I already did a mid-season update on the special TRF blue R12FF which I have been running this year, and if you read as far as the setup sheet below, you will see that not much has changed on the setup since the mid-season update.

That does not mean that I have not done any testing since though, as I squeezed in a lot of running in the second half of this summer, ending up with over 1800 laps of testing during summer 2023.

The end-of-season running focused on testing springs and flex setups among other things, but I spent even more time experimenting with the ATS rear suspension, trying all sorts of setups. The setup I ended up liking the most is perhaps a bit special as I have it setup to slightly reduce toe-in during compression, but this setup worked really well on our local track.

The big progress with the R12FF came earlier in the summer with going to softer damping and springs, as well as adding more flex (upper deck screws removed), and then reducing droop slightly to control the movement of now more alive chassis. The late-season ATS testing also delivered a good step forward, while after testing different springs I still preferred the Axon HLS C2.1 front springs on the FF.

At this stage the car was delivering superb laptimes and also consistent and very fast 5 minute runs, but even more impressive was the balance and controllability of the chassis. Having run FF cars extensively and continously each year since 2010, I have never seen or experienced a car like my R12FF towards the end of the season this year. The car was on edge, but very controllable, just like any fast FWD race car should be. I had somehow managed to take the R12FF where I have always wanted to get with an FF, and I was super happy about that, as it was just pure joy driving it for the last month or so.

While this was the first season with this particular car kit, it was my third summer with the R12FF platform. Considering where I’m now at setup wise, something new for 2024 would probably not be a bad idea. Let’s see where we’re at when spring 2024 comes around!