This one was for GTR2 so it doesn't apply exactly to evo but many of the principles are the same:
Guys, I thought we would all benefit from a thread that discussed the different things that you do to set up your car for a race. So, what are the first things you look at when setting up a car.... Make sure you're in a sharing mood before you read this because you'll be asked to share your innermost secrets on your setups....
Obvious things that everyone probably works on are the following:
This is a link (you don't have to go to the link as I copied and pasted below [ame="http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showthread.php?t=324681"]http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showthread.php?t=324681[/ame] ) to a forum at RSC where they discuss setups...
First of all, in my opinion there is no such thing as a perfect setup, and you can´t just pick a setup that someone else has made, and expect to go just as quick as the owner.
You have to tweak it to suit your drivingstyle in order to feel comfortable with the car. Some drivers like a little oversteer to be able to slide the rear to make the nose point in the desired direction, where others like a more smooth approach to the corner.
It´s all down to how you drive the car and make a setup that you are comfortable with.
So how do we go about setting the car up from scratch ?
Well first, adjust fuel amount to match the race distance, in order to not carry unnecessary weight.
For qualifying you should obviously only carry a few laps.
Adjust the gearing so that the top gear almost hits the revlimiter on the fastest straight/part of the track, leaving just a little bit extra rpms available for extra speed when slipstreaming.
Set the lowest gear to match the slowest corner on track ( usually 1st or 2nd depending on the track....
if there are no tight corners you naturally only use the lower gears for accelerating from start ).
Even out the gears in between.
adjust the wing as low as possible, to the point where the rearend of the car does not slip away in the fast corners.
The splitter only have 2 settings, 1 and 2, almost always set it to 2, unless it´s a very fast track like Monza or Enna,
where the frontend grip is less important than straightline speed.
Set the engine cooling ducts so that the engine temp reaches around 90 degrees c, as this is where the angine works best.
If you have lower temperature the oil wont reach it´s optimum worktemp, and the oil is too thick generating too much resistance,
and you will experience loss of power and lubrication. The result is increased enginewear.
The hotter the oil the thinner it becomes, and the less resistance it generates. This will give you an increase in power.
If it gets too thin it wont give the optimum lubrication, resulting in increased enginewear.
If the enginetemperature gets too hot the water will reach it´s boilingpoint, resulting in loss of cooling and eventually
destruction.
The brakes works best at 450 c. Therefore set the brakeduct so that it reaches approximately 350 - 400 c, just prior to braking
If the brakes does not get hot enough you obviously won´t have max brakingpower available, and the braking must begin earlier
than necessary, than if the temp was just right.
If the brakes get too hot they will fade. Usually first on the frontwheels. If the front gets too hot the rear will have to
do most of the braking. This is unfortunate as the stoppingpower drops dramatically, and there´s a good chance that the wheels will lock up, making the rearend loose.
END OF ARTICLE
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Some of these issues are taken care of in most of our default setups or are obvious such as fuel, radiator opening (3 for me), break duct (2 for me)....
Things that I want to focus on are the fine tuning things beyond these..... They discuss wing above and I'll bring that back into the discussion.... others like shocks, springs and tire pressure, camber, toe in/out.
I am a racer that likes a more smooth cornering experience... i don't like the tail end loose at all!!! SO....
Some of the first thing that I adjust on a setup are: I take the power to 10, coast to 10, the diff to 1. I take the rear toe to around .4 and the front toe to neg .2ish... that is standard for me. Those settings are my base and then I'll start looking at Wing. If I'm getting great handling then I'll lower the wing until I get too loose in a fast turn. I've not gotten the Anti roll bar values figured out yet as I do a good bit of testing on them but I do feel that the higher the number on the rear arb the more understeer I get in the car.. which you must find the happy medium between understeer and oversteer.
The other things like shocks and springs, tire pressure, camber and caster are still very much outside my comfort zone.... I have the cheat sheets to figure out and troubleshoot.... I'd especially love to know if any of you have standard settings on those things listed above that work for you.
But if you have a standard, goto setup that you automatically load in and then tweek ... or tweek after testing.... if you don't mind.... share it with us. We'll all be better for it!!! If someone is the same style driver as me.... then you'll love the first steps to my setup process.
