The Premise
"Change one thing at a time"
After reading the Concise guide to Skippy tuning I was tempted to jump in and apply all of the recommendations in the guide. There's only 6 tuning variables and a recommended value for each. In an attempt to mirror what I might do in real car, I'm going to change one thing at a time, document the differences I can feel and the difference if any on my lap times.
The Test
First I'll run a practice session with people in it to familiarize myself with the car/track combo (Skippy/Silverstone south) and the general lines taken on the track.
I'll then run consecutive test sessions of 1 out lap and 5 clean laps, changing one variable each session. Will I be able to feel the difference? Will it make a difference to my lap times?
Baseline/stock
With the baseline setup in a practice session after about 10 laps I settled on 1:23/lap. The big easy obvious gains I could see from lines and gear selection stopped and I did around 5 to 6 laps at low 1:23's, with the final touching into 1:22. Consistent enough, I decided to try the first change, fuel load to 3.1.
Fuel 3.1 gallons (11.7l)
Laps:
- 1:22.154
- 1:22.694
- 1:22.760
- 1:22.000
- 1:22.100
An instant improvement in times but I struggled to feel the difference in the sim. If I could pick anything it was that braking force was increased, which makes sense; lighter. However I was searching to feel a difference so I can't say for sure whether I noticed. The splits kept going green however so I can't argue with the result.
With that done, onto the next change, tire pressure. I'm hoping this will be the biggest improvement of the lot, as it's a radical change.
Front and rear tire pressures to 22F/22R(152F/152R kPa)
Laps:
- 1:21.703
- 1:21.337
- 1:22.066
- 1:22.557
- 1:21.848
First corner I notice a massive difference. I hit my normal braking marker and the car seems to leap to slow down. As I turn in I get a much bigger "bite" and I feel like I almost steer too much into the corner with the same input on the wheel. Through the next few corners the feeling stays, I can push the car to steer at a greater angle without plow understeering. Feels much more stable through the fast chicane at the back before the last turn onto the straight. Before the back end was always threatening to come around but now I feel stable through there and can get on the gas earlier.
I imagine the time gains will slow now. Onto the next tweak, SPO +5
SPO +5 ARB 7 Brake Bias 58%
Little did I know, SPO and the rear Anti Roll Bar were already set to +5 and 7 as the guide recommends, so there was no change there for me to make. Perhaps the baseline setup has changed in the new build? So I went straight to brake bias.
Laps:
- 1:22.377
- 1:21.403
- 1:21.784
- 1:21.871
- 1:22.049
I notice less tire squeal as I'm braking. I tend to brake to ~50% and definitely less squeal from the tires (not sure if it's less from the front or rear). I wonder if that means I can push the braking harder but I don't have the capacity to change that habit quickly in this session.
Not a drastic change and no real difference in times. I feel like this would be a change that would benefit me in the long run, less lockups leading to less big losses/corrections before corners, making better average times due to minimizing the bad laps.
Conclusion
Loved the process but I'm not totally ready to call the experiment a success. I definitely felt a difference with tire pressure and less so with fuel load. Slightly disappointing that I didn't get to fiddle with camber as I feel that could make a large noticeable difference in feel. I may still fiddle but since anything I do will be taking me away from what is recommended in the guide I may not!
I'm happy with the time gained, 2 seconds I'd say throughout the experiment. I wonder how much of that was the setup changes and how much was just plain and simple track time! While 2 seconds is great, I still need to drop another 2 to get into the 1:19's which I see you guys are into in your race pace.
Really enjoyed the process and I can't wait to try it all again with a different car or different setup.
For the Skippy it's now time for me to jump into some races or to spend another testing session with iSpeed, trying out some "One Second at a time" experiments. Something for another night.
