Monza Track Guide by Omer Kinay

When the DTM90s series started, I couldn’t have imagined that I’d take the RWD BMW E30 instead of the 4WD Alfa 155. Apparently, Alfa is not the strongest option at Monza due to very strict restrictor and ballast specs in the current SRS series. Even though there’s still a 15% restrictor for BMW, a.k.a. “brings more women” “breaks my wallet” “big money worries” “Bavarian money waster”, it eats high revs for breakfast! The right setup can help this purebred drifting machine to be transformed into a race car moving on a rail tracks.

After many unfortunate races and lots of braking instability struggle with Alfa 155, I finally made the transition to driving BMW. Although I didn’t have much time to practice with the car and develop a good setup for it, fortunately, finding the right setup for Monza is always easier than other tracks. I think I came up with a decent setup which is sufficiently fast on the straights, turns well, doesn’t easily oversteer out of slow corners and capable of handling fast load transfers which is = Monza! If you want more top speed, you can decrease rear wing to zero but in my “short” experience with the car, a little bit of a rear wing helps a lot at the exit of Lesmo 2 (T7) and Ascari (T10) as well as the infamous Parabolica.

During the hotlap above, SRS BoP restrictions were in place (15% restrictor, 15kg ballast) at a 27 celcius track and the car had 30L of fuel. ABS was on, all other assists were off. Rettifilo was almost perfect. I was greedy and pushed a little bit more than necessary mid-chicane at Rogia. As a result, I had to be very late on gas at T5 exit which cost me around two tenths. Ascari combo is another section that was spot on but I had a minor error at Parabolica entry – I was too wide- but I tried to compensate for this mistake by being very early on gas and hugging the inner line on the exit. It’s not perfect but it’s a fast & tidy lap that reveals my brake markers.

Setup is very forgiving if you don’t touch the kerbs much. Especially the entry and exit kerbs of Lesmo 2 (T7) and the left hand side kerbs of Ascari (T10 inner kerbs). I believe this could have been an at least 2s faster lap without the BoP restrictions. If you try my setup, please share your thoughts with me!

SETUP

I’m hoping to get a fresh start with BMW during the DTM90s series. Fingers crossed. May the downforce be with you!

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