It is unfinished and as raw as you can get... trying to keep the higher P/W ratio doesn't give me the opportunity to strap a dead body to the hood to make it more balanced.

I too struggled with changing settings. Everything I tried either hurt the car dropping lap times, or helped the car but still hurt lap times. I also ran into the scenario where my first lap was the fastest and I spent laps 2-5 losing time to the ghost, that's a red flag saying that something isn't right.
This is where I left it as of last weekend...
View attachment 595400
I lost 3 tenths with this setup, but was more consistent lap after lap. This weekend I'm going to try shifting the weight around. Sorry to hear it was not for you. Next time I'll put a warning label on it!