TheGod

I think its about time someone started talking about things that actualy make your car get around the track quicker!

Seems like everyone only wants to talk about what new parts are coming out, what maufacture has the best car "out of the box" and when will the new version of A,B, C and any other product seen on the pit table of the fast guys be seen in your local hobby stores shelves.

What everyone seems to be forgetting is that if you give any of the top drivers any of the current brands of touring car they will all get the cars performing to the same or similar level. The reason they can achive this is because they can A; drive very well and B; setup a car to drive how they want it to feel

So can we at last stop wasting time on the things that dont matter and start talking about tips to get you lap times lower and more consistant.

Big Rigg

Wow what an aggressive request for help... you all talk about crap! Now help me!

My suggestion to you would be to crash less...

mafiaracers

iTrader: (22)

Your very first post in this fine establishment of a forum is an angry one....nice....



SSSTTTRRRIIIKKKEEE...1

Have a nice day

TheGod

Sorry it sounds abit aggresive, but i think ive got a valid point to make! For what its worth i dont crash that much and currently make the A Main in most of the races i go too!

Who on this forum can tell me what changes the handling of a touring car? For example; what effect does lowering the suspension arms have on the handling of a car? does it make it more or less consistant? Will it give more or less traction? Does it have a different result on high grip or low grip tracks?

This is the kind of thing that we should all be talking about if we all want to go faster!

grazianos

Check out this link. It covers everything you asked about and more. As you noted, the "best" car set-up is a personal choice, but this link will tell you the effects of various changes you can make to a car's set-up.

http://home.tiscali.be/be067749/58/

A-Ko

iTrader: (2)

Probably your best bet is to find setup info on your car and test it on your local track.

The only way to test is using a lap counter or personal transponder. I use my Team Orion counter, then I can look at data in the pits and don't rely on someone elses computer or monitor.

Usually testing is what it is all about. Testing motors, Batteries, setups and tires. Bodies come into play but by switching bodies usually you have to adjust your setup, so just work with an all around body.

Chassis and handling stuff. Martin Crisp has a whole book on it. I could not find his website but seems they published a book on his info. Has diagrams and a bunch of other technical stuff.
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/xxx/xxxb001.htm

TheGod

Thanks for the link! I've seen it before and found it usfull, but some of it's a bit too vauge as to what effect it has on different grip levels. Im not too sure if you've played with roll centres much but it seems to have different effects depending on the level of grip on the track.

Jon Kerr

iTrader: (17)

In most of the car specific threads, you'll get a lot of help to any kind of specific handling question. Whatever car you drive, you can go into that thread and ask the question. "What does lowering the suspension arms do on my... ?" Someone will more than likely have and share the answer. Another reason you'll want to do this in the car specific threads is adjustments effect different cars in different ways. I know that in theory, an adjustment should do the same thing on every car. But in reality, it just doesn't work that way.

TheGod

Moving away from the type of car your using etc.... what are your views on wheels? Have you used soft or hard wheels and if so what did it do to the performance of your car and did it lower your lap times?

berger

iTrader: (1)

I prefer hard wheels, soft wheels are imo a more unknown quantity, you cannot say the wheel will flex by X amount and this will provide X amount of extra traction/whatever. The amount of flex will vary on many things, temperature, speed etc. Ill stick to hard wheels and let the car setup do the work where you know how much camber, castor etc you have on the car and the effect it will have.
Feel free to rip apart what ive said there though guys

edseb

I agree, and soft wheels have an unpredictable affect that won't stay consistent. I think there is other ways to make your car work better.

Jon Kerr

iTrader: (17)

I also prefer harder wheels. It's similar to chassis flex. It's un predictable absorption of energy.

TheGod

I've found that the soft wheels are a little safer than harder wheels but again depends on the track and levels of traction.

For example if you have to be fast through a bus stop or you need to go through a fast section of track with a quick left/right bend the soft wheels tend to make the car a little safer. Also you can push harder as the wheels flex more when changing direction, making the car a little more forgiving.

However! if the track has a lot of fast sweeping bends the harder wheels tend to feel faster as they dont flex to much in the middle of the bend when the chassis is rolled to its maximum so they tend not to flex at this point and result in less friction so maintain more momentum/speed resulting in faster lap times and a more consistent car.

Both will get you your lap times down, it just depends on the track and traction at that track as to what may be faster.

Jon Kerr

iTrader: (17)

I would rather tune the suspension to be a little more forgiving if it's needed than rely on the wheels to do it. It's inconsistant. Eventhough they may be the same brand/type of wheel, they can vary from one wheel to the next.

TheGod

Jon Kerr do you race on flat tracks with no bumps, is it tight and twisty or is it a large flowing track? Is it always on the same track? do you have a lot of traction?