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Car Setups

OK, now you've got the basic game setup. At this point you've probably jumped online thinking you were going to be #1 in a few hours............... Didn't happen that way, did it? Either you got in everyone's way and they booted you off, or you kept your cool and ran dead last the whole time you were racing.......don't be discouraged, it happens to everybody.

The way that I started out with DTR was by racing offline....and I mean a LOT! Worked my way up through the careers, up to the Late Models. I still think that's a good way to get a feel for the cars. The only problem is, I almost got discouraged thinking that all the cars would perform and handle like the Stocks. Not so....a well setup Late Model is a fire-breathing beast that's a bear to control, much less drive well, but it's also about the most fun that you can have with your clothes on!

Once I was King of the Hill offline, I decided that I was ready to prove myself to the world online. Talk about a rude awakening!! These guys are very, very FAST!! From a newbie's point of view, almost intimidatingly so. But hang in there. You're going to have some of the fastest guns in the game helping you here, if you're just willing to listen to what they say and work at it. I'm not one of them, but some of the faster ones have already agreed to help.

I realized that my offline setups just weren't going to make it online, so I started searching for some setups on the Web. There are a lot of them out there, but the one's that I had the best luck with from a beginner's standpoint were from the WFO guys. The reason that I recommend starting with these setups is that they will place you mid-pack until you learn a little more about driving with a "loose" setup. They are also a great starting point for learning how to "tweak" a setup.

Wide Flipping Open

I raced with these setups for quite some time. With practice, I found that I could at least be competitive most of the time. By competitive, I mean that I could usually run 2nd or 3rd on most tracks, with most groups of racers that I ran into on GameSpy. But every now and then I'd jump in a race where I was consistently a full second behind everyone else no matter what I did.....that old learning curve was rearing its ugly head! I decided to concentrate on my favorite track, Oldero, and see if I could figure out how to run with some of the faster racers. Oldero is a high-banked 1/2 mile track where you run flat out all the way around. At the time I was running consistent 15.24 sec laps, which was pretty good considering that I had started at around 15.60's! The problem was, some of the guys were running 15.05's.....so I started doing some serious experimenting with my setups, concentrating on one track. I'd adjust one thing on the setup, run a series of 10 lap races, and see what worked for me. Over a couple of weeks I was in the 15.14 range. Still not where I wanted to be, but getting better. At least I could hold my own against most folks that I ran up against.

About this time I discovered another bunch of racers, called the EVRacing group....all very, very fast...all really nice people, the kind of people who enjoy helping others figure out what's going on with this crazy game. One of the very fastest guys in the game, Bumpkin, has written something that he calls his "Setup Guide"...trust me on this....print it out, study it, experiment with it!!

Oh well, I was back to the drawing board.....LOL!! I started a new neutral setup, then ran hundreds of laps trying out Bump's ideas. Some worked for me, some didn't. But the real deal was that I was learning more about how the chassis adjustments related to the game. I'll write more on this in the next installment, because some of my results were confusing and a bit of an eye-opener. For now, here's the address for EVRacing. I highly recommend it. Don't skip on this. Take the time to try to understand what he's talking about.

Here's where it gets a little weird. As I said before, I had been working on a setup of my own for quite a while, and I had been getting steadily faster with it. I could run consistent 15.14's with it, but try as I might, I just couldn't break into the .10's. That's about the time that I discovered Bump's ideas and started a serious development program with a new setup and his ideas....and it worked!!! I managed to get this new chassis to run a 15.08......"Oh Thank Heaven..I'm there".......NOT!!! The first time that I jumped into a race with this new "Super-Duper" setup, the best that I could run was 15.20's. I got so frustrated that I changed back to my old setup....and wound up running a 14.96!!!!..without changing anything. Now I was REALLY confused. More Later.......1-31-01

2/22/01 Ok, it's been almost a month since I last talked about my confusion with my two Oldie setups. I've talked it over with quite a few racers and I think I have a handle on what was happening. Again, Bumpkin to the rescue. Thanks, Bump. 1- It seems that there is a timing difference between Offline and Online races. The chassis adjustments and times that you achieve with them offline don't directly relate to the way things work online. So here's one way to work around that weirdness. When you first installed the game, it installed something called a DTR Network Server. You should have an icon for it on your desktop. It allows you to run a server on Gamespy from your computer. Just open up the server, being sure that you check the box named "Register with Gamespy." Minimize this screen. Open up Gamespy and join your own server. When you get to the Chat Room screen, type:

/setplayerlimit 1

This will lock anyone else out of your game and you can practice online without any distractions.

2- It also turns out that DTR supports the concept of "drafting", where two or more cars running together can run faster than one car alone. That's one of the reasons that a setup that will only run 15.10's by itself can manage to turn times in the 14.90's when its running closely with other cars. Find you a buddy who has a driving style similar to yours and try running nose-to-tail for a whole race and note the decrease in lap times. One thing you'll find out, though. The guy in the back has to be very careful not to smash into the one in front. It takes a little practice.

3- The last reason for the difference in times, I pretty much figured out for my dumb self.......PRACTICE!!! In trying to get those setups to work, I had run hundreds of laps on the same track. You just become smoother and more at ease with a track and car setup over time, and that directly relates to lap times.

If you want to experiment with these two setups, feel free. Here ya go:

Oldie 15.08
Oldie 14.96

March 5, 2001. Sax is a happy camper this week. I received an invitation that I proudly accepted. The Saxman is now an official member of EVRMSG, "Extreme Velocity Racing Motorsports Group". Newbies, remember the advice about trying to make more friends than enemies? Now we have direct access to the advice and experience of some of the fastest racers in the game.....SUPER COOL !!!

Up until this point I had concentrated on Oldero, a high-banked oval that is run flat-out. I had stayed away from the flat track, especially the longer ones for one particular reason.......I SUCKED!!!

Let's start with Eldon, a half-mile oval, with 12 degree banking. I should probably say from the start that any sets that I post here are modified sets from either Bumpkin or Shadow32. You can find them posted on the EVRacing site listed above. Now I'm going to tell you right up front that these sets are a little squirrely, or in racing lingo, they are "loose". But if you've followed along with everything we've talked about so far, you ready to try them. They are definitely fast, the only question is how to control them. We'll work on that.

I started out with Shadow32's setup, which looks something like this:

I ran it the way that I had always run these flat tracks. That is, wide-open down the straights, let off the gas a sec to bring the rear-end around, then power slide through the corners. The best time that I was able to run was a 17:59. Definitely not in the ball-park....but why? First of all, I asked the advice of two guys, Maypo & Budman... racers that I knew were getting around this track really well. Both had the same advice: NO POWER-SLIDES! Spinning tires cost time. It seems the trick here was to get out of the throttle before the turn, stay on the inside, then get back on the throttle as quickly and smoothly as possible. It took a while, but this technique alone brought my times down into the 17:30's. Not there yet, but getting better.

Time to break out Bumpkin's Setup Guide. (You DID print it out and study it, right?)

One of the major problems that I was having was with the rear-end of the car swinging out when I got back on the throttle. Per the Guide, adjusting the rear toes got rid of that.

The second problem was when the rear-end did come around (if I got a little too enthusiastic with the throttle coming out of the turns), I couldn't catch it in time to avoid a spin. Increasing the turn lock fixed that.

Next, at the wetness we were running, the car wasn't accelerating quickly enough. About a hundred laps spent working on the gearing solved that problem, and got me into the 17:10's.

Finally, to get the car to drive out of the turns a little better, I did some tweaking of the springs, shock travel, and air pressure on that all-important right-rear. This got me to my best time for that week of 16.96.

This is how my set looked at the end of the week. Compare it to the original above:

Now, although I had improved my lap time by .6 of a second, I finished in 41st position in that week's EVR Series. The winning time was a 16.56!! I'm still .4 of a second off of the winning pace, but that's not the point. I, and you, now have the tools to work on shaving those .4's off. Just remember:

1- Ask questions. Almost everyone is willing to help.

2- Study Bump's Setup Guide and experiment with it.

3- Practice!! There's no substitute for track time.

If you'd like to experiment with this setup, feel free. Just remember, it's Shadow's setup, not mine. You would probably get more out of it by getting his setup and modifying it to your own driving style. Good Luck!!

Sax's Eldon Setup

I'll address the short flat tracks in the next installment. Happy Racing!

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