Quote:
Originally Posted by Icecreamtruk
Very good question. Let me split the answer into two different parts, since I changed the ride height twice during the day. The first change was lifting the rear (both sides) by around 0.5". Why did I do the change? Two things, I wanted more oversteer, and I wanted to see if rake would do anything worthwhile now that I have a flat floor. This dropped my times by around 0.5s on a 2min (right under it) track. I dont know if the extra oversteer (which it did have a lot more of) or the rake is responsible. I think it is the change in mechanical grip that helped more.
The second one is easy to identify and see, since my wheel wasnt locking because the tire was rubbing on the upper inside of the fender (on the metal, not just barely grazing the plastic), I was actually able to stay flat out thru that, suddently, there was no more turn 1 and 2, it was a straight all the way, reaching up to 118mph where I had reached only 105mph before the change. That neeted me 0.8s on that sector alone. I expected the rest of my sectors to suffer since the car should be "out of whack" at this point. But my times did not change for the sector 2 and 3 (not by much at least).
Before comments on the consistency of a driver, as it is a very important thing in this kind of measurement (as it should be when talking laptimes). Im not consistant in line or inputs. I dont drive the same line every lap, braking at the same point and hitting all of the apex. I try to drive the car slighly over the limit at each turn. I try to keep a slip angle big enough that I can feel it on the butt but that cant really be seen by looking at the car go on the track. I can drive this way within a tenth on a 2min lap every lap, but every lap is different and has mistakes in different places, some of which are the direct result of a setup change.
So all of this is basically me trying to get some confirmation or denial of it corner balance is actually something important for lap times, or is it more of a driver preference towards a car that is consistant.
Edit: also, Im working with what I got (feeling, laptimes, sector times, lateral acceleration, etc...). Im not trying to prove a point here or anything, Im trying to get educated in something that is somewhat of a dark art for me (corner weight, which was the reason of my main question). Because I believe I have got it wrong, or at least not the whole picture.
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I completely understand the relative terms in which you're speaking. You're correct; the data doesn't need to be perfect, because you've already collected enough data (and frankly, more data than 99.99% of people who ask me something and give me nothing to work with).
Now, I'd have to raise the front the same you raised the rear, an see how it affects the sectors you've mentioned, as well as general lap time and feel.
Perhaps, your car was too low, or perhaps the rake is what works well for your specific setup. This is how we find out.