07-16-2020, 04:30 PM
Hi all,
Here is my setup that I am currently using for the Estonia 25 at Tor Poznan, which is attached as a file to the bottom of this post so you don't need to read all my waffle if you don't want to. I did a race today with this setup using 19L fuel and medium tyres and I ran in the low 1:32.XX per lap when I had clean air. After watching the replay, I did some practice where I tidied up my braking points and driving line a bit. I can now run at a mid to high 1:31.XX with the same setup and possibly could do better with more improvements to my driving. I then tried the default setup (with 19L fuel, medium tyres) for a few laps as a test and I could only run in the high 1:34.XX to low 1:35.XX. I would thus say that my setup has saved me about 3-3.5 seconds per lap which is pretty significant. For qualifying I use soft tyres and reduce the pressure on all the tyres by 1 psi compared to what I use on the mediums.
I found the default setup understeered a lot, especially at mid to late part of medium and high speed corners, forcing me to lift slightly on the throttle. I wanted to change the gearing ratio, as it was too long and when I went to the fifth (last) gear the engine didn’t produce enough power (or is it torque, or both) and the car actually lost speed. I also thought about increasing top speed since there are long sections of the course that can be taken flat out.
Here are the main changes I made and the reason why for those interested. I did not spend too long creating this setup, but I knew most of these changes would have a big effect. If you have any input on how this could be improved or if I say something that is incorrect then let me know.
Suspension
I lowered the stiffness of the front wheel rate (symmetrically) and anti-roll bar to reduce the understeer at the mid corner. Like wise I also stiffened the rear wheel rate and rear anti-roll bar which also has the same effect.
Aero
I reduced the wings to FW=2, RW=1 to improve top speed since I am flat out for long sections of the track. Keeping the FW higher than the RW should reduce understeer too. So while there is less downforce produced then by the default wings, the balance should be nicer. I might tweak this in the future.
Alignment (toe)
I reduced front toe out from -15 to -5 (so it’s really toe in since its negative), to help increase top speed as I didn’t feel I need extra turn in on mid part of slower corners due to the changes in suspension and ARB. I might change this in the future.
Differential
I reduced the differential to their minimums, which is 5%. Reducing diff coast should aid with turn in and reduce understeer. Reducing the diff power should improve acceleration out of the corner. I don’t see why diff power should be anything but the minimum, since the torque produced by this car seems low compared to its weight and I have never spun out when I touched the accelerator as I always had enough traction. If you spin out when getting on the power, then I think its more due to your weight management and steering inputs.
Gearing
I lowered the gearing and balanced it out. I kept enough length in final gear to have extra speed when drafting at the fastest parts of the course. I only use first gear at the start, so I kept that at the minimum to give good acceleration at the start.
Fuel
If there is a very fast person in your race (high 1:30.XX to low 1:31.XX), then you need 14 laps of fuel and so 19L is good enough for that with this setup. If you increase the wings from the ones I have given, then you might need more fuel.
Tyre pressure
Mediums: LF = 15, LR = 16, RF = 17, RR =17
Softs: LF = 14, LR = 15, RF = 16, RR =16
As I said earlier, the softs are one click lower then the mediums on all the tyres. I don’t think softs would last the race, not sure though I didn’t test it.
There were some things that I didn’t change from the default that perhaps I should. I would really appreciate any recommendations on this end if you have any.
Dampers
I made no changes to the dampers, as I really did not know what to change. I’m pretty sure I understand the theory behind them, but it’s definitely one area of making a setup that I struggle with when trying to make effective changes. The car seems to take bumps and kerbs well and doesn’t continually oscillate afterwards so I think the default fast dampers are acceptable.
Alignment (Camber)
Same goes with the camber, no changes. Again, I understand the theory behind the changes but never really know if my changes have improved the car, or if I just happened to be driving better anyway, so I left them as they are.
Brake Bias
I made no changes to the brake bias as it seemed okay to me since I was not locking up constantly at one end. Might change this from race to race to see what works and what doesn’t, which luckily can be done while driving without needing to pit.
Here is my setup that I am currently using for the Estonia 25 at Tor Poznan, which is attached as a file to the bottom of this post so you don't need to read all my waffle if you don't want to. I did a race today with this setup using 19L fuel and medium tyres and I ran in the low 1:32.XX per lap when I had clean air. After watching the replay, I did some practice where I tidied up my braking points and driving line a bit. I can now run at a mid to high 1:31.XX with the same setup and possibly could do better with more improvements to my driving. I then tried the default setup (with 19L fuel, medium tyres) for a few laps as a test and I could only run in the high 1:34.XX to low 1:35.XX. I would thus say that my setup has saved me about 3-3.5 seconds per lap which is pretty significant. For qualifying I use soft tyres and reduce the pressure on all the tyres by 1 psi compared to what I use on the mediums.
I found the default setup understeered a lot, especially at mid to late part of medium and high speed corners, forcing me to lift slightly on the throttle. I wanted to change the gearing ratio, as it was too long and when I went to the fifth (last) gear the engine didn’t produce enough power (or is it torque, or both) and the car actually lost speed. I also thought about increasing top speed since there are long sections of the course that can be taken flat out.
Here are the main changes I made and the reason why for those interested. I did not spend too long creating this setup, but I knew most of these changes would have a big effect. If you have any input on how this could be improved or if I say something that is incorrect then let me know.
Suspension
I lowered the stiffness of the front wheel rate (symmetrically) and anti-roll bar to reduce the understeer at the mid corner. Like wise I also stiffened the rear wheel rate and rear anti-roll bar which also has the same effect.
Aero
I reduced the wings to FW=2, RW=1 to improve top speed since I am flat out for long sections of the track. Keeping the FW higher than the RW should reduce understeer too. So while there is less downforce produced then by the default wings, the balance should be nicer. I might tweak this in the future.
Alignment (toe)
I reduced front toe out from -15 to -5 (so it’s really toe in since its negative), to help increase top speed as I didn’t feel I need extra turn in on mid part of slower corners due to the changes in suspension and ARB. I might change this in the future.
Differential
I reduced the differential to their minimums, which is 5%. Reducing diff coast should aid with turn in and reduce understeer. Reducing the diff power should improve acceleration out of the corner. I don’t see why diff power should be anything but the minimum, since the torque produced by this car seems low compared to its weight and I have never spun out when I touched the accelerator as I always had enough traction. If you spin out when getting on the power, then I think its more due to your weight management and steering inputs.
Gearing
I lowered the gearing and balanced it out. I kept enough length in final gear to have extra speed when drafting at the fastest parts of the course. I only use first gear at the start, so I kept that at the minimum to give good acceleration at the start.
Fuel
If there is a very fast person in your race (high 1:30.XX to low 1:31.XX), then you need 14 laps of fuel and so 19L is good enough for that with this setup. If you increase the wings from the ones I have given, then you might need more fuel.
Tyre pressure
Mediums: LF = 15, LR = 16, RF = 17, RR =17
Softs: LF = 14, LR = 15, RF = 16, RR =16
As I said earlier, the softs are one click lower then the mediums on all the tyres. I don’t think softs would last the race, not sure though I didn’t test it.
There were some things that I didn’t change from the default that perhaps I should. I would really appreciate any recommendations on this end if you have any.
Dampers
I made no changes to the dampers, as I really did not know what to change. I’m pretty sure I understand the theory behind them, but it’s definitely one area of making a setup that I struggle with when trying to make effective changes. The car seems to take bumps and kerbs well and doesn’t continually oscillate afterwards so I think the default fast dampers are acceptable.
Alignment (Camber)
Same goes with the camber, no changes. Again, I understand the theory behind the changes but never really know if my changes have improved the car, or if I just happened to be driving better anyway, so I left them as they are.
Brake Bias
I made no changes to the brake bias as it seemed okay to me since I was not locking up constantly at one end. Might change this from race to race to see what works and what doesn’t, which luckily can be done while driving without needing to pit.