Specifications

ARCA Sim Racing
Personally, I like to get the shifting done before the corner entry, but as the laps wear on, and
my confidence grows, I find myself sh
ifting almost at the corner apex, hugging the bottom but
re
k
is
corner has a bit of an uphill
ch
turn tricky, however, is that the banking is
no
nd to our lap time—a bad exit
he
g you no favors coming through Turn Three. Or, depending
on
e in the Standings List, and then right clicking on the highlighted name,
al
o get a glimpse at the
ga
into the driver’s
se
maining well-off the thin—and dangerous—curbing. Each of us will have different
preferences—just like the real drivers—but for now, it is a good idea to get a grip on the basics.
By now, you have made—I hope—your way through a warm-up lap or two, and are ready to
tackle the track at a more aggressive pace. As any pro’ will tell you—and as logic dictates—a trac
made up of turns and straights: How you come off the turns will dictate how fast you will be on
the straights, and how fast you are on the straights is usually a good indicator of how fast you will
be on the lap charts. So let’s begin at the start of the lap: Turn One.
Turn one at Pocono is deceptive. The pros on TV make it look like the easiest thing in the world
to navigate; the reality, however, is much different. Entry to the
aracter to it before dropping noticeably left into the apex. Exit is also not a trivial matter as you
are not only headed uphill but there is also a bit of banking tossed in before spitting you out onto
relatively level ground. Depending on your exit, and your gear selection, you may or may not
need to up shift before the entry to Turn Two. As you exit Turn One, you will notice not only the
detailed track environment, but a part of the beautiful Pocono mountain range in the distance.
You did? Good—that means you’re going too slow!
Turn Two is quite a bit different than Turn One. The ‘dive’ into the corner is less daunting, and
the corner is of a greater radius. What makes this
ticeably less that of Turn One, not only through the corner, but at the exit as well. As such, you
will have to adjust your style to compensate for the change of banking from the previous turn.
And just like Turn One, there is plenty to see from the cockpit outside of the racing surface. Again,
we have the beautiful mountains in the distance, and a whole lot of RVs on the right hand side,
indicative of just how fun this is for the fans as well as the racers!
Only one more turn to go, Turn Three, the most critical turn on the circuit. Get through it
quick because it leads us back onto the massive front stretch, a
re will destroy everything you have done to that point; this is one turn you cannot make a
mistake on. Flat, and with very little banking, you will be in third gear on entry as the stretch
from Two to Three is just not quite long enough for a gear change. Make sure to brake
smoothly on entry to this turn, and get back on the gas as soon as you can because you need
to hit the straight patch nice and smooth and straight. Throttle mistakes here can have a nasty
tendency of dumping you on the front stretch with the nose pointed the wrong way. Take your
time, and learn this corner well; while topographically less complex than Turns One and Two, it
is the critical moment of your lap.
Chances are that, by now, you are probably realizing something important: a perfect setup for
turns One and Two is probably doin
your style, you’re perfect through turns One and Three, but not Two. As in the real sport,
compromises must be made as there is no one single ‘magic setup’ for any track, much less the
interesting confines of Pocono. And this is where the driver and team come into the picture,
because despite what you may have been led to believe, modern motor racing is a team sport, a
blend of mechanical and engineering acumen and driving talent. Making the necessary
compromises to the setup—combined with changes to the driving style—is crucial should you
want to be competitive.
Back at the garage, and on the ‘Monitor’, I noticed that I have just run out a 54.950. By left
clicking on my driver nam
l of the lap times that were obtained during my last stint will be shown.
Time for a debrief with the engineers, before the mechanics will get to work making setup
changes and adjustments based on my feedback. This is a good time t
rage area, and a feel for what changes are actually doing for—or against—us.
The Sim Factory has gone to great lengths to provide stable setups (by default) for each track,
and you don’t need to worry about fine-tuning chassis setups as soon as you get
at. It won’t be long, however, before you realize that you can be quite a bit faster with an
adjustment or two to the setup. Just remember, however, that there is no perfect formula for
obtaining the optimum setup for your car; setups are unique to your style, and also to what you
want the setup to do for you. A quick qualifying setup may not be ideal for a 500 mile race; and a
setup based around a full tank may not be ideal should you decide to take it out with empty tanks
for a qualifying run.
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