First off-line race win

I just thought I'd post a little bragging here. I actually got my first GPL race win last night against the AI at Monza. Admittedly it was on novice mode with a field of only six cars but I'm still very pleased. I also managed to get my first sub 1:29 time around the circuit. OK - so everyone else around here is getting sub 1:28 or even sub 1:27 - but I was still very pleased. Several things helped. I think that it's really important to find a set-up that suits you. I'd spent a long time with some very understeery set ups and I couldn't really get fast or consistent with them. I definitely need something more neutral. The problem is that I really have difficulty "rolling my own" when it comes to set ups. I can now just about decide when I want the brake bias shifting forward or rearward and I can kind of say that I'd like more understeer or oversteer and I do manage to get a little understeer oversteer by playing with toe in/toe out. But beyond that, I'm totally stuck. As soon as I venture into the territory of spring-rates and ARBs it all goes hopelessly awry. Also, I'm beginning to question the wisdom of the manual saying "make one small change at once" - it seems that if you start to change something major like diff settings then you might as well throw away your previous settings and start again. Do people have any particular thoughts for set up? What order do you dial things in? My feelings were diff then springs/arb then toe-in/toe-out then camber. -- Richard G. Clegg Only the mind is waving Networks and Non-Linear Dynamics Group Dept. of Mathematics, Uni. of York www: http://manor.york.ac.uk/

Inspired by the recent breaking 1:30 thread (I was 1:31.5) I went back to Monza and finally got to 1:29.12 and also found I can now win at novice level. It's great isn't it ? winning is winning regardless of what level your on, and I'm finally having some close racing with the AI. I am also not a setup guy, and why bother when you can go to Schubi's and other sites and download setups that are of proven capability. The two that I've been using with success at Monza recently are the setups of Ricardo Nunnini and Greger Huttu, totally different feels. Nunninis are more stable, Huttus are quicker but touchy. My best time are with Huttus. The only change I made was to balance his unequal left/right camber settings a bit to make it controlable for me. It sounds like your a bit quicker than me at the moment but I can say that progress for me is down to practise in general, and in particular, practicising trailbraking. -- Don Scurlock Vancouver,B.C.

: I am also not a setup guy, and why bother when you can go to Schubi's and : other sites and download setups that are of proven capability. : The two that I've been using with success at Monza recently are the setups of : Ricardo Nunnini and Greger Huttu, totally different feels. : Nunninis are more stable, Huttus are quicker but touchy. My best time are with : Huttus. The only change I made was to balance his unequal left/right camber : settings a bit to make it controlable for me. Actually, I used the GH setups myself. Shame I can't find them for all tracks. For me they're both stable and quick. But that's the thing, I think everyone has their driving style and I wish I was good enough to actually make my own set ups... As soon as I fiddle with the springs to any degree I totally lose my way. (I think I'm having trouble envisaging the difference between ARBs and wheel-rates). Sure, you can say that they are "proven" set ups - but they're only proven with a driver of that style - if your style doesn't suit a set up I don't think you can be that fast with the set up. : It sounds like your a bit quicker than me at the moment but I can say that : progress for me is down to practise in general, and in particular : practicising trailbraking. You're absolutely right, the driving practice is the key. I found that going around the different tracks picking up a small time benefit. Shaving a second or two at a track where I'm dead slow often teaches stuff that helps on the tracks where I've hit one of those barriers at another track. (I was stuck at 1:31 at Monza for months!) -- Richard G. Clegg Only the mind is waving Networks and Non-Linear Dynamics Group Dept. of Mathematics, Uni. of York www: http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

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>: I am also not a setup guy, and why bother when you can go to Schubi's and >: other sites and download setups that are of proven capability. >: The two that I've been using with success at Monza recently are the setups of >: Ricardo Nunnini and Greger Huttu, totally different feels. >: Nunninis are more stable, Huttus are quicker but touchy. My best time are with >: Huttus. The only change I made was to balance his unequal left/right camber >: settings a bit to make it controlable for me. > Actually, I used the GH setups myself. Shame I can't find them for >all tracks. For me they're both stable and quick. But that's the >thing, I think everyone has their driving style and I wish I was good >enough to actually make my own set ups... As soon as I fiddle with the >springs to any degree I totally lose my way. (I think I'm having >trouble envisaging the difference between ARBs and wheel-rates). Sure, >you can say that they are "proven" set ups - but they're only proven >with a driver of that style - if your style doesn't suit a set up I >don't think you can be that fast with the set up.

Hi Richard. I uploaded my v1.2 practice setups for all cars today. You can download them from http://www.kolumbus.fi/ghuttu/ Most of these setups are also at Schubi's page. I have some other setups on my hard drive, too, but I haven't done that many laps with them yet so haven't sent them anywhere. I think I now have v1.2 Lotus setups for all tracks, except Mexico (hate that one). So if you want a setup for a particular track just ask and I will send it to you if I have one. I'm sure you have read Nunnini's setup guide. That's a good place to start. As Don said Ricardo's setups are very stable, although I think my setups are very stable, too. <g> Anyway, one thing I *don't* like about his setups are the roll-bars. I think he uses 180/120 bars. I like to have them at 150/150, 140/170, 160/180 etc. to give more oversteer. His spring settings are very good, although for the Lotus and some other cars I normally use a little bit stiffer springs. If you have any questions about my setups or setups in general I will try to answer them. -- Greger Huttu