Race Engineer

ACC Tools provides the Race Engineer tool to help you create or optimise your setup for a specific Track/Car combination.

Selector Panel

The top section of Race Engineer allows you to select a Track and Car you are working on the setup for. This selection controls the data presented and behaviour of the sections directly below.

The Race Engineer tool requires you drive at least two valid laps with the Track/Car combination before offers any analysis.

Mode/Lap Selection

Once the Track and Car have been selected, and at least two valid laps have been detected, the Mode/Lap Selection panel will be enabled allowing you to select or configure the lap times that will be used by the sections below.

Mode

By default Race Engineer works in Auto mode, but you can toggle the Mode switch to use Manual mode.

In Auto mode Race Engineer will use recorded telemetry data from laps you select to help you with your setup.

In Manual mode you will need to enter values in the sections below, which Race Engineer will use to help you with your setup.

Invalid Laps

By default Race Engineer will exclude invalid laps when finding data to analyse. When in Auto mode you can toggle the Invalid Laps switch to include invalid laps. We recommend not doing so but the choice is yours.

Lap Selection

In Auto mode, assuming the minimum two valid laps have been recorded Race Engineer will fetch a collection of lap data and present a list of the times for you to select from.

You can control how many laps are included in the list. Race engineer will fetch the number of most recent laps specified in the Preview Last Lap/s field.

Once the list of laps is populated the two sections below will use the telemetry data from these laps to help you improve your setup.

To exclude laps from the analysis simply deselect the adjacent checkbox.

Any change to Track, Car, Mode or Lap Selection will cause the analysis and suggestions to be re-evaluated.

Fuel Calculator

The Fuel Calculator can help you improve you setup by suggesting how much fuel you should use.

By default Fuel Calculator is configured for timed sessions, but you can use the Race Type switch to change to a fixed number of laps.

For timed sessions you must enter the Duration of the session in hours and minutes. For fixed lap session you must enter the number of Laps.

In Auto mode the Average Lap Time and Average Fuel are populated based on the telemetry data of the selected laps. In Manual mode these fields will be enabled and you must enter values you want to be used in analysis.

If you want analysis to make suggests that include extra laps, that is laps in addition to the actual session laps, you can do so using the Extra Laps field.

Suggestions

Based on your inputs the Fuel Calculator will display suggestions for the Minium fuel required to complete the session and a Safe amount of fuel including the extra laps input.

Tyre Pressure Calculator

The Tyre Pressure Calculator can help you improve your setup by suggesting cold pressures you should use.

When in Auto mode you can choose from three sources that analysis data will be taken from to identify actual hot pressures.

Peak Pressure

When Peak Pressure is selected the Tyre Pressure Calculator will calculate the average of the highest hot pressure across all of the selected laps.

Average Across Lap

When Average Across Lap is selected the Tyre Pressure Calculator will average hot pressure across each selected lap then use the average of these averages.

Finish Line

When Finish Line is selected the Tyre Pressure Calculator will calculate the average of the last hot pressure received for each lap.

For your convenience a switch is provided to indicate whether the setup is for a Dry or Wet session. This does not affect the analyis in any way. Switching to wet will set the Target Hot pressure fields to 30, which is the recommended pressure for wet tyres.

The Target Hot Pressure fields are vital to the analysis performed by the Tyre Pressure Calculator.

The optimal hot tyre pressure for dry tyres is 26 to 27 and is very much up to personal preference. Many suggest somewhere around 26.5 to 26.7.

The optimal tyre pressure for wet tyres is 30 as mentioned above, use the Weather switch to quickly set all Target Hot Pressure fields to 30.

In Auto mode the Actual Hot Pressure fields are automatically populated from the telemetry data for selected laps based on the Pressure Source you select.

In Manual mode these fields are enabled and you must enter the hot pressures shown in the ACC Setup screen.

Why would I want to use Manual mode you might ask. In real racing, hot tyre pressures are taken when the car stops in pit lane. ACC Tools does not capture telemetry for laps that start or end in the pit lane. If you want to replicate the real world scenario, drive into your pit box, open the ACC Setup Screen and enter the hot tyre pressure values provided into the Tyre Pressure Calculator.

Adjustment For Different Conditions

The optional Temperatures section of the Tyre Pressure Calculator allows you to quickly get suggestions for a session where the conditions are different.

For example, you optimise your setup using Race Engineer during a practice session where the Ambient temperature is 26 and the Track temperature is 30. You progress to Qualifying and notice the Ambient temperature has gone up to 28 and the Track temperature has gone up to 32.

Enter 26 and 30 into the Tuned For fields. Then enter 28 and 32 into the Adjust For fields. The suggested tyre pressures will be adjusted by the difference between the Tuned For values and the Adjust For values multiplied by the value entered in the Factor field.

The default Factor of 1 is recommended but some believe it should be slightly below.

Suggestions

With all inputs populated in either mode the Tyre Pressure Calculator will suggest adjustments you could make for each tyre. It presents these in the form of a number of clicks on the < or > buttons available in the ACC Setup screen and as the value each tyre should be adjusted by.

Setup Advisor

The Setup Advisor can help you improve your setup by suggesting changes to make based on your experience when driving.

Before using this tool make sure you are completely familiar with the track, driving consistent lap times and have tuned tyre pressures and fuel for the conditions. Making changes to setups while still learning the track are unlikely to help.

Selecting A Problem

To get started drive 5-10 consistent laps, focus on the feeling you get from the car, then start making selections to inform Setup Advisor of any problems you feel.

Aspect

The first selection is the Aspect of the car setup you want to improve, available options are:

• Corners
• Straights
• Tyres
• Brakes
• Race Conditions
• Other

Sub Aspect

Some Aspects allow you to further refine the aspect you want to improve by selecting a Sub Aspect. If the Sub Aspect list is enabled you must make a selection to continue, available options are:

• Corners
  • Corner Entry
  • Mid Corner
  • Corner Exit
• Straights
  • Low End (speed)
  • Top End (speed)
• Race Conditions
  • Fuel
  • Brakes
  • Tyres

Problem

Once you have selected an Aspect and Sub Aspect where applicable you can select a Problem to get suggestions of things to change, available options are:

• Corners
  • All Sub Aspects
    • Understeer
    • Oversteer
    • Unstable
• Straights
  • Low End
    • Slow acceleration
    • Wheelspin At Low Speed
  • Top End
    • Slow top speed
    • Overly sensitive steering
• Tyres
  • Overheating
  • Underheating
  • Overheating On Inside Edge
  • Underheating On Inside Edge
• Brakes
  • Locking
  • Unstable
  • Weak Braking Performance
• Race Conditions
  • Fuel
    • High Fuel Consumption
  • Brakes
    • Excessive Brake Wear
    • Excessive Brake Temperatures
  • Tyres
    • Temperatures Rising
    • Temperatures Ralling
    • Excessive Tyre Degradation
• Other
  • Generally Unstable
  • Excessive Scaping/Bottoming Out
  • Uncomfortable Taking Kerbs

Suggestions

Once a Problem is selected the Adjustments To Try panel will be populated with suggestions that might help improve your setup.

The suggestions are grouped by the section within the ACC setup screen the setting can be found.

Adjacent to the setting name is either < or > indicating whether you should increase or decrease the setting value. At the end of the suggestion rows are links to articles that describe the setting and the effect it has.

Small Changes One At A Time

It is vitally important you do not make big changes or multiple changes at the same time. Pick one suggestion and make small changes, 1 or 2 clicks at a time. Go back on track complete 3 to 5 laps and note the effect (Use Setup Manager in conjunction with this tool to capture outcomes and be able to easily undo a change).

Getting a setup right is rarely a quick process, so be patient.