Two different Porsches for Watkins Glen 1.1

[Toonces]

The best Porsche of all time, IMO, the 1969 917K, which won the Sports Car Championship that year (and the Le Mans 24H in 1970), and the far more sophisticated 962c (aka "Shorttail") which won the 1987 24H (Porsche's seventh consecutive victory at the Sarthe circuit). The K is fiendishly difficult to drive; the c is, relatively speaking, a piece of cake. A 10-lap setup for each of the Kunos variants.

 

[Toonces]

For the 917K

 

[elloLeo Kinnunen]

Thanks for always posting your setups. As a perennial setup beginner I've been looking for ways to combat the understeer of the 917k, so looking forward to checking out your approach.

 

[Toonces]

For the 962c

Thanks for always posting your setups. As a perennial setup beginner I've been looking for ways to combat the understeer of the 917k, so looking forward to checking out your approach.

A lot of the 917K's behavior depends on how you drive it. Ken Miles once told me (when I complained about a Triumph Spitfire I was testing), "If you're getting understeer, you're going too slow." Particularly true of the K. You really have to horse it around. Taking 'er slow will nose you into the bushes every time. Of course, too much wellie and you'll exit the racing surface backwards.

 

[elloLeo Kinnunen]

For the 962c


A lot of the 917K's behavior depends on how you drive it. Ken Miles once told me (when I complained about a Triumph Spitfire I was testing), "If you're getting understeer, you're going too slow." Particularly true of the K. You really have to horse it around. Taking 'er slow will nose you into the bushes every time. Of course, too much wellie and you'll exit the racing surface backwards.

Ooo top pedigree tips! I am feeling faster just knowing where that advice comes from.

I have lots of fun sliding out the tail on throttle in this car but I'm not sure that translates to speed... at least not reliably in my case. In general I like a sharp turn in setup but if this has to happen through driving technique, then it would something like: harder on the brakes at the cost of entry and apex speed, make sure it gets the front biting in, then balancing natural understeer of the car with on throttle oversteer? Do I have that right? And if so, then I just give up on caring for the tyres and any fuel saving with overenthusiastic early throttle application?

I am revising my long term wish that this car appears in iracing one day given how that sim insists you drive.

 

[Toonces]

First, it was designed as an endurance car, so, no, dirt-tracking was ever envisioned. (It had a locked diff for durability; a side effect of which was serious push.) Two, If you want to drive it like a sprint car, late braking will only slow you down (the mantra "In slow/Out fast" is as valid as ever), but you might want to add some rear brake bias to help rotate the car. Three, in 'normal' AC races, you never have to run out of gas nor do you have to care (much) about tire deg. The grip levels of S/M/H are about the same, it's mainly about durability, so just go one more level of hardness than usual.