M235i Setups for Nurburgring GP?

[Michael Roitman]

Any M235 Setups for the Nurb GP?

Looks like setup market has been down for a few days.

 

[Cristian Haba]

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/bmw-m235i-racing-nurburgring-gp.105213/

Next time search by track name, makes it easier to find what you're looking for. People don't usually follow the format for setup thread name [car]@[track].

Hopefully it's still viable.

 

[Michael Roitman]

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/bmw-m235i-racing-nurburgring-gp.105213/

Next time search by track name, makes it easier to find what you're looking for. People don't usually follow the format for setup thread name [car]@[track].

Hopefully it's still viable.

Thanks!

 

[RasmusP]

The BMW 235i is one of the few cars that really don't need any setup tweaking apart from tyre pressures.
We once used it in the AC club races and I had a week off so practiced massively for the race at Laguna Seca with one of my alien-buddies.
He told me I shouldn't touch the setup as its default setup is the quickest! He instead shared his motec telemetry so I could learn to drive like him. After 2 hours of adjusting my driving I tried my "good" setup from before and it was definitely slower...

The problem with this car is:
- make the front softer and it will be spongy and wash out
- make the front stiffer it will handle better but also understeer

Same for the rest of the setup options. In the end the default is pretty perfect!

You need to drive this car a bit special though:
- To get the front tyres right it's a very fine line between overdriving them (too much steering angle, too much braking) and not braking or turning enough!

- To apply the right amount of throttle is difficult too. Not enough throttle and you'll understeer, too much and you will lose time due to drifting too much.

So what I basically had to learn to get fast:
- Drive without ABS and TC until you maintain stable and consistent laps! You will see that for proper trail braking you will only hit 100% braking for a very short time while being full straight. The moment you start to turn in you'll be at around 40-60% brake pedal and then go down. You'd think the ABS would suppress this effect but it doesn't. You still need to modulate the brakes like you'd do without ABS!

- Then try to find the smooth transition between brake pressure and steering angle at turn in. There's a fine line where you will turn in reallllly tight and smooth while slightly feathering the brake pedal until the apex!

- Once you're done with turn in, apply the throttle and open the steering! You need to find the fine line where your actual turning radius will stay the same but instead of actually turning with the front wheels, you'll do a 4-wheel-drift from the apex to the exit!

You have to be really smooth with this car. It's extremely soft so a rough transition between basically anything (steering, braking, throttle...) will slow you down quite massively!

Here's how my "good" telemetry looked like for T1 and T2 at Laguna Seca (very good training with the hairpin into wide, fast turns!)

I hope this helps more than a generic setup that will probably make you faster instantly but not faster in the end at all!

 

[Michael Roitman]

The BMW 235i is one of the few cars that really don't need any setup tweaking apart from tyre pressures.
We once used it in the AC club races and I had a week off so practiced massively for the race at Laguna Seca with one of my alien-buddies.
He told me I shouldn't touch the setup as its default setup is the quickest! He instead shared his motec telemetry so I could learn to drive like him. After 2 hours of adjusting my driving I tried my "good" setup from before and it was definitely slower...

The problem with this car is:
- make the front softer and it will be spongy and wash out
- make the front stiffer it will handle better but also understeer

Same for the rest of the setup options. In the end the default is pretty perfect!

You need to drive this car a bit special though:
- To get the front tyres right it's a very fine line between overdriving them (too much steering angle, too much braking) and not braking or turning enough!

- To apply the right amount of throttle is difficult too. Not enough throttle and you'll understeer, too much and you will lose time due to drifting too much.

So what I basically had to learn to get fast:
- Drive without ABS and TC until you maintain stable and consistent laps! You will see that for proper trail braking you will only hit 100% braking for a very short time while being full straight. The moment you start to turn in you'll be at around 40-60% brake pedal and then go down. You'd think the ABS would suppress this effect but it doesn't. You still need to modulate the brakes like you'd do without ABS!

- Then try to find the smooth transition between brake pressure and steering angle at turn in. There's a fine line where you will turn in reallllly tight and smooth while slightly feathering the brake pedal until the apex!

- Once you're done with turn in, apply the throttle and open the steering! You need to find the fine line where your actual turning radius will stay the same but instead of actually turning with the front wheels, you'll do a 4-wheel-drift from the apex to the exit!

You have to be really smooth with this car. It's extremely soft so a rough transition between basically anything (steering, braking, throttle...) will slow you down quite massively!

Here's how my "good" telemetry looked like for T1 and T2 at Laguna Seca (very good training with the hairpin into wide, fast turns!)

I hope this helps more than a generic setup that will probably make you faster instantly but not faster in the end at all!

View attachment 275276

Thanks for that. I can never get these setups understood. I just feel the car and if it feels right, I go with it. I'm trying to learn how to setup these cars but it's a very long process.

 

[RasmusP]

Thanks for that. I can never get these setups understood. I just feel the car and if it feels right, I go with it. I'm trying to learn how to setup these cars but it's a very long process.

Absolutely long process! I'm studying mechatronical engineering so I have a real life goal to understand all of it but to "just be a fast guy", you don't need much.
Compound, Pressures, Aero, Arbs, Differential.
That's what you really need and they are quite easy to understand!

Compound: Does the softest overheat or has too high degradation during a stint? Go one harder!

Pressures: That's a bit tricky and highly depends on the sim! rf2 = go lowest! AC: go "perfect" (I can recommend sidekick for this!), Raceroom and AMS: no idea

Aero: Grip balance for fast corners as well as balancing between max speed and corner speed.

Anti-Roll-Bars: soft will give you more grip, stiff will make the car react better. Too soft front ARB will make the front "bite" into corners and at some point will make you lose control! Too soft rear will make the rear unstable under braking while too stiff rear will make you lose traction when accelerating!

Differential: the easiest to drive would be 0% Acceleration, 100% Coast/braking. Go higher with Accel. until you have a nice balance while on the throttle. Lower coast until you can turn in nicely without spinning under braking or when going off-throttle.

Just try to balance the car with these. Slow corners: Anti roll bars ; fast corner: aero. If it's just strange on the throttle or during braking, adjust the differential.

If nothing helps, try the springs in a similar way to the anti roll bars.

If the car is too spongy, stiffen the dampers. If it feels like a brick, lower the dampers.

That's basically it for basic setup!

Oh, camber: default is mostly fine! If you lose the car during cornering and don't really know why: go with more!
If you feel like you just can't get any grip, go lower and see if it's better.
Mostly you can raise the front and lower the rear a little

When following all this, the default setup of the bmw 235i racing in Assetto Corsa is pretty perfect! Have to say I'd like to throw a stiffer overall suspension and stiffer dampers on that car though

 

[Michael Roitman]

Absolutely long process! I'm studying mechatronical engineering so I have a real life goal to understand all of it but to "just be a fast guy", you don't need much.
Compound, Pressures, Aero, Arbs, Differential.
That's what you really need and they are quite easy to understand!

Compound: Does the softest overheat or has too high degradation during a stint? Go one harder!

Pressures: That's a bit tricky and highly depends on the sim! rf2 = go lowest! AC: go "perfect" (I can recommend sidekick for this!), Raceroom and AMS: no idea

Aero: Grip balance for fast corners as well as balancing between max speed and corner speed.

Anti-Roll-Bars: soft will give you more grip, stiff will make the car react better. Too soft front ARB will make the front "bite" into corners and at some point will make you lose control! Too soft rear will make the rear unstable under braking while too stiff rear will make you lose traction when accelerating!

Differential: the easiest to drive would be 0% Acceleration, 100% Coast/braking. Go higher with Accel. until you have a nice balance while on the throttle. Lower coast until you can turn in nicely without spinning under braking or when going off-throttle.

Just try to balance the car with these. Slow corners: Anti roll bars ; fast corner: aero. If it's just strange on the throttle or during braking, adjust the differential.

If nothing helps, try the springs in a similar way to the anti roll bars.

If the car is too spongy, stiffen the dampers. If it feels like a brick, lower the dampers.

That's basically it for basic setup!

Oh, camber: default is mostly fine! If you lose the car during cornering and don't really know why: go with more!
If you feel like you just can't get any grip, go lower and see if it's better.
Mostly you can raise the front and lower the rear a little

When following all this, the default setup of the bmw 235i racing in Assetto Corsa is pretty perfect! Have to say I'd like to throw a stiffer overall suspension and stiffer dampers on that car though

I've been into iRacing more than anything but I'm trying to get into AC more now. Alot harder to understand than iRacing. iRacing has a much clearer interface for me too, so it's difficult seeing what I was looking at in iRacing, but now in AC.

 

[Piotr Dul]

I've been into iRacing more than anything but I'm trying to get into AC more now. Alot harder to understand than iRacing. iRacing has a much clearer interface for me too, so it's difficult seeing what I was looking at in iRacing, but now in AC.

And iRacing tyre model is rubbish. Assetto Corsa however is very good. So tyre model difference between those two is like day and night.

 

[Michael Roitman]

And iRacing tyre model is rubbish. Assetto Corsa however is very good. So tyre model difference between those two is like day and night.

I agree. AC's tyre model is better but iRacing is getting better. That's for sure.