I love these discussions.
Well, that's all I need to indulge you ( me actually
)
That and I am stuck with nowhere to go and nothing much to do this week.
Bernice's comment about setups that suite a range of drivers hits me pretty close to home. I will note that setup for a production road (sports) car and a racing car are two completely different worlds. The road car must first and foremost be safe. Secondary considerations are things like; stablity, ride quality, driver confidence, etc... and then further down the list you find handling. A racecar is designed and setup to produce competitive lap times. How that manifests itself depends on a couple of key factors and I'll get to that in a minute.
When I am engineering for my IMSA clients I typically have to setup a car for a team of drivers. Typically 4 at the Rolex and two or three the rest of the season, and that is where the problems start. The problems come from having to deal with the modern reality that most driver teams in Pro Racing are comprised of a pairing of Pro Drivers and Gentleman Drivers. The Pro's are paid to drive and the Gentlemen pay for their opportunity to drive. The distinction is fundamental to how the racecar is setup.
To understand the distinction its important to understand that "feel" is not what makes a racecar fast. Feel is what makes the driver comfortable and hopefully, that will make the driver fast. When I setup a car for a Pro driver I don't ask him about feel. I ask him for his perception of what the car is doing. I'll go through the whole lap, a turn at at time and review; corner entry, mid corner and corner exit. A Pro driver is expected to be able to be able to recall this information after only a very few laps. Generally, a couple to get the tires up to temperature and a couple of clear flyers to figure out what's going on. He's a Professional and this is what I expect of a Pro. If he can't he won't be around long.
During the debrief I review the video and data from the session to compare what I am seeing to what the driver is telling me. From the two sources of information it is my job to then review the car's current setup and determine what changes will improve the car's performance. After a couple of cycles of capturing data and review the car should be close to being optimized, assuming I am doing my job. As a secondary consideration I will discuss any driver complaints about feel, which is really confidence. A good Pro should be able to adapt to any setup that can produce good lap times, despite how the car may feel.
A Gentleman driver is a completely different scenario. Typically, I'll get a baseline setup with the Pro and then put the Gentleman driver(s) in. They will need more track time to learn the track and car. And it will take me longer to adapt both the driver and the car. My first task is to identify the Gentleman driver's techniques, both good and bad. This will help me understand if he is causing the issue he is complaining about (common). It will also help me understand what makes him comfortable with the car's setup. Unlike the Pro, the Gentleman's skill set is much more limited and for him to produce a good lap time requires the car to inspire confidence more than any other characteristic. If the GD is not comfortable, he is likely unable to drive the car anywhere near its full potential. To gain that level of comfort means compromise. Example: I'll dial in more rear wing to give more rear grip at speed, at the expense of top speed (and the ability to pass at the end of the longest straight) because the Gentleman simply lacks the finely honed skill set to manage a car, at the limit, that is that finely balanced.
Optimizing a setup for Pro driver is pretty straight forward. As the engineer my job is to make the car fast and the driver's job is to drive it. Personal tastes are secondary. For the Gentleman personal taste (comfort) is primary and its my job to manage that with as little compromise as possible.
My other job, as driver coach, is providing both Pros and Gentlemen with feedback as to their execution. With the Pro, I am critiquing his lap to show him, usually in the details of the data, where he can find more speed. Note that most all Pro Athletes (from Pro Golfers to Pro Quarterbacks) have coaches. I refinement of a line, or technique when I see that there is an opportunity for improvement. With the Gentleman I am trying to build his skillset. Teach him fundamentals that he hasn't mastered. Apply those to the particular track. Show him where he needs improvement or correct his errors. Show him how he can learn to go faster by making better use of the car or line.
The club racer tends to fall more into the form of the gentleman driver. He isn't a pro and races for fun. So feel/confidence is key to his setup. The problem is most club racers have had little if any professional instruction and therefore they haven't mastered the fundamentals, if they even know what they are. I often find, with club racers and gentlemen drivers, that their complaints about the car's balance results from their poor technique.
I should note that there are many club racers that are as, or more, talented as some Pros. They just haven't had the opportunity to move into pro racing.