James khoo

iTrader: (15)

"Unfortunately the joy of getting one of their new RX8 chassis’ into the final was very short lived for Xray as Paul Lemieux would retire during the warm-up with a suspected radio receiver problem. With Shimazaki having already called a 10-minute delay the only American in the Top 10 was forced to sit out the final." (Redrc)

That's too bad!

Paul L

Hi, Thanks!. it has been a while since i have tested any inserts but back in the day it was the single most important thing to test after settling on a tire.
I always liked a good bit of air gap in my tires. for carpet racing a foam insert can work well because of overheating the tires on carpet is not nearly as much of an issue as it is on asphalt. a foam insert on asphalt would most likely overheat the tire very fast. for asphalt i think a molded insert is necissary. on asphalt i always liked a Med to firm moulded insert with the airgap mostly in between the rim and the insert instead of the air gap as commonly now inbetween the insert and the rim, i felt like having the air gap between the rim and the insert still alowed the larger contact patch as the standard air gap does but supports the tire itself.
Back then I would always start with a normal insert whatever it may be, then trim/streatch/cut/glue/grind or do whatever i needed to do to make it in to what i was looking for.

For carpet it seems like the hardness of the insert is more important than the air gap, the last open tire carpet race i ran i think i liked Yok Med or yok soft molded inserts, which were softer than any that i would have run on asphalt.
As for now i dont know what still exists for inserts so i dont have any suggestions as where to start with todays tires.


Thanks!


Yup , EA normally has my back and chimes in when i dont have an answer ).

Hi. I dont have a ton of suggestions, but i do know exactly what you speak of, for me some tracks are like this and others are not. if it were an asphalt track i would say it could be because they are spraying the straight away with Sugar water or vht or something ( i always feel that way outdoor when the straight is sprayed). being on carpet i assume that the straight is a little bit bumpy and the bumps could be pulling the car in one direction or the other.
If you are running a spool you may try a front diff with 300to 500,000, that could help or hurt this problem but then you would know.
I dont think it is a front or rear toe thing atall, 3deg rear toe and .5deg toe out total is pretty much standard. I cant amajine that your bump steer is super far off but if you have something different with your bump steer you may look in to that also.

Thanks

I like gear diffs in the back , i almost always run 2,000 in the rear on carpet. the front depends on the track, some tracks seem to favor spools and others seem to favor diffs in front.
So basicly you will have a gear diff in the rear with 2,000 and iether a spool in the front or a gear diff with 300,000 for 17.5. you will have to test it for your track and see what you like.
Thanks

Thanks ED. It was definately a learning curve for everyone with having a new car with no testing at that track. in the end i think that the set ups were much closer so it has a bright future.

lol

Thanks, we did our best!

Oh well, i was just happy to get their. i was a bit dissipointed that i didnt start but i dont think i had a chance to race with the front runners so i was fine to watch .

Thanks
Thanks, I didnt. LOL

jammincrtjames

iTrader: (2)

Hey Paul,

Do you run any throttle expo when you run mod tc?

robk

iTrader: (22)

Thanks Paul, a lot of good stuff there..

haywood

iTrader: (49)

Paul

Can I use the 52mm shafts in the rear with a gear diff or will I have to switch to 50's?

Thanks

bigdadracing

iTrader: (1)

hey haywood, your going to need 50mm. with the geardiff in the rear .or you have to shim the rear track with out, but best to get the 50mm. drive shafts .
congrats paul on the amain seat at worlds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mini-Mod

Hey Paul,

Awesome job at the worlds! Do you remember what diff oil you ran the last time you were at norcal? Thanks.

Paul L

yes i do, i will run between 15 and 30%. thanks

no prob

you will want to run the 50s. with 52s most rear end set ups will not fit. Thanks

Thanks!

Last time i was at norcal I used synthetic motor oil in the rear diff which was close to 600cst. but i think i will start at 1,000 next time, i think it will be better. Thanks!

Team Pink

iTrader: (20)

Good Job at the worlds Paul! Also do you still prefer the hillbilly link over the H's or L roll center blocks?

Paul L

Thanks!.

I prefer the new verticle ball stud mounts for the car.
I tested them at the carpet nats for the first time, I put the camber links in the same place as the L1, L2's (as close as i could measure), and i thought that the performance was better. I really have no idea why but for some reason i felt the car to have better traction and corner speed?.

If anyone has any theories on this i would be more than willing to hear them

I will still test with different link locations, long link and new for asphalt.
For carpet i will definately will be running the verticle link locations. on asphalt i will definately run the verticle link on the rear, and test between the hillbilly link and the verticle link on the front.

Thanks

Chris08527

iTrader: (16)

Paul,
a while back you talked about tire prep for asphalt, can you post again? can't seem to find it after a pretty good search

also any good starting points for the 11 on asphalt?

Paul L

their are many ways to do tires well but the problem with lots of tricky ways is that it is hard to get the same good result every time. the way that i do it is not the best way but it is very consistent so i choose it.

so here is where i left off last time i ran asphalt.
with new tires i will start by cleaning the tires, motor spray will work. this is to get the mold release oils off of the rubber. then for first run tires i like to use a more aggressive sauce such as Fx2, buggy grip etc, I use a aggressive sauce that i call LG 1, (this BC a new tire is less able to absorb sauce with its freshly molded serface, so with new tires you can get away with saucing more aggressively). On second run tires i will simply use a oil, such as tire tweak, LRP top grip asphalt, MR33 oil. I use a thick oil that i have that i call LG 2. it is similar to those other three sauces. so for second run and so on tires i use a different sauce such as those just mentioned, those sauces do not penitrate the rubber nearly as much but simply keeps the tire from drying out with its opened pores.
The reason for selecting a different sauce on second run and so on tires is this, I feel like once the tire wears the rubbers pores become much larger which is obvious, this allows the thicker oils to penitrate the rubber without attacking it. So Simply put i feel like using a aggressive sauce on the second run is normally a bad thing BC a aggressive sauce will cause the tire to overheat much more during normal warm track conditions.

the simple routeene for me on new tires is to clean and sauce with a aggressive sauce to start, 20 or 30min on new tires. then second run i will rub in a few drops of the different sauce (non aggressive) and let sit for 40mn or so untill dry. if you use too much of the non aggressive sauce it will not dry well and the tire will be greasy. so for second run and so on i will apply a small amount, rub it in and let air dry, then run.

this is the only way that i have found to always have good results.

Thanks

Drew Ellis

See Paul Lemieux in action at the first 2011 Xray Challenge hosted by Westcoast Raceway.

heatopia

Hi Paul. Dad's got a box here that he doesn't know how to build

Paul L

Cool, i facebooked him about it.

Later