So when is the next novice AC driver academy?

[Tbear]

The last I heard the driving school was going to start in August. Unless it was posted someplace I didn't see it, there hasn't been anything scheduled and we are headed into October.

I definitely would like a seat in the first class.

 

[Tbear]

Since I didn't get an answer and it's been two months, I figured I'd ask again.

Races for AC are pretty scarce these days. How about some AC races/Championships for the US time zone?

 

[Tberg]

Have you tried out SRS? Plenty of racing daily, pretty good too once you go up in rankings.

 

[Jempy]

I also think it should be the only solution for you, Tbear .... I just noticed there has been no Racing Clubs for US zone at RD since September 21.

SRS is all over the globe ... but does that mean there are many US servers, that's another question.

 

[Bobby Pennington]

Races for AC are pretty scarce these days. How about some AC races/Championships for the US time zone?

Maybe I should have made an announcement about this, but I didn't so here goes

I ran AC races here at RD for about 17-18 months and I also ran the EU and US AC Academy's. Due to health reasons, I had to step down from my staff role here at RD. I wish I had been able to stay on and knew when I would be healthy enough to return running the AC Club again, but I'm unable to and truth be known, it will probably be a long time before I'm healthy enough to handle things.

The reason we have no US races is we've had no volunteers to come in, become a staff member and host races. It really is a lot of fun and you get to meet so many nice guys and become part of a great team. If you guys know anyone that would like to become staff, please let me know and I can get with you on teamspeak and go over a little of what we do. The next step would be for me to introduce you to the appropriate staff members and they would take it from there. Hopefully we'll find someone soon.

Cheers

 

[Bobby Pennington]

I have felt like I should do something for the new guys or those unfamiliar with setting up a car and this is a simple approach. The following is something I wrote in another thread for a few guys so I thought I'd bring it here for you. I hope it helps. As with anything, people will have different opinions about how to do what, but we all want to help. If you have friends that need a little help, please, bring them here and we'll do what we can. I can't give to the community like I used to, but I felt I owed you guys this. It's the least I could do. I may be slow to respond because I'm still battling health issues that aren't going away anytime soon.

Keep in mind that there is no shortcut to this stuff. It comes with experience and a lot of reading and then trial and error while in practice sessions. It's all I did for years and years since the bots were all I raced and doing hotlaps trying to squeeze out a tenth or 2 here and there. Then I got in the waters with the Sharks here at RD in 2017 and realized I had a lot more work to do than I was ready for. I call them Sharks, not because they are mean or scary, but they absolutely showed me how some guys can just devour time and make it look easy.

Thank you @Ronnie Böhme for reminding me about this link to a very helpful flow chart. Thank you @Celtic Pharaoh for all of your help over the years and the little drag strip idea for a level surface. Thank you @Dirk Steffen for your help with Motec. Special thanks to @raptor1958 for giving me access to your private server so I could practice different things on the server so I wouldn't embarrass myself as a race host when I started. Finally, thank you all that have helped me here. You know who you are and there are way to many to mention.

Remember this: If you're a mid packer like me, you have to maximize everything you can before your car hits the track. That's the stuff that all of us can control and you don't have to be an to do that, so pay attention to the little details like your tires and gearing.

I'll give you a couple of routes to pursue based on cars with no aero and others that do.

Cars with no adjustable aero:

1. Always take a new car out using the stock setup on a track and run it until you can get within .200 - .300 a lap in consistency. If you don't, you'll never know if it's your driving or the car.
2. Get your tire compound and psi's correct. I recommend getting the proTyre app if you don't have it. Read how to use it. It's very clever.
3. Gearing - You want the car to be almost on the rev limiter 3/4 the way down the longest straight. I like to leave a little overhead for my race setup so, if I have an opportunity to catch a tow, I don't run out of gear and can't make the pass.....that suuuuucks The easiest way to do this is use the Final Drive ratio. Then you can tweak it from there with the individual gears. Individual gearing can be a little tricky. If you have to much of a gap between gears, your rpms will drop to low and take you longer to reach your shift point in a gear. If you have to little, you're not taking advantage of the torque and bhp curve and your constantly upshifting. Each upshift can cost you a fraction of time so, if you're upshifting 10 times to many per lap, it adds up.
   
4. Electronics if the car has them (TC and ABS). In AC a setting of 1 is where the computer has more control so the higher the number, the more you have control.
5. Got that stuff sorted now so we go to spring rates and anti roll bars (ARB). Work with one first and if it feels ok, work with the other one to see how they feel together. Softer in both areas typically means more grip, but it also allows more body roll which makes for a sluggish responding car. Stiffer in both areas typically means less grip, but a much more responsive car to the point of nervousness. Different tracks also respond to soft or stiff. I find a stiffer car at Mugello and Spa make me quicker at those tracks.
   
6. Ride Height - In most cases we want the front of the car to be a little lower than the rear. This is know as Rake Angle. A lower front end will put more weight on the front axle and will help with corner turn in, but it's a dynamic number because we are braking sometimes when we are turning in. Feel will be your guide here. The lower the car, the lower the CG (center of gravity) which means a little less car lean which is ideal, but get it to low and you'll have road bumps and curb issues with the car bottoming out and you can also run out of suspension travel which means you are relying entirely on the tire for grip AND suspension. Go practice at Spa and go through Eau Rouge and you'll see what I mean. Go to Imola to see how your car reacts over some of those mountainous curbs....you'll be a skateboarder grinding the lip Typically you'll have to come back to ride height as you further refine your setup.
   
7. Diff Power and Coast. Diff Power- the higher the number the more traction coming out of the corners at the risk of spinning out if you give it to much boot. You can use TC along with diff power to reach a good compromise. Diff Coast - the higher the number the more stable on corner entry (off throttle) but the car will be harder to turn and will push. The lower the number the easier the car will turn in, but can make the car very loose on turn in. Use brake bias and ABS to find a compromise and later suspension.
   
8. Brake bias plays a big part in how a car slows down and rotates on corner entry. Get it wrong and you either crash into the tree you're looking at or you'll back into it and go up in flames
9. Toe adjustment front and back. Negative toe in the back can kill you on corner entry so be careful with it. Toe also affects tire temps and wear. Use the flow chart Ronnie provided that I linked above.
   
10. Now the Black Art: Dampers. These are your fine tuning points once you have a good setup on the 9 areas listed above. Slow bump and slow rebound are about driver inputs. They make a difference on steering, traction under throttle and braking. Fast bump and fast rebound are about how the car handles things like bumps, curbs etc. They do have an overall affect on how your car feels in certain situations, but you have to be careful it's not your spring rates causing you issues.
11. Camber - I always do this last because the above 10 steps will have an affect on camber. Since we are turning left and right, we will always run 0 - Negative Camber (tires leaning in toward car center line) to maximize tire contact patch in corners as we lean on the tire. You want a temp differential of about 7-11 degrees from the inside shoulder (always runs hotter) to the outside shoulder (always runs cooler). I've seen some guys recommend 8-15 degrees, but for me in AC, that doesn't work. Front camber helps with corner entry and grip through the corner and will have an affect on braking. Rear camber helps with corner entry with braking and corner exit with traction. You can see how the temps are with a color code in the proTyre app if you have it visible. Green is good, orange and red are hot and blue is cold. Without telemetry it's hard to tell how the tire does in a certain section, but it's sim racing and not life or death. Coloring with Crayons is good enough for us older kids
    
12. See how it's all coming together? Take care of the big (macro) stuff first and the small (micro) stuff later. Now we tweak to find compromise and car feel. I don't care what numbers are right or wrong, if the car doesn't feel good to you, you won't be able to drive it on the limit. Make adjustment on 1 thing at a time while learning, but sometimes you can get away with 2 and that's about it. Example: Car is loose on corner entry so you might try softening the rear slow rebound and by one or two clicks and add a click or two of brake bias to the front.

Cars with adjustable aero:

1. Always take a new car out using the stock setup on a track and run it until you can get within .200 - .300 a lap in consistency. If you don't, you'll never know if it's your driving or the car.
   
2. Get your tire compound and psi's correct. I recommend getting the proTyre app if you don't have it. Read how to use it. It's very clever.
3. Gearing- You want the car to be almost on the rev limiter 3/4 the way down the longest straight. I like to leave a little overhead for my race setup so, if I have an opportunity to catch a tow, I don't run out of gear and can't make the pass.....that suuuuucks The easiest way to do this is use the Final Drive ratio. Then you can tweak it from there with the individual gears. Individual gearing can be a little tricky. If you have to much of a gap between gears, your rpms will drop to low and take you longer to reach your shift point in a gear. If you have to little, you're not taking advantage of the torque and bhp curve and your constantly shifting. Each upshift can cost you a fraction of time so, if you're upshifting 10 times to many per lap, it adds up.
4. Aero - As greedy ham fisted drivers, we always want as much grip up front as we can get while at the same time running as little wing in the back so we maximize speed, limit fuel consumption and reduce understeer Get it right and it's a thing of beauty. Get it wrong......mushroom cloud going through Eau Rouge at Spa. Balance is the key. Find what works now and then you'll have to go back to gearing because rear wing has a big influence on top speed. You will also revisit aero once you go through the rest of the setup below. This is where we can work with less rear wing and still stabilize the car through suspension settings.
   
5. Electronics if the car has them (TC and ABS). In AC a setting of 1 is where the computer has more control so the higher the number, the more you have control.
6. Got that stuff sorted now so we go to spring rates and anti roll bars (ARB). Work with one first and if it feels ok, work with the other one to see how they feel together. Softer in both areas typically means more grip, but it also allows more body roll which makes for a sluggish responding car. Stiffer in both areas typically means less grip, but a much more responsive car to the point of nervousness. Different tracks also respond to soft or stiff. I find a stiffer car at Mugello and Spa make me quicker at those tracks.
7. Ride Height - In most cases we want the front of the car to be a little lower than the rear. This is know as Rake Angle. A lower front end will put more weight on the front axle and will help with corner turn in, but it's a dynamic number because we are braking sometimes when we are turning in. Feel will be your guide here. You also have to keep in mind that Aero pushes the car down so, if you put more aero on, you'll either have to raise the ride height a little or stiffen the spring rates and the opposite if you take aero off. Car ride height also affects what we call "Ground Effect". Ground Effect is how the air flows under the car from the front wing/splitter all the way to the back of the car where the diffuser is and creates a suction to the track by lowering the air pressure under the car. If the car is to low, not enough air flows under the car and you "stall" the ground effect. If the car is to high, you cannot create the lower air pressure and it's just as bad as having the car to low. If you have the front ride height correct and the rear is to high, the car will be loose at the rear. Rear wing can overcome this, but remember, you're a greedy head full of rocks driver so we typically won't do this. If the front is to high, the car will want to push, but, BUT you can sometimes run a click less rear wing you greedy bast!!! You'll get the hang of it......eventually Telemetry is the best way to do this, but it's also overwhelming and I just don't think you need to deal with to much right now. Just look at the stock ride heights in the "Car Status" area when your in the setup section and use that as a base and don't deviate to far from it. + or - .10 is what I used to use. The lower the car, the lower the CG (center of gravity) which means a little less car lean which is ideal, but get it to low and you'll have road bumps and curb issues with the car bottoming out and you can also run out of suspension travel which means you are relying entirely on the tire for grip AND suspension. Go practice at Spa and go through Eau Rouge and you'll see what I mean. Go to Imola to see how your car reacts over some of those mountainous curbs....you'll be a skateboarder grinding the lip Typically you'll have to come back to ride height as you further refine your setup.
   
8. Diff Power and Coast. Diff Power- the higher the number the more traction coming out of the corners at the risk of spinning out if you give it to much boot. You can use TC along with diff power to reach a good compromise. Diff Coast- the higher the number the more stable on corner entry (off throttle) but the car will be harder to turn and will push. The lower the number the easier the car will turn in, but can make the car very loose on turn in. Use brake bias and ABS to find a compromise.
   
9. Brake bias plays a big part in how a car slows down and rotates on corner entry. Get it wrong and you either crash into the tree you're looking at or you'll back into it and go up in flames
10. Toe adjustment front and back. Negative toe in the back can kill you on corner entry so be careful with it. Toe also affects tire temps and wear. Use the flow chart Ronnie provided.
    
11. Now the Black Art: Dampers. These are your fine tuning points once you have a good setup on the 10 areas listed above. Slow bump and slow rebound are about driver inputs. They make a difference on steering, traction under throttle and braking. Fast bump and fast rebound are about how the car handles things like bumps, curbs etc. They do have an overall affect on how your car feels in certain situations, but you have to be careful it's not your spring rates causing you issues.
12. Camber - I always do this last because the above 11 steps will have an affect on camber. Since we are turning left and right, we will always run 0 - Negative Camber (tires leaning in toward car center line) to maximize tire contact patch in corners as we lean on the tire. You want a temp differential of about 7-11 degrees from the inside shoulder (always runs hotter) to the outside shoulder (always runs cooler). I've seen some guys recommend 8-15 degrees, but for me in AC, that doesn't work. Front camber helps with corner entry and grip through the corner and will have an affect on braking. Rear camber helps with corner entry with braking and corner exit with traction. You can see how the temps are with a color code in the proTyre app if you have it visible. Green is good, orange and red are hot and blue is cold. Without telemetry it's hard to tell how the tire does in a certain section, but it's sim racing and not life or death. Coloring with Crayons is good enough for us older kids
    
13. See how it's all coming together? Take care of the big (macro) stuff first and the small (micro) stuff later. Now we tweak to find compromise and car feel. I don't care what numbers are right or wrong, if the car doesn't feel good to you, you won't be able to drive it on the limit. Make adjustment on 1 thing at a time while learning, but sometimes you can get away with 2 and that's about it. Example: Car is loose on corner entry so you might try softening the rear slow rebound and by one or two clicks and add a click or two of brake bias to the front.

One thing you'll notice in the "Car Status" in AC is camber, toe angle can be different on each corner of the car in the pits and flicker and ride height will vary from pit box to pit box. The tracks are laser scanned so we don't always have a perfectly level surface. A trick I learned from a friend is to go to the drag strip after you've finished your setup to see if the numbers are what you're looking for. It's a perfectly level surface.

A note about Ride Height. If you raise or lower a car with independent suspension on all 4 corners, you are by default reducing or increasing Camber. Lower means more negative Camber, Raising means less Camber. As you adjust one thing it affects another. Isn't this stuff fun

Car stiffness will have an affect on tire temps. Usually, a softer setup or setting will generate more tire carcass heat and you can see a tire load up with heat while driving if you have the tire app on screen. Stiffer settings typically create surface heat across the tire contact patch and you can see that if you have the proTyre app visible. You can tweak both of these for longer races where you are concerned about limiting pit stops or getting away with no tire change and do a splash and dash. Sprint races, smoke 'em if you got 'em Go out and paint the town red


This is my approach. I'm not an expert, not the quickest, but I do have a decent understanding of this mumbo jumbo. Like I said, it's overwhelming at first, but you'll get it. I'm sure some guys will probably disagree with me and they may or may not be correct. I'm also sure I've probably left something out and if I have, I hope someone catches it.

Have fun with this stuff and don't sweat it. Enjoy the journey and remember, at the end of the day, we're just moving pixels on a screen and not paying our bills with it. If you do that you'll keep your sanity and your hair. Well, you could still lose your hair due to genetics, but I don't think we need to go into that

Cheers