Guide to Good Cornering, Shelby Can-Am
Dec 19, 2010 22:25:55 GMT 2
Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2010 22:25:55 GMT 2
Hi guys,
I thought I'd write up something specifically for these Shelby Cars. Due to the fact that these cars only have 4 gears (usually 2-4 are the only ones used for racing) so it is very important to preserve as much speed in the turns as possible. There are many ways to do this including tires, wing angles, wheel lock, gearing, brakes, and even how your using your throttle and RPM amounts.
Though the setup is the most indusive to change, as it is how your car handles it is not all that matters. So first, we will talk about driving styles. Many people believe that a straight arrow has more grip and therefore has fastest exit speeds, sure this might be true on wide handed turns but on normal and sharp turns you want to slide 4-10% as an optimal grip, believe it or not a little slide provides better exit grip and more exit speed setting you up for a faster straight away and better acceleration for the next sector. As in Jarama the case for me was to slide my rear just enough to keep high RPM's to allow me to not lag out of the turn, for Shelby Can Am the optimal RPM for acceleration (at a minimal) @ turn exit is 5000 RPM, this will assure your car will raise at a steady rate like this: ^..^..^.^ rather than ^....^...^..^..^.^, reaching your optimal speed quicker. Now onto the line into a corner, generally you want to exit as wide as possible , USE ALL OF THE TRACK!!! and then you want to hit the apex perfectly, exiting wide just onto the outside rumble strip, still keeping 4-10% slip depending on the angle of the turn, you want to be on the throttle a good amount while exiting to make sure there is no lag and then put 100% gas as soon as you have reduced to 1-3% slip as to assure you do not fly out in the rear knocking into another car or spinning altogether.
Onto setup now... camber, gearing, suspension etc.
For tires your camber and air pressures are key. In order to turn better but stiill maintain a great straight speed rear cambers, i use them at -0.1 and -0.1 , ut thats just me... edit as u want. On the fronts a lower air pressure will provide more grip and looseness, but will wear quicker. You want your tires to be tilted -2.0 - -2.4 degrees on each side, adjust more negative to left or right depending if there are more left or right handed corners and on their importance to your laptimes.
Onto gears, make sure you do not redline going into turns, allow your self some extra rpms for down shifting and throttleing while alternating with brake, make sure your gear for this certain turn allows you to power over a bit and give torque and power to the rear quickly so you can adjust your eear end's angle accordingly to the turn.
Wheel Lock, if you use less your tires will last longer, i tend to lean to 12 as my lock so i can turn more if needed, loosening my car up if needed and quick reactions. As long as you dont screach your tires you will be fine.
Rear Wing provides more downforce, on some tracks allowing you to run in deeper and more throttle allowing for faster cornering but slower straight speed. On other tracks like Jarama where highspeeds werent an issue rear wing plays less of an affect so a lower rear wing would be better to allow the rear to loosen up a bit.
Suspension keep it symetrical, dont go messing around trying to see if u can get it to work better for a certin turn, it wont work as itll throw off all turns of the opposite direction. SEE Karl's setup guide for a good idea of how to setup the suspension. (http://speedsims.net/tutorials/setup_guide_index.html)
Sway Barsdont mess with this unless you know what your doing, lowering the front will make your car alot looser but recovery alot harder, find the optimal mix of grip between front and rear sway bars by lowering and raising, keep your rear end tighter so that you can steer in the front rather than be a brick.
Weight Distributionadding more front weight will change how your car handles alot, play with this along with your sway bars, it handles differently depending how your sways are set, this is easier for minute adjustments. Wedge, your wedge adds more weight percentage to corresponding tires (ex: left front and right rear tires) this is mainly an oval feature but can be used to even out turn in for these cars. (50% usually works well).Left Weight another oval feature, but can be used for left handed turns if the track is dominatingly left handed, transfers weight to left side providing more grip to the right tires and wearing them out less.
Break Bias I tend to like mine at around 61% but I know Oldnslow enjoys 49-51%, it is all preferance of how you want your tires to be and where to be, more in the front will wear the front quickerbut provide easier turn in and cornering.
Feel free to add guys, I'm no guru but these are my tips, as I love these cars
I thought I'd write up something specifically for these Shelby Cars. Due to the fact that these cars only have 4 gears (usually 2-4 are the only ones used for racing) so it is very important to preserve as much speed in the turns as possible. There are many ways to do this including tires, wing angles, wheel lock, gearing, brakes, and even how your using your throttle and RPM amounts.
Though the setup is the most indusive to change, as it is how your car handles it is not all that matters. So first, we will talk about driving styles. Many people believe that a straight arrow has more grip and therefore has fastest exit speeds, sure this might be true on wide handed turns but on normal and sharp turns you want to slide 4-10% as an optimal grip, believe it or not a little slide provides better exit grip and more exit speed setting you up for a faster straight away and better acceleration for the next sector. As in Jarama the case for me was to slide my rear just enough to keep high RPM's to allow me to not lag out of the turn, for Shelby Can Am the optimal RPM for acceleration (at a minimal) @ turn exit is 5000 RPM, this will assure your car will raise at a steady rate like this: ^..^..^.^ rather than ^....^...^..^..^.^, reaching your optimal speed quicker. Now onto the line into a corner, generally you want to exit as wide as possible , USE ALL OF THE TRACK!!! and then you want to hit the apex perfectly, exiting wide just onto the outside rumble strip, still keeping 4-10% slip depending on the angle of the turn, you want to be on the throttle a good amount while exiting to make sure there is no lag and then put 100% gas as soon as you have reduced to 1-3% slip as to assure you do not fly out in the rear knocking into another car or spinning altogether.
Onto setup now... camber, gearing, suspension etc.
For tires your camber and air pressures are key. In order to turn better but stiill maintain a great straight speed rear cambers, i use them at -0.1 and -0.1 , ut thats just me... edit as u want. On the fronts a lower air pressure will provide more grip and looseness, but will wear quicker. You want your tires to be tilted -2.0 - -2.4 degrees on each side, adjust more negative to left or right depending if there are more left or right handed corners and on their importance to your laptimes.
Onto gears, make sure you do not redline going into turns, allow your self some extra rpms for down shifting and throttleing while alternating with brake, make sure your gear for this certain turn allows you to power over a bit and give torque and power to the rear quickly so you can adjust your eear end's angle accordingly to the turn.
Wheel Lock, if you use less your tires will last longer, i tend to lean to 12 as my lock so i can turn more if needed, loosening my car up if needed and quick reactions. As long as you dont screach your tires you will be fine.
Rear Wing provides more downforce, on some tracks allowing you to run in deeper and more throttle allowing for faster cornering but slower straight speed. On other tracks like Jarama where highspeeds werent an issue rear wing plays less of an affect so a lower rear wing would be better to allow the rear to loosen up a bit.
Suspension keep it symetrical, dont go messing around trying to see if u can get it to work better for a certin turn, it wont work as itll throw off all turns of the opposite direction. SEE Karl's setup guide for a good idea of how to setup the suspension. (http://speedsims.net/tutorials/setup_guide_index.html)
Sway Barsdont mess with this unless you know what your doing, lowering the front will make your car alot looser but recovery alot harder, find the optimal mix of grip between front and rear sway bars by lowering and raising, keep your rear end tighter so that you can steer in the front rather than be a brick.
Weight Distributionadding more front weight will change how your car handles alot, play with this along with your sway bars, it handles differently depending how your sways are set, this is easier for minute adjustments. Wedge, your wedge adds more weight percentage to corresponding tires (ex: left front and right rear tires) this is mainly an oval feature but can be used to even out turn in for these cars. (50% usually works well).Left Weight another oval feature, but can be used for left handed turns if the track is dominatingly left handed, transfers weight to left side providing more grip to the right tires and wearing them out less.
Break Bias I tend to like mine at around 61% but I know Oldnslow enjoys 49-51%, it is all preferance of how you want your tires to be and where to be, more in the front will wear the front quickerbut provide easier turn in and cornering.
Feel free to add guys, I'm no guru but these are my tips, as I love these cars