SOWS yesterday

[sdcat]

What a blast! Had the seven at SOWS CW yesterday, and am very impressed with this car. Ran a 1:26, within a few seconds of my previous times in the Z06. It is actually quicker in the twisties than the corvette (it's an old wives tale that corvettes aren't quick through tight stuff - I always made up time on the smaller cars there), but I lost a lot of ground on the straights. Still very fast times, but I do miss being able to pass easily on straights.

The odd thing for me is that even though I can get through corners quickly, I'm putting the rear end out a bit. Especially if I try to trail brake. I've got the rear bar on full soft, front bar fairly stiff, and yet I still get oversteer entering and through the middle of the corner. The front grips like mad. Powering out of corners the balance seems perfect - slight drift but not too much. You can see in the pictures that the rear squats down and rolls a lot. Weight transfer seems to work very well with this setup coming out of corners, but not as well entering corners.

Maybe this is just a matter of learning to drive a different car. I can't complain, since I'm quicker in the corners than before, and the car was very controllable. Makes me wish I had a bit more power though!

Justin

[DIYMAN25]

Great Job !!

here are the data of me runing 1:25.1 Using. 225/45/15 Nto1

I better go out there again and do 24 !!!! ;)

Now you need some DATA For you to Improve !! in Faster and quicker way :)

this is what I am using now www.vboxUSA.com

[

[sdcat]

You're a geek, Jay! Seriously, though, it would be nice to have a lap timer to get more immediate feedback on lap times. And I suppose you can get segment times, which would be interesting to see what lines are quicker.

[DIYMAN25]

You're a geek, Jay! Seriously, though, it would be nice to have a lap timer to get more immediate feedback on lap times. And I suppose you can get segment times, which would be interesting to see what lines are quicker.

:) . Along as I am going fast and in Style . I dont mind poeople call me that ;)
YA. and for hot lap or AIM. you need to spend about 300+. for a littble more. you can buy "Performance Box" From VboxUSA. that is very similar system I am using,

[Elv15]

oversteer

Justin,

One thing that might help your oversteer situation is checking the rake of the car. The Caterhams seem to be pretty sensitive to this adjustment.

There are lots of other things to check though: tire pressure, front arb settings, you could disconnect the rear arb, camber (front and rear), etc.

Anyway, glad you are enjoying the car and happy to hear your new motor seems to be performing well!

Cheers,

Tom

[sdcat]

Tom,

Maybe I should increase my rake? You can see in this picture again how much it squats under power. Currently I have about 1 cm of rake. I think I'll go a little more rake, and then stiffen up the front ARB some more. One problem as far as balance is that I'm running 215/50's all the way around, which gives really good grip up front.

Justin

[slomove]

Tom,

.... Currently I have about 1 cm of rake. .......

IIRC about 15-20 mm is recommended. Obviously measured with the driver's weight in the seat.

[Doug Liedblad]

I just did some reading about this on blatchat.

Less rake (Front higher than back) = UNDERSTEER
More rake (Front lower than back) = OVERSTEER

One cm may not be enough, 15 to 20 seems to be the recommended front to rear rake. You'll have to experiment a bit to find what you like best.

Doug

[sdcat]

Thanks for the info! I seem to be backwards, though, with just a small amount of rake getting oversteer already. I'm looking forward to coming out to Buttonwillow with you guys, and trying some different settings. Maybe even leveling the rake. I think Brad says this works for him with a similar suspension setup.

[Doug Liedblad]

This also depends on anti roll bar settings. Springs, shocks, tire pressure, and probably a dozen things I haven't mentioned.

Doug

[sdcat]

Yes, much too complex for my simple mind! That's why I'm going with the recommended settings from Freestyle for starters. I'm thinking now that if I had wider tires in the back, it might be just right!