A guide to driving the e30 gr.a / dtm properly

But that is what it takes. If you can do once, you can do everytime, thats why i think the most important thing in racing is concentration and focus not "talent". Remember that mith about Senna having a mystical "out of body" experience at monaco 88? That was just a very very high level of concentration.

Smoothness is too often interpreted as just being "slow and deliberate", but it isn´t about that, its about control and patience, fluidness.

See what Jackie has to say about that...

 

Putting it simple. Always put more rear bias than you think you can. Than manage the lock of the rears with engine rpm (harder blip).

You set the bias for the hardest braking point, thats where the rears should be almost (but never) locking, when the fronts come to save at the last minute.

On all the other corners of the track you will have more overrall braking power just by the fact that you fronts are less loaded then they would with less rear bias, so they lock later, wich means you can brake harder.

 

I guess it depends what you mean by "coasting". The type where you are keeping the clutch depressed is different to simply letting the car roll in gear without using the brakes or throttle.

 

It isn´t the same thing, but is just as bad.

Both are a waste of time, literally

 

After having tested a ton of different combinations yesterday evening, I almost ended up giving up.....it was horrible, after 3-4 hours of trying, I was driving worse and less confident than the evening before (in which I wrote the original post.....).

So it has to be that setups are mostly a personal choice. With my original setup, almost everything was good again....
I think the E30 is the end of me

Can't wait to try out the 190 and 155 in a week

 

I've not read quite a few books on performance driving and had 1:1 tuition on a race track. No one recommended using engine braking unless it's the last few laps of the race and your brakes are shot...

 

Well, being in love with (ACs) E30 M3 DTM driving at Nordschleife Endurance @ 98% competition (M3 DTM, 190, 155)strength AND GREEN surface, 14 degrees centigrade etc, I find it hard to stay ahead of them. (Starting 3rd) The car is so alive (vs the more planted 190) but the AI M3 is also more planted it seems. Is it the rearwing I have to alter from 3 to 4. More camber @ rearwheels? Less ARB @ back(to 1), to get a less bumpy lively car? It's a 'drifting God', but I want a more planted car


Anybody?

Cheers
Robin

 

If you think you have to wait for the apex to start acceleration, you'll always be a slower driver. How do you think hitting late apex works?

 

You could take a wide approach, and then cut back in to accelerate before the apex. Anyway, I have stated many times that I am not trying to be the fastest driver on Earth. I am trying to enjoy myself, and part of that enjoyment stems from not having to do 500 successive laps of one track in a single car in an attempt to be perfect. I just jump in whatever I want, and go drive.

 

I haven't driven the car a lot, but I don't remember having a problem with braking. Am I the only one?

I thought it was a well balance fun car to drive. Just kind of slow.

 

The bmw has no chance against the 190 or the 155, its just slower. I spent 90min trying to make it faster for a race, this setup was the best i came up with, 7:40 race pace, tried the merc and in two laps i was on low 7:30 with more or less stock setup + medium tires and 75lt of fuel.

Btw, this setup its probably with mediuns, but the hards are best for races longer than 30min.

 

If I'm accelerating before the apex I always feel I'm braking way too early. If I'm still braking through the apex then I need to brake earlier.

 

Right. You can keep the clutch in under braking if you want. It's not going to hurt your braking power or anything. The problem comes when it's time to release the pedal. The longer you wait, the slower you'll be, the more you better damn sure shift down to the right gear so you dont upset the balance of the car. It's typically just easier to shift down in succession, so you're basically always in the right gears at the right time.

It also means you cant do any adjustments with the throttle if necessary. Say you brake just that *tad* too early and need to dab the throttle before the apex so you dont lose too much speed. Obviously braking too early is a driving mistake, but part of being a good driver is knowing how to make the best of any mistakes you make, as everybody makes them, from beginner to elite level professional.

 

The car has changed quite a bit since the DLC release but mostly the dtm version I found then Grp a variant to be great fun with minimal setup work. Unfortunatly it doesnt really have anything to race against as even the dtm struggles agains the new DLC dtm beasts.

In the DTM a good thing to do is stiffen the front to reduce rear lifting under braking this will help quite a bit. Softening the rear wont do much to help as its the front dropping that causes the issue so this is what you need to sort first. Dont overdo it as it will cause other issues but you need to find the compromise there. Of the 3 DTM cars its now the slowest and a couple seconds a lap slower then it was before v1.1.

I can just about much match times of the merc but its much harder work in the m3 the Alfa has about a second on both of them on regular shorter tracks and its 4wd is huge out of slow corners and off the line.

 

Well, I tried Silverstone, Nurburgring GP, Hockenheim and the E30 DTM is sometimes 1 second faster than the 190(default and equally modified setups)
and I also don't feel the E30 is slower in NS Endurance.
I'm always driving green/slow/old surface. This makes the E30 in default setup an even more twitchy car vs the 190/155 which stay more planted.
I super softened the suspension(tips and tricks @Hielke Kerstma , thanks kerel) and the car is drivable (fast) now. The oversteer is much smoother
Thanks for the info nontheless.

Cheers
Robin

 

@Rodrigo Pires , your setup is alright, very stable car, almost too stable and 'understeery', but probably faster overall, will test it more tonight.
You're driving with LSD P30 C60 in this setup. I'm always at P75%(I know it's a lot but from the info and what I read, the E30 DTM had those figures irl) and 40%C. Which makes the car a lot twitchier when lifting.
Thanks again.

Cheers
Robin

 

My lap times in the Mercedes 190E are closer to the Alfa Romeo 155Ti V6 than they are to the BMW M3 E30 DTM. However, this may be because the first two cars are pretty stable straight out of the gate, whereas I need to make some adjustments to the BMW because of that "rear lifting" that Marty was talking about.

By the way, the "street safe" setup that Aris mentioned for the Ruf CTR Yellowbird certainly does make it more stable, but it also makes it a bit "dull". I am currently working the setup back the other way, in an attempt to get a decent compromise. I also realised last night why I was struggling to get better lap times at Mugello (and this would apply to all of the longer, faster tracks). It seems that most people increase the turbo boost pressure to 100%, whereas I have been using the default pressure (which I have been told is 80%). I only noticed this when the red Ruf that I was racing last night accelerated away from me quite dramatically on the main straight! Still, I was doing a much better job of hassling him through the corners

 

I hate how outclassed the M3 feels compared to the 190. Always thought they were well matched beasts IRL. Not even talking about the Alfa.
Especially on stock setup it is a sure way to make novices hate the BMW when driving it back to back with the Merc. I still struggle to set it up even after combing the forums.

 

This setup is very conservative, specially with new tires, i´ve suffered before with dtm cars being too loose at the end of the race, so now i setup them to be "front limited" with old tires, its slower but safer. It probably has too much rear wing too, i would try max front min rear for hotlap.

I set the coast exactly to avoid too much "dancing" of the rear while braking/off throttle. The power setting is very personal, i saw a lot of people using very different values over the years and not much difference on speed, its more about how you attack the throttle.