Tuning Competition Week 15 - RESULTS

Audi R8 / Bentley Speed 8 @ Circuit de la Sarthe

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|ncary
179

sucahyo
160

opendriver19a
192

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Winner: opendriver19a. Congratulations!!

Special thanks to Dark Elite, 2078TM, and GT40 MKII for judging this week.

Dark Elite's Ratings:

Test Car - Audi R8 '00
BEGIN
---

TUNER: |ncary

834bhp ///705ft/lb

Turn-in = 7. Sharp, but no better than the standard car.

Mid-Corner Response = 7. Neutral and predictable, but no better than the standard car.

Corner exit = 6. Handles well, but acceleration hampered slightly by the traction control.

Stability = 6. Pretty good, seems to be able to handle most abuse well, but has limits.

Grip = 9. Pretty much unassailable due to the excessive traction control.

High-speed controllability = 6. A little twitchy and jumpy, but not snappy.

Handling while braking = 7. Good, powerful braking but without detriment to handling.

Acceleration = 6. Impeded by the traction control, but the gearing is sensible.

Total = 55/80

Final Comments
This setup is fast, smooth at all but the highest speeds and predictable mid-corner, but of course it is – remember the car it’s based on. The setup itself seems to have little bearing on a change in the handling from the stock car, the only difference detectible is that the traction control restricts the driver slightly. The car does, to its merit, accept a little sideways action at Indianapolis, but overstep the mark and it snaps viciously, something the standard car doesn’t do. However, it puts up with mistakes such as late braking well. A quite unmoving setup.

______________________________________________________


TUNER:sucahyo

794bhp ///671ft/lb

Turn-in = 7. Sharp, but no better than the standard car.

Mid-Corner Response = 7. Neutral and predictable, but no better than the standard car.

Corner exit = 7. As long as the throttle is moderated, it pulls well out of corners.

Stability = 6. Don’t go near the grass, or push in 2nd gear, but otherwise OK.

Grip = 5. Benefits from full rear downforce, but rear tyres can break loose as a result of hard dampers.

High-speed controllability = 8. Very good at speed, never feels dangerous.

Handling while braking = 6. No handling problems, but the brakes themselves feel quite weak.

Acceleration = 7. Good, gearing method quite strange but the result is decent. Needed an oil change to maximise use of power, though.

Total = 53/80

Final Comments
This setup is quick and stable, as long as the driver isn’t over-zealous with the throttle in low-speed corners. The hard dampers, however, upset the rear tyres on a bumpy circuit such as the Sarthe, allowing some unhelpful 3rd-gear traction loss. The brakes, inexplicably set up, also feel quite lacking in power, as does the engine without an oil change. The suspension setup looks quite blindly adjusted, with extreme dampers and stabilisers, but no toe or camber. The does work well on the Huandairies, however, where this car is very stable.


______________________________________________________


TUNERpendriver19a

834bhp ///705ft/lb

Turn-in = 7. Sharp, but no better than the standard car.

Mid-Corner Response = 6. Seems slightly inclined towards power understeer.

Corner exit = 7. Handles well, and can be slingshot full-power due to traction control.

Stability = 6. Overall OK, but bites when unsettled at speed.

Grip = 9. Pretty much unassailable due to the excessive traction control.

High-speed controllability = 7. Not dead-level, but not bouncing across the track either.

Handling while braking = 7. Good, powerful braking but without detriment to handling.

Acceleration = 6. Impeded by the traction control, but the gearing is sensible.

Total = 55/80

Final Comments
This is the fastest setup here, by some considerable margin. It can be pushed extremely hard, due to the traction control keeping things in line, but how rewarding is that? The stability at speed is good, the brakes are good, and the turn-in is predictable but there is a tendency towards understeer if the power is fed in too early in mid-corner. Nothing a little downforce rebalancing couldn’t fix, so where was that?


______________________________________________________

The Verdict
Highest Points Score = opendriver19a
This was a slightly disappointing week to return on, with little interest and two possible cars. However, testing in an Audi R8, I could feel some subtle differences in the setups but the overriding factor was whether or not it was fitted with traction control. The ones that did felt dead, restrained and too easy to drive, but the one that didn't was hampered by it's chassis. So, simply enough, the fastest car here wins this week.

Moral of the Story: Power is nothing without control

---
END

2078TM's Ratings:

Opendriver 19a
Turn-in (entry to corners)
Ranking (1-10): ____9___

Mid-Corner response (whether the car under/oversteers mid-corner or holds the racing line well)
Ranking (1-10): _____9__

Corner exit (how quickly you can exit a corner whilst staying in good control)
Ranking (1-10): ____10___

Stability (rear end staying in line, car not 'jumping' or feeling skittish in turns)
Ranking (1-10): _____10__

Grip (start-offs, how much power can be used without the drive wheels losing traction? Does the car oversteer excessively?)
Ranking (1-10): __10_____

High-speed controllability (whether the car becomes 'frantic' and turns far too sharply at high speeds)
Ranking (1-10): ____10___

Handling while braking (are you able to easily turn the car while braking, and without going into oversteer?)
Ranking (1-10): ___10____

Acceleration (how good is it? Is there a lot of traction while doing it?)
Ranking (1-10): __10_____

Total Combined Ranking: ___78_____

Used the Audi R8
Very easy to drive aggressively. Turns in well, holds pretty much any line and can put down the power early – the few times when the tail wiggled it was very easy to correct – just floor it and go. This setup also stopped shorter than the others and was also more forgiving of putting a tire on the curb or less-than-ideal lines. Although not much difference in lap times vs. Incary’s when running alone, this setup would be much better in a race situation.

Incary
Turn-in (entry to corners)
Ranking (1-10): ____7___

Mid-Corner response (whether the car under/oversteers mid-corner or holds the racing line well)
Ranking (1-10): _____9__

Corner exit (how quickly you can exit a corner whilst staying in good control)
Ranking (1-10): ____9___

Stability (rear end staying in line, car not 'jumping' or feeling skittish in turns)
Ranking (1-10): _____10__

Grip (start-offs, how much power can be used without the drive wheels losing traction? Does the car oversteer excessively?)
Ranking (1-10): __10_____

High-speed controllability (whether the car becomes 'frantic' and turns far too sharply at high speeds)
Ranking (1-10): ____10___

Handling while braking (are you able to easily turn the car while braking, and without going into oversteer?)
Ranking (1-10): ___9____

Acceleration (how good is it? Is there a lot of traction while doing it?)
Ranking (1-10): __10_____

Total Combined Ranking: ___74

Used the Audi R8
Another very good setup – just a little bit slower and not quite as crisp as Opendriver’s. Ratings are based on the R8, although the settings were submitted for the Speed 8. I drove both and the Audi was better.

Sucahyo
Turn-in (entry to corners)
Ranking (1-10): ____4___

Mid-Corner response (whether the car under/oversteers mid-corner or holds the racing line well)
Ranking (1-10): _____9__

Corner exit (how quickly you can exit a corner whilst staying in good control)
Ranking (1-10): ____4___

Stability (rear end staying in line, car not 'jumping' or feeling skittish in turns)
Ranking (1-10): _____8__

Grip (start-offs, how much power can be used without the drive wheels losing traction? Does the car oversteer excessively?)
Ranking (1-10): __5_____

High-speed controllability (whether the car becomes 'frantic' and turns far too sharply at high speeds)
Ranking (1-10): ____9___

Handling while braking (are you able to easily turn the car while braking, and without going into oversteer?)
Ranking (1-10): ___10____

Acceleration (how good is it? Is there a lot of traction while doing it?)
Ranking (1-10): __8_____

Total Combined Ranking: ___57___

Used the Audi R8
This setup was let down by acceleration and braking. No TCS made it much easier to make a mistake exiting a corner – although mistake-free it would exit about as quickly as the other two. The biggest hinderance was the brakes – set at 1 – 1 the car took forever to stop.

A comment overall.
With Sucahyo's setup so far off the mark I decided to change TCS and brakes to match the other two cars so as to be able to compare just the handling. The car was transformed, setting lap times in the same ballpark - although it would have remained in third place it would have been reasonably close.
What is noteable is how difficult it is to screw up this car - from best to worst the difference was only 3 seconds per lap (which on an almost 3 1/2 minute lap is not much), although subjectively the difference was huge.

GT40 MKII's Ratings:

Suchayo-audi R8
Turn-in (entry to corners)
Ranking (1-10):4 noticeable understeer

Mid-Corner response (whether the car under/oversteers mid-corner or holds the racing line well)
Ranking (1-10): 8 really well balanced, front end sticks nicely

Corner exit (how quickly you can exit a corner whilst staying in good control)
Ranking (1-10): 3 rear end swings fun though

Stability (rear end staying in line, car not 'jumping' or feeling skittish in turns)
Ranking (1-10): 9 sticks to road quite well

Grip (start-offs, how much power can be used without the drive wheels losing traction? Does the car oversteer excessively?)
Ranking (1-10): 7 like i said on turn in understeer grip is ok

High-speed controllability (whether the car becomes 'frantic' and turns far too sharply at high speeds)
Ranking (1-10): 8 vey easy to turn

Handling while braking (are you able to easily turn the car while braking, and without going into oversteer?)
Ranking (1-10): 6 very balanced and easy turn

Acceleration (how good is it? Is there a lot of traction while doing it?)
Ranking (1-10): 4 does quite a good burnout but when the drive wheels hooked up it was GONE

Total Combined Ranking: 50

Final Thoughts: +1 point for listing wheelspin trouble came in 2nd in family car cup, very enjoyable to drive

lncary- bentley
Turn-in (entry to corners)
Ranking (1-10): 7 rail riding @ high speed

Mid-Corner response (whether the car under/oversteers mid-corner or holds the racing line well)
Ranking (1-10): 5 some understeer but pretty good

Corner exit (how quickly you can exit a corner whilst staying in good control)
Ranking (1-10): 6 good control while exiting the corners

Stability (rear end staying in line, car not 'jumping' or feeling skittish in turns)
Ranking (1-10): 6 rear end follows really well, no skittish feeling

Grip (start-offs, how much power can be used without the drive wheels losing traction? Does the car oversteer excessively?)
Ranking (1-10): 8 good start offs oversteer is at a minimum pretty healthy amount of the power can be used

High-speed controllability (whether the car becomes 'frantic' and turns far too sharply at high speeds)
Ranking (1-10): 6 not frantic but a touch of understeer

Handling while braking (are you able to easily turn the car while braking, and without going into oversteer?)
Ranking (1-10): 7 very easy to turn

Acceleration (how good is it? Is there a lot of traction while doing it?)
Ranking (1-10): 5 seems a little sluggish, good amount of traction

Total Combined Ranking: 50

Final Thoughts:
kinda hard to interpit, car gives good feedback to the driver, the car won the family car cup portion of the test.

opendriver19a audi-R8
Turn-in (entry to corners)
Ranking (1-10): 8 very solid feeling, able to enter corners faster than i would even try
Mid-Corner response (whether the car under/oversteers mid-corner or holds the racing line well)
Ranking (1-10): 9 3 words RIDING ON RAILS

Corner exit (how quickly you can exit a corner whilst staying in good control)
Ranking (1-10): 7 quick outta the bend but some understeer

Stability (rear end staying in line, car not 'jumping' or feeling skittish in turns)
Ranking (1-10): 6 rear is planted and follows really well

Grip (start-offs, how much power can be used without the drive wheels losing traction? Does the car oversteer excessively?)
Ranking (1-10): 8 it really didnt feel like it had R2s on it, if that says anything

High-speed controllability (whether the car becomes 'frantic' and turns far too sharply at high speeds)
Ranking (1-10): 6 at high speeds there is a hint of oversteer

Handling while braking (are you able to easily turn the car while braking, and without going into oversteer?)
Ranking (1-10): 6 pretty easy to turn while braking

Acceleration (how good is it? Is there a lot of traction while doing it?)
Ranking (1-10): 9 HORRENDUSLY QUICK OFF THE LINE

Total Combined Ranking: 59

Final Thoughts: really fun to drive with this setup, i tried to get this car to spin, IT WOULDN'T. won the family car cup of the test

Well done to all who took part, and congratulations to Opendriver! You weren't subjected to the 'DE Curse', count yourself lucky as the last person to take my favoured win

Thanks to all the judges for taking the time to rate these setups, the Competition couldn't really work without you, could it? 👍 👍

DE

Its about ******* time I won something!

Ill see how week 17 turns out,but I dont like the car, the track I can deal with though

I guess I still have to learn more about tuning MR car. Thanks to all the judges .

Congrats.

I wrapped my tuning in bubble wrap to see if I could actually score some points.. Sorta went well (I hated the car, too easy to drive :S) didn't come last though!

I would have liked to send in one of my own setups for this one, my R8 is pretty hard to drive safely but, if you get it right, incredibly fast
And of course, no traction control

DE

Dark Elite

I would have liked to send in one of my own setups for this one, my R8 is pretty hard to drive safely but, if you get it right, incredibly fast
And of course, no traction control

DE

Click to expand...

Maybe I should tune my setups for the DFP instead of the DS2 more often

An interesting comment, I've always used my trusty DS2, and this is no exception but it seems it worked better for your tuning!

DE

Just a quick note...

I'm still here, and I'll update the leaderboard when I get a chance - hopefully soon. Sorry for the lack of updates, it's been busy here. Adding a grrrrrr, as I never got my Elise setup in either

Well done to all the tuners, especially Opendriver - good to see you on top 👍