Zero Time

  Three days remaining until I leave for SCCA Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska and the suspension is not working as well as I like.  I have gone back to the softer 10K front springs and the rear is still equipped with the 16K springs while the Hotchkis swaybar is maxxed out beyond it's design capabilities. Professional alignment at Lutz Tire with zero toe all around and less rear camber (-2.70).   Ride height is also raised about 3/8" all around to help give more front strut travel. At the most recent El Toro autox, this setup seemed nervous at the limit- probably due to toe- but still would not sweep well or rotate.

   In a last ditch effort to get more rotation and/or lift-off oversteer, I raised the rear ride height about 1/2 inch for our last local autox before Nationals.  That seemed to do the trick - the car turns better than it did and now rotates off throttle, but still feels awkward.  Not as smooth or predictable as I would like, but that is probably due to the toe which should have increased out as the rear ride height was raised.





  Now, I know what you are thinking;  stop screwing with the rear and focus on getting the front to actually turn better instead.  Valid point and I am (slowly) working on that too, but some of the front understeer you may notice in the videos is because the rear will not come around so I turn the steering wheel more which makes it worse.  My main reason for recently going to the stiffer springs on all four corners was to allow a lower ride height to reduce the COG and minimize camber loss and body roll which should help the front grip.  Of course I know I need more front camber but that is another issue.

   Unfortunately, the spring changes I made six weeks ago to actually make the font bite better and help the rear rotate did not produce the results I expected and I panicked.  Spiraling out of control, the car setup has been different for each of the last 5+ autox events, usually on different brand tires too.

   So be it. I will take what I have to Lincoln and drink beer and have fun.

Again this year Rick from Ciro Design arranged a transporter for the journey to Lincoln.