Hi all, I am trying to setup my Mini going around Zandvoort and need some help. I am really just trying to setup to beat the 2.05 glass ceiling that I have come across going around here in a Mini, I see there is a time of 1.59 listed as the racedepartment fastest and want to aim for that. I am a complete Noob at all this so coul someone tell me how I can heat my rear right hand tyre? I am using a real time analyser and all other 3 tyres are getting up to temp with default settings in 2 or 3 laps as I expected, however this last tyre is consistently between 5 and 12 C below the other tyres, around 76C and lower. Do I need to add or remove tyre pressure? Thanks for any help!
I believe adding pressure & camber will increase heat, but Mini's are front wheel drive, if you get them close to 80 you're lucky
Thank you very much, much more reading and understanding involved I think! My second run was a good 10 laps and I had practically cold tyres, without changing a setting... Perhaps my eyes deceive me at 100mph! Is there anywhere that noobies can "join forces" and get taught? Like a school!
getting your right rear tyre up to temp will be of little use to you - unless your struggling for rear grip in left hand corners... you'll rarely get all the temps equal in a car like the mini that has a lot of body roll, although you can get the left and right temps a little closer by running stiffer arb's. my advice would be to not think about your tyre temps, as long as your in the ball park camber and psi (5-10 degree temp spread with centre temp half way between the 2), fiddling with the tyre's any more isnt going to net you another 6 seconds of lap time... zand is a very bumpy and undulating track, its important to have a car that 'rides' the waves of the track well, and that responds well in long flat corners (the 2 chicanes) so stiff (ish) arb's, slow rebound set quite high to make the car stick more over the crests and fast dampers tweaked to your liking for the curbs should be the key's to a fast lap. focus on your lines, hitting apex's and braking, over driving a slow car like the mini will cost you alot in lap time. drive steady and slow and controlled and step it up over time. some of the fastest laps ive done (though im no alien) have actually felt slow, because i was driving smooth and precisely
I agree with nick on that one. don't try to beat your time. drive the track quite passively on longish stints and you will see the times drop steadily. when you reach the cieling then increse the aggression a little until you find the optimum blend. also remember that the top times on the laptime boards are posted by aliens in TA mode. no tyre wear or fuel use so they are a benchmerk and not an average. Other than whats already posted its just time on track. knowing excatly which bit of a bump in the road gives the best response from the car without sacrificing time, how mcuh kirb and when etc. all come with practice.
when loosing pressure you will lose speed, but your tyres will gain temperature much faster. when increasing pressure, your tyres wont get that hot that fast, but you will have a little bit more speed.
Ahh thank you, I wondered which way around gained me speed, I am getting the temps up again now. Must have needed a restart. It was just strange how one wheel was quite so unloaded! I now think I am beginning to be happy with gearing and tyres, now to find where I am missing those apexes!
Another newbie tire question. Scenario: After n laps the left tires are 10+deg cooler than the right. Inside/middle/outer are balanced on a tires. What actions would you take to raise the temp os the left tires?? Thankx
Hi Bob, There are a few ways you can do this: Making the front left springs stiffer will result in higher temperatures on the left tyre To even out the temperatures between left and right you can adjust the Front Anti Roll Bar, however this can have negative effects for the handling of the car, resulting in understeer or oversteer. Also lowering the front left tyre pressure can slightly increase the temperature however this is not recommended because of the extra tyre wear. Adding more negative toe in at the front will help keeping the tyres warm, too much will result in extra wear though...
running a stiffer anti roll bar setup will also even up the loads and help heat up the inside wheels slightly...
Hmm. I always play with default settings, never got into the tuning yet. Seems like it could home a small bit.
racetracks are cirquits so you must drive at least 2 corners more to one site then to the other, what makes obviously an aysmetrical tyre wear. <= ugly 4 sure racing is a about being fast and not symetrical tyre abrasion. special FWD cars lift on fast corners one backtire complete. A setup on that you will have the same usage on all 4 tyres is just impossible. (or extreme slow driving would do). if you wannt drive over longer stint eg. 10+ laps just drive smoothly. i gess that would help most.
scientifically and in practice generally too, racing is all about the tyres. the one true limiting factor in motorsport. doesnt matter how much power you have or torque or aero wizardry your only as good as your best set of tyres.
