There is nothing easy about setting-up a single-seater with a 400 hp engine and technical features that are similar to those of a Formula 1 racing car. The tyres, chassis, suspension, gearbox ratio, the aerodynamics.... It all has an effect and it all counts when seeking the perfect balance for getting the maximum performance out of the single-seater of the Repsol Meycom team that is raced by the driver Angel Burgue�o.

�Angel Burgue�o, a Repsol racing driver of the World Series, has, just like the rest of his team-mates, two hours of free practice on Friday and two timed sessions of 30 minutes each on Saturday in order to find the right set-up for his single-seater. Angel must work on a never-ending list of factors, always trying to avoid errors. Any unforeseen or additional problem, such as spinning off the track, will most probably entail a great delay in the set-up process and would imply that finally the driver will find himself on the starting grid on Sunday being conscious that his single-seater is not ideally well set-up.

From the time that Angel Burgue�o arrives at the circuit, until he is on the starting grid on Sunday, the brave driver of the Repsol Meycom racing team follows a process together with the technicians and mechanics.

�Before arriving at the circuit, the technicians of the team have already done some calculations and based on the technical features of the circuit and its layout will choose a specific gearbox ratio, with for example, a longer first gear, a shorter third gear and a minimum skip between gears. Once he is on the circuit, the first laps are used to check that the choice has been correct or if on the other hand a longer third gear or other types of adjustments must be made. At the same time, in these first laps the correct height of the single-seater with respect to the ground is sought. As these single-seaters use ground effect, the distance between the underside of the single-seater and the ground must be kept to an absolute minimum but still ensuring that the car does not touch the tarmac too much, which would cause the single-seater would end up losing support, leading to the loss of control by the driver.�

�Two of the delicate points for the setting-up of this single-seater. When we talk about the camber, we refer to the perpendicular adjustment of the wheels with respect to the ground, in other words, the greater or lesser camber angle of the tyre support on the ground. The surface of the tyre works at different temperatures at the same time: the outside, the central surface and the inside temperatures. Depending on the circuit we are racing on and its technical characteristics, we will adjust the camber of the single-seater and therefore the degree of incidence between the tyre and the ground. All this will have a varying impact on the support surface of the tyre, and therefore on the temperatures of these three parts of the tyre. In carrying out these adjustments, there must never be more than a ten degree difference between the outside and the inside surfaces of each tyre. With respect to the castor, this is an aspect that is hardly ever normally worked on. When the single-seater is used for the first time during the season, small adjustments are made to the factory set-up, and that is all. When we talk about the castor, we are referring to the parallel adjustment of the wheels with respect to the single-seater. This information, translated to a more simple type of language, would be like a greater or lesser opening of both the front and the back wheels with respect to the driving trim of the single-seater.�

�Once the initial stages of this process have been fulfilled we can go on to work on the settings of the suspension and the set-up of the stabiliser bars. This single-seater has three shock absorbers, one in the front and two at the back which may be adjusted for compression, extension and hydraulics. Depending on how bumpy the track is, the grip and the temperature of the tarmac and other possible variables, we will adjust each one of these settings to a greater or lesser degree. Something similar occurs with the stabiliser bars; the settings of the stabiliser bars will also be adjusted depending on the variables mentioned above. The main function of these is to regulate the leaning and sliding effects of the single-seater on corners. In other words, with a softer setting of the stabiliser bars, the single-seater will tend to lean more towards the outside on the corners, whereas with the harder set-up we will reduce the leaning and swaying effect of the single-seater as it goes around the corner. For example, when it is raining we will eliminate the work of the stabiliser bars so that the single-seater handles more loosely and less rigidly.�

�This is another one of the aspects where special care must be taken in the setting-up of this single-seater. There are two elements which must be worked on, the front wing and the upper-rear wing. Whereas in the Nissan 2.0 one can also adjust the slant of the lower one, on the V6 only the upper one can be adjusted. With the wings the load pressure of the single-seater on the ground is adjusted. To express this in a simpler manner, we could say that by using the wings we can load more or less weight on the respective axles, thus controlling the greater or lesser adherence of the single-seater to the ground. If we see that the single-seater tends to under-steer on corners, we will load more weight on the front in order to improve support at the front. The same occurs with the rear axle, leading us to seek a final balance between the behaviour of the front and rear axles. At the same time, it must be taken into account that the greater the aerodynamic load, the lower the top speed on the straights ... so that this is a variable that must be taken very much into account when settings the aerodynamics.�

�We have systems available for the monitoring of data on the suspension elements, the behaviour of the brakes, the accelerator, etc... By using all the data obtained, we can ascertain the limits of all the changes we are making, corroborating this with the driver on the circuit to fine tune the set-up process. By the use of graphical data we can verify the displacement of the shock absorbers at any part of the circuit, the braking areas and the amount of time that the driver presses on the brakes, the amount of time the accelerator is pressed at any point on the track, etc... However, between the sensations felt by the driver and the information shown by the computers, the former always prevails. In other words, the telemetry information is important, but when deciding between the machine and the man, the assessment of the latter is always the overriding factor.�

�The regulations of the World Series, in seeking the maximum degree of mechanical equality between the participants, do not allow for any type of work or adjustment on the engine or in the fuel-mix intake or ignition systems. Thus, only the gearbox ratio may be adjusted. For the rest of matters and for the maintenance of the engine, it is the engineers of Nissan itself who carry out the controls. Should a driver win two consecutive races and in order to avoid comments and a loss of trust, that driver has his engine removed and it is replaced by another one. Something similar occurs with the tyres, we all use the same tyres both under wet and dry conditions and the only thing we are allowed to change is the tyre pressure. The greater the tyre pressure the sooner it heats up more, but it also wears quicker. With less pressure the opposite occurs, it is harder for the tyre to get hot, although this is offset by a lower degree of wear.�