Come.to/grandprix3 Article - The Secret to Fast Hotlaps for GP2.......

This article was written by Michael Lam for Come.to/grandprix3: http://come.to/grandprix3 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://come.to/grandprix3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- 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://come.to/grandprix3 Articles > The Secret of Fast Hotlaps for GP2 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoy! Michael -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Come.to/grandprix3: http://come.to/grandprix3 Formula 1 HeadQuarters: http://www.klam71.freeserve.co.uk ICQ: 35693329 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

> The Secrets of Fast Hotlaps for GP2 - By Michael Lam I really have been playing this game for far too many hours: I already knew it all! :-) -- Ari Nieminen Remove .NOSPAM from my e-mail address when replying.

> > The Secrets of Fast Hotlaps for GP2 - By Michael Lam > I really have been playing this game for far too many hours: I already > knew it all! :-) Hmmm...... well I'm sure that this article has helped some people gain a few seconds!

> > I really have been playing this game for far too many hours: I already > > knew it all! :-) > Hmmm...... well I'm sure that this article has helped some people gain a few > seconds! Absolutely, yes. It's great that you bothered to write that article in the first place. I was just being concerned about myself. :) -- 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

Quoted text (129 lines)

> This article was written by Michael Lam for Come.to/grandprix3: > http://come.to/grandprix3 > 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://come.to/grandprix3 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > --- > 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://come.to/grandprix3 > Articles > The Secret of Fast Hotlaps for GP2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Enjoy! > Michael > -- > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > - - - - - - - - - - - > Come.to/grandprix3: http://come.to/grandprix3 > Formula 1 HeadQuarters: http://www.klam71.freeserve.co.uk > ICQ: 35693329 > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > - - - - - - - - - - -

webmaster.vcf < 1K Download

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 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=