A few people commented last year about the datalogging and comparisons I'd been doing, so thought I'd add some more this year, especially since I now have 2013 and 2014 data to compare... This could get pretty heavy, so I apologise in advance!
Basically I'd been looking at my data all through the year and trying to identify where I could go faster. One of my bad habits was turning in too early and therefore having to get really deep on the brakes and being late back on the power. I did a trackday at Anglesey a few weeks and tried to work on this particularly, and I think it was a success, with lap times consistently over a second quicker than when we raced there last year.
However, I'd need to carry that through to the races and other circuits!
Donington 2013 was pretty good for me in some respects - qualified on pole in class and got both fastest laps, but fired it off with alarming regularity (4 or 5 times across the two races I think!), so I was keen not to do that again! I actually wore my brake pads out in race 2, which didn't help, haha, but the data had egged me on to brake later so I blame that
This time I wanted to work on carrying more speed and I seem to have managed it. Lap times weren't any quicker though, but I'll explain...
Right - way back I'm pretty sure I chatted about 'driving the circle', which is basically cheating as much grip out of your tyres as possible by trail braking. A more 'rounded' shape to the g force plot means you're getting the most out of the car, basically.
Last year I was reasonably happy with the shape of the plot, but knew there was more to come. The red trace shows last year's fastest lap, and the blue trace is this year's...
What does this show? Well, I've highlighted the main areas in yellow:
- I'm pulling more maximum lateral g this year, therefore higher cornering speed (top right and top left). Whether that's car setup or balls I'm not sure, but I think / hope it's a bit of both!
- My trail braking / use of the tyres to the left hand side of the circle is muuuuch better (the huge yellow bit). Chuffed with the shape of those two blue lines!
- I wasn't giving it as much beans on the brakes this year (centre bottom). It's pretty damn red from 2013's data, but nothing this year... might be a reason for that too.
I have also previously mentioned that the software will output the track map in different colours so you can identify exactly where you can make up time. Well, I was borrowing a laptop this weekend just gone and couldn't be bothered to set up a simulation car, I just had a quick look over the data on Sunday afternoon... turns out I should have done as I was losing a lot of time from being a pansy on the brakes!
Here's 2014's data:
And 2013:
Lots of nasty red (red = slow) at the braking zones in the first picture, gah! However, I was only about 0.1s slower and I think I know the reason...
This is an overlay of my fastest lap in 2013 vs 2014. Again red is last year, blue is this year.
I've highlighted some bits in various colours to make it easier to explain what's going on:
Light blue and red (see top right too): I was braking earlier and not as hard as last year. I think this is a combination of things - I was right behind Amy for the 2014 lap (she brakes pretty early), and I was conscious of wanting to get on the power early so I wanted the car settled early.
Yellow: I was getting on the power early. You can see that the blue trace goes to +ve lateral force earlier in every acceleration zone... which leads to...
Green: A higher apex speed in most places, or getting on the power MUCH earlier (the big long green smudge) and therefore a higher speed up the hill after the old hairpin.
Grey: Which meant at around 2/3rds the way through the lap I was actually ahead of my 2013 best. The 'time slip' is how much one lap has 'slipped' against the other, so when the blue is a positive value it's slipped against the red, and when blue is negative it is ahead of the (flat) red line.
Purple: Again I was having to brake early (actually went on the brakes then nearly off them again if you look at the long accel trace) so lost a lot of time here vs the 2013 lap which you can see by the way there is a big gap between the two speed curves, and the time slip line raises up sharply. Being able to get back on the power early did help get a small amount of that time back though, as you can see from the blue time slip curve heading downwards after I was back on the power.
Orange: These are the maximum lateral loads, quite a lot higher than 2013.
So - what does this show?
Well, I think there has been some improvement (and I'd be suicidal if there hadn't been!). Quite a lot better apex speeds in most places, on the power earlier everywhere, higher lateral g forces and a better 'traction circle'. If I'd have had a clear lap and been able to brake at the normal points I do think I'd have been faster than last year, maybe not a lot but progress is progress
Well done if you read all that!