The set-up tool that offers a shortcut to success

There are an almost infinite amount of set-up combinations obtainable to rivals in motorsport that can be customized for observe situations, driver preferences and car or truck qualities. The correct exact solution is not likely to be discovered among two autos from the similar just one-make collection, permit by yourself concerning manufacturing unit teams in intercontinental GT racing and an amateur racer creating their begin at grassroots degree.

Even so, the method of creating base established-ups is shockingly similar, starting up with precise measurements of the camber, toe, corner weights and rideheight. And based on how major the club racer is, they can use the exact same machines to established-up their Athletics 2000 machine or Mazda MX-5 as a top GT3 client racing outfit.

This was a thing considered unachievable in previous decades as autos usually needed bespoke established-up equipment – painstakingly pieced jointly from various suppliers – that couldn’t be transferred to other autos and had to be marketed on when the car adjusted arms.

But that all altered with the introduction of the CP Autosport SetupWizzard, produced by long-time Porsche Motorsport supplier, and licensed builder of FIA-typical halos, CP Tech GmbH. Its answer is greatly employed by top rated groups throughout the world’s top sportscar championships, as nicely as in solitary-seaters and touring car racing, with an array of adapters permitting the identical equipment to be utilized across a number of vehicles.

“I have been working with the CP Autosport SetupWizzard considering the fact that 2018 with fantastic pleasure,” claims Renaud Dufour, chief engineer for 2021 DTM title-successful squad Haupt Racing Crew. “We are using our four programs in all championships we are concerned in. The CP program is a extremely reliable, accurate, repeatable and primarily time-economical way to established up our automobiles in a higher level of competition.”

Obviously, the perception essential to interpret opinions from the driver and make the accurate set-up tweaks will have a even bigger remaining influence on the end result than the established-up devices utilized to result the changes. But, in an era the place solitary-make series are rife and numerous other championships integrate Harmony of Effectiveness, groups can’t afford to pay for to depart any efficiency on the desk as a final result of rushed or inaccurate measurements.

And in accordance to experienced engineer Owen Hayes, previously Porsche North America’s motorsport director, the SetupWizzard is an critical foundation for all the comprehensive function that arrives upcoming and is far more handy for its consumers than “the hotch-potch of points that you obtain from unique people”.

The SetupWizzard system is designed to be a turnkey approach to car set-up equipment

The SetupWizzard program is made to be a turnkey strategy to auto established-up tools

Irishman Hayes to start with arrived across it when doing work for Porsche and “straight absent realized what I had on my hands”. Now freelance, he owns the legal rights to SetupWizzard in the US and has observed a speedy rise in its adoption.

“All I experienced to do was explain to folks about it and they obtained it,” states Hayes, who attends gatherings across the state in a supporting capability. “You need to have that baseline to understand what you are operating with.

“You cannot have gear which is offering you values which are all around the map, you need a proper overall performance baseline that tends to make feeling and that you can normally refer to. Hardly a race weekend comes alongside where by you have bought fantastic functionality, and what helps you seriously go nearer to that is right established-up products.”

“You can see the values shifting as you’re operating on the automobile, it’s so much more quickly. You don’t have to be running to get a camber gauge and a toe string and tripping about the string” Owen Hayes

A trustworthy baseline is primarily important when a vehicle is in the course of action of being formulated.

Study Also:

“We experienced a car in which we seen the rear axle toe was transferring after each individual session,” Hayes explains. “It turned out there was a weak point and it was flexing, so it helps you establish very clear glitches to rectify promptly.”

SetupWizzard will come in a few deal ranges – Uncomplicated, Primary and Pro – made to match the demands and budgets of various shoppers. The whole Pro package will come with all the bells and whistles inside the black carry box, including scales that occur with an inclinometer for measuring camber and a Bluetooth module that sends are living readouts of camber and corner fat values to a pill. That indicates engineers can spend fewer time on their fingers and knees at the time the gear is established up, which Hayes says usually takes considerably less than five minutes.

As soon as up on jacks with the tyres taken out, established-up wheels and adjoining stands are bolted onto the wheel hubs. The motor vehicle is then decreased on to platform scales – Effortless and Primary kits appear with levelling pads that can be connected to scales – which at the Professional level are aligned making use of a positioning laser. “It’s just like any architect or engineer would do out in the discipline,” claims Hayes.

The SetupWizzard system is being increasingly adopted in GT racing to help teams improve speed and accuracy

The SetupWizzard technique is remaining more and more adopted in GT racing to support groups improve speed and accuracy

Photo by: Nickolas Wolf

Rideheights are measured by 4 spring-loaded top gauges that are placed under the car or truck. The established-up wheels are totally adjustable, capable to be configured to unique keep track of widths as perfectly as heights.

“We have numerous [camber] shims which go down to .5mm resolution,” Hayes suggests. “You can get the actual same rideheight that you would have working on hot force tyres, or you can alter the established-up wheels for scrutineering peak. The technique is extremely tuneable.”

At the secondary Essential stage, there is no want for a toe string body. The package includes toe laser modules that bolt onto the established-up wheels to boost pace and precision.

“You can see the values transforming as you’re functioning on the motor vehicle, it’s so significantly faster,” Hayes states. “You really don’t have to be working to get a camber gauge and a toe string and tripping above the string.”

Hayes believes the “massive investment for each weekend” of any competitor usually means it is completely worthwhile shelling out for proper set-up products.

“It’s this kind of a smaller expenditure compared to what you expend more than a period,” he says. “You can have the most dominant car in the earth, but if it’s not set up adequately or you’ve received something completely mistaken with the established-up, then you are likely nowhere.”

The grounding of SetupWizzard’s apostle

Hayes has enjoyed an illustrious career as a race engineer working with Mercedes and Porsche

Hayes has relished an illustrious career as a race engineer working with Mercedes and Porsche

Photo by: Nickolas Wolf

Owen Hayes is well-skilled on the subject of car or truck set-ups, having labored on a lot of solitary-seaters and sportscars in a profession spanning a few a long time.

Starting out as a System 3 mechanic in 1987 with Eddie Jordan Racing, Hayes satisfied Edward Turner, who later on launched him to AMG in Germany. He spent summers aiding out at DTM rounds, through an automotive engineering diploma at Bolton University, and created a aspiration commence to his very first race engineering purpose in the 1996 International Touring Vehicle Championship when Jan Magnussen received initially time out at Hockenheim. “It was unquestionably extraordinary, a baptism of fire,” he states.

Following the ITC’s demise, Hayes switched to the FIA GT programme for 1997 and ran Bernd Schneider and Mark Webber shut to the 1998 GT1 title. Schneider stormed to pole at Le Mans, but motor issues place equally CLK-LMs out early.

“That was devastating, 1 of the ones that I’ll undoubtedly keep in mind,” he states. “I was absolutely committed with each individual one cell of my human body to the full project as regards to just seeking that win. The total of preparation we did was nuts.”

“All the things just properly meshed in, it was a magical time, punching higher than our weight at instances” Owen Hayes

A two-decade stint at Porsche began in 1999, originally functioning on the canned LMP2000 challenge, ahead of heading up the marque’s junior initiatives in Carrera Cup.

He was later on assigned to engineer Penske-operate RS Spyders in the American Le Mans Collection for golden boys Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard, dependent out of Penske’s Mooresville campus. They received the LMP2 title in 2007 and in 2008, with an outright victory at the Sebring 12 Hours.

“Everything just properly meshed in, it was a magical time, punching higher than our bodyweight at situations,” he states. “We did not even realise how fantastic it was until eventually the project came to an conclude.”

Hayes then assumed the purpose of Porsche Motorsport North America’s racing director, overseeing the administration of purchaser groups, drivers and the manufacturing unit IMSA SportsCar Championship programme until eventually going freelance in 2019.