The actual mean wheelbase of all 1980 F1 cars was 2698.
The actual mean front track of all 1980 F1 cars was 1710.
The actual mean rear track of all 1980 F1 cars was 1603.
By all accounts, the track grip provided by advanced ground effects (of which the 1980 Williams FW07 is usually mentioned as being a particularly outstanding example, having been considered to have been a great advance in this regard on the previous year's Ferrari 312T4, which itself was considered to have been a considerable advance on the ground-breaking Lotus 78) was immense, which should probably best be replicated in GP3 by a large downforce coefficient. (Perhaps over 2000 or even considerably more? I know that this will likely produce that much hated by "hardcore simracers" "driving on rails" effect, but if it should apply to anything other than recent years' F1 cars, then it should also most certainly apply to the ground effects cars of this era, and probably the active suspension cars of 1992-1993.)
I've found that lower downforce/drag ratios in the GP3 APE produce more drag while higher downforc/drag ratios produce less drag, so I am very surprised to see your downforce/drag ratio at over 5, as compared to the original 1998 GP3 drag ratio of about 2.56 (as I seem to recall). I had never even faintly considered ever using a figure so far removed from the original game one for any cars from any year. All of my recent years physics files use downforce/drag figures close to 2.55. For more drag in what I consider to have likely been less aerodynamically efficient cars of earlier years, I have used lower downforce/drag ratios. The 1985 F1 physics that I currently use have a downforce/drag ratio of 1.85. I would think that it should probably be somewhat lower for 1980. (maybe even as low as 1.5 or so?)
Reliable engine power figures are notoriously difficult to come by.
Here is what Adriano Cimarosti's "The Complete Encyclopaedia of Grand Prix Motor Racing" (from which most all of my technical data comes, as I have never found any other source with so much technical data on pre-1997 F1 cars) quotes for F1 engines of 1981:
Alfa Romeo 520 bhp @ 12,000 rpm
Cosworth 490 bhp @ 10,750 rpm
Ferrari 550 bhp @ 11,500 rpm
Hart 490 bhp @ 9,500 rpm
Matra 520 bhp @ 12,000 rpm
Renault 550 bhp @ 11,500 rpm
I would expect the 1980 engines to have produced just a shade less powerin the case of the turbos, and maybe just as much in the case of the Cosworth.
I've always made the human engine power in the GP3 APE equivalent to that of the highest powered engine in the carset, made engine power team-dependent in GP3Edit, and had everything seem to work fine.
The mean dry weight of all 1980 F1 cars was 594 kg.
Comparing records of other years' car "dry" weights as quoted in "The Complete History of Grand Prix Motor Racing" with "wet" weights (oil and other fluids, but no fuel) as quoted in Autocourse annuals (and apparently as used by GP3), I think that you should add about 80 kg to make up the difference, so the GP3 APE weight of the cars should probably be about 674.
Third party simracing physics designers just love to set extremely high tyre slip angles. I have only ever found one single reliable source that quotes an actual slip angle figure. That is Niki Lauda in his mid 1970's book on F1 and the figure is drastically lower than what the above mentioned folk favor. I don't have the book at hand at this moment (and even if I did, it would take me a while to find just where this figure is buried in its 200 or so pages), however, I did use it a reference for my older F1 physics files. One that I have on hand is my 1985 F1 one which has the slip angle set at -6.3. I think it likely that it may well should not be less than -7.5 or so for 1980.
Slick tyres were in use in 1980, so the tyre grip should be high. I use a figure of 1934 for my 1985 F1 physics, so your figure is thoroughly reasonable.
I think that you should make the braking power a bit higher for two reasons.
1.To compensate for the greater mass of the cars.
2.To compensate for GP3 tracks having CC-lines designed for recent years' F1 cars, as otherwise the AI are likely to consistently "outbrake themselves" and run off the track or spin off.
The X, Y, and Z rotational inertia figures probably relate to the cars' mass, dimensions, CoG, and weight distibution. I think that they should be proportionally higher than the original GP3 figures in as much as these figures differ, but this is mostly a mystery to me, and is probably a matter of personal taste regarding the the cars' "feel", nevertheless, I rather suspect that departing too much from the original GP3 figures may have some unexpected consequences as regards the cars' behaviour in spinning or turning over.
Now set the track grip in their magic data files to average out to about 15500 or so for all tracks, set the top five drivers' race performance in GP3Edit to average out to about 16300 or more, and go see how the AI performance compares with reality as regards laptimes and maximum speeds.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2005 09:49AM by JackiMatra.