First trackday on BCs - starting settings

[Alex__]

Hi all,

Shortly I will be doing a trackday at my local track (Oulton) with new BC coilovers AND a more aggressive geo setup (increased camber all round, more front caster), so want to ease back into driving the car, as I know it will feel very different to the old setup.

Running 10kg front springs, 8kg rear. Tyres are A048s.

Just wondering
A) How many clicks of dampening should I start with when getting used to the car? Factory settings are 8 clicks from stiffest.
B) Should I be running different settings front and rear? And what impact does a stiffer front/rear have on over/understeer?
C) I know he general rule is soften the dampening up in the wet and stiffen in the dry, but what are the negative effects of running the car too stiff for example?

 

[imprezaworks]

@JB21
@JamesBryan
@Niall

 

[Sam Linssner]

I started at 50/50 and played with it. Ended up on full hard but that’s because my springs weren’t hard enough when I started to chase lap times.

 

[JB21]

As Sam mentions start in the middle and dial them in to conditions and personal preference. I prefered the rear stiffer than the front with AST's on 9kg front and 11kg rear and anti roll bar hooked up on soft, even ran like this in the wet on AD08R's without issue.

I just used this page below but there's loads out there for suspension tuning.

http://www.rapid-racer.com/suspension-tuning.php

Also if youve been away from Oulton for a while this is also a very informative track guide. Helped me a lot to get the most out of the car and my own ability.

 

[Alex__]

As Sam mentions start in the middle and dial them in to conditions and personal preference. I prefered the rear stiffer than the front with AST's on 9kg front and 11kg rear and anti roll bar hooked up on soft, even ran like this in the wet on AD08R's without issue.

I just used this page below but there's loads out there for suspension tuning.

http://www.rapid-racer.com/suspension-tuning.php

Also if youve been away from Oulton for a while this is also a very informative track guide. Helped me a lot to get the most out of the car and my own ability.

Hmm I see. I might need to run different settings then as Ive got firmer springs on the front than the rear. However, thinking about it, the AST rears are a one-piece assembly aren't they, so less leverage on the spring. Not sure what an 11kg rear spring equates to on a separate damper and spring setup.

Sweet, Ill give that a proper watch before the trackday.

 

[Steven103]

You’re supposed to start at full soft all round then up the rear until you have pitch control, then up front & rear together until body roll is adequately controlled. Then fine tune front/rear individually to get the desired corner entry/exit behaviour.

Partly due to manufacturing tolerances of the bits inside a damper (fully soft/firm is easier to manufacture consistently than a random point in the middle) and then the fact that less spring/damping is required for optimum tyre grip than for body control so you want to add the minimum possible needed to control the body.

Not saying anyone’s suggestion of X or Y clicks isn’t good advice, just that the above will reliably get you in the right place for any car/circuit/driver combination. If you do it on a public road you’ll need a few more clicks all round for tyres that are properly up to temp & correct pressure. Try & do pitch on something resembling a circuit e.g a faster smoother road with small crests or dips as opposed to “square edged” features like potholes, drains or speed bumps.