I had an epiphany this week with the setups on these 68's, or maybe it was simply the car?
FWIW I have been struggling with the default setups ever since the season started and just could not find anything resembling a "sweet spot". So as I had some spare time on Monday I sat in my rig and thought ...."well I know the Brands Hatch circuit and I know what a fast lap feels like and how I want the car to behave, for me to achieve that".
Then I looked at the default setup for the Matra 11 and wondered why the rollbars were so soft?? They had been soft on the other 68 car defaults that I had tried previously, but I had simply assumed that there was some logic to that.
From what little I know about GPL setups, I understood that stiffer rollbars generally make the car more responsive/oversteery especially if the values are close together. As my biggest complaint was that I could not get these damned cars to turn in when I wanted them to I made a decision to throw the default values in the bin and start again.
Initially, I set the rear at 180lbs and the front at 165lbs also I changed the diff to 60/60. Not perfect, but it felt more like how I thought a GP car should drive ( I have no idea how they really feel!!). Eventually, after many tweaks I arrived at the setup I used in the race. The biggest problem was getting the tyres to reach optimum temps/pressures ( I have assumed that 25psi is right for the 68's?) It took around 3 laps before things started to work properly and then it was back to the pits to tweak the cold pressures and camber etc.
The result was a car that for me at least felt driveable and worth racing. During quali I was still making fine adjustments and running on full tanks and quite pleased to see that I was not too many seconds off the pole time ( not sure that I could get close to that pace but with lighter tanks maybe a second or two to be found?).
The setup is not perfect but in parts it is giving me what I want. Slight oversteer as I power out of corners so that the car tightens the line slightly and allows me to get on the gas early. Braking is good but I need to work on the turn in, as it was slightly unpredictable at times...usually too fierce and bumping the inside front wheel over the kerbs and unsettling the whole car.
I guess what I am trying to get across is..... I don't know who devised the default setups, or how they drive within GPL, but if you are finding these cars difficult to handle then there is almost certainly a setup configuration that will make it better for you.................all you gotta do is go looking??!!
I am happy to share my current setup if people want to contrast and compare, but be warned that I use 6:1 steering ratio so you might want to adjust that before venturing onto the circuit lol!