Developing Set Ups Over A Race Weekend

[dangerous]

Hi All, James here, long time reader first time poster

I've been trying to find some info out on exactly what kind of programme a team would execute over the course of a weekend. I can only imagine there's a very prescise process used to 'dial in' a car at a particular circuit. As the tyre options are limited I can only assume that's one less setup headache to content with, but where do they start? Aero? Chassis setup? Are the teams going to a track with an idea, give or take a few percent, of how exactly to get their cars to perform almost straight off the bat, or are they having to do some laps, adjust camber, caster, engine management, aero to suit and try again or what?

This stuff fascinates me, thanks for the great forum everyone!

[godlameroso]

Teams use previous race data, and the simulator to establish a baseline for each track, more or less. Then the cars get driven and small changes are made to tailor the overall balance to suit each driver, more or less. After Friday practice all the data that was accumulated gets sent to each respective teams headquarters, where the staff pours over the data to see how they can optimize the setup, and come up with the race strategy. Saturday practice is used to dial in the final setup after the data analysis and driver inputs are considered. Afterwards the cars are in "parc ferme" which means no additional changes can be made except on safety grounds.

[dangerous]

Interesting - and kind of what I expected to be honest - a lot of simulation and a minimum of 'messing about' with the car. Not much in the way of 'do a couple of laps, dial some more camber in, try again' then.

Makes sense though, going in with a baseline setup and tweaking from there is by far the most efficient way to do it, I'd think.

Be interesting to see a schedule of what the cars go through over a weekend.

1320: tyre warmers on
1340: install driver
1400: installation lap , for example

I bet all the teams are run like a military operation, with everything happening to a pretty tight schedule.

[Jersey Tom]

I'd say there's just no time at the race track to do substantial "messing about." Pick the few things you want to try and off you go. Hopefully you nail it better than the competition.

[strad]

Interesting - and kind of what I expected to be honest - a lot of simulation and a minimum of 'messing about' with the car. Not much in the way of 'do a couple of laps, dial some more camber in, try again' then.

No time for that these days...Ya better be close before ya get there.

[marcush.]

I´m not sure if that´s really the case...some teams seem to struggle more than others to come up with a fitting setup and some seem to be reluctant to change even when it´s obvious they are not even close to being right (in 2010 MGP very often referred to :we let the track come to us and try not to chase track conditions with setup...)
But anyone who has raced his piece of kit in anger knows that after some time you know your animal quite well and you will always hit the ground running sims or simulators may come in handy but running the thing will also teach you a lot.
You need to run the car inside the favorable aero envelope as long as possible and that´s what you are chasing .

[mep]

They come with a very set setup to the tracks.
Lets say something like 90% of the parameters are already set.
They then just fine tune the setup to cope with issues not simulated or not correctly represented.
Also they collect data to define the race strategy.
Tire wear, fuel consumption.

[PlatinumZealot]

Interesting - and kind of what I expected to be honest - a lot of simulation and a minimum of 'messing about' with the car. Not much in the way of 'do a couple of laps, dial some more camber in, try again' then.

Makes sense though, going in with a baseline setup and tweaking from there is by far the most efficient way to do it, I'd think.

Be interesting to see a schedule of what the cars go through over a weekend.

1320: tyre warmers on
1340: install driver
1400: installation lap , for example

I bet all the teams are run like a military operation, with everything happening to a pretty tight schedule.

+1

who has any inside info on this? Even if it's not F1 but a similar series.

[marcush.]

maybe no messing about but sure you got more than one ways to skin your cat (how I miss jumbo...).So You will surely have some options how you can setup your car and keep it in the aero envelope you need to stay in ..
With the fuelload changing so much during the race there is a compromise to be made for Qualy ,as you cannot change much after FP3...So sure you cannot invent a fifth wheel as a setup choice but what is a big setup change in your world?

[flynfrog]

Interesting - and kind of what I expected to be honest - a lot of simulation and a minimum of 'messing about' with the car. Not much in the way of 'do a couple of laps, dial some more camber in, try again' then.

Makes sense though, going in with a baseline setup and tweaking from there is by far the most efficient way to do it, I'd think.

Be interesting to see a schedule of what the cars go through over a weekend.

1320: tyre warmers on
1340: install driver
1400: installation lap , for example

I bet all the teams are run like a military operation, with everything happening to a pretty tight schedule.

+1

who has any inside info on this? Even if it's not F1 but a similar series.

3AM get kicked out of bar for insulting bartender and making reference to his mom fornicating with animals.

3:30 AM find food from hotel vending machine.

4:00 AM try to unlock hotel room door only to find one of the other crew members forgot his key so they had to reprogram all of them

4:10 get lady and front desk to give you new key.

4:30 Go to sleep

5:00 alarm goes off.

5:05 shower drink lots of water.

5:15 pile into large van with rest of crew

5:30 arrive at track crew goes about tasks plug in engine heater.

6:00 downpour begins practice cancelled. dig out note book from last year put that setup on car.

7:00 test fire car.

7:30 eat doughnut out of box you fond in the transporter.

8:00 layout pit box test air hoses fuel rig guns

8:30 holy --- some one cater food for breakfast.

9:00 still raining qualy pushed back till 11

9:00-9:30 attempt nap but you are now on your 3rd energy drink

11:00 qualy

12:00 qually over eat a cheese steak from infield food vendor.

13:00 begin to pull motor to install race engine.

18:00 motor buttoned up installing heater to test fire.

18:01 work on race suspension setup

19:00 test fire race engine. It runs.

19:30 change out of crew uniform

20:00 proceed to pub hoping different bartender is now working.

3:00 AM leave bar it is a race tomorrow after all.

3:15 AM try to enter hotel room but keys have been changed again.

3:30 AM enter hotel room shower.

4:00 sleep

5:00 alarm

11 AM race starts

lap 3 driver removes wing from car returns to pits

lap 10 car is now 3 laps down

Lap ?? tire change. Fuel

repeat

repeat

finish 29th

break down pit box.

dump fuel rig all over your lap

load haulers

race rental vans back to hotel for a shower

enter pub...