Welcome to the CDA4 single make release notes blog. In this page you will find the detailed notes compiled by the team after each session when creating the the CDA4 single make variants for each of the cars we currently develop. Please carry on reading below to see what our team found for the BMW M2, Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup:
BMW M2 CS
High Downforce
- High downforce setup uses a reasonable amount of rake given the extra stability the rear wing gives.
- Dampers tuned to aid entry rotation which is limited in this car.
- Bumpstops adjusted to stop traction loss under power.
- If you still have issues with traction, or want an easier drive, set TC to 1.
Medium Downforce
- Setup uses slightly less rake and a more conservative damper arrangement to keep entry stability when cornering.
- Soft but short rear bumpstops used to limit roll without sacrificing traction.
Low Downforce
- Low rake and minimum wing for maximum top speed but without lacking stability.
- Bumpstops tuned to prevent bottoming out over the mountain, but to also balance mid corner and exit characteristics of the car.
- Equal roll bars used as a compromise for balance over the length of a stint.
Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO
High Downforce
- The car requires more mechanical grip on slow but enough rotation on high speed. This basically makes the car work better when the suspension is kept soft.
- It is also quite sensitive on kerbs so the damper balance on the rear has been decided with this being the priority.
- A high rear ride height with a stiff front damper configuration ensures that the car does not over rotate on entry but still maintains enough weight on the front end to maintain rotation through higher speed corners.
Medium Downforce
- The medium downforce setup uses high downforce as a baseline and runs a low wing level with more focus on pitch control. The setup works well on tracks such as Paul Ricard, Spa and Bathurst.
- The suspension setup is similar to the high downforce preset with dampers being the setting that has been adjusted for this new aero balance.
Low Downforce
- The low downforce setup has been optimised to work around Monza. The dampers have been once again adjusted to suit the new aero levels but in addition to this they have also been optimised for the kerbs around the track. This is because the very low downforce levels and suspension combination needed for the mechanical grip has potential to make kerb stability more unpredictable without the aero grip.
- The damper adjustments and front ride height change has solved the instability issue making the setup a safe choice for straightline performance.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo EVO 2
High Downforce
- The Super Trofeo tends to have traction issues and hence changes were done on the camber and toe values of the car with respect to the CDA3 variant to provide better grip through the slow speed corners.
- The car tends to run better with stiffer springs since its aero platform is quite pitch sensitive.
- A very low preload value helps with optimising entry rotation. This works in tandem with the extra front and rear range giving enough compliance on initial brake and throttle application, with the stiff rates helping with preventing excessive bumpstop travel.
- The stiff dampers are then used to control this pitch further and to match the stiff suspension being used on the car.
Medium Downforce
- In the medium downforce setup the wing level has been significantly reduced. Testing was done on multiple tracks including Paul Ricard, Silverstone and Spa to find an optimal balance between top speed and corner entry stability.
- The rear is run much softer on the wheel rates and the bumpstop ranges on the front and rear are kept quite low. This ensures that the car does become unstable on corner entries owing to the lower downforce and drag levels.
- Additionally softer ARBs have been used as the aerodynamics are not the top priority in the setup. This ensures that the car can still maintain enough mechanical grip through slow speed corners.
Low Downforce
- The low wing setup is specifically designed to work around Monza, being one of the few tracks where such a low level works as the optimal compromise.
- The rears are run even softer than the medium downforce setup to ensure better rear end grip.
- The low preload helps with overall traction post apex and also helps with narrow corner entries such as Lesmo and Ascari corners.
- The dampers have been optimised to help with pitch control into fast corners since there is very little aero load pressing the car down. The relatively soft car configuration helps with maximising straight line speed.
Porsche 992 GT3 Cup
High/Medium Downforce
- With only ARBs and toe available to change in the Porsche cup setup a lot of different tests and combinations were tried between these settings.
- The camber is run very negative to help with the overall grip levels. More neutral values were tested but they did not provide enough grip on the rear end.
- The toe appears to be very sensitive in this car and works in very limited combinations for the front and rear. The front is set quite negative to help with overall stability on entry since the ride height is run quite low on the front to maintain enough rotation for the high wing. The rear toe is run quite positive to help with overall traction, since the car does not have a traction control system in built.
- The approach for the CDA4 setups has been to maximise mechanical grip and entry stability for the car. The ARBs were quite stiff in the CDA3 variant to provide roll stability however it also makes the mechanical grip severely limited making the car much more difficult to drive, having a much smaller working window before losing grip.
- In the case of the ARBs being too soft, the roll effect becomes overpowering making the car snap after gradual oversteer close to the apex. Hence a slightly soft combination for the ARBs were used, but not too soft so as to compromise the aerodynamics of the vehicle.
- In the case of the medium downforce setup a slightly stiffer ARB combination works with the setup mainly being useful on a track such as Spa where roll stability is quite important over elevation changes. The high downforce setup can also work as an alternative.
Low Downforce
- Tests were done with various downforce levels, but the lower the wing goes with the car the more unstable it becomes irrespective of the ride height. This is mainly due to the limited roll combinations that can be used for the car.
- The vehicle also lacks traction control which makes optimising rear end grip without compromising high speed rotation very limited, since damper adjustment is not an option.
- Having done these tests and trying higher downforce variants it has been determined that a higher wing level works as a better compromise at Monza. This is the reason we have chosen not to include a low downforce variant for this car.
- The high and medium downforce run quite different mechanical settings which can both be used as alternatives based on your preference for either mechanical grip or roll stability.
