:. Racing .:. 2005/09/07 - IMI Test Day
Results: *none*
If you're going to break stuff...
After a long absence - mostly due to the season getting into full swing - I headed back out to the IMI Kart track to do some more driving and setup-change-testing.
The plan was to get a baseline feel for the car with nothing changed but the zero-droop front geometry, then to try a 600# rear spring if the car's balance still felt a little off. Lastly, I wanted to get some tire temperatures to see how my camber setups are, and then play with the shock settings some if there was time.
As it happened...I didn't get to do much.
Jeff Brauch came out, and we swapped out laps a few times. We both agreed that the car still has a reasonable amount of steady-state understeer. One benefit is that we played with the shocks some. Whereas it felt relatively reluctant to turn in initially, despite changing direction well (somewhat odd feeling), we traced this to rebound settings that were tailored very much towards understeer.
On my cold autocross tires, I had set the rebound such that on warm tires, the car was a bit lazy to turn in. Stiffening up the rear, and softening the front resulted in truly delightful, easy turn-in. However, this served only to accentuate the car's steady-state understeer. Not as bad as in earlier tests, but still there for sure.
Early-year tests with bad understeer showed a tendency towards much warmer fronts than rears, indicating they were working harder (I think?). With the car's balance improving, I'm wondering if those temperatures are going to be closer together next time I get to measure?
At any rate, after playing with the shocks some, Jeff went out to do one more session, but it was caught short when the LF caliper came loose. So we fixed that. Jeff motored up to Ft. Collins to run some errands while I swapped the rear 550's for 600's. I ate a leisurely lunch then went out to see how the 600's felt. I only got to do two laps before the throttle cable snapped...DOH! Not having a replacement, my day was done.
So, not much data gleaned this time, but if you're going to break things, best to break them when it doesn't matter! Hopefully I'll be able to get some meaningful data next time out...
NEW CHANGES:
- zero-droop front tests
- new shock valving tests
- 600# rear spring tests
Media:
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