This Saturday, I'm going to a TNT on a concrete surface that's pretty much exactly like Blytheville. There are only 5 other cars so I should get some quality testing done.

The goal: test shock settings and note results in chassis dynamics. That's it. I may skip tire pressure testing and camber testing. I don't want to get in over my head.

I'm thinking of starting at my current shock settings and getting a good baseline. Next, I'll start bracket testing the rear shocks. I'll remove and add compression and rebound and note the results. After that, I'll bracket test the front shocks.

It will be nice to fully understand the ramifications of shock changes on this exact chassis.

 

Here's my setup

Tein SRC's
K&N Filter
Cut off exhaust mod
TR Motorsports 17"x9" +63 Wheels
Dunlop Direzza Star Specs

Front
Gendron 1 and 3/8ths Hollow FULL STIFF
Camber "-2.4"
Toe "0"
Caster MAX
895lb Springs
SRC Coilovers set at -12 Compression / -16 Rebound
Tire Pressure 36 psi

Rear
REAR SWAY REMOVED
Camber "-2.2"
Toe "3/16ths in"
895lb Springs
SRC Coilovers set at -16 Compression / -14 Rebound
Tire Pressure 29 psi

Car feels very neutral. I can actually get just a tad of understeer on very sharp turn arounds during mid turn. Of course, I can swing out the rear at will if I want to. I think the car might be able to benefit from maybe as low as 700lb springs in the rear... However, I'm very pleased with how the car handles at this time. I don't really feel like dumping more money into it when it's already able to hang very close to top pax.

The car is an absolute monster in transitions. Had an event last weekend and I was keeping up with former National Champions in their SSM cars... of course.. only in the transitions and slaloms. Fastest car had me by 2.2 seconds on a 41.8 Second course (FTOD).

Car could use some rear down force... but I'm waiting till the final rules are released for 2011.

 

Oh crap, us so-cal guys are just happy to be the fastest thing on street tires, we're still getting killed on PAX.

I've got pretty similar setup numbers but I'm starting to think I'm too far front biased on roll. I may try adding the rear bar and/or going up 50lb/in in the rear (it's what I have laying around).

Also, I don't know if I'm just an over-driving clown, but I'm starting to think I need a bit more camber on the Hankooks. I think 3ish degrees front and rear is going to be my next try.

edit: errr... I take that back, I'm at 700lb/in rear... going to try 750 + rear bar + more camber all around in a few weeks.

 

Im thinking about going from 700/600 with the stock 01 front bar and no rear to either 700/700 or 800/800... but first im gonna try more front camber... Basically gonna do more camber later this summer and try the rest of the summer to get it right with that... then if I am still not happy, then next year when I have a real job im rebuilding my konis as DA's and getting as much compression adjustment built into the valving as possible, and ordering 1 set of 700 and 2 sets of 800 springs to play around with.

I love the way the rear feels without the bar... and my turn in and slalom balance is perfect... just want a little less body roll, quicker transitions and a little less corner exit understeer... should be able to do that with camber springs, and more compression

 

Ok... I'm a happy camper. My co-driver was able to eek out another .2, bringing it to 2.0 on the front left side. The front right can still get to 2.7, but we set it to 2.5 for testing/comparison purposes.

Thanks again for the tip on getting a little more out of the front left. If the data shows that the extra camber on the right is better, I'll get that part Nick suggested for the left side.

-Dave

 

That sounds like way too much front bar for an STR setup. Maybe it's balancing out the equal spring rates front and rear.

 

You know, I started testing this car with the front bar on full soft and the rear bar removed. I saw that a lot of people were removing the rear bar... so I just did it before even testing the car at an event.

The morning runs of that event were trash. The car was so tail happy that it was virtually impossible to put any power down whatsoever. If felt like the car had gobs of torque... and that's just not the case.

So, second half of the day I moved it all the way to full stiff. It was still very tail happy... but I could definitely put down more power. I improved over my morning runs by 1 second on a 50 second course.

However, I had been dumb... I bought the Tein SRC's used. I never checked the shock spring perches (You know, measure them to make sure they're set to Tein's recommendations)... well, while spraying my tires at the event I noticed that the front left was about 1 inch lower than the front right, and the rear was riding way higher than the front (like an inch or more higher than the front).

I set the car to .25 higher than what Tein Recommended and now it just handles like a champ. Feels just like my BS car did on r comps.

I guess I just assumed the guy I bought them from had them setup for an s2000... I'm thinking his car had been in an accident or something... especially in the front end because of the drastic difference in ride height. All my perches are perfectly even now left to right.

Yeah, I'm not too smart.

 

[QUOTE=///MIKE,May 7 2010, 09:51 AM]You know, I started testing this car with the front bar on full soft and the rear bar removed.

 

I like this. You know, adding 50lbs of spring is only 24.5lbs at the wheel. You won't see much of any change from that. Adding the rear bar will be huge though. For example, I removed the rear bar and the car was a push monster so I upped the rear springs from 650 to 850. It was improved but still pushy. When the car had 650s in the rear in conjunction with the rear bar, it was loose. So the conclusion I drew was that the bar was worth more wheel rate (especially since it was a negative wheel rate on the inside wheel) than 200lbs of spring.

I like having a rear sway bar and I like being able to go around slow tight corners with minimal push. I don't want to loose time in sweepers considering a lot of courses you spend a long time sweeping... think Nationals 09.

 

I really doubt I'm hitting the bump stops. The car has no problem at all through high speed sweepers or high speed transitions... it was turn exit and trying to apply power that WAS an issue. Now, it's honestly very neutral. The car is an absolute transition monster.