Difference between revisions of "LOR Trackguide Mexico"

Revision as of 14:03, 27 March 2009

General

THE 3.107 MILE Autodromo de la Ciudad de Mexico track hosts the Mexican Grand Prix. It is the highest track in terms of elevation at about 5,000 feet above sea level. This reduces the amount of horsepower available to the cars. So even though the front straight is incredibly long, you will never see 200 mph, even with a draft. The track has two distinct sections to it. The fast Peralta leads onto the front straight, which ends in a very fast decreasing radius turn. Then the hairpin and the esses are very tight and similar to a go-kart track. The fast section is where bravery and car control will reward those willing to push hard into the fast corners. The esses require finesse with the accelerator and brake pedal to get through quickly. Combined, these different sections make the track quite fun and usually produce good races.

Car Setup

Mexico is quite a difficult track for which to set up the car. You can easily get a car that is relatively quick, but to get one the is really fast you need to make it work on the fast and the slow corners. A car that turns in to the corners in the esses very quickly is key for fast laps. If it doesn't you'll be losing a lot of time in that section as you will have to wait longer than other cars to get the power back down at each exit. However if you have a car that tends toward oversteer it will be quite difficult to go flying into turn one.

To overcome this start by setting the car up to be neutral. Use the roll bars and the shocks to find this point. You needs to have good grip out of slower corners, like the hairpin and all of the esses. So setting the rear shocks to be a little softer than the fronts will help here. Overall a medium shock setting is a good place to start. Because of the fast corners on the track and the need to have a car that changes direction quickly in the esses, you should set the roll bars up on the stiff side. Setting both the front and rear to the same setting should give you a car that is fairly neutral.

There are several corners, almost all of which are in the esses, where you want the car to turn in quickly and allow you to get back on the power soon. Having a car that allows you to get power oversteer solves this problem. If you can set up the car so that when it's on the limit in a turn you can cause it to oversteer slightly by adding power, you'll find that you can get the car pointed into the turn much faster, without getting off the power to do so. This shouldn't affect turn one, as you are not on the power going through that turn. The Peralta is not affected either, as you want the car to turn in as fast as possible there too. So tighten the rear anti roll bar a click or so more than the front and you should achieve this goal.

The next step is gearing. Fifth is simple. You should top out just before braking into turn one. Fourth should be set to top out just before you brake into the turn two chicane. Use the hairpin to set first gear. It should allow you to get good traction and as much acceleration as possible out of the hairpin. Second and third are a little more difficult. most of the esses are taken in second gear. So this gear needs to let your engine stay in its power band as much as possible. If you are bogging down the engine or right near redline, it will be much harder to use the power to turn the car in to the corners. Once you find a good second gear, third can usually be set midway between second and fourth.

Brake balance is not that critical as most braking on the track is done in a straight line. The turn two chicane does use some trail braking to rotate the car into it, so that's a good place to set your brake balance. If you keep loosing the car under braking there, try pushing the balance more towards the front.

Goals

You should aim for a qualifying lap of about 1:47.50 to 1:48.50. That should put you pretty far up the grid. During the race you should aim for 1:48.00 to 1:49.50, depending on fuel loads, for your lap times if you don't encounter traffic.

The Race

Mexico provides for great racing. The starting grid is wide and has the entire front straight ahead of it. You can definitely make up some places at the start here, just make sure you don't go too deep into turn one or you'll be in the armco. Turn one is a common place for overtaking as the draft down the front straight is significant. However, don't be foolish and try going side by side through turn one unless you are positive both you and the other car can hold their line perfectly. A mistake I see a lot is that when people are being pushed hard into turn one they brake later, and thus go wide, or worse, into the armco, allowing you to just cruise by on the inside. Don't brake too late for turn one. The turn two chicane, the hairpin and the Peralta are the other good overtaking opportunities. The esses are a hard section to overtake in. However if you are behind a slow car there you'll lose tons of time. Hopefully the slower car will realize this and let you by because trying to get by there will probably end badly.

Turn One

• Entrance speed: approximately 187-190 mph [302-306 kph]
• Speed through the corner: approximately 60-65 mph [97-105 kph]
• Arrival time at the corner: 12.53 seconds
• Time to negotiate the corner: 13.10 seconds
• Exit time of the corner: 25.63 seconds

Entrance speed: approximately 187-190 mph [302-306 kph] Speed through the corner: approximately 60-65 mph [97-105 kph] Arrival time at the corner: 12.53 seconds Time to negotiate the corner: 13.10 seconds Exit time of the corner: 25.63 seconds