Hi all! well, I was just interested to see what you guys do to convert a hotlap/quali set to a race set. Personally, I have very limited setup knowledge so I tend to only change tyre compound (R2s -> R3s), make the pressures a little higher and add between +1 - +1.5 on camber. I was told that softening suspension can help out a lot but for me, they never made a difference , the tyre temp was still the same with a worse handling car .

So what parts of the car do you adjust to make it more suited for a long distance race?

Reduce negative camber, switch tyre compound (if necessary), adjust tyre pressures (if necessary), replace locked diff with clutchpack, adjust suspension to account for diff change. Though the last two points are a personal preference, not a necessity.

Perhaps raise ride height as well to cope with additional fuel. And add a bit of wing, unless you are at the back of the grid, in which case perhaps decrease it to aid passing on the straights.

Basically change anything and everything that is either melting the tyres, or making the handling a bit tricky (because a nice handling car is more important over a race distance than an edgy but quick one that will tire you out and increase the risk of mistakes).

and don't forget that in most cars the fuel tank is not centered between the axles, so a heavy fuel load will tend to change the balance of the car somewhat (and the balance will also change as the race progresses and fuel is burned off), so adjust the suspension based on approx half of what your starting fuel load will be.

also, when making adjustments, don't just drive one lap and then pit, drive 5 or 10 between tweaks to give you a good feeling for how the tires are working over longer periods.

Things I do when I set up a race car in ANY sim, in order:

-Adjust Downforce
-Adjust ARBs
-Adjust brake balance
-Adjust rear susp. (front comes after you do camber/toe/castor)
-Adjust Gearing for the best balance between acceleration and top speed for specific track.
-Reduce static camber
*-increase caster to 6º
-Adjust front susp.
-Adjust LSD coast/power to something reasonable for cars likelyness to understeer/oversteer.

*setting higher caster allows you to run lower static camber and still gives you a good front camber in corners.

Thats all I can think of thats important. All of this requires alot of time on track to adjust. A good rule though is that you want a harder rear end for FWD and a softer rear end for RWD to balance out over/understeer.

Once i have my quali- or hotlapset and found my line and driving style, i mainly focus on tire management for a longer race. Like you said, next tire compound and adjusting pressure and camber. With winged cars i often increase rear wings.

Color of tirebody: With slicks i got best results with all tires getting light green after a few laps while with roadtires i prefer them dark green.

Color of tiresurface: Since tires begin to cool down after 10 laps or so, im adjusting camber or speed in turns in a way that temperatures show almost red at the inner side and ~ 4° less at the middle part in this lap. Somewhere ive read a suggestion about max. 10° difference between inner and outer temperatures. Which i can approve as very helpful.

Reducing springs and rollbars should reduce tiretemps generally, but the most sets around are usually set to or below the minimum required. So often it really helps to stiff them Use an analyzer like LRA to check suspension travel remaining and use the incredible VHPA tool to adjust settings.

For instance, if you increase rear springs keep the balance by decreasing rear rollbar. Or increasing front rollbar. Or reducing rear tirepressure.

Or ask Bob Smith