slightly higher optimum pressure than the rears. In Formula cars with multiple compounds available the harder compounds perform best with slightly higher pressures. We have also observed that in GT cars a temp delta of 25 deg C between inner and outer readings (mid rubber temp) seems to correlate with a good camber setting. Do not attempt with pressures to get the middle temp to read as the average (middle) of the inner and outer temps (such as 95/82.5/70) as it wont work. In a good camber it will be much closer to the inner temp. EG 95/90/70
Part 2 Engine and drive-train 19
Differential We will start with differential lock as it has the biggest impact on handling: To explain diff lock consider a car with a solid rear axle and no diff at all (EG a Go Kart) wants to go straight as it won't let the inside wheel turn at a slower speed to match its shorter radius and distance of travel. Hence in a Go Kart the driver will lean outwards to free the inside wheel and stop it pushing the car straight ahead. A differential (“different-ial” = different speeds) allows the driven wheels to rotate at t hese required differing speeds so it turns a corner easier. So a fully locked diff wants to go straight, a fully open diff will allow a complete difference in driven wheel speeds which can result in too much turning (over-steer). Adjustment of diff-lock allows you to control to what extent you make it more like a locked diff. In RF2 none, one, two or more diff settings will be available. They are.... Pump: (If available) impacts the diff's control over the chassis through the whole corner. Coast: Deals with braking and entry phase. Power. Deals with acceleration and exit phase. Pre load: Deals with how early or late the chosen setting kicks in. In cornering: If the car is wanting to over-steer on braking you increase the lock on Coast side, if its not lower Coast side until it feels unstable then go back one click. if it wants to over-steer on corner exit on throttle you increase it on the “Power” side. If it's not then lower the Power side until it feels unstable then go back one click. Pre Load. Higher number makes the lock kick in earlier whereas a lower number makes the lock kick in later and harder. Can be used as an intermediate setting between 2 lock settings. In straight line acceleration: if you are suffering wheel-spin, diff lock on power side may help traction. However check other solutions first ( gearing too short?, rear suspension or dampers too stiff?, rear ride height issues? The reason you want to lower it to no more than the necessary setting is that excessive diff-lock on power side can increase front tyre wear significantly as the tyres have to overcome the diff to turn the car. As the fronts wear and lose the fight, lap times will suffer. Excessive lock on Coast side will slow your turn in response as it's again fighting the fronts and making the car go straighter. So don't lean on it more than you need. Diff lock should be adjusted AFTER suspension settings are done. It's a nice tool for once your suspension settings are good for the majority of the corner to get better behaviour at the initial braking-turn in or exit. Once you have found that further damper or spring changes to get entry or exit stability are hurting mid corner performance diff is what you turn to instead. But it is a fairly blunt tool will by design reduce the chassis's ability to respond. You can think of it as a straight jacket that you tighten to control bad behaviour at the extremes rather than the creator of the basic balance. A great (extreme) example of the benefit of diff lock can be found in a correctly modded version of the Porsche 911. The engine is at the back and famously will tr y to overtake the rest of the car under brakes. High coast settings will control this. Such high settings are not needed on throttle so a much lower power side setting is suitable. Set first gear so that it is useful in the slowest corner # even if you may only Gearing use it briefly in the braking phase and then go up to 2nd. Ensure that 1st gear is not so short that you get too much wheel-spin. Set top gear so that you are hitting the lim iter just at the braking point on the fastest straight on the track (with low fuel option tyres and DRS if available). In addition remember to leave some headroom if you anticipate getting a 20
slipstream too. Set the rest initially evenly between 1st and top gear. Then make any fine adjustments if needed to optimise for certain corners or to avoid the need to shift mid corner. For endurance racing ensure you have set top gear so that you are not over revving the car on long straights). # Note: Some drivers will set 1st gear so that it i s optimised for the start and might not be able to use it again during the race. It depends on all the circumstances. IE if you are at the front of the grid and passing will be difficult you need a great start, if you are mid pack or lower and the race performance of the car will yield greater benefit then a use -able 1st gear will be more important. Likewise in a long race. Engine Braking This setting controls how much engine braking is available as you down-shift. The lower the number the greater the engine breaking. Greater engine braking demands care with down-shifts (especially into 2nd and 1st gears to avoid lock ups. It will also take some load off the (mainly rear) brakes. Higher engine braking can mean you need to shift brake balance forwards. W ith more engine braking the engine slows the car down more when off throttle so it puts more weight on the front tyres. That means you get better turn-in which could be very useful in medium and high speed corners (Hungary, Spa). Engine Cooling/ Life The engine will have optimum and maximum safe temperature levels. These refer to engine life. Time spent above the optimum level will lower engine life. Time spent below it will increase engine life. Time spent above the maximum safe temp will drastically lower engine life. Cooling levels refer to radiator size.
Carstat2.
The bigger the radiator the more drag and lift. So know your engines theoretical standard life and optimum and max safe temperatures Then depending on the race length you can decide how far to push temps. Over temp and over rev are the killers. If you push one to 21
the limit consider leaving some head room in the other. Make sure the cooling is big enough to cope with race starts and pit stops as this is when the engine gets the hottest.
F1 R adiator, s eldom seen.
Rev Limit In combination with gearing needs to be set so that maximum power is available in the longest gear on the longest straight provided you are not over revving the engine and hurting life. Use Carstat 2 to understand the optimum shift points. There is no point in using high revs if they cost life/fuel but don't yield extra power/performance. Fuel ConsumptionFuel is weight so there is no point carrying more fuel than needed. Know you fuel consumption per lap. You can either a) Do a ten lap run and note fuel used. b) Use Motec, c) Use Dashmeter Pro, d) Use trackmap by fazerbox. Once you know fuel per lap then multiply by race laps (remembering formation lap) and add a small margin for error. If the race is one of time r ather than laps then divide race time by lap time to determine number of laps. Pit stops will save some fuel (pit lane). However you must remember that the race ends when the leader next crosses the line so if he gets to start his final lap and you are un-lapped you will have to do that many laps too. In short add a lap unless you are a front runner on pace. You can stress test you lap numbers by lowering the lap time to see at what lap time will result in an extra lap. The author uses a simple spreadsheet . If you are pushing the limits on fuel then its handy to have Dashmeter Pro and set a fuel needed to finish number. This way you can save fuel if need be. If you are lapped then you need not worry so long as the number is lower than 1 lap of fuel. NB: this number does not know that a) you will pit -saving fuel in pit lane and b) 22
you fuel consumption will drop very slightly as fuel load drops off. Aero-drag and gearing changes will have a direct impact on fuel consumption. Remember that you also save fuel following other cars so if your clean-air calculation says you need a certain amount of fuel you can probably afford to start with a litre or two less unless you start on the front row. Also most of the time the more fuel you have the highe r the fuel consumption is, which means calculating the fuel consumption with too heavy or too light fuel load may result in over or under fuelling the car. If you are short then the earlier you start to manage fuel (short shifting, lift and coast) the smaller your sacrifice will be.
Part 3 B raking Brake Balance Simply the percentage amount of braking force that is distributed between front and rear. You set it so neither end has a tendency to lock up. BUT there are dynamic influences to brake balance. In essence the higher the grip levels the more decellerative G-force occurs which means more of the cars weight shifts forwards. So with cold tyres, prime tyres, less rubber on the road (real road) or of course water the brake balance will need to be more rearwards. Consequently on an out-lap (new cold tyres) the balance might need to be move rearwards until the tyres are warm. So with warm tyres, option tyres, more real road, better environmental temperatures brake balance may need to go forwards. Tyre wear will also have an influence and most of the time you move balance away from the end that is getting the worse wear #. Fuel level will have an influence also depending on the fuel tanks location. Dynamic brake balance adjustments within a lap. As a rule of thumb moving balance forwards will decrease over-steer, moving it rearwards will increase over-steer #. So if a certain corner is creating an over-steer or under-steer issue take the appropriate action. Certain corners will have a tendency to provoke wheel lock ups. T10 at Bahrain is a great example. It's low speed left hander with a turning downhill braking zone. Any wheel turn under brakes will un-weight the inside front wheel. So left with the status quo the left front will lock every time. Moving the balance rearwards for this section will avoid the lock-up and improve turn in. Whereas a “big stop” in a perfect straight line such as T1 will need more balance forwards. You can also try moving the brake balance rearwards in faster corners as t he aero load is high enough that it won’t make a difference in terms of locking-up but could give a better turn in. So you end up moving balance one way then another during a lap to optimise turn in and avoid braking related tyre wear.
23
The above pictures g raphically repres ent why you mig ht want to move s ome braking load away from a front tyre that has to do s ome s teering . Thi s can be done by braking les s or moving the balance.
# Why is this so? The tyres contact patch is capable of a given level of grip. This grip is shared between braking and turning the car. By moving the braking balance away there is more grip available to turn that end of the car. It also lowers tyre temperature as the load is reduced thus impacting wear as well as performance. So you move it away from the end where you want more grip.
24
Left front locki ng due to un-weig hting of left front and combined braking and turning loads . A cor ner where balance could do with moving rearwards .
The modern F1 wh eel provi des a myr iad of adjus tments and brake balance can now be moved quick ly and easi ly within a lap. J us t a few years ago we all looked in wonder at S chumacher continually movi ng brake balance wi th a separate lever.
Dynamic brake balance adjustment within a stint. Essentially you will endeavour as much as possible to move braking force away from the end that is suffering more from wear. It's the end that is sliding more/wearing more. By lowering the braking load you will take some stress off that tyre. 25
Brake Pressure The maximum force that your braking system will deliver. The higher the amount of aero load cars will be able to handle more brake force at higher speeds as this aero load presses the car on to the road. As speeds drop usually the braking force needs to be lower. If you struggle with locking-up you need to lower your brake pressure, if you can brake and keep the brake pedal pressed fully down for longer than just beginning of the braking zone, you should increase the brake pressure. Brake Cooling
Carstat2 brake data screen.
26
Each car will have an optimal temperature range for brakes (see Carstat 2). Outside these temps brake performance drops and if on the high side brake wear increases. Cooling level and brake pressure manages these temps. Bigger brake cooling ducts do ho wever create drag and lift. So the task is to use only the cooling level needed to keep temps in the desired range. On road circuits, the lower the wing the higher the brake temps. Stop start tracks like Monza create greater longitudinal loads of acceleration and braking and higher speeds and need more temperature management than turny high G/ high aero circuits like Silverstone or Suzuka. The lower the aero settings means that the more of the energy the car is producing is required to be dealt with by the brakes. Increases in aero settings will lower brake temps as the wings (and the cornering) are doing more work to use the energy and or slow the car.
Part 4 A ero
For mula R enault 3.5 with hi g h down-force aero packag e.
Aero Higher wing settings will offer greater cornering and will lower tyre and brake wear but will lower top speed and increase fuel consumption. They have a much higher impact in Open Wheelers than in GT cars where available down-force is not as great. Choosing aero settings; It's not just about top speed. Its about where you win or lose the most time. When selecting aero settings the key is to understand and decide the relative prevalence of high speed vs low speed corners and long straights. Decide where higher 27
corner exit speeds onto a straight will outweigh pure top speed at the end of a straight. Silverstone is a good example. It has one of the highest average speeds but is a relatively high aero circuit due to the importance of cornering speeds and corner exit speeds through such corners as Copse, Maggots-Becketts-Chapel, Stowe. These are all fairly long corners of high radius and high speed, and so are aero dominated corners and are key to the lap time. Monza by contrast has very long straights and it's corners consist of a majority of short, low radius low speed mechanical grip dominated types such as t he chicanes Variante 1 and 2, the Lesmos and Ascari (medium speed) leaving only Parabolica as the sole high speed corner and even it has a medium speed entry. Thus the small gains made in these low speed corners by using high aero settings will be well outweighed by the losses in the longer high speed sections. Spa is an interesting case where the case for high vs low aero is about even. S1 and 3 are better with low wing and S2 better with high wing. It then comes down to tactical decisions which are discussed elsewhere in the document.
For mula R enault 3.5 with low down-forc e aero packag e.
28
Chapter 3 The set-up Process This suggested process for a brand new unknown car includes 3 phases. 1) Nazareth-a short Oval: a time saving short oval that serves to get some initial balance work done. 2) Spa or Catalunya “the home track” A track you know for a car you don't! where we introduce further adjustments taking into account dealing with low medium and high speed corners. 3) Final adjustments for the actual track on which you will be racing. If you are time poor you can skip phase 2 (Spa) and go straight to the track for which you are setting up the car. But in my experience this phase does yield a greater understanding of the cars overall balance and a good “Base Set-up” that can with minor adjustments be used for many tracks. The work done there will help later in avoiding guesswork and wasted or counter productive time.
General Instructions: a) Turn off assists. Setting up the car is about finding where you have a lack of or abundance of grip. You want the car naked in all its handling imbalances and assists will camouflage any grip balance issues making your job harder. b) Get some rubber on the track then make it static. In a perfect world it will be a similar level to the level on which you will be racing. Once you have a real road level save this. Exit and re enter the track with that real road set to static. You don't want improved real road flattering set up changes.
29
Phase one- Nazareth To get some basic feel of the chassis and settings it saves a massive amount of time to use some kind of speed bowl. At this point there is a lack of a skid bowl or similar in RF2 so the Author uses Nazareth Speedway. It will help you “rough-in” some key settings. In 3 laps of 20-25 seconds you can make a decision on setting and move on. They will most often need to be tweaked very slightly for the later road circuit as a speed bowls and ovals mainly test static mid corner loads and so braking and turn entry-exit are at less of premium. So you will leave with a car set with a good mid corner balance. Be aware that due to the almost constant cornering the right front will let go quite quickly so there i s no point doing more then say 3-4 laps. It allows you to get a feel of the basic balance and tendencies of a new car. Having a visible lap time delta is a massive help as you can see within a lap or two if you are faster. I use Delta best by Cosimmo and or Dashmeter Pro. Rule #1. Change only one thing at a time and make a substantial change.
30
A n afternoon at Nazareth roug hing in the R ebellion R acing Lola B 12-60
Suspension-start here. Firstly Lower aero and diff lock to essentially minimum. We want to initially understand the suspension and mechanical grip balance and the diff and aero settings will impact and hide what the suspension is doing. Anecdote: By skipping this phase the author ended up using diff lock to solve an over-steer issue that was actually an aero imbalance. Do some laps. Have your cars status window open so you can see tyre temps. As you do your laps feel and observe what happens. Is the front sliding more (under-steer is the most common default set as it's easier to drive) or is the rear sliding more (over-steer). The end that's sliding more will also be heating those tyres more. So if if it 's the fronts that are getting nuked you have under-steer, the rear and it's over-steer. You will also feel the lack of response or over response to steering inputs. For the sake of an example we will assume it's under-steer and are now ready to make our first set up change. If the lack of response is mid corner or later in the turn lower the front springs, if its the initial turn in lower the front slow bump dampers. In combating understeer we are actually trying to de-stabilise the rear more-to get the car to rotate. 31
In all these tests you are looking for better grip balance but also a faster lap time. If you have a lap time delta display you will know within a lap or two. Try again. If required lower again without taking them to their absolute minimum. and or increase the rear springs or slow bump dampers, decrease rear slow rebound dampers. Now try lowering f ront ARB and raising rear ARB. Try various amounts of each. You should by now be starting to get a more even heat into your tyres and more over-steer-under-steer balance. The car should be working each end more evenly. Camber-Front It's now time to play with camber. Start with front. Increase or decrease it 2 clicks? Is it better or worse? If better move it one more then another until its not better. Leave or move back as required. Camber-Rear Now we will look at rear camber. If the car is still tending towards under-steer you might actually be looking for a rear camber setting that DOESN'T provide optimum lateral grip. You may in fact be needing to destabilise the rear to get it rotating more. Move it one way and check results as above. Once springs and cambers are done you should be starting to get a car that is responding in a crisper more responsive manner and not simply nuking tyres at one end. Tyre Pressures Tyre pressures. Add some front pressure, is it better or worse? Adjust as needed. Same with the rear. Ride Height Lowering ride height will usually give more grip but might make it a bit more twitchy-more on edge. Try lowering front ride height, is it better or worse. Adjust as required. Result You should now have a car that is responding and rotating more effectively and using its tyres more evenly. We can now introduce aero settings. Aero Find some front/rear wing balanced settings. The easiest way of doing it is setting one of the wings to a certain value and then changing the other one until you’re happy with the car’s aero balance. While you are here do this with high med and low wing settings. It will save much time later. Make some notes in the set-up notes section as to what combinations result in a good balance. The End. Once your car is well balanced on suspension and aero you have finished at Nazareth. Caution: Due to the fairly high speed oval nature of Nazareth it is quite likely that you will find some over-steer issues in the next phase.
Phase two Spa Note: If you wish to go straight to the fi nal circuit and not do phase 2 you need to do a combination with all the following but add from phase 3 more attention to gearing, aero and long run work. General Notes. Nazareth comprised of mainly fairly static cornering loads and little acceleration/braking or slow to medium speed corners. It's time to make the changes to optimise the cars behaviour in a mix of corners. If dealing with a totally new car and fresh from roughing in some basic settings at Nazareth I like to then move to a track that I know well that offers some nice example of high, medium and low speed corners I either use Spa or Catalunya. It just seems to allow a 32
good feel of what is happening and though it's a long lap at Spa, after only 1 lap (and sometimes less) I know what I need to do. Circuit de Catalunya is also very good. Its up to you which (of these or any other) circuit you like. The theory is that while moving towards a nice “base set up” for a new car its good to be on familiar territory. So in the virtual world your team will have a “home test track”. Gearing At this phase don't spend too much time on gearing. We are mainly concerned with chassis tuning and aero. As long as it's not hitti ng the limiter in top gear or getting wheel spin in 1st-2nd it will be ok. First Run Set one of your balanced aero packages from Nazareth that makes sense for this track. Spa and a medium aero package works fine. Turn on Motec. Do enough laps to start to feel confident and consistent/familiar with what the car is doing. You should reach a point where laps are starting to to be within 2-3 tenths of each other. A quick look at Motec will tell you if there are any glaring issues on temps (tyre, engine, brakes), ride height. You should start to make some observations. If there is a lot of over-steer in mid and corner exit-acceleration phase lower rear ARB before adjusting other suspension settings.
Observations High, Med, Slow speed corners. What's the cars behaviour in the 3 phases of the 3 types of corners? 1) braking and turn entry, 2) mid corner and 3) corner exitacceleration? The cars aero and chassis settings have differing impacts in different corners. For example aero has little influence in slow corners, moderate influence in medium speed and the greatest influence in high speed corners. So it's not enough to say “I have under -steer”. You need to think about it's behaviour in slow medium and f ast corners and be able to say for example “I have under -steer in low speed corners” or I have over -steer in high speed corners”. It's helpful to have (even a hand drawn) circuit map with numbered corners. Note what the car is doing at each corner. Further you need to be able t o break it down into corner entry, mid corner, corner exit behaviour. 33
So at this point you will have observations that say for example T1 (La Source) entry under-steer, mid corner under-steer, exit over-steer. T3 (Eau Rouge) Entry – good balance, mid corner under-steer, exit- good. Once you have identified the behaviour in t he 3 phases of the 3 main types of corner you are in a position to start to make corrective adjustments. Until it becomes easy for you it wont hurt to note it down.
General Observations Corner Type Braking-Entry
Mid Corner
Exit-acceleration
Low Speed Med Speed High Speed
To help with your obs ervations we have added this map of S pa with a few s et-up related comments i(n red) on various s ectors and corners .
Rule #2. Start with the issue at the beginning of the corner. When you have opposite car balance on entry and exit so let's say under-steer on entry over-steer on exit you should try to fix the entry first because that under-steer might then be creating the over-steer. (you turn your wheel too much or maybe lift off so when the tyres finally grip you get over-steer).
34
After this run also look at Motec to see if there are any glaring issues such as tyre temps imbalance, other cooling (engine, brakes), ride height, suspension behaviour (such as velocities). Caster Try increasing caster. Note the feel and performance changes. So long as you are not getting more under-steer, keep it. Steering lock Try lowering steering lock. As long as you can manage the tightest corner a lower steering lock may give you more feel. Also if the front tyre wear is too high or the car feels nervous on the straights and the driver struggles with something like keeping a correct and close-to-the-edge-of-the-track line under braking it can be caused be the steering lock being too high. Alternatively if the car is too “under -steery” or feels too “lazy” it can be caused by the steering lock being too low. Note: The in-game wheel rotation degrees divided by the steering lock gives you the “steering ratio”. EG 500 degrees of rotation divided by a steering lock of 16 degrees equals 31.25. This is handy to know if sharing sets with a driver who uses a different ingame wheel setting. It allows you to quickly convert the steering ratio to suit your settings or preferences. Springs How is the chassis balance from Nazareth working out? Is over-steer or understeer evident in the (slow and medium) corners? How are tyre temps? Are they fairly even over a lap? Adjust springs, and slow bump dampers as needed to address grip balance (and tyre temps/wear). 3rd Spring How is ride height (Motec)? .Is the car grounding anywhere (esp Eau Rouge and Kemmel straight) on the lap ? If so look at adjusting 3rd spring and its packers if available. Otherwise standard packers or ride height. Can you go lower? Dampers Slow Use these to move grip to either end particularly at the entry and exit phase. The bump damper controls how quickly that end accepts weight transfer, the rebound damper how quickly it allows it to be released. So definitionally its during the chassis movement for-aft that these dampers have the most impact. Mid corner it is them the ARBs and the springs that combine to create the grip balance.(remember Nazareth). If your observations in a slow corner are that you have entry under-steer you would adjust front slow bump lower. If conversely you have oversteer you would do the reverse. Adjust the combinations to get the weight where you want it during the corner. An asymmetric setting such as bump 6 rebound 4 means that it will resist weight transfer towards its end and facilitate its release quickly thus helping it move to the other end more easily. Dampers Fast Lower these to allow use of kerbs, don't set them so low that your wheel is effectively vibrating on and off the road surface (Motec suspension velocity). Some damping is needed to keep the tyre in constant contact with the road! Anti Roll Bars The ARBs will move roll centre and grip forwards or rearwards. So use 35
them to deal with under-steer (lower the front or increase the rear ARB ), or over-steer do the reverse. Camber Front Camber. Nazareth requires little longitudinal loads and the turn entry phase is quite relaxed there so it's time to fine tune camber again. Try less camber (improved braking/acceleration perhaps?), try more camber ( possibly better turn -in?). See what works. Rear camber changes will yield a more pronounced effect than front. Aero I like to deal with the other suspension and chassis settings first to try to squeeze the optimum balance and performance from them. Only then will I move to aero as its a fairly blunt tool. Any extra aero grip will cost drag. So let's get suspension and chassis optimised rather than looking for more performance-costly aero solutions too early. Start with a medium-low aero setting. Check the cars performance in medium to high speed corners. Is it sliding too much, is more grip/performance needed. Try adding aero. Monitor over/under-steer in medium-high speed corners and address aero settings accordingly. Did adding wing lower lap time? If so add more, rinse and repeat. Try going lower than the first setting. Is it faster or slower? It is conceivable that you may find a high wing and low wing setting that result in the same lap time. Spa is a perfect example. S1 and S3 needing low wing, S2 needing high wing. In fact it is possible for Spa to have a high , med or low aero setting that will produce a similar lap time. High aero winning time in S2, low winning time in S1 and S3. Medium being average in all three. If you have made significant increases to aero you might need to address ride height, brake cooling, and will need to address gearing. Note: It is common as your laps build up at a circuit and you simply get better at driving it that you can start to manage with a little less aero. Double check after you have plenty of mileage that you aren't leaning on the aero more than you need to.
Rule #3 Try to balance with suspension settings before turning to diff lock. Diff Having gotten as much chassis control and balance as possible out of the suspension and aero we now look at diff. From Nazareth phase it should still be on minimums. If there is instability (over-steer) under brakes add some lock to coast. If there is over-steer on exit or traction issues add some lock to power side. Ride Height Use Motec to check ride height. If grounding out use packers (3rd spring packers if available) if you wish to avoid using stiffer springs or a higher basic ride height setting. Adding some rear ride height might also help with any exit over-steer. Packers Use the minimum amount of packers (starting with 3rd spring packers if available) as required to stop the car grounding. Toe In/Out Try a little more front toe-in to get more initial turn-in response. Any toe you don't need is slowing your top speed. Adjust all these as per general principles explained above: Brake Balance, Brake Pressure, Engine Braking, Tyre Pressures, Brake Cooling. Engine Cooling/ Life . (Spa is 36
very easy on brake cooling). Fuel Consumption anecdotal if using this track to get a “Base set-up” but you might as well note it in the set-up notes. Result You should now have a set up that is working well for Spa and with minor changes can be adapted to many other tracks. Note what aero settings offered a good balance. Tip As you move through the various set up changes its helpful to save sets regularly along the way. Using a standardised nomenclature makes it much easier to refer to later on. EG Formula Masters/Spa/Aug2015. Car/Circuit/Date. The date helps as it will help you put the set into context as either your knowledge and skill improves over time, the car mod changes or later build updates to the simulation have an impact to set ups. Use the notes section for anything you want to remember that had a big impacts or was tried and didn't help. Rule #5 Sanity check at the end of any one session by loading the earlier set up. This ensures that all the sheer practice hasn't simply made you faster at this track thus flattering any set changes. There has been more than one occasion where only tiny i ncremental gains have been made with settings and the upon reloading an earlier set the author has gone faster.
Phase 3 “The track” Roughing in laps. Get a basic set of aero and gearing done in a few short laps. Your initial focus will be on gearing and aero with any minor suspension changes required. Aero If you have done phase one and two you will have a well balanced car and be armed with what aero settings complement each other in High, Med and Low aero configurations. Now it's time to make the final tweaks for the tr ack/race in question. Make that aero assessment detailed above and select your initial aero sett ings. Then sanity check up and down. It's then up to you to decide tactical considerations such as a) where t he passing opportunities will be, b) tyre wear, c) fuel consumption. Higher aero setting might mean less pit stops due to better tyre wear. Note: As you add aero there will be ride height implications as more aero will squash the car onto the road. Changes to aero will impact gearing, brake cooling, f uel consumption, tyre wear. What works best bearing in mind brake, tyre wear and fuel impacts and the tactical scenario? Gearing set as per general principles above. Are there any particular corners where you are always having to change gears mid-corner? 37
Initial training and test run. Turn on Motec. Do enough laps (whether that be 5 or 50) to start to feel confident and consistent/familiar with what the car is doing here at this track. You should reach a point where laps are starting to to be within 2-3 tenths of each other. A quick look at Motec will tell you if there are any glaring issues on temps (tyre, engine, brakes), ride height, gearing. You should start to make some observations. Observations High, Med, Slow speed corners as per phase two. Plus, what are any unique issues that this track presents? Are there any sectors or corners that are creating new issues (eg: bumpy, turny, downhill braking zones). Where will overtaking happen? Are there any parts of this track that might present challenges on worn tyres? As well as above:-what's the cars behaviour in the 3 phases of the 3 main types of corners? After this run also look at Motec to see if there are any glaring issues. Anecdote: When moving to a more over-steer set at Sepang in Formula Renault 3.5 the author noticed a great increase in rear tyre wear. First assumption was that it was cornering wear balance. Checking Motec showed that as the car was getting turned in much better for the very tight uphill hairpin at turn 9 that throttle was being applied there earlier and more aggressively and resulting in l ots of wheel spin. It felt loud and aggressive but was killing the tyres. (Motec) Adjust the remaining items as per general principles explained above. Certain core items set at Nazareth and Spain the “Base” set up should be quite good and need only fine tuning. Final track specific items will need setting. Tip Pick the low hanging fruit. Another approach is to ask “where am I having the biggest issues” and work on that General comments: Gearing, diff lock, suspension, tyre wear and the i nterconnectivity of everything. The author was working on a Spa set up in the FSR 2015 car. I was getting terrible wheelspin out of the final chicane and turn 1 “La Source”. I was also getting rear brake lock ups on down-shifts. It was brought under control initially with extra diff lock on the power side and a little softer rear suspension settings and moving brake balance forwards. However these solutions were creating under-steer and rapid f ront tyre wear. There was in the end a simpler solution;.. ...1st and 2nd gear were too short. By lengthening the ratios we got smoother more controllable acceleration from the slow corners (T1 exit is downhill anyway!) and a lesser drop in revs to 3rd gear. Diff lock could be reduced again saving front tyre wear). The rear brake lock ups disappeared which allowed more brake balance rearwards again (saving the fronts) and also allowed engine brake map to be increased (lower number) meaning more help in engine braking into the corner on coast and less need to lean on the front tyres with brakes to get a good turn in. I was guilty of the crime of “if the only tool you have is a hammer then every problem becomes a nail” As I am a bit of a “suspension-ologist” I looked there for the solution. I should have “picked the low hanging fruit”. It would have saved me 40 laps of Spa. So rule #6 try the simple things first! Compromise. There is not a set up that is perfect for every section of the circuit. EG more 38
wing is lovely in S2 at Spa and less wing is better for S1 and S3. So often its a trade –off. Many of the settings that you choose will be a trade-off between performance gains in one section of the track versus losses in another. The final choice will be for the set that wins more in one critical area than it loses in another both over a lap and over a stint. There is furthermore a tactical component. Certain settings might provide the ultimate lap time other settings might make the car stronger on the sections where overtaking will occur. Continuing the Spa example: Your set that gives the best lap time might be finding big time gains in S2 but leave you vulnerable in S1-S3. So if it's parc-ferme a choice needs to be made. If it's not parc ferme then you might lower aero settings after qualifying in the knowledge that the twisty sections of S2 might not provide many overtaking chances but the high speed S1 and S3 will provide the need to attack and defend for overtakes. You might also find that your fastest set is quite hungry on tyres, tending to uneven wear and or unstable on worn tyres. So you will need to consider the performance across the whole stint. Fuel load for testing. Once you know the fuel load for the race you need to make a choice as to what fuel level you test with. It will have subtle effects on the cars performance and your final selections on among other things gearing and brake cooling. If you test with high fuel you will possibly be comparatively faster with high fuel. Low fuel vice versa. Many top drivers work primarily on a qualifying set for ultimate pace and then make adaptations to suit medium or high fuel and long runs. Others will start with medium or high fuel for a race set up and then make adjustments for qualifying. Be patient and don't look for your PB at the start of testing (unless you start with a qualifying set up). Real life F1 teams such as Williams are known for not f lattering their lap times on Friday and Saturday morning and working more on “Race simulation” set ups. They know that the “money shot” is on Sunday. Tyres There is a similar impact of your testing choice of tyre compound. Make sure the car works well on both but especially well on the one where you will do the most (or most critical) laps! Worn tyre “work-around”. If there are harder compound tyres available due to their lower grip levels they may be a handy test for how a worn tyre will perform. Long Run Checks: Tyre Wear Have any changes impacted tyre wear or wear balance? How many laps can you get from the (different compounds?) of tyres before degradation starts to cost you lap time.
39
Long run testing . Nords chliefe 24 hour circuit. IS I Nis san GTR (B OP version).
Strategy Is for example tyre and fuel use so marginal that a (lengthy?) stop could be dropped with a change to aero/gearing? MotecChecks at the final track should be confirmed with Motec.
S ometimes the ans wer is in the data. This Motec s lide compares the s us pensi on behaviour over 2 laps with different s et-ups . The black line at the top showing where lap time was los t. The overlay below g ivi ng the hint as to where. R ide heig ht and the car g rounding was cos ting a lot of time in S ector 1.
40
(A bove) S ometimes its a judg ement call. B earing in mind cars tat2 brake temp g uidance Here we choos e between over and under cooling . A t Spa its only really T1 (L a S our ce) where there was an over-temp and the g reater cooling was causi ng drag and les s efficiency at the s tart of s everal other braking zones due to under-temp. The race FS R P ro dis tance of 27 laps will be approx 50 mins and fuel load 130 litres . We decide to run with the lower cooling level. A World C hampions hip driver with 218 litres and a 90 minute race may have added cooling .
41
Look ing for fairly even tyre temps . E ndurance tes ting at the 24 hours of the Nords chleife circui t.
Notes on on under-steer and over-steer at differing tracks. Some tracks will favour over-steer and others will punish it. If it has long corners that involve constant acceleration then over-steer can be good. It will help you hold your line and save your front tyres too. However if it's bumpy in braking zones and has a lot of elevation change then less over-steer is required to prevent the car swapping ends.
Assists at the final stages of set up. We noted above that you should do most of the work with assists turned off. Now that you are at the final stages if you are planning to run with assists there are a couple of points to note: Traction Control (TCS). Because it reduces the rear tyres f rom sliding at all (and giving helpful rotation of the car) it will often create a little push under-steer and r esult in front tyre wear. You can and probably should tune in a little over steer to counter act this and also because you (with TCS) will be able to handle more over-steer. Things that will lower front tyre wear : Softer front springs/dampers, more front wing, less rear wing, less diff lock on power side, brake balance rearwards, lower brake pressure, more engine braking. You have to work out which things are most compatible with what you are trying to do!
Chapter 4a) Developing a race strategy.
Muhammed Patel (rig ht) completes the undercut on Petar Brljak to gain track pos iti on and ultimately the win. F ormula Si m R acing World Championshi ps 2015 Hock enheim.
42
The connection/Integration of set up and race strategy. Once you have optimised your set up for pace and have an understanding of tyre wear it's now time to make some race strategy decisions that will have an impact on the final set-up
We might loosely define set up as looking for the fastest car. Strategy on the other hand as deciding a) What is the fastest overall approach and b) How to be fastest when you need to be fastest. The first thing you need to do is: 1. Check which tyre compounds will be available on the race 2. Do a full-fuel run with each tire (maximum of fuel level available) and go as long as possible while being VERY consistent (Consistency is important because it will make your results valid /inconsistent runs are invalid). Observe where the tyre degradation starts to significantly impact lap time. 3. Do calculations how often you need to change tires to make the full distance Keep tire rules to fulfil in mind (like F1 option and prime must be used). 4. Check the lap time difference between prime and option tyres on low and high fuel. (the “prime offset” or “prime delta”). This will help guide you as to when to use each compound. The wear and performance gaps between the two tyres should also guide you to what is your preferred race tyre. 5. Check the pit stop time. 6. Decide for yourself which 2 strategies are the most profitable for you.
43
Determination of the right strategy (out of 2 possibilities): IE to drop a stop or not? 1. Determine your strategy opportunities (Number of stops / type and sequence of tyres. 2. Run a full Race-simulation on the lesser stop tactic (e.g. 2 Stops) 3. Run a full Race-simulation on the greater stop tactic (e.g. 3 Stops) 4. Compare Step 3 and 4. If 3 is faster – that’s your strategy otherwise 6. 5. Ask a team-member to help you with the following a. Run your first Stint of your lesser stop tactic to the point where you would box with the more stop tactic. b. At that point quote your fuel value and ask your team member to leave the pits behind you (on same compound). Job: Keep the guy behind until you enter the pits due to your strategy schedule. 6. If you fail to stay in front. The greater stop strategy is the right one. 7. If you manage to stay in Front the lesser stop strategy is the right one 8.
Consider the tactical scenario of the race. IE W here are you starting?, What is your pace?, What is your target?, when do you propose to attack/defend and how (on track battle, dropping a stop, running long, undercutting)?
44
Each track is different. At Monaco for example track position is king and (pit) strategy can lose the race if you end up behind someone whereas at say Spa passing isn't hard. You need to assess to what extent your race will be built on sheer pace versus pit stop-tyre strategy. We now look at Spa as an example to discuss the set -up implications of race tactics and strategy. The track and strategy related set-up decisions. Track map of Spa.
Sector 1 (Turn 1 to 5) and Sector 3 (Turn 15 to 19) are faster with low wing and Sector 2 (Turn 5 to 14) faster with high wing. It then comes down to tactical decisions as to what will happen in your race. Where will you need to prioritise your pace to gain an advantage? You may have achieved the optimum lap time but where in the lap (or race) will be the most critical moments for you. Is there a part of the lap where you need to be fast or a part of the stint where you do? Aero Choice: Speed or consistency? Increased aero will increase fuel consumption and will lower both tyre wear and brake temps. This would help you drop a stop. But it will make you slow in sectors 1 and 3. Potential overtaking spots (where you will be attacking or under attack) are at turn1 and 5 of Sector 1 and Turn 18 (although Turn 1 might be not considered because of tactical issues (you might be re-attacked at turn 5)). The task is to build up an advantage with a selection of the following:
45
-
Low wings (and suitable gearing) that would allow an attack using...
-
Slipstream
-
Braking performance (however requiring high down-force)
All but the 2nd advantage you need are related to your set-up. Here are 2 casual chains to show the relations: ↑ (positive impact) ↓ (negative impact) -
Lower wings:Top speed ↑; Slipstream effect ↑; braking distance ↑; braking performance/stability ↓; cornering speed on turn entry ↓ t yre wear ↓
-
Higher wings: Top speed ↓, Slipstream effect ↓; braking distance ↑; tyre wear ↑ braking performance/stability ↑; cornering speed on turn entry ↑
-
Assumption: The car ahead has the same set-up attached on both conditions (but different to yours)
As you can see going into different directions gives different advantages (like top speed) and different drawbacks (like longer braking distances or less high cornering speed). So a good compromise needs to be found suiting your expectations of the race. Possible example scenarios: a) You are fast and capable of a front row start. No parc ferme. Decision-Aero on the higher end of your tested range of choices. You will set the car for fastest lap time and seek to break the DRS tow in the first 2 laps. If unsuccessful you will still have DRS and pit strategy to fight back. Your aero setting will yield good tyre wear possibly dropping a stop. Chasing cars in the fight (in dirty air) will struggle on tyre wear. You will be very strong under brakes. It will take a brave move to pass you into Turn 5 and you will still be on his gearbox for DRS at pit and Kemmel straights. You will set 1st gear for the very best start. You will watch the gaps behind you and pit when you (will on exit) have clear air. Decision-tyres. You will start on options (you didn't get pole on primes!). b) You are expecting 6 th on the grid. Decision Aero- On the lower end of your choices. You need to fight hard in the overtaking zones to win/keep places. A high wing setting would not see you pass the fastest guys ahead and you will be attacked from behind. (Think Kvyatt Spa 2015) Decision-tyres. You will start on options. (if you could manage P6 on primes you would be on pole on options! . c) You are 15th on the grid and hoping for a top 10 finish. Decision-Aero either higher end of your choices and hope to drop a stop and gain places with performance due to less tyre wear. However you will be vulnerable in the overtaking spots. So more likely you set aero on the lower end of your choices have a fast car so that you can attack and defend. You will set 1 st gear for best lap time as a great start will simply put you in a higher risk lap 1 turn 1 damage situation. Decision-tyres. Most likely you will start on primes. Avoiding a mess in lap 1 and possibly getting some passes when option runners pit earlier. If they have similar pace you might be able to hold them off with your options stint/s. These examples are very simplified. You will look at what you think your key competitors are planning. Also how achievable dropping a stop might be (tyre wear).
4b) Set -up for qualifying. If there is no “parc ferme” you can make significant changes to extract the best single lap 46
from the car. This might mean a different aero setting than the optimum for your race strategy. It might mean an under-steering set that kills front tyres but over a lap is quick. All settings can be optimised for speed with low fuel and perfect (option?) tyres. Brief summary of some possibilities. Engine cooling-lower Brake cooling ducts-lower Diff lock-lower. Gearing-longer Aero-optimised for a lap time rather than passing. All the compromises for tyre life can be ignored. In fact getting temp on a single out-lap might be more the goal than lowering wear. If there is parc ferme you will be restricted.
4c) Set -up for Endurance Racing Key things to work on are reliability and drive-ability. Reliability: Know for example your cars designed engine life, safe RPM, optimum temps safe brakes failure thickness. Driveability: A twitchy, “on the edge” qualifying set up will not be nice for 12 hours. At some point drivers will be tired. Ensure it's drive-able and that i t's nice on worn tyres. You might be doing 1/3rd of your laps or more on worn tyres and many results have been decided when a quick car has become hard to drive due to tyre wear. Aero and gearing will impact fuel consumption and fuel range will dictate your stops. Stategy: Think about the total picture of the race. For example how close are to being able to drop a stop over the race distance? One driver I saw won a 2 hour endurance race because he figured out that by running lower aero and a longer gearing his fuel consumption took a whole pit stop of 90 seconds out of his race.
4d) Wet Set up. Every car will behave differently and some (mods) tyres are easier than others. General options to explore: Increase Ride Height Lower (or disconnect) rear ARB Lower Brake Pressure Brake Balance rearwards (less weight shift forwards due to less grip) More aero (especially rear) Increased diff lock (both power and coast) Lower camber (less G = less lean) Lower Caster (excessive caster will add camber when you t urn the steering, you don't want so much camber in the wet). Slow the steering ratio a little Lower the in-game throttle map response
47
Section 5) Handling problem and solution table. Note: This table offers some basic steps but not all steps and attempts to prioritise the most fruitful steps in order. Issue-over-steer
Issue under-steerr
Speed of corner
Entry
Mid corner Exit
Entry
Mid corner Exit
Low Kerbs: mostly used in slow corners try changing fast dampers instead of slow ones if you use the kerbs.
1) Increase front slow bump dampers, 2) Decrease rear slow rebound dampers, 3) Increase diff lockcoast,
1) Increase front ARB Decrease rear ARB, 2) Increase front springs, 3 Lower rear springs.
1) Lower rear slow bump dampers, 2) Lower front slow rebound dampers, 3) Lower rear springs 4) increase diff lockpower.
1) Decrease front slow bump dampers, 2 Decrease rear slow rebound dampers, 3) Decrease diff lockcoast,
1) Decrease front ARB Increase rear ARB, 2) Decrease front springs, 3) Increase rear springs.
1) Increase rear slow bump dampers, 2) Increase front slow rebound dampers, 3) Increase rear springs, 4)Reduce diff lockpower.
Medium
Use a selection or combinatio n of high and low speed remedies
High
1) Lower front wing/raise rear wing. 2) Increase front slow bump dampers.
1) Lower front wing/raise rear wing.
1) Increase rear ride height, 2) Soften rear springs 3) Lower rear slow bump dampers, 4) Lower front slow rebound dampers 5) Increase Diff Lockpower.
1) Lower rear wing/raise front wing. 2) Decrease front slow bump dampers,
1) Lower rear wing/raise front wing.
1) Decrease rear ride height, 2) Stiffen rear springs 3) Increase rear slow bump dampers, 4) Increse front slow rebound dampers 5) Decrease Diff Lockpower.
48
Issue.
Solution
Wheel-spin in low speed exits.
Increase 1st and second gear ratios. Add diff-lock, power side. Check rear ride height (packers). Check rear slow bump dampers.
Rear brake lock ups in hard braking zones on down-shifts.
Increase 1st and second gear ratios. Decrease engine brake map (higher number = less engine braking).
Section 5b Tyre wear impact table. Parameter
Impact on tyre wear
Aero
More aero = less tyre wear
Springs
Stiffer Springs = More tyre wear
Dampers
Stiffer Dampers= More tyre wear
Diff Lock
More diff lock = More front wear. Less rear wear.
Brake Balance
Moving brake balance (away) will lower wear
Brake Pressure
Lower brake pressure = lower wear.
ARB Stiffer
More tyre wear at that end
.
6 Bibliography Racer Alex Advanced F1 Set up Guide R Factor Garage Set Up guide by Dominik Hartig Setup Guide for GTR2 Set up your car in 21 steps, by LmS “Basics of Setup” by Ramon van Rijn “Advanced Setup Matrix” by C Barnett Competition Driving. Alain Prost and Pierre-Francois Rousselot. “Taking the Mystery Out of the Third Spring” http://www.lolachampcar.com/3rdSpring.html The Hoosier Race tyre manual. https://rsracing.com/TechTire.aspx#biasthry
49
A little testing in a favourite car. S pa late afternoon enteri ng s ector 2. Thank you and g ood nig ht.
NB Due to the random way pdf conversion does page breaks, some of these pages will be 1 page out.
7) Index to content (and g los s ary of abbreviations ) Aerodynamic Down-force (Aero). Pages: 3,6,10,14,20,23,24,25,28,29,30,32,33, 34, 42,43,44,45. Anti Roll Bars. Pages 7,10,28,29,32,44,45. Assists. Pages 26,38. Brakes.
(Temperature Cooling, Balance, Force). Pages 3, 7, 12, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 29, 31,33,34,35,36,38,42,43,44,45.
Camber: Measured in (usually negative) degrees the titling inwards of the top of the wheel. Pages 11,12,13,14,16,2,32,44. Carstat 2
50
Software that analyses and reports key specifications from R Factor 2 car
