AC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup @ Monza - Thursday 29th December 2016

[Reik Major]

Thanks to everyone for this fine racing. Was big fun.

Race 1 I had trouble at the start, because the game didn't show me the starting lights (very rare bug). But I managed to get into the lead soon to finally finish 1st.

Race 2 I started from pole and completely missed the braking point for the chicane, so I had to cut and let the first 2 guys pass me. Later I was back in the lead but made a silly mistake into Lesmo 1 to drop into 3rd position. Then I had a nice battle with Ricardo and Giuseppe to finally finish 4th.

The close racing was very enjoyable. I like the handling of the car. It feels very alive but controllable. I liked the challenge through Ascari.

I drove first chicane in 2nd gear and second chicane in 3rd. Ascari entering in 3rd, careful direction change, then flat out in 4th trough the right and left hander.

I used default setup only changing wing to 6, ABS to 6 and raising pressure to 19 psi. The lower the wing, the loser the rear. So 6 gave me a good balance through Ascari and Parabolica.

 

[Glaurung]

I used default setup only changing wing to 6, ABS to 6 and raising pressure to 19 psi. The lower the wing, the loser the rear. So 6 gave me a good balance through Ascari and Parabolica.

I've used as lower wing as possible, setting to 4 because 3 was quite undriveable. I felt ok apart in the Ascari, where at the entry I had to be very cautious, nonetheless had a spin at Ascari in race 1. ABS was 5. ARBs were 13 front -17 rear.
Quite oversteering behaviour.

 

[Reik Major]

Interesting. So what was the advantage of your lower wing? Did you have more top speed?

 

[Eugene Abramoff]

I know I didn't have higher top speed, but on the straights I was flying, I would get to speed a lot quicker than other cars. It mostly affects acceleration here, but I'm sure having minimal drag improves your average speed around the circuit, even at the cost of stability sometimes.

 

[Glaurung]

Interesting. So what was the advantage of your lower wing? Did you have more top speed?

Well, analyzing our fastest laps, I have better top speeds of less than 2 km/h more just before Variante della Roggia and Variante Ascari, and just 1 km/h at the end of the main straight. Overall a slightly better accelerations thanks to a reduced drag.
However, all this goes lost when it's time to floor the throttle at the Ascari, there the car is sliding the rear and not fully ready to go flat out as early as wanted causing a loss of about 3 tenths.
Eventually in my opinion the little gain in top speeds and acceleration do not compensate the disadvantage of an unstable car in critical sections like the Ascari, where less downforce do not pay in terms of time and consistency.

 

[Tobiman]

Yeah, I think a value of 6 is sort of the sweet spot. I still hit the same speed down the straights as with 5 and I can be a little more consistent over a lap.

 

[Eugene Abramoff]

The only solution I had for Ascari is to force the car to understeer over the last curb on the left and out to the run off on the right, without going out of the track much. I however didn't have as aggressive of a setup on ARBs, I only had 9 and 6 or 4.

 

[Mapu]

The only solution I had for Ascari is to force the car to understeer over the last curb on the left and out to the run off on the right, without going out of the track much. I however didn't have as aggressive of a setup on ARBs, I only had 9 and 6 or 4.

hah... I had the front ARB on 30 and the rear one at 20. Made it all easier to ride the curbs in Ascari and reduced the bouncing significantly. I fully agree with wing settings on 6. It was the best trade-off for me.

 

[Eugene Abramoff]

hah... I had the front ARB on 30 and the rear one at 20. Made it all easier to ride the curbs in Ascari and reduced the bouncing significantly. I fully agree with wing settings on 6. It was the best trade-off for me.

That's interesting, wouldn't it make you oversteer like crazy? Coz basically the reason I kept going down on numbers is because I would slide everywhere, and I dropped few clicks on front because it was biting too fast and would also upset the car.

 

[Mapu]

Not quiet sure, but I think it depends on the suspension settings and road surface. Harder ARB on the front usually induces under steer at corner exit while a soft ARB on the rear end adds to the under steer effect. My understanding is that overall soft ARBs make the car more bouncy on an uneven road surface. However hard ARBs will give the car less grip. And what should I say, speaking of my driving style the above mentioned ARB settings helped me to improve stability and consistency.

 

[Glaurung]

My understanding is that overall soft ARBs make the car more bouncy on an uneven road surface. However hard ARBs will give the car less grip.

The softer the ARBs the more the car rolls around its longitudinal axis.
The advantage is that more loads goes to the external tyres (so more grip), and the disadvantage is that the car needs more time to accomodate the rolling movements under steering inputs, long story short: the car is less reactive.
Stiffer ARBs produce the opposite behaviour, eventually giving an overall more responsive car.

 

[Mapu]

The softer the ARBs the more the car rolls around its longitudinal axis.
The advantage is that more loads goes to the external tyres (so more grip), and the disadvantage is that the car needs more time to accomodate the rolling movements under steering inputs, long story short: the car is less reactive.
Stiffer ARBs produce the opposite behaviour, eventually giving an overall more responsive car.

Yes, good description on a theoretical level. But it can be confusing and misleading when creating setups. I prefer to speak about the feedback you get from the car, not so much about the technical things. Makes it a lot easier for me to understand certain effects of certain setup settings. It immensely reduces the development time for me and improves work flow on setups. Anyway Monza's road surface is uneven with lots of bumps to it and has aggressive curbs. So there you have it, soft ARBs will make the car wobble.