This is how I thought it works, but what I see in the game is the opposite. I don't have any telemetry software, but I used OtterHUD to look at temperatures. I drove Bentley Evo at Most, full default setup. On the start-finish straight, the gradient on the left front was 10 degrees, in right-hand corners it was increasing to 11-12. It wasn't happening occasionally, it was like that all the time. Then I reduced cambers by 5 clicks (front and rear) just for testing - same story. Deltas were lower (6-7 degrees on the straight, 8-9 in right-hand corners), but they were still higher while cornering than while going straight. (I drove 10-15 laps each time, so the tyres were properly warmed.) Why is it like that?
If I understood well, what you describe is completely normal. When cornering, there is a mass transfer to the outside of the car (due to centrifugal force), so the outside of the tires heats up more than the inside. If you move the camber to positive values, you will decrease friction in the inside and increase in the outside, thus the gradiente will be lower, and that means the tyre is using its contact patch more efficiently in the cornering.
As I already described you need to be able to look at the big picture as every corner will effectively be a compromise. What works in hairpins won't work be good for fast sweepers, for example. Trying to do data analysis by watching values change while you're driving is not an effective way of going about it.
Yes, that's how load transfer effects tyre heating. However I don't know if you've got positive and negative camber confused, because following your logic all race cars would be set up like pre war racers:
Here's an example (captured with RST) of front tyre camber temperature change over a lap. The higher the line, the hotter the inside edge of the tyre relative to the outside. The circuit is Nurburgring GP: We can see here that different parts of the tyre are heated differently in different conditions. Inside edge of outside tyre in to the hairpins, because of caster. Outside edge on corner exits as the front is unloaded, and so on. This reiterates the point that there's no way to set it up perfectly as there's always some compromise to be had. If you could flatten that line entirely however you would find absolutely heaps of time as the tyre would be 100% utilized all of the time. Alas that is not feasible.
Thanks, Alex. I also did some tests yesterday, now with a telemetry with SecondMonitor, and I'm still seeing what I was seeing before: delta increases while the tyre is loaded while cornering. Which is the opposite of the phenomenon you were talking about (i.e., delta drops while cornering). Bentley Evo at Most, default setup, front left tyre: (sorry for such a small graph, I don't know how to make it bigger in that program) Delta increases under braking and keeps increasing all the way until the exit. The only wheel where delta is consistently dropping under load in corners is rear right (the less loaded wheel on that track). First I thought maybe I steer too much, tried steering as little and as slow as possible, still the same. Then I adjusted setup (adjusted pressures to equalise gradient, and reduced cambers to reduce deltas to ~10 degrees), this also didn't change much for front wheels, delta kept increasing into turns, but now there's a turn or two where delta drops (high speed kink in sector 2). In order to consistently see delta dropping in corners, I need to reduce camber significantly - which not only reduces delta, but also hurts laptimes. So something like that (front cambers here reduced by 8 clicks): (especially noticeable near the end of the lap where there's this double right hander - delta drops all the way through these turns) Is it because of the car? Or the track? Or what I see is normal and fine, and there was just some misunderstanding? P.S. I will try Nurburgring GP next time to have something to compare with your graph. What car would you suggest I pick, or it doesn't matter? (I don't have any open wheelers though.)
No, I was talking about the opposite: I saw that the inside heats up more in corners, not the outside (i.e. delta increases). Then the inside cools down on the straight (delta drops).
That's unusual and not how I set up the cars on default. I wonder if there could be an issue with second monitor or if the graph isn't showing what you think.
Well, if the insides heat up more than the outsides, that means you´re using too negative camber, so you need to put more positive camber.
The graph shows the difference between I and O temps, just like your graph. I compared it with IMO temps graph and it all checks out. I also recorded a few laps and used that footage to verify if SecondMonitor reads/shows temperatures correctly and yes, it does. I believe an observation error is out of question now... I hadn't had time to try other cars/tracks yet, unfortunately. P.S. I wonder if my understanding is correct about one thing. Let's say we look at one small section of a corner (so, not a whole lap and not even a whole corner) and one tyre, and this tyre happens to be ideally equally loaded on the inside, middle and outside (i.e. has the best grip at that moment). Would that mean that we will see all three temperatures - I, M, and O - increasing at basically the same rate instead of one side of the tyre heating up more than the opposite? My reasoning is, if all three "parts" of tyre have the same load, they do the same amount of work and therefore must receive the same amount of energy/heat, so same increase in temperature. Is that correct?
That's the part that confuses me. Autodrom Most is no short of corners, I would've thought that a track like that should even favour higher camber, but the numbers make it look like even the default camber is way too much and the temp delta should also be below 10 degrees on that track for this car.