2005.09.20, 01:13 PM
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#1
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(TITANIUM)
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 452
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RACE EVENT SET-up do's and dont's
haha, I thought this would be a good thread to start and pull great stories and info from our mzr community!...
and maybe help those new to racing....
let me start and say im not the best driver out there....but if I were better at adapting my "home track set-up" to a new track at an event like the SF cup I would be much better...
when I was in the army (82nd airborne) I was very young.....
I learned a technique from a process called 'call for fire'
it was a process that you called in for artillery support, and you gave direct instructions on what they must do to adjust in getting close to the target you yourself could see...
step one call in fire as close as possible to the target you guess-ta-mate using lat/long.....watch were the single round lands...then purposely over adjust with new instructions...call in that lat/long, and hopefully you over shoot or under shoot your previous shoot based on were the first one landed...that should give you a very good idea of where to call in the next shot...
if that next shot in right on then you call in for "fire for effect"...which then the artillery battery gives you a mass artillery fire...which usually destroys everything within your call for fire orders....
so you see...I should follow my own training in how to adjust in an event....
but I didn’t...I did it wrong and paid the consequence....
first quail I was using 15d slick fronts and hard springs...which on that sf track pushed very bad...
so as you can imagine everybody was able to cut in on me for a pass every turn....
second qual, I put med springs in thinking to get a little grip...this only made it worst for some reason....again...pushing with the added need for speed reduction to make the turn...as you can imagine...even worse qual time...
third qual, new 8d tread fronts...worked ok but still had a little push...but at least a better qual time....
qualified in b-main: I put in the hard springs with another new set of 8d fronts....worked like a charm....I was now competitive!....
but a day late and a dollar short!...
use the call for fire technique!......
I should have went straight to the 8d tread fronts, instead of working my way to them....if the 8d treaded fronts were to much I would have been able to adjust back to a better setting!!!...
jmo, hope it helps...
now what’s your story?
second qual I thought just to
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2005.09.20, 10:26 PM
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: makati, philippines
Posts: 8,702
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good story... good lessoned learned... (i went through the same exprience you had changed almost everything... it was spin (out) city until somebody suggested for me to change my tires to a softer compound... hahaha)
the most overlooked hop up option that most guys miss (and easiest thing to change to improve handling) are the tires...
they are usually the first importance for setting up your car...
for me i'd find the right tire setting first, then fine tune by going to the other opions, springs, hplate, etc...
good luck in your next race...
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2005.09.21, 03:20 PM
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#3
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EMUracing
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NYC
Posts: 7,417
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I do most of setting adjustment using tires. When I find it just needs a little tweaking, then I adjust springs for the front and rear disc damper. Most of the time I leave the springs (med front soft rear), and only adjust with tires.
Right now I am running 10d radial front and 8d rear. Right now I have a little too much steering for the current track layout, so I may try 15d or 18d up front and see how they feel. Once I dont get the spinout feeling, then I am going to start to adjust the springs and ride height to see which setup feels best.
I completely agree with your overshoot and see how it feels Aaronnn. If you notice an improvement, you can work from there. If not, then you know the problem was elsewhere. Although, I only like to make one change at a time, in a competition you dont usually have enough time to practive with many single adjustments.
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2005.09.27, 11:12 AM
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#4
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learning the hard way
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Surrey B.C
Posts: 607
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Tires are the first thing I check. They are the most important and most noticable change i feel anyone can make before a race. After that i check the wheel base setting, diff adjustment, camber, rear H plate, damper, fiddle with my remote settings and lastly i play with my springs. I haven't noticed a huge difference in when going to soft or hard springs.
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2005.11.05, 07:38 AM
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#5
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Registered Looser
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: singapore
Posts: 80
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when i first started racing, i used the tack owners Xspeed in an open class race. now, being severely underpowered wasnt a big issue since i could drive OK and the fast guys at the track helped me setup my car, but the problem came in the quals. my car suddenly became slow. it wasnt just slow, its was like batterys have dumped slow. it turned out that the brushes had worn to the little metal paddles, and it was pretty useless.
now here is the interesting thing, since i was so slow, i drove perfectly, and didnt crash a single time in the quals, so i qualified only second last, not last. i decided after the quals that i should finally cave in and buy myself a brand new atomic stock to use in the main. which i did. i then proceeded to crash and flip in the C-main becuase i couldent handle the speed of the ATM stock. crashing and flipping notwithstanding, i was doing OK, when all of a sudden my car went dead. i popped it open and discovered that it was the motor tab that had come loose because atomic cold solders the caps on its motors. i pressed the tab on and finished the race, and finished last by just 1 lap.
i learnt 2 things : slower is definitely faster, and dont screw with your car before the main !
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2005.11.05, 12:27 PM
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#6
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EMUracing
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NYC
Posts: 7,417
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Quote:
Originally Posted by reggiethedorf
i learnt 2 things : slower is definitely faster, and dont screw with your car before the main !
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Slower is usually faster. It is better to setup the car to be consistant and average speed rather than the fastest on the track with less consistancy.
However, it is not allways true that you should not adjust the car before the main. Sometimes its good to overhaul the car before the main. I was racing with a newly built up car (McLaren MR02). I qualified with 38 laps, making B main. Just before the main, I swapped all tires to GPM 8d (the tires on there werent very worn, but the fronts were around 15d and the rear tires had to be swapped to stay in balance with the fronts when I swapped them), changed the stock tie bar for a 1 deg toe in, swapped the Atomic Stock motor out, and installed an older PN Speedy BB with a 7t pinion (was running a 9t pinion on the Atomic Stock). I was not as fast in the straight, but everywhere else on the track I was faster. I could make tighter turns, with faster initial acceleration out of the corners. I ended up barely winning the B main with 41 laps. It was some of the closest and best racing that I have been involved with.
The main thing when setting up the car is to make it consistant. You have to be able to take the corners in different ways, if you have to take a corner one way every lap, you cannot manage those corners when there is traffic around. The car needs alot of steering availabe, so you can take the tight line if you need to, or loosen up and go around the outside if needed.
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2005.11.08, 10:48 AM
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#7
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4play
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Reflex Racing, everywhere
Posts: 2,602
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I'll try to have the PNWC race report and tech summary up by the end of this week. A lot of "real life" work right now.
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