Had a great day at the track yesterday. Went out on a completely untested setup with new brakes, new shocks and new steering geometry and the car was balanced and driveable right away. the only thing I tuned on during my 4 runs was rear brake bias, started out with too much, took WAY too much out then slowly put it back in after each of the last 2 runs finally getting it pretty close.
Times were good enough for 13th in PAX out of 175 drivers, 15th in overall raw time. I was VERY pleased. The carb issues seem to be taken care of as well (thanks Bob).
Here's the video of my fastest run, what a fun course!! We ran this EXACT same course at this event last year and my times were about 1 full second faster this year over last. That tells me that both the car and the driver just keep getting better.
Great picture captured exiting the final corner on the final run of the day...
Ended up 6 tenths off of Keith in his National Championship winning 2011 Camaro on 335s square with my 32 year old G body on 275s... Pretty dang happy with that.
Now it's off to Phoenix in a week or so to start a new chapter of life. Can't wait to get my feet wet in a new racing environment. Hope to fly back in and co-drive with my KC racing friends whenever I can though, gonna miss the racing camaraderie we've developed here over the years. Also hope they'll come out to the PHX and co-drive Barney with me out there when they are down for the season here.
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Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
Two thumbs up! So if it's about where it was out of the box is there more in it now to tap into with the new parts?
The car is pretty good, doesn't seem like it needs much more tuning right now.
The driver on the other hand...needs to learn how to be even faster on the new setup. Watching the videos back I found several places I could have carried way more speed with it.
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Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
Thanks! Yep, I record them all...mainly for driver development reasons.
Regarding PHX, have you stepped outside lately? ��]
I figured as much, very good idea.
Regretfully, yes I have and I completely understand. Last weekend was especially brutal for no reason.
I have a friend who moved to northern Florida last year with the exact same thought. The concept of moving from here crossed my mind several times last week and several times last winter. The hardest part is I have a lot of cars, related parts and tools to move... but with proper planning it can be done. The older I get the less I like cold so it's going to happen, just when...
As much as I like my new big Stoptech brakes (and trust me, I LIKE them a lot...) I think I'm more happy about the steering geometry changes... I'll try to describe to you how it changed after adding the new ATS spindles and reversed steering arms, but I'm not sure I can do it justice.
I see autocross cars on course all the time with a ton of static camber dialed in to help the outside front tire grip in corners, but at the same time...you look at the inside front tire in a turn and maybe 1/4 or sometimes even less of that tire's contact patch is on the ground. The owners or drivers will say "Well, the inside front tire isn't doing anything anyway, so what does it matter?"
If the inside front tire grip in a turn doesn't matter, how can doing something as simple as adding Ackerman make such a dramatic change in the way my car turns?
Every car that is setup to turn should already be optimized to get 100% of the possible grip from the outside front tire...that is a given. After that, the only way to get even more front grip is to help the inside front tire. After this latest change to my car, I can tell you that when you do, you WILL feel it!! I first noticed the difference when I went to my testing track (large cloverleaf interchange with 25 mph long sweeping corners). Mid corner, steady speed about 85 mph, I could put just a little bit of steering wheel into it and the front would turn and almost simultaneously the back would step out just a tad and the whole car stayed perfectly stable. You could feel the inside front just digging in every little bit of wheel you put into it. My eyes opened right up...it was that much different.
The only real change to the steering geometry after adding the spindles was the addition of a bunch of Ackerman. I'm not sure how much I added, heck...I set the toe alignment with a tape measure and didn't touch anything else on the control arms after the install. I know this though, I almost didn't have enough tie rod length in the adjusters after flipping the steering arms around. The ride height ended up exactly the same, travel the same, maybe a bit more camber gain at full compression, everything basically the same except the added Ackerman. We accomplished this by putting the driver side steering arm on the passenger side and visa versa, this made the steering arm curve to the outside instead of the center of the car increasing the amount the inside front tire turns in relation to the outside front tire.
I autocrossed the car with the local SCCA Region for the first time last Sunday. We had a super fast course with two LARGE and fast braking zones. One had a sharp 180 degree turn at the end, the next had a hard 90 degree turn right...then the whole back stretch was a long wide spread out slalom...all perfect to test a car out on. The only knob I adjusted on all day was brake bias, way too much rear brake early, then not enough so I kept putting it back in a little at a time.
What I found though is I could carry WAY more speed into just about any corner, and when I turned the wheel, it just turned and stuck. I got to where at the end of the second straight I'd brake early...then let off the brake and just carry max speed into the hard right. It stuck EVERY time and the Ackerman helped turn in tremendously. In just 4 runs, I never did find the limit in front grip...there is so much more there...it will take the driver more time to get used to all the new found grip.
Results showed I finished 6 tenths off of Keith Lamming and 5 tenths off of Patrick Darling on a 45-46 second course. Not too bad at all considering they are accomplished drivers on 335s and 315s and I'm on my puny little 275s and in a heavy car with 57% of the weight on the nose. Just goes to show, a properly setup car can be fast...even without being perfectly balanced front to rear. Setting your car up to get as much grip from the inside front tire as possible is just another tool to have in your bag of tricks.
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Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
Lance, as always, thanks for bringing your experience to us. It takes a lot of time and work to post this stuff, and it’s appreciated. Glad to see your car working so well, and your having a blast doing it!
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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