rec.autos.simulators

This article is copyright - in fact all of my articles are copyright so
please ask permission if you want to include these on your web site.
Please tell me what you think!

Come.to/grandprix3 - http://www.racesimcentral.net/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
The Secrets of Fast Hotlaps for GP2 - By Michael Lam

Have you ever browsed through the hotlap times on the Internet and as a
result been
completely gob smacked? Come-on, admit it. We all were rookies at one stage.
Even at
ace level, when you're consistently lapping faster than the computer, and
you thought you
were good?

Ok, I'm going to attempt to cover all the inner secrets of hotlapping in
this article. Here
goes:

A set-up that is absolutely spot-on, can't be improved is a must for
hotlaps. You'd be
surprised at what a difference a perfect set-up makes compared with what you
thought
were "good" set-ups. Also, the set-up for hotlaps is vastly different to the
one you would
use for a race. Try and race with a hotlap set-up, and you would finish
last, no matter
how good you were. This will be explained a little later.

You want a generous amount of front wing, between 12-14 for fast tracks, and
17-20 for
slow tracks. More front wing doesn't really slow the car down much if at
all. You want
virtually no rear wing, 1 or 2 maximum.

The brake balance should be biased towards the front to help counter the
oversteer caused the the small rear wing.
The brake balance varies from track to track, but the value should not be
biased to much away from the centre.
Gear ratios should have a high first gear to prevent wheelspin. This is
important if you
disable throttle help - this is explained later.

The advanced menu. This is where the real differences in the hotlap set-up
and the race
set-up takes place. Many people ignore the advanced menu - this is a BIG
mistake. The
front packers, front fast bump dampers, front fast rebound dampers, front
slow bump
dampers, and front springs should all be set to their maximum value.  Also
the rear packers,
rear fast bump dampers, rear fast rebound dampers, rear slow bump dampers,
and rear
springs should all be set to their minimum value. These settings are to
counter the effects
of having a very small rear wing.

The anti-roll bars should be stiffened at the front, and softened at the
rear, to help
          counter the oversteer caused by the small rear wing.

The ride-height. The most important variable to set-up in the advanced menu.
The ride
height should always be set up so that the ride height is as low as possible
and so that
immediately after your hotlap the plank wear indictor turns red. The lower
the car is, the
more downforce it creates without the penalty of drag, the lower the centre
of gravity,
and therefore faster cornering speeds.

Fuel. For a hotlap you should set the fuel to 2 laps only. Drive the first
lap slowly, making
sure you don't make the plankwear indictor light up at all. You should cross
the start/finish
line between 1.2 to 1.5 laps fuel and then accelerate. If the plank wear
lights up red
before the end of the hotlap, you can throw that hotlap away, it will be no
good. This is
why a hotlap set-up cannot be used for a race - the plankwear would slow you
down an
enormous degree after the first lap.

Your driving style also is very important. Throttle help (F7) should be
turned off for faster
acceleration. However be warned, if you've never tried driving without
throttle help you
need a lot of practice.

The way you take a corner is also very important. It all depends on what
follows the
corner. A real driver's mind is always thinking ahead to the next corner.
Yours should too.
If a straight follows a corner, approach the corner slowly and get as fast
an exit as
possible. Have you ever tried the last corner of Spain, Catalunya? Get a
fast exit speed
and you can normally slipstream up to two or even three drivers.
If a slow corner follows the corner you're taking, brake late, and take a
slower exit. This
will mean a faster corner, you don't need the extra speed at the exit.
For chicanes, be careful not to brake too late. You can lose up to 0.5s by
braking to late.
In this diagram the correct way of driving a chicane is the grey line - the
false way is the red line. The red line is
what happens when you over-brake: you lose time because you have to travel a
few metres further.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I cannot provide the rest of the article because there is a diagram. To read
the rest of the article and to view the diagram, please go to
http://www.racesimcentral.net/; Articles > The Secret of Fast Hotlaps for GP2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Enjoy!
Michael

--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - -
Come.to/grandprix3: http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Formula 1 HeadQuarters: http://www.racesimcentral.net/

ICQ: 35693329
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - -

--
Ari Nieminen

Remove .NOSPAM from my e-mail address when replying.

--
Ari Nieminen

Remove .NOSPAM from my e-mail address when replying.

Micheal, here's my 2 cents, Since 96' and beyond (when I did my website)
Everyone knows what it takes to do a real fast lap:

High Processor Occupency
then an extremally silly type setup like this :

High ARB in front, no ARB in rear
Same goes to springs
no wing in rear and full wing in front
dampers.... hmm is this important ??

As you can see, it's impossible, but back to 96-97 there was a bunch
of hotlappers that were maiking miracle out of this. Most of them now
have migrate to F1RS, then GPL or MGPRS2. Few of them have stayed. I
wonder what's the trend thses days 3 years after it's initial release ?

I'm known as "SPY's GP2 webpage" webmaster. But that website is now
RIP. I'm playing GPL until GP3 comes out wishing the kind of silly
setup made back then won't work anymore. Could be an impossible mission
but I'll give Geoff the benefit of doubt until his product is out.

Have fun !!

Eric Cote

now http://www.simracingmag.com

Well, those days are gone thanks to gp2lap:  

  http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsdi/gp2lap/

JoH
Please remove *anti-spam* from the email when replying.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
When everything else failed, we can still become im-
mortal by making an enormous blunder....

                             John Kenneth Galbraith
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=