I agree with some of the posters above. If it happens when the car is settled, during a high speed sweeper, the shocks would not be as much of an issue as the springs and swaybars would. Unless you did something different (increased steering input or gave too much gas too quickly)

So, if you didn't make a mistake, you probably need a bigger front bar, or a softer rear. Probably the second if you don't have inside wheelspin on a low speed corner.

Having said that, I had the same problem before. Constant steering, constant flat out acceleration through a long 3rd gear sweeper. The back end just went without warning and I could not bring it back. I never lifted until the car was at a 90 degree angle.

The next day I found out that my alignment was completely off. I had toe OUT in the rear. Big toe out. About 1/2".

If you want to play with the shocks too, agree with the general consensus: decrease compression in the rear.

 

Sorry, I just saw your video. It seems like it happened on exit, not during a constant radius turn.

Which means it could have easily been driver's input (not unwinding while giving it more gas).

But if you don't like the way your car feels, and your alignment is correct, soften the rear. Either by sways, compression or rebound.

Because we now know it happened during weight transfer, you need to start with your shocks first and leave the sways alone for now.

 

Yes, I'm starting to think that myself.

 

Let me refocus the question a bit:

I think the problem (aside from me not being used to the way the car now handles) is that it wants to step out when I try to give it throttle and it is loaded up in a corner. (I mean, wants to more than normal -- I know you can't just mash on the throttle like an EVO....)

So restricting the first attempted change to just the shock settings, this might mean increasing forces in the front or decreasing forces in the rear?

I'm thinking that what ideally happens is the weight comes off the outside front and moves to the inside rear. But in my case, the outside front is not giving up enough weight or the rears are not sharing it enough. So instead of pushing the front out a bit as I start to accelerate (throttle steer), I'm just decreasing the available cornering forces in the rear (power-on oversteer).

 

You might find the answer in these articles (second one gives specific adjustments):
http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/shocktune.html
http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/th...hocktune1.html

On the lighter side, I haven't viewed your video, but maybe you just need to go slower? It's not uncommon to spin (or even total your car ) when you have an instructor/passenger with you.

 

Doesn't work up here in WA. If I go much slower, moss will start to grow on me.

 

Oh it's good to be slow so moss could grow on you... look at Kimmie in F1 .

Slow driver = Fast car

 

Thanks. Those are very helpful.

What I hadn't been considering was how rebound works. I had been thinking I wanted more rebound force on the front to move weight off of it. But....

As I am in the corner the weight is on the outside front. Now I accelerate.

If my front rebound force is high, then weight moves from that tire to the other tires. This increases the balance of the two front tires, which actually increases the front cornering force -- ie. oversteer.

Or at least that's what he's claiming. I guess it makes sense.

So he's saying I want to decrease the front rebound and increase the rear bump. That should transfer weight quicker to the inside rear while not moving it to the inside front. But it might make the car more prone to oversteer during trailbraking, because in that case the weight will be coming off the inside front and moving to the outside rear.

 

This isn't bad if you are using trail braking to also steer the rear of the car. Thing is I'm not sure if you want to increase or decreas the rate of weight transfer to the rear in your situation. It seems that would increase oversteer, from the little I know.

Whatever changes you make, remember to adjust the corners on each end equally since it's a road-course car. I'd also change just one end at a time to sort it out.

 

Mmmmm.... I don't know about that.

If you soften the rear compression, the car will squat more under hard acceleration. Meaning, you will get more weight transfer to the rear and therefore more rear wheel traction.

Remember two things:

Stiffening means, faster weight transition and allows faster change in direction. At the cost of less traction out of a slow corner.
Softening means, more pronounced weight transfer that allows more traction out of a corner. At the cost of slower reaction times (direction changes).

I still believe that you need to soften compression to increase rear grip. If you make your car neutral by increasing rear end grip, your call will be neutral with more overall grip.
But if you make your car neutral by decreasing front end grip, your car will be neutral but slower due to less overall grip.