I'm going to attend a trackday this weekend. My car currently equipped with PSS9 front 7 rear 5, H-Sport Comp bars front soft, rear middle. Front camber -2.75, rear -1.5. Toes 0 front and 0 rear. I will not have a pyrometer so what setup should I start with?

At the moment my car is set for AutoX. I feel that my car want to rotate on a fast sweeper , so it might not be so good on the track.

Thanks

 

There are so many different handling permutations available to you.

If you are a bit tentative about high speed corners set your car up with a comfortable amount of understeer. You can achieve this in many ways based upon your component mix; add more rebound to the front dampers relative to the rears. I've never been fond of zero toe, but you can toe out the front 1/16" and toe in the rear 1/16-1/8". This will help to stabilize the rear while still aiding front end grip upon initial turn-in. Set the rear bar at full soft. Add more negative camber to the rear or reduce negative camber up front or both. Remember to have your alignment shop SQUARE your settings for the track - there aren't very many crowned tracks.

Obviously the easiest ways to achieve high speed stabilty is by adjusting your dampers and sway bars.

The best handling trait is slow speed oversteer and a little high speed understeer. One other area often overlooked is transitional braking. you may find the perfect mix thru aseries of slow and high speed turns, but if the car becomes unstable in the braking zone, that sector time and your overall time will suffer. Braking should be an on-off switch; hit them hard and get off them quickly unless you like a little trail braking - not the fastest way thru a turn, but effective enough. If you have a big brake kit or are planning on installing such a kit for the track, leave the rears alone unless you wish to swap ends when hitting the brakes hard in potential transition areas. Randy and I shared this experiecne thru conversation. I've done it twice and it happens wickedly quick, especially on cold tires.

Finally, time trialing is one thing, racing with others on the track is another. When you are forced into undesirable situations/positions by others, stability is your friend. You can get away with a slightly twitchier - more oversteer - car for time trialing because you can keep a momentum that will not be disturbed by others.

A pyrometer is a good thing, but what do you want it to tell you? The best setting for ultimate grip and stability for a short session may mean you sacrifice tire durability - uneven heat across the tread. You may find a great compromise between grip and tire durability with a pyrometer for long duration sessions, however. Lots of negative camber, or positive for that matter, and, lots of toe in or out will cause tires to wear faster. Braking will also suffer, especially up front...so grip isn't the only consideration...think about that toe in above and what this will do for stability under hard braking as you initiate a turn. On the flip side, too much negative camber and toe out up front will cause your car to brake-understeer especially thru a turn. I beleive the mini will actually gain a little toe in as you hit the brakes - as the front end drops thru braking forces.

Have fun, above all!

 

My reaction would be you may have a bit too much negative front camber, and could possibly add a bit more negative to the rear. -2.25 up front and -1.7 rear with Konis, H&R and stiff setting on the rear bar has worked really well on the track for me. Just something to think about.

 

I felt the same way as you the first time I went to the track on my coilovers...so I set the rear sway bar on the softest setting and found that the car was now nutral....

L

 

Very good info Thanks