Introduction:-
This is a basic guide for beginners. I have tried to explain most of the advanced level 2 settings to make it easier for you to get a great setup because level 1 and 0 won't get you the really fast times. This is a first release version, I will polish this one up and include a few more things at a later date.
Wings
At some stage you are going to have to play around with the wing settings. The wings are what help to keep your car on the track around corners. Remember this as your speed increases so does the downforce (grip) generated by the wings. So the wings will help you more through the faster corners while in the slower ones your corner speed will be determined more by a combination of your suspension and wing settings.
The higher you set the wings the greater the downforce and the slower you'll be able to travell down the straights. The trick is to get a good comprimise between top speed and grip. Try lowering the wings until your split times start getting slower and then stop.
Let you wong settings be determined by the layout of the track. Ones with big long straights and fast corners like hockenheim, Monza, Imola and Spa require less wing than tight twisty ones like Monaco and Jerez. I will talk more about setting up the wings later.
Brake Bias
The brake bias compensates for the weight transfer forward which occurs when braking. With out it your car would not brake efficiently. A good settings to start with is about 37%:63%. On tracks with fast straights which require you to brake from high speeds increase the brake bias On slower tracks decrease the brake bias. The higher you set the bias the greater the braking power but be warned your car will not want to turn in as much and you will have to ease off the brakes towards the end of your braking session or you will lock them.
Find a bias setting that you like and stick to it. As you get more experienced then start to play around with it.
Gear Ratios
Wing settings and gear ratios go hand in hand. Changing one will require you in most cases to change the other. eg. If you decrease your wing settings you will most likely have to increase the gear ratios and vice versa. When you have set your wing settings go out and do a few laps and return to the garage and increase or decrease you 6th gear until your rev lights just blink red at the end of the fastest straight. Then space all your gears out evenly.
As you get more experienced you may have closer gearing in the lower gears etc to improve your accelleration. Experiment and see what different settings do.
Packers & Ride Height:-
Packers limit suspension travel and alow you to lower the ride
height. For example the car bottoms out at the end of the straight
because the suspension is being compressed due the the downforce
created by the wings and underside of the car to a lesser degree. If
you want to keep the ride height where it is so you don't loose
downforce you can fit packers. Just say the suspension is being
compressed 25mm at the end of the straight where the car is bottoming
out. If you set the ride height to 20mm then remember there is also
a 10mm plank attached to the bottom of the car so the real ride
height is 10mm. You will need to add 16mm of packers and that will
keep the car 1mm of the ground at the end of the straight. The 6mm
of packers will limit the suspension travel (which was 25mm) to 6mm.
Also as you will notice from the above example 6mm of suspension
travel is not a lot and if the track has alot of bumps or requires
you to drive over ripple strips then you can will have a car that
spends a lot of time in the gravel. So in these conditions soften
springs and bump dampers so the car's four wheels are in contact with
the ground at all times. If you car oversteers/understeers over
bumps and ripple strips it's because one or more wheels have either
lost contact with the ground or are barely touching. Remember soft
springs are pointless if you don't alow them to travel far enough to
be effective.
Packers lower the bump rubbers so therefore at the end of the
straight your car is running on bump rubbers in the above example.
If you car is bottoming out around fast corners do not fit packers as
that will mean runninig on bump rubbers and on fast corners that is a
no no. Therefore raise the ride height.
The lower you can set the ride height the better so on flat, smooth tracks set the ride height as low as possible. This will require you to fit packers but suspension travel is not importanted here as there a few bumps to unsettle the car and you will benift more from the increased downforce. Remember to set the front ride height higher than that of the back otherwise you will not benifit from the downforce.
Also note that if you have very little suspension travel and or very stiff springs and you get in the gravel there is and increased chance that you will damage your wings and also loose wheel/s. So be careful.
Fast/Slow Bump dampers
Bump dampers only come into play when the suspension is in
compression. ie over bumps and going around corners(out side wheels
only). They resist the upward movement of the suspension.
Fast Bump dampers will affect how the car handles over sudden bumps
in the track and ripple strips. If the car under/over steers on
bumps and or ripple stips then soften them.
Slow Bump dampers will affect how the car handles in corners but not
as much a rebound dampers. You will notice slow bump dampers alow
for finer adjustment i think up to 25 compared to 8 for fast ones.
This is so you can set the car up better through the corners.
Fast/Slow Rebound Dampers
Rebound dampers come into play when the suspension is being extended
and so work together with bump dampers. Rebound damper resist the downward movement to the suspension.
Fast Rebound Dampers will affect the car when coming off a bump or
ripple strip. ie when the suspension is being extended again.
Slow Rebound Dampers will affect the car during corner entry and exit
when the suspension is being extended(inside wheels). Note when the
car is settled mid corner anti-roll bars and springs will take over
and determine car handling. If these rebound dampers are set to stiff then the car
will take longer to transfer control to the springs which will mean
the inertia of the car will be controlled ie the car will tilt more
slowly keeping the car settled.
Balance is important so therefore if you have stiff springs then you
should also have fairly stiff Slow rebound and bump dampers. This
will mean when the car transfers control from dampers to springs mid
corner it will not go from soft to stiff or vice versa which will
unsettle the car.
Don't set dampers too soft as the cars handling will become sloppy.
Springs
Spring settings are determined by track bumpiness, Driving style, ride height and tyre wear. A bumpy track will require you to fit softer springs where as a smooth track will alow you to fit stiff ones. Always have the rear softer then the front unless you like oversteer and slow lap times. Some like stiff responsive cars while others find them to hard to control and opt for softer ones. If you like driving over the ripple stips then consider softening your suspension otherwise you will find the car difficult or just plain impossible to control. If you lower your ride height you may have to stiffen you springs to keep the car off the ground or you could keep your springs as they are and fit packers.
If your tyres are wearing out far too quickly soften your suspension. It's better to maintain a consistant speed and handling rather then have a car which is nice at the start of the race but becomes a slow and diffucult car towards the end. In qualifying tyre wear is not a problem but in a race you need endurance so opt for softer suspension.
If you soften your springs ensure that the car is not bottoming out and if so fit packers. Also don't soften them too far as you car will have sloppy handling which converts to slow lap times.
You may not see immediate improvement in times but when you find a
good suspension setup (springs and dampers) the car will feel much
better to drive and that will lead to better lap times in the long
run.
All of the above is based on experience and logic.
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