Eric Côté's Setup Guide - Suzuka | ||||
Setups | ||||
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Introduction | ||||
Suzuka circuit is one of my favorite for different reason, it's extremely challenging, and there's about all kind of corners. What i really like is it gives me the chance to "express myself" since i love those series of succesive corners, corners entry are important. Some corners like 11 & 11a are quiet unique, double apex, and the best possible way to get around is keeping the same trajectory, but speed will vary while negociating this one. Corner #12 is also challenging, it's in the same category like Copse ( at Silverstone ), and in some way like Eau Rouge ( at Spa ), since only your braveness dictates how you want to go fast. This is definitly my type of racetrack, no bumps, really abbrasive, and the keyword is beeing consistent in your driving style to keep tire wear as low as possible. | ||||
Note | ||||
If you have downloaded both setups for QUAL &
RACE, you'll find difference in the setups, ( comparing 2 pitstop setup
& qual ) mainly anti-roll bar changed ( lower but same ratio of 10:1
), to prevent tire wear, i had to change spring ratio between R/F for the
race setup, kept the same ratio for ride height between rear and front.
For the 1 pistsop strategy, i've went back to the same spring ratio compared to qual setup eg: 200lbs ( but much lower ), but i've changed the ARB ratio, and also changed the ride height ratio ( front and rear ). So as you can see there's different way to achieve a good car balance depending of it's weight. The trick is achieving a car that has the same tire wear between rear and front, that will warrant you to get a predictable handling car through the whole race between pitstop. My Qual setups is good for about one lap, my advise
is trying to get free traffic in front when you go for your best, also
just "cruise" around the track during the first 2/3 portion of your 1st
lap out of pits. Then really warm your tires, and get the maximum acceleration
after the Casio chicane. Also you'll notice i've gone lower in WING angle
( with same ratio of 5 deg. ) between 1 & 2 pitstop setup, my reason
for this is with a heavier fuel load, i wanted to get the same maximum
straights speed, sacrifying a little bit my cornering speed and i'm aware
that tire wear may suffer from this, but the trick is to get maximum speed
to overtake. You may want to add some wing angle, to reduce tire wear a
little bit more, mainly i've just changed my driving style to prevent overheat
from tires.
You have to be "gentle" enough on your tires,
go for 1 pitstop strategy during a full race. If you find your setup though
on tires, go for 2 pitstop, you will still be in 1st position after your
last pit. The asphalt is abbrasive, and you can "burn" your tires if not
carefull. Also there's almost no difference in PRACTICE time compared to
RACEDAY( 0.5 sec ).
Back to race times, if your consistent, without mistakes, you'll pace at around 2.0 to 2.5 sec a lap faster than the top teams.And at that pace you'll have over 38 secs at your first pit, so even if the 2nd position car is on a 1 stop strategy, you're in control of the situation. I've notice the winning combination is 2 pitstop strategy, my suggestion is using 32% race distance for 1st pit, then 67 %, and at the last pitstop, the sim will give you 20 fuel lap, just remove some amount to finish the race with the minimum. ALSO I'VE NOTICED MOST TOP TEAMS USE 1 PITSTOP, so you're way ahead of the pack! |
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Track Guide | ||||
So let's go for a lap and trying to know where
to pickup time compared to competition. 1st, personnaly i never really
gain time in the slow corners compared to the CC car, i guess it's my driving
style, so from my part corner #10 won't help. But i gain alot in the first
series of succesive corners #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5, unfortunatly it's not
the best place to overtake, unless you're part of some CRASH CONTEST, but
just after at the exit of corner #6 thru corner #7 and going up the hill,
it's a very good portion to pass the slower cars, what's important here
is beeing in the right gear and you'll get momentum to go for it. Be carefull
just before entering corner #8, it's quite difficult to do it right ( overtake
), an error can be costly here. At the exit of this corner, just before
the bridge, try not to climb to much on the cerbstone, you'll loose acceleration,
and a good chance to overbrake other cars entering this hairpin (corner
#10). At this corner entry point is critical, clip the left apex, and accelerate
smootly out, ( easy to loose the rear here ).
Here comes one of the most challenging corners in F1 circuits, eg: corners 11 & 11a, i've named those two corners with the same # since when they're taken right, your steering wheel will remain in the same position thru all the phases of those 2 corners. The trick is decelerating constantly from the entry point ( exterior )then use the engine to brake, downshift to 5th, clip the first apex ( be carefull ), downshift to 4th, ease the throttle until you see the 2nd exterior cerbstone, ( you should be at 160+ kph ) and now reaccelerate and you're in a good position to overtake again any car. Now here's a good straight and coming to this very "satisfying" bend ( corner #12 ), i definitly like this one, in qualification i keep it in 6th gear entering at 309 kph, then i "dose" my throttle to keep it at 290 kph, and i have a very good exit at this point. What you don't see is the entry point, from the exterior of the corner, then you have to get the right entry speed, eg: lift the throttle to lower the front of the car, and that translate in a "extra" grip from the front-end. Now the last portion of the track and the "infamous" Casio chicane, i don't really like it, but at least with a lot of practice, you can get it right. The best way to negociate this one, is finding a good reference point from the left side of the track, this section is "tricky", since you have to brake while turning. My biggest mistake was over braking here, so practice will make a difference for this one. Now to finish this page, i have tried different dampers setting, and my best solution was what you see here. Some cerbstones are low, at other section it's high so you'll have to experiment to know when it's good using the cerbstone. My advise to adjust your setup to your driving style, is changing the ride height ratio (per example: having 22 to 25 mm more in rear) this way you change the response from under to oversteer ( or vice-versa ), also i found this track is very forgiving in WING angles differential between F/R, so it's pretty easy to find your best compromise, same for spring rate. Always take a look at the tire wear after a good session, to see if you're close to that CAR BALANCE, which will translate to predictable handling. At last don't be shy trying different gear ratio to extract the maximum speed and grip in different corners, again the trick is finding the best compromise, depending where are your strong point. |
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Race Setup | ||||
Just look at the difference of setups, is the wing angle as gone down by 1 deg (both front and rear) for the 1 pitstop strategy, brake ratio is 61 : 39 for 1 pitstop ( heavier car ), from 62,250 : 37,750 for 2 pitstop, also gear ratio has changed to ( 28 - 36 - 43 -50 -56 - 61 for 1 pitstop ) from ( 28 - 35 - 41 - 48 -55 - 61 for 2 pitstop ). | ||||
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