Eric Côté's Setup Guide - Monaco
Setups
QUAL:
 1 min 16 sec 728
RACE:
 1 min 19 sec 005
Qual standard menu
Qual advanced menu
Race standard menu
Race advanced menu
Note
If you have downloaded both setup for QUAL & RACE, you'll find a small difference in the setups, mainly anti-roll bar changed, and to prevent tire wear, i had to remove packers to get the chassis to work in my favour, and getting decent lap times. Take a look at my qual & race advance setups menu (bottom pages), and you'll see some aspect on ARB that may defies logics, per example for qualification there's 5500 lbs in FRONT and 200 in REAR, during raceday it's 3000 in FRONT and 150 in REAR, so it looks like i haven't done much, well actually i have done a lot of combination, and that's the best chassis setup i came with, and the reaction of the car is very predictable. NO UNDERSTEER during the race when full of gas, but YOU'LL HAVE TO PRACTICE WITH BOTH SETUPS and see the differences, YOUR DRIVING STYLE WILL DICTATE TIRE WEAR. More on this later! The reason for this change is, after practicing over 150 laps ( in 3 days ), i've found the best trade-off to get most of EQUAL TIRE WEAR.
Introduction
GP of Monaco circuit is not my favorite, although while practicing a lot, i'm starting to like it more, but a small mistake can be costly. While getting used to the track, i was always fighting with understeering at low speed and oversteering at high speed ( specially corner #1 ), which was very frustrating. Actually i was setting-up the chassis in a wrong approach. I was thinking which track would be a good starting point, for my setup. Actually Monaco is unique in the setup and the circuit layout. This page has been written for the purpose to understand the HOW and WHY of getting good lap times, and helping you making small changes to fit your driving style, and still get that CAR BALANCE. It's not like the other track guide i've produced on my website, actually it's not a real track guide, but i will explain the WHY of certain aspect of the setups and WHERE you'll benefit on the racetrack. Also i have to admit, i had a lot of request for the setups and the track guide, so please read carefully and hope it will satisfy your need. 

I consistently ran in the mid-high 1 min 19 to low 1 min 21 range all the time, I even made a 1 min 19 sec 005 after 3rd lap while Olivier Panis was pushing hard, (with good tires & fuel load). You have to be "gentle" enough on your tires, go for 2 pitstop strategy during a full race. If you find your setup though on tires, go for 3 pitstop, but you may be not 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. Back to race times, if your consistent, without mistakes, you'll pace at around 2.5 sec a lap faster than the top teams.And at that pace you'll have over 40 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. It looks boring from the exterior ( like the real thing sometimes! ), but it's gratifying to "blow" the competion away. 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 29 fuel lap, just remove some amount to finish the race with the minimum. I'm suggesting you to take a look at my setup guide to give you more hint.

Track Guide
So let's go for a better undertanding of my setup and WHY and WHERE it's important to keep some "parameter rock solid". 1st I'll start with the major difference in the car setup ( between qual & race ) : Anti-Roll Bars. For qualification the best "RATIO" is 25:1 ( or close ). Eg: I've found 7500 in FRONT and 300 in REAR, very good in mid speed corners and transition, but chassis reaction is a little bit too fast, so i went to 5500 in FRONT, 200 in REAR ( 200 multiply by 25 =5000 ). So the car reaction is better, but it has some UNDERSTEER, not excessive though. SINCE I'M USING A TM ACM GAME CARD ( and having the chance to remove too much sensitivity to the wheel/pedal, created by our faster pc ). I have chosen the 5500/200 ratio. IF YOU DON'T HAVE a game card like this, PLEASE TRY : 4000 lbs in FRONT and 150 lbs in REAR (again 150 x 25 = 3750). The car reaction should fit your faster sound card game port "oversensitivity". Always keep in mind to have this RATIO, for qualification and low fuel/lap, if you want to see what's the best for your driving style, ONE MORE NOTE, don't go too LOW both F/R, you'll loose chassis reaction to all those changes of direction. Now for race setup, my best compromise was going for 20:1 ratio ; 3000 in FRONT and 150 in REAR, I HAVE CORRECTED OVERSTEER WITH LESS PACKERS IN REAR, and no packers in front. Actually, i have removed 3mm more in the REAR than FRONT to induce some UNDERSTEER. TAKE NOTE the OVERALL CAR HEIGHT and ARB are effective in mid to high speed corners ( relative to this racetrack ).

As you know, CAR BALANCE is important, in accordance with the ARB, my best compromise for WINGS is 3 deg difference between F/R. Exactly 17 deg in FRONT and 14 deg in REAR. I've noticed that if you go for a higher differential, the car will start to loose traction in CORNER #1, and if you change the RATIO of ARB ( F/R ) to correct the problem, then you'll have understeer at other portion of the track ( chicanes ). I chose 14 deg in the rear to get a faster car in the tunnel ( best place to pass other car ). You can try 18 in FRONT and 15 in REAR. Now, HOW i removed the chassis reaction to understeer at low speed corners entry, and at the same time oversteer at the exit, by having the right amount of SPRING LOAD ; 1100lbs in FRONT and 800 in REAR, i've tried higher #, but the REAR end gets loose too easily. And by going lower ( 1000 in Front and 700 in REAR ) ; chassis reaction gets "sluggish" and worst, at corner #2 my car is sliding too much, and that translate in more tire wear. Like i've said before this track is unique, The only way i've found to keep tire wear at reasonable level is having less ARB F/R for race events. The other way is having more wings, but you'll loose that precious speed in the tunnel. THE BEST WAY TO KEEP TIRE WEAR LOW, is adjusting your driving style. When my tires were at the edge of getting loose ( 4-6 lap before pitting ), the chassis reaction was still predictable, with a slight oversteer occuring, if i was not carefull with the throttle.

Race Setup
Now to finish this page, i have tried different dampers setting, and my best solution was what you see here. Some cerbstone are too high to be compensated by the fast dampers setting. My last advise is, if you find these setup too close of oversteering, just lower packers in rear, and adjust the ride height to prevent plank wear. Also you can increase the spring load in front by 100 lbs, but it's going to understeer in all portion of the track. Conclusion, with analysis from tire wear, i've got a pretty even car, tire wear are equal all the time, don't try to brake too hard at some corner entry to prevent FRONT TIRE WEAR. Corner #4, #5, #7, and # 9 are prone to this. Especially LOEWS ENTRY (#5) is easy to chunk the front left tire easily. Monaco racetrack, is very unforgiving to errors, so be patient to pass slower cars, and with these setups, i'm confident to see you on POLE POSITION, DON'T MISS YOUR START!

 NOTE: this setup and the qualification setup are symetrical.

Just look at the difference of setups, also the wing angles are the same, and i've changed a little bit the brake F/R ratio (not shown here)

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