SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Ralph Hummerich 2004 Season: A Few Words on Setups

I choose the Ferrari because it is probably the best handling car in 2004 and we don't want to make things too difficult by choosing a twitchy, ill-handling Minardi or Jordan (Apologies to Minardi and Jordan fans ).

Melbourne I choose Melbourne because it's got slow sections, fast sections, long and short straights; So braking zones and getting the best possible drive out of the turns, getting quickly and efficiently back on the accelerator, are very important. Besides, I liked the track (before doing this article)!

Back up just a bit. The first setup option I'm going to mention has got absolutely nothing to do with setups. But first we must decide if we wish to use traction control and if so, how much. I'll proceed on the assumption that traction control is set to low. Naturally the setup you develop and run with will be influenced by this setting.

In 2004 the regulations allowed traction control, so although I'd rather see "TC" go away from modern Formula 1, like they have banned the automatic upshifts, we'll at least be driving within the FIA regulations.

First, a short drive in the default RH 2004 Season setup to get acclimatized with the track and the handling. Once I'm turning fairly consistent laps — don't worry, I'm quite slow in F1C — I try to answer a few questions about the handling:

Does the car brake in short distances and does it turn in willingly when I release the brake, or are braking distances long and does it feel like the car wants to go straight when I want the car to turn in?
How does the rear of the car behave in turns. Does the back-end want to come around, or does it feel like it's stuck on to the car like a deadweight?
Accelerating out of the turns, does the car accept power in a smooth manner? Any trouble keeping the rear axle under control, or does it want to snap away?
Do I like the steering lock that's fitted, i.e. how much would I like to turn the wheel, in order to move the front wheels by the right amount?

Quite a lot of questions and chasing the right answers in terms of tweaking the setup can be a bit tricky until you have done a few setups are are beginning to feel comfortable with most of the setup options in RH 2004 Season. But once you know what you like and don't like about a particular setup and know roughly what to change, you are on the road to developing a new appreciation for the sims you like and quite a lot of what you learn in one sim, you can take with you to another.

The setups supplied with RH 2004 are very good, but they don't suit my driving style very well, so before going into the garage to start the iterative process of tuning the setup, I'll describe my impressions driving the supplied default setup.

Driving a Few Laps

After the installation lap, making sure that the tires are warmed up, I go from 2nd gear to 3rd for the final Prost corner to get a good exit onto the start / finish straight.

Up through the gears until approaching the braking zone for Jones. The track is bumpy right where you'd want to brake, so I brake a bit early. My first problem is that with the default setup I have to turn the steering wheel far over to make the corner. Furthermore, I cannot brake hard enough with the brake settings supplied with the default setup. The front wheels tend to lock too easily.

Going through Brabham, again I have to turn the wheel far more than I prefer, front end does not want to turn but washes out towards the outer wall.

On the right / left complex before Whiteford, I miss the apex in the right hander and have difficulty in judging the speed and entry point to the left-hander.

3rd gear for the first right-hander at Whiteford and going into 4th for the second right-hander, cutting the curb.

Hard on the brakes for Marina and yet another quick change of direction before accelerating through Lauda.

Then yet another heavy braking zone before the Clark Chicane. Mindful of catching the best line all the way up to Waite, I'm being careful not to run into the outer wall as the car wants to wash out towards it.

Quick downshift to 4th for Waite and on the throttle up through the gears until reaching the right hander that is Ascari. The first part is taken in 3rd and with a very tricky approach — I usually have difficulty catching the right line here. The second part is easier: 4th gear while adjusting the position of the car with a quick dab on the brakes. Fun corner.

Then it's time for braking hard for the tight right-hander before approaching the Prost curve once a again. 1:31.122 with the RH setup. And my main issues with the setup is that the car doesn't brake as good or turn as good as I'd like it to. Finally the back end is so stable that I can mash the gas and not fear the consequences. This rear grips like there is no tomorrow!

Missed approach

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