This is the kind of info we need!!

[johndvm]

http://www.apexspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48034

[Bruce Fielding]

From that thread

When I got my car it has 400 front/1100 rear springs, double digressive shock valving, anti-dive in the front, anti-squat in the rear, and a whopper rear ARB, plus the rear pre-load.

I couldn't come to "grips" with it (pun intended)

took out all the anti geometry, made shocks linear, reduced rear bar and reduced rear springs to 900lb, and got faster with each change. then the push really started to come in.

Track photos showed a bunch of rear squat, lifting the nose and changing the AOA on the wings. Shocks were also maxed in bump and nearly maxed in rebound due dialing in changes there as I went faster.

So, I went to 1000 lb rear springs, re-centered the shock settings, and I'm getting a bit faster again.

Most of the smart guys on here tell me that's a standard progression - you buy a car that you find twitchy, soften it up, go faster until you realize it needs to be stiffer, and then start going back to the original settings......

I looked at SFR lap times and the OP is right there with Bobby Oergel's time in my car "back in the day"

I didn't understand any of that...

[benyeats]

I think he is saying he got a car, thought he knew how to improve its settings, got better at driving it, realised it was OK in the first place.

So a long way of saying the best upgrade you can buy for your car is tuition......

Ben

[toms]

 

[johndvm]

In total agreement on the tuition note as well. My experience in the US SRA series has been that 90% of my improvement has come from my driving skills creeping upward rather than car set up refinements. Talking with fellow drivers though many, putting myself at the top of the list, don't really understand what the car is telling them.  Also some of the changes that have worked for me, like bumping up tire pressures to raise tire temps on the R6s seem counter-intuitive. (caution -I am not one of the fast guys so take what I say with a grain of salt!)

[toms]

[quote="johndvm"]
In total agreement on the tuition note as well. My experience in the US SRA series has been that 90% of my improvement has come from my driving skills creeping upward rather than car set up refinements. Talking with fellow drivers though many, putting myself at the top of the list, don't really understand what the car is telling them.  Also some of the changes that have worked for me, like bumping up tire pressures to raise tire temps on the R6s seem counter-intuitive. (caution -I am not one of the fast guys so take what I say with a grain of salt!)
[/quote]

I would say the best available resource you have in this regard are TMI - Mark, Brent and those guys know how to set a car up.  Grab as much info as you can from them as they know what they are talking about, and in my experience avoid at all costs those self professed 'experts' that inhabit various racetrack paddocks and internet forums (runs for cover  ) the world over or you will get in what we Brits call 'a muddle'.

In my experience there is no substitute for experience and seat time/practise and what works for you might not work for someone else.  Based on my experience of working with various drivers quite often what they think will work might not really work but still makes them quicker anyway as they have more confidence!  (I think that makes sense  )

Best of luck with your racing - to say I'm jealous that you guys have that series over there would be an understatement!

[johndvm]

Thanks for the advice, I am working on a log book to track changes.
The series has been outstanding and the guys at TMI have gone above and beyond.