I was driving my regular street car around the bends and roundabouts in my city and I thought “Damn! What an awful handling this would be for a race car!”
So the idea came: What would it be like to drive a regular street car on a race track?
I chose the CTS physics-car of the 1970 Grand National Series Mod, namely the ‘General Lee’ 1969 Dodge Charger and I did a little research on the characteristics of the car’s handling and the specification of the suspension.
First of all, the ride height would be something like 10 inches but unfortunately the highest available in NR2k3 is 5.5 on the front and 6.5 on the rear. I set the front springs the softest possible: 450lbs, the rear springs are 300lbs hard because I didn’t want too much difference. I set the dampers in the mid 3-4 position as I don’t know much about them.
The wheel alignment is all symmetric: 0° camber, 0° caster, 0 toe-out.
As far as I know a 7/8” front sway-bar is installed in the stock model. This will come handy, you’ll see.
No sway-bar at the rear.
I couldn’t do much with the track bar: I set it to the lowest. Brake bias: 80%. Grille tape: 0%, Spoiler: because you don’t have a spoiler set it to the lowest: 45°
The manufacturer’s recommended tire pressures are: 26 on the front and 24 on the rear. Yikes!
And now here comes the real immersion. Final drive: 3.22 and you’ll see the rest of the gears are setup more like a street car: short 1st, 2nd and 3rd and looong 4th. You better get used to it.
Lastly the weight distribution is L-R 50%, cross weight 50%, and 54% front bias.
Now imagine that you’re a young fella from the countryside in NC. You inherited your grandfather’s old Dodge and you love watching NASCAR on TV.
Unfortunately you’re poor (but you’re not stupid. )so you can only afford to enter the races but you have no budget for any modifications.
Now here comes the fun part: the only setup change you can make is the tire pressures, grille tape (you can afford some duct tape ) and you can remove the sway-bar (however I don’t recommend it).
That’s it. You’re ready to race.
I’m telling you, it’s a new experience. You’ll learn to handle a car with mighty understeer or if you remove the bar the snappy loose exit and more importantly it teaches you the importance of tire pressure.
I wouldn’t have thought that for example I can gain 2 seconds in Phoenix with the correct pressures.
Oh yeah, and choose your tracks wisely. Don’t even think about high-banked tracks like Bristol or Dover. You’ll scrape both sides to the ground because of the soft springs. I found Martinsville, Phoenix and Richmond really fun. And don’t forget the road courses!
If you wanna race the AI just save your ‘street’ setting as ‘fast’ (after you backed up the original ‘fast’) and off you go, let the fun begin.
Alright, have fun, guys!
If you have any suggestions or corrections, you know the deal.
DAT weight transfer
And here's the link to the base 'street' setup: street.cts.rar
So the idea came: What would it be like to drive a regular street car on a race track?
I chose the CTS physics-car of the 1970 Grand National Series Mod, namely the ‘General Lee’ 1969 Dodge Charger and I did a little research on the characteristics of the car’s handling and the specification of the suspension.
First of all, the ride height would be something like 10 inches but unfortunately the highest available in NR2k3 is 5.5 on the front and 6.5 on the rear. I set the front springs the softest possible: 450lbs, the rear springs are 300lbs hard because I didn’t want too much difference. I set the dampers in the mid 3-4 position as I don’t know much about them.
The wheel alignment is all symmetric: 0° camber, 0° caster, 0 toe-out.
As far as I know a 7/8” front sway-bar is installed in the stock model. This will come handy, you’ll see.
No sway-bar at the rear.I couldn’t do much with the track bar: I set it to the lowest. Brake bias: 80%. Grille tape: 0%, Spoiler: because you don’t have a spoiler set it to the lowest: 45°
The manufacturer’s recommended tire pressures are: 26 on the front and 24 on the rear. Yikes!
And now here comes the real immersion.
Final drive: 3.22 and you’ll see the rest of the gears are setup more like a street car: short 1st, 2nd and 3rd and looong 4th. You better get used to it.Lastly the weight distribution is L-R 50%, cross weight 50%, and 54% front bias.
Now imagine that you’re a young fella from the countryside in NC. You inherited your grandfather’s old Dodge and you love watching NASCAR on TV.
Unfortunately you’re poor (but you’re not stupid.
)so you can only afford to enter the races but you have no budget for any modifications.Now here comes the fun part: the only setup change you can make is the tire pressures, grille tape (you can afford some duct tape
) and you can remove the sway-bar (however I don’t recommend it).That’s it. You’re ready to race.
I’m telling you, it’s a new experience. You’ll learn to handle a car with mighty understeer or if you remove the bar the snappy loose exit and more importantly it teaches you the importance of tire pressure.
I wouldn’t have thought that for example I can gain 2 seconds in Phoenix with the correct pressures.
Oh yeah, and choose your tracks wisely. Don’t even think about high-banked tracks like Bristol or Dover. You’ll scrape both sides to the ground because of the soft springs. I found Martinsville, Phoenix and Richmond really fun. And don’t forget the road courses!
If you wanna race the AI just save your ‘street’ setting as ‘fast’ (after you backed up the original ‘fast’) and off you go, let the fun begin.
Alright, have fun, guys!
If you have any suggestions or corrections, you know the deal.
DAT weight transfer
And here's the link to the base 'street' setup: street.cts.rar