CDA4 Aston Martin V8 GT3 Release Notes

Welcome to the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 release notes blog. In this page you will find the detailed notes compiled by the team after each session when creating the fast and safe variants of the new CDA4 AMR V8 GT3 setups. Please carry on reading below to see what our team found:

Brands Hatch

• Soft front suspension was used to obtain enough rotation as high rake was causing more traction issues in sectors 1 and 2. It also helped slightly reduce front tire temps.
• Stiffer fast damping needed to keep the car stable while cutting T6
• Low rear bumpstop range is used to give the car enough exit rotation through high speed corners in sector 3
• Front rebound has been stiffened as longer entries required too much trail braking. Now it’s easier to maintain the rotation through the middle of the corner. 

Misano 

• The car runs a relatively soft front spring and average ARB configuration to ensure sufficient rotation through medium and slow speed corners.
• The preload has been set relatively to provide stability through the various off throttle corners and heavy braking zones. 
• Additionally the front range has been increased quite a bit to help with high speed rotation. To counter excessive instability caused by this into heavy braking zones, the rear rebound has been stiffened. This also helps in balancing the car over kerbs given the rear suspension has been set to be stiffer than usual.

Nurburgring

• Nurburgring uses a unique damper configuration different to some of the other bumpier tracks such as Zolder and Monza. The rear dampers have been set very soft to get the car to work well in the bumpier parts of the circuit. 
• The ARBs have been set stiff since the car needs to be able to change directions easily while going through the first and middle sectors of the track. Additionally the ARBs help in loading the outer tyres more aggressively to help in rotation through narrow medium speed corners, since the wheel rates themselves are very low around here. 
• The softer wheel rates help with traction and grip and also help in making the car more compliant over the undulations and track surfaces.
• Stiffer fast dampers and a very soft rear configuration help to maintain stability over kerbs.

Paul Ricard

• Minimum front ride height and reasonably soft spring used as PR has such a smooth circuit.
• Reasonably low wing used for race setup to optimise top speed to aid overtaking and defence on the mistral straight.
• Reasonably short bumpstops used to limit pitch/dive to give a more consistent aero balance given the low wing.
• Medium-stiff roll bar used to aid response in turns.
• Dampers adjusted to try to minimise the effect of kerbs upsetting the car.
• Safe setup uses more wing and some preload and damper changes to give a wider operating window.
• Quali setup also uses higher wing, as overall laptime is key vs overtaking/defence as per a race setup.

Silverstone

• We took the setup of COTA as a baseline but we found it was very difficult at Silverstone. We had to increase the roll stiffness in the front to make it responsive in the high speed corners
• Also, a higher differential made it rotate better, with a lower bumpstop range with a very soft bump stop. This makes the car roll less but not less grip when the car is in high load and corner acceleration.
• For the safe setup we increased the ARB from 5 to 6 both front and rear and also reduced the differential and rake. We achieved similar lap times, so it is equally quick and safe.
• The Quali setup has more rake because it needs to rotate more since the weight is reduced more in the rear than in the front

Spa Francorchamps 

• We used the setup of Indy as a baseline since they are both circuits with a long straight and mid speed corners. This setup had stiff springs, so we tried to decrease them, keeping the same ratio front- rear, to see if this would benefit from better traction.
• We increased the rear roll stiffness with two clicks of ARB to 6, but in exchange we reduced one click of ARB. This gives better traction and more turn in.
• We set the ride height to 80 Nm to do a compromise between straight line efficiency and rotation in the middle sector
• We stiffened the rear bump stop rate and reduced the range in the rear suspension to generate more support from the rear axle in the mid speed corners, reducing its roll
• Overall softening of the car for the safe setup. It will feel more compliant.

Suzuka 

• We could get a very good balance of the car in this circuit with the maximum wing and a rake of 82mm in the rear. 
• Maximum ARB in the rear makes the car behave very smooth on the first second
• Camber at the maximum is the best for this circuit high speed corners.
• We needed to reduce the rear bumpstop range to limit the car hitting the floor at high speeds.
• For the safe setup, lower differential makes it easier to drive in corner exit, with less rake and less camber to have less transfer load and more stability.

Zandvoort

• We used the circuit of Kyalami as a baseline. We increased the rake slightly to 82 mm to make the car rotate better.
• As it suffered from understeer over the kerbs, we reduced the front suspension and the front ARB to the minimum.
• Reducing the rear wheel rate, the car had more stability in the last corner and the traction improved
• For the safe setup we reduced a bit of rake and rear ARB to make it even more stable over the long corners.

Zolder

• As the car naturally runs a lot of rake and its front has tendencies to scrape, driving over the first chicane is quite difficult. The front of the car hits the kerb hard and with the aggressive oscillations of the suspension in 1.9, it is hard to get the car to stabilise quickly. It is much more consistent and pretty much just as fast to take very little of the kerbs. 
• For the RF setup springs are set softer to obtain better cornering at the cost of stability through the first chicane. However, to avoid excessive oscillations the rear bumpstop rate is very high. 
• RS setup has stiff springs and is able to regain stability quickly even after cutting the first chicane too much. 
• Approaching the second chicane it’s important to release your brakes fully before cutting the first kerb. Going in deep with no weight on the rear can cause a bounce and loss of control. 

Barcelona 

• For the race we used conservative toes and lowered the rear camber to avoid overheating the tyres.
• Soft springs for good traction, especially in qualifying.
• For qualifying we went more aggressive on the rake to maximise rotation, if you want an even more aggressive car, you can increase the rake by another 1/2 click

Donington Park 

• High Wing, high rake setup due to lack of long straights but many high speed corners.
• Reasonably stiff springs to cope with the high loads produced here.
• Low preload to aid rotation in the tighter turns, along with soft roll bars to aid mechanical grip.
• Dampers tuned to give slight over-rotation effect on kerbs to help at old hairpin.
• Safe setup uses softer rear springs and higher bumpstop range to minimise instability on kerbs.
• Quali setup uses some alignment changes and a few minor tweaks to optimise 1 lap pace.

Laguna Seca

• High rake to have a better rotation.
• High bumpstop range to increase the traction of the car.
• If you want a more aggressive car off throttle, decrease the differential.
• To have more stability decrease the front bumstop range/rear ride height.

Kyalami

• Very high rake is beneficial for this car, we used 81mm rear ride height.
• We needed to increase rotation, so we went low in front ARB and highest in rear ARB. Same value of front and rear wheel rates seems to be the way to go to be neutral and dampers were set according to the track to reduce oscillation. 
• The front bumpstop range high was key to avoid the car from oversteering in high load transfer corners For the safe setup we reduced rear stability in exchange of speed by reducing rear ARB and rake.

Hungaroring

• High wing setup used due to barely any straights at Hungary.
• Reasonably stiff roll bars used to improve responsiveness in direction changes of which there are many.
• Bumpstops tuned to give good ‘bite’ into turns, and also to give the best compliance over kerbs, especially in the chicane.
• Low preload used to aid in corner rotation.
• Dampers tuned for entry/exit performance.
• Safe setup uses slightly more conservative roll bar and spring settings, along with a little less ride height on the rear to minimise the possibility of diffuser stall on entry.
• Quali setup uses some alignment changes and other minor adjustments to optimise single lap performance.

Monza

• Lower wing configurations were tested, but most of these combinations would require very fine driving control to get through Ascari at a high speed and the consistency window would be much smaller. A low wing combination with optimised suspension can work well over the kerbs, but the aero balance gets severely affected. 
• This is because it appears that the car is quite sensitive to mechanical grip based on suspension changes. 
• A higher wing setup works well with straight line speed still being in a competitive window. This also helps in kerbs stability through fast corners, hence this combination has been finalised.
• In addition to this, the damper values on the front and rear have been set to be a lot smaller with a stiffer front rebound being the primary supporter of front grip through high speed corners. This along with the preload are the fundamental components which make this combination work and provide consistency through race, for this particular car/track combination.

Imola

• The car felt very oversteery with the setup of Zandvoort as a baseline. We reduced the rear ARB to 5 and increased the front ARB to 4. 
• In addition to that, the car felt very bad at traction. To improve that we reduced to the minimum the rear wheel rate
• The car was hitting the floor at several points. That’s why we increased the height of the floor 2mm over the limit in the front. 
• You can play with the differential to improve the traction in the corner exit at the expense of the tire degradation. Increase to have more rear locking and degradation.
• High caster value at 14.5 degrees increased the drivability of the car

Mount Panorama

• A high wing configuration is much more viable for the Aston Martin since the car has sufficient straight line performance and the effect of more drag is minimal at Mount Panorama.
• The focus for this setup has been on stability downhill through the mountain section. Despite the car requiring more mechanical stability on slow speed sections, the stiffness of the vehicle should also be considerably high in order to maintain roll and pitch control while changing directions through high speed corners.
• The suspension has therefore been set up quite stiff, with a relatively stiffer roll configuration. This ensures that the car doesn’t understeer or lack response through the uphill section.
• The traction requirement has been met by running a softer slow speed damper configuration on the rear end of the car. 

Snetterton 

• Front springs need to be kept stiffer to provide stable entry at high speed after the back straight
• In hairpins keep a tight line. That way you will maintain higher minimum speed and keep the revs in the power range. 
• It is possible to lose the rear of the car if you go deep into a hairpin and start applying too much steering while still fully braking. 
• Fast damping has been stiffened to keep the car stable after a potential off-track.
• Car seems quite sensitive to preload changes. Slightly higher value helps keep the entry stable and provides good rotation on exits. 
• Softer rear arb helps control the rotation of the rear at high fuel load.
• Minimal negative rear toe in Q set helps provide more rotation while going early on power. 
• Any instability on entry should be adjusted by lowering the front bumpstop range. 

Oulton Park

• As you mostly coast through the Island Bend it was beneficial to lower the preload in order to gain rotation rather than raising the rake. This way we kept a lot of traction throughout the rest of the track.
• As the fast setup provides really good grip, the main focus of the safe set was to make the direction changes in chicanes much easier. That was mainly achieved with lower rear arb but also a few other settings preventing excessive pitch. 
• On the entry into Island Bend remember not to turn in and brake simultaneously as it can cause oversteer. Instead turn in with just a lift off throttle and then slightly apply brake to tighten the line
• Keep the car in 2nd gear in the last corner to keep a lot more speed through it. This will also allow you to go back on throttle very early with no oversteer.

Watkins Glen

• We had to reduce the value of the wheel rate front and rear significantly to make the car compliant and wanting to turn. This gave overall a very good stability from the beginning.
• High rake is characteristic in this car.
• The rear bumpstop range is quite big to avoid snaps. However, the front is set up in a way that it only acts in high braking, so it is perfect to keep the car with a good aero and not too much understeer.
• For the safe setup we had to reduce the rear ARB and increase the front bump stop range. This would reduce the probability of suddenly losing the grip in a long stint with used tires.
• For qualifying the car feels lazy to rotate, so we increased the rake to make it more drivable. It is possible to attack the corners quite heavily. It is advisable to compare the drivability of race and Quali setups to compare them with different fuel loads and get used to them.

COTA

• The car felt very oversteery with the setup of Zandvoort as a baseline. We reduced the rear anti-roll bar (ARB) to 5 and increased the front ARB to 4. This adjustment helped to address the oversteer issue.
• Traction was a major concern during the session. To improve it, we decreased the rear wheel rate to the minimum allowable value. This change should enhance the car’s grip and stability during acceleration.
• The car was hitting the floor at several points on the track, indicating a need for adjustments. We increased the height of the front floor by 2mm, slightly exceeding the permitted limit. This modification should help prevent further contact with the track surface.
• Fine-tuning the differential settings can enhance traction during corner exits, but it may come at the expense of increased tire degradation. Increasing the rear locking and degradation can be beneficial for improving traction at the expense of tire wear.
• A higher caster value of 14.5 degrees was implemented, which improved the drivability of the car. This change likely enhanced the stability and responsiveness of the vehicle during the session.

Indianapolis

• The Aston has a tendency to slide the rear end on traction limited corners, being a typical trait of front engined cars. Since Indianapolis has a slippery surface, the effect is generally pronounced around here. 
• As a result, the dampers and bumpstops have been significantly adjusted to make the car stay planted for maximum time out of slow speed corners. Despite making this induce an understeering feeling into the car, it makes the exits much safer making for much better laptimes than an extremely agile setup.
• The ARBs and wheel rates have been changed accordingly to regain overall entry response and agility for the car.

Valencia

• Low rake is working well in this track, has a big impact on the traction and the rotation remains good.
• Increase front bumpstop range if you want more rotation
• Stiff wheelrates are also working with many cars on this track.
• You can go a bit more aggressive than usual in this track with the toe, especially in Quali.
• Trail braking is very important for the lap time there.

Team List

Please note, sessions with no engineer shown were solo sessions: 

Track	Driver	Engineer
Barcelona	Amedeo Castorino
Hungaroring	Luka Berk	Rob Taplin
Imola	David Pertile	Miguel Jimenez
Kyalami	Chris Hack	Miguel Jimenez
Laguna Seca	Amedeo Castorino
Misano	Amedeo Castorino	Saiduth Ramesh
Monza	David Pertile	Saiduth Ramesh
Mount Panorama	Amedeo Castorino	Saiduth Ramesh
Nurburgring	David Pertile	Saiduth Ramesh
Paul Ricard	Rob Taplin	Amedeo Dekeyser
Spa Francorchamps	David Pertile	Miguel Jimenez
Suzuka	Amedeo Dekeyser	Miguel Jimenez
Zandvoort	Chris Hack	Miguel Jimenez
Zolder	Hubert Szymanski
Brands Hatch	Hubert Szymanski
Donington	Aiden Walsingham	Rob Taplin
Oulton Park	Hubert Szymanski
Snetterton	Hubert Szymanski
Silverstone	David Pertile	Miguel Jimenez
Watkins Glen	Luka Berk	Miguel Jimenez
Indianapolis	Chris Hack	Saiduth Ramesh
COTA	David Pertile	Miguel Jimenez
Valencia	Amedeo Castorino