different suspension setup between autoX and road racing
 

i'm wondering what different set up there is different the two different types of racing

there camber

what else? height, understeer/oversteer, toe in/out, spring rate

what is the ideal set up for each individual type of racing?

In autox, you tune the suspension to have great transient response (quick directional changes for the slalom). The spring rate and roll-coupling are optimized for low-speed cornering on flat smooth surface. In road racing, the speed is much higher, the track surface is sometimes rougher, the elevation changes will unload your suspension and lead to loss of control issues. A huge rear sway bar that works for autox will give you rear stability issue when cornerning at high speed.

currently i have:

jic coilovers ep3 model (9k,10k spring rates)
progress front/rear sway bars
5zigen FN-01R-C 15x7
Falken Azenis 205/50/15

i won't be able to install my jic's back on until about march since i bent one in an accident

i have a track day coming up on Feb 20th

i prefer road racing over autoX, do i have the suspension stuff heading the right way or am i going somewhere between road and autoX

hopefully my chassis will be able to handle the load of the road racing since i had front and rear end frame damage, my repair estimate came up to about $11k

will front and rear strut bars help a lot since my frame was damaged before

the body shop just bent the frame back to normal shape/dimensions

Well, give it a try and see how much load the stock chassis can handle. You definitely want to stick with street tires like Azenis, because you want the tires to give instead of putting too much stress on the chassis. Definitely no full slicks or street-legal race compound stuff, they'll grip too hard once warmed up and your chassis will get floppy in hard cornering.

I'd add all the cheap chassis reinforcement you can and have fun. Give yourself lots of suspension travel or you might lose your front bumper. :D

WOW, I'm supprised! some one actually knows what Hes talking about.

Its true Road racing and autocross will have VERY different setups, and what climacus said was right. autocross you are looking for Maximum turning power in Mid and low speed corners, where Road racing you need more stability in the fast corners. not something a Well preped autocross car will give you.

my advice (Because I try to keep things cheep) Run the event with what you have. try it out. You never know what you need untill you find out what the car will do now. after that, I'd look in to either converting the Progress anti-roll bars to be adjustible (You can do alot with a welder), or find some adjustible Front and rear bars. Reason for this is that you will eventually want to tune the car to your style of driving and your capibilites (Some people like a bit of oversteer some like it to understeer). also, You will develop different settings for different tracks and weather conditions. so adjustibility is a Must.

From what you listed for parts it looks like the only part currently adjustible is you ride height and shocks. not bad, for ride height you dont want to go to low, you want enough ride height and shock travle as to not bottom out, so that depends on how rough the roads/tracks you race on so adjust accordingly (be prepaird to chang things at the track). Damping..... this is a bit of a black art and will take some time to tune..... Grassroots motorsports is a great magazine with articles like this.....Choosing, Buying and Tuning Shocks Great info there.

one of the biggest things that would help you is knowlage, the more you konw and understand on whats happining to the car the more you can tune and drive better.

The Physics of Racing is a great place to start

also, Pick up a few racing books like Drive to win by Carroll Smith and Winning a race driver's handbook by George A Anderson. Anotther good book is Secrets of Solo racing, it deals alot with autocross but there is a good section on Hot laping, plus its good to learn as much about the line and corner theory as possible.

Camber caster and toe..... thats going to need some testing as well as finding out what your budget can afford (Toe adjustments +- will eat tires Much quicker then high camber settings).

For the chassis, as long as it was repaired right it should be fine. if you are worried, pick up some chassis reinforcements, they cant hurt.

Good luck, and keep the shiny side up.
:_ontome:

thanks zzyzx

i already own "secrets of solo racing"