rec.autos.simulators

First comment: don't dismiss the under-powered but chuckable Brabham.
I've just beaten my old best times at Silverstone and Spa (of all
places) as well as the Glen - all since lunch!

Secondly, a followup to earlier discussions about using the same setup
for all cars.  Since then I've discovered Nunnini's wonderful
datasheet, as well as installing GRE [1], and my setups do differ
between cars, although the numbers are in the same ballpark.

What I am doing is keeping 'deltas' (differences) the same: for
example, if the Cooper, with 60% of its weight on the rear axle, has a
spring setup which is 56% rear then the Brabham, with 58 rear, will
get 54 on the springs.  Similarly, if my Honda setup for, say, Monza
has two clicks less front 'bar and one click less rear spring than the
BRM, then the same modifications will give a good starting point at,
for example, Spa.

Thirdly, one thing I continue to find (and I don't know whether it's
just a reflection on my driving style) is that it can sometimes take
very careful adjustment before a particular car 'hooks up' at a
particular track, but when it does the improvement (at least in
ability to string together laps without falling off!) is sudden and
spectacular.  (According to Christian Silk, an F1 race engineer, Alesi
was like this: he'd pit in complaining that "Zees car 'as zero
trakshon!"; they'd make some tiny adjustment and he'd describe the car
as perfect...)

Anyway, I'm off to rebuild some 1/10th scale shock absorbers!

Happy hotlapping!
Jonny

[1) Just one request on this otherwise excellent program: could it
please leave the track setting alone when I import chassis parameters?
It's really annoying to find I've just overwritten my Kyalami setup
when I was in the middle of creating one for Mosport...

Nothing replaces familiarity with your setup.  If you're comfortable
with a setup, the driving is much easier :)

It saves time in the garage, so you can get more time on the track too!

Jason.

Jason.

Example, last night I participated in a server test for the MARA-E league.
The track was Watkins Glen, one which I hadn't driven in the Eagle (the car
I intend to use next season) since the early days of owning GPL. I more or
less kept the gearing of the setup I already had (adjusted progression a
little using GRE) and adjusted all other parameters to my base setup. I went
out and ended up making just the one adjustment: lowering the number
clutches from 3 to 2, finishing 3rd in the race at some 18secs (despite a
spin under accelleration trying to wrestle 2nd away from Dave Hawnt in the
Ferrari... too eager with the loud pedal <g>) and getting to within a couple
hundredths of my PB for the track (in Int Long race trim).

Perhaps with a little more tweaking, I could have gone a little faster, but
with the vaguaries of online racing being as they are, I don't consider it
worth the effort or time it takes. I don't know I many hours I have "on
GPL", but I want to use that experience, not start over each time I face a
new car/track combination.

Jan.
=---

| Did someone say "Monza banking"?!  Where can I find this track? :-D
|
| Jason.
|

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My setups are getting pretty close: although there are slight
differences, I've been starting each new car/track combination by
copying a previous setup for that car.

To create the base setups, I revisited a technique I tried with GP
years ago: list *all* the setups and take mean values.  I worked on
the basis that my individual attempts at setup development would, on
the whole, have been about right - in GP2 at least, I was delighted at
how driveable the "mean setup" was!  Obviously wings and gears
differed between tracks; on GPL it's gears and some slight variations
in damping (more front bump if I keep losing it on corner entry), anti
roll bars (depending on the long corners / tricky braking zones
compromise) and occasionally springs, though not by much.

But then, to me, setup development is half the fun (and I'm starting
to suspect that I have more natural talent there than in driving ;-)
and perhaps I find it easier to make the car suit my driving than
vice-versa.

My model race car behaves similarly, in that I'll go to a track with a
basic setup and maybe change the springs at one end, or add/remove the
rear 'bar, or change the ride height to account for the surface - but
on the whole it doesn't vary much.

Jonny

Jason.

| Yeah, must have been working to much that month to read ALL the messages
| here :)  My friends usually ask me if I tried out the new track, but
| guess they stopped because I just tried LeMans - Sarthe about 2 weeks
| ago.  At least it's better late than never :P
|
| Jason.

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