Eric Côté's Setup Guide - Spa-Francorchamp | ||||
Setups | ||||
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Note | ||||
My gear ratio were chosen to get maximum "momentum"
on exit in particular the 3rd, 4th and 5th gear, and had to keep the 6th
gear ratio low to prevent slow acceleration coming out of the Raidillon
and the Blanchimont uphill rise. So the trade-off is having the car running
more than i would like in redline along the long straight (exit of raidillon).
This setup & Qual setup are symmetrical. All the tires worns out evenly during the race, I think i've found what i'm calling CAR BALANCE, although driving style can change this easily! |
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Introduction | ||||
Le circuits de Spa-Francorchamps is my favorite,
by a huge margin, Eau Rouge is worth your money, I love all those fast
sweep bends, and differential of elevation and of course the scenery are
worth it. One thing "boggling" my mind is the huge difference in time for
a full lap between QUAL & RACE. One certainty is the amount of fuel
used during the race (even 16 fuel lap) is a lot of extra weight due to
this long circuits lenghts, while in qualification i'm using the minimum,
just doing a single fast lap. During a race you have to downshift and lift
the throttle at Eau Rouge, while in qualification i "put it on the floor"
all the way up the hill.
A little note: If you have downloaded both setup for QUAL & RACE, you'll find a small difference in the setups, mainly slow dampers reduced and same for spring loads for front and rear, didn't touched the wings. I find the race setup has a good car balance, eg: easily PREDICTABLE during all the corners. You can preserve tires easily up to 17 FUEL LAP (under 2.5 wear-out) The QUAL setup runs very well, at ACE level the competition will run in mid-high 1 m 52 seconds, i can easily go in the low 1 m 48's, when i'm in shape i can go in low 1 m 47, i think if you make no errors you can break the 1 m 47 barrier. This track has big challenges, Eau rouge, Raidillon exit, Les Combes, and the Bus Stop chicane. Some portion of the track are slow (Malmedy, & La Source hairpin after the start/finish line), I really took attention here on my setup to gain time, the car feels neutral in the fast sections, and little bit of understeer in the slow sections. Also i found new way of dealing with car setup, specially my new knowledge on ANTI-ROLL BAR and the interaction on spring rates. Also by adding PACKERS correctly, i could manage to lower car height and the benefits from this is higher cornering downforce, if you've not already seen my view on car setup please take a look. I consistently ran in the low 1 min 55's to low 1 min 56's range all the time. Even when tires are worned out but at the same time less fuel load, my pace is the same, and contrary to the CC car, who are slowing down, you gain tremendous time over them. (with good tires & fuel load). NOTE: This hotlap was done during pre-race warm-up, FOR UNKNOWN REASON, even if i'm pushing hard, i've managed to do only 1 min 55 sec 050 during the race. SEEMS THAT TRACK SURFACE IS SLIPERY DURING THE RACE, I DO BELIEVE THE PROGRAM IN SOME WAY, DO THIS DELIBERATLY to be conform to that 1994 season (maybe temperature was cool ?) If your "easy" enough on your tires, you can choose to go for 1 pitstop during a full race. But a 2 pitstop is the BEST CHOICE, constantly running in the mid 1 min 55's range, At that pace you will outclass the field by 1.5-2.0 seconds a lap at ACE LEVEL. Like i mentioned above since tires are worning out evenly, your pace will be almost even between pit stops, so the closer your from your next pitstop, more time you gain over the opponents, also "laping" slower cars are easy. The track surface is mid-abrasive and not really bumpy, apart the Bus Stop chicane, which i find fun to clip the cerbstones at full throttle in 4th, so again go for a 2 STOP STRATEGY (try 32% 1st, 64% 2nd, put 17 fuel lap for the rest. of the race) |
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Track Guide | ||||
Lets begin on how to go around the track as smooth
& fast as possible. Passing starting line you'll reach around 290 kph
before entering corner #1(La Source hairpin) brake hard while downshifting
to 1th gear, different line can be taken, then accelerate up to 6th gear
going down the short straight before corner #2 (Eau Rouge). The entry of
Eau Rouge is very important, if you got it right, you lift the throttle,
downshift to 5th, then back full throttle up the hill, try to make steering
transition smoothly, this will prevent chassis upset, then you shift to
6th gear at the exit of Raidillon (corner #3), then the long straight going
up in elevation up to 313 kph. Now Les Combes, it's a chicane with a special
interest, the entry point is taken in 4th then 3rd, and while making the
left turn, the radius gets tighter, so you have to downshift to second
gear, after passing that critical point accelerate briefly upshift to 2nd,
then keep throttle even to negociate the entry of corner #5 .Before the
exit accelerate, shift to 3rd (while touching the cerbstone), then up to
5th gear, now comes corner #6 a slow right hairpin taken at around 130-135
kph, the trick is to get the throttle steady again, before exiting shift
to 2nd, then 3rd. Now coming to corner #6a, while staying in 3rd, the entry
is critical (don't look at mountains in front ha!). If you didn't went
in too fast, your exit will be very effective, just after you see the end
of the cerbstone you will be in 3rd around 190 kph. Accelerate up to 5th
gear up to 270 kph, before entering Pouhon.
I really like this section of the track at Pouhon (i would say it's a 2 apex corner), depending how brave you are, you just release the throttle briefly down to 4th, then gently accelelerate to the second apex, and then flat out, the exit will be in 5th at 260 kph. Now this small straight before Les Fagnes (corner 8 and 9). Here the car has a big tendency to understeer, my suggestion is coming in slower then accelerate steadily while negociating this sweeper chicanes. The entry would be around 195 in 3rd, and the exit of corner #9 in 4th at 235 kph. Then comes a sharp right hander (#10) taken in 2nd , around 170kph and at this point gradually accelerate to 3rd and the exit of that corner will lead you to up-hill long straight. You go flat out up to 6th gear, don't forget to touch the inner portion of corner #11 that will lead you to a fast exit. Now comes Blanchimont (corner #12), again flat out, (it's a very good place to overtake here, same as exit of Raidillon). At Blanchimont the elevation is reducing the effect of acceleration going to the famous Bus Stop chicanes. The braking point is critical, at least there's the 100 mark sign that triggers your brain to take action. At the Bus stop (#13) the entry is taken in 2nd or 3rd, accelerate to 4th then comes the worst, the exit with those 2 big cerbstone on each side of the track. Again, i don't have to say, to get it right, is to practice a lot, but when you have it right, you can take it in 4th (briefly lift the gas, in race). Then comes the start/finish line straight, in 5th gear. VOILA! |
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Race Setup | ||||
What's important here to get good grip is reducing the SPRINGS, both rear and front to mid level, i keep a good ratio of ARB REAR at 300 and ARB FRONT at 3000, to get good grip at other portion of the track (and even wear), also you need higher # here since their's that "elusive" Bus Stop chicane. If you want to change wing angle (not shown here), keep a differencial of 4 to 5 deg between front and rear, then adjust car height to prevent plank wear. Important note: While working my setup here in this portion of the track, the big task here is to prevent car upset, which lead to spin-off, IT'S NOT OVERSTEER, so i found that by actually working all the dampers, the car reaction to bump is less, then the car can go around smoothly. | ||||
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These track guides & pictures are copyright © Eric Côté |