Freestyle spring rates

[tiddy1]

Does anyone know what spring rates freestyle supply in thier package? (1995 de-dion, VVC)

 

I already have the AVOs which I sourced from AVO @ £140 per pair and the front ARB looks great so should be ordered soon.

 

Simon

[Peter Carmichael]

A closely guarded secret??? When I was chatting to Gary at the weekend he very properly told me to bog off when I asked about spring rates because he is running Brodie Branch's car for the sprints. My guess would be ~300lb/in at the front and ~120 lb/in at the rear.

 

Peter *eek*Loadsachequestubs Carmichael

[scooby dooby doo]

I've not measured them but subjectively the rear seems harder and the front perhaps marginally softer than my previous setup. Previously I had what Ratrace called the "uprated setup". i believe this is/was 180 rear and 300 front.

 

so I'd guess that the freestyle is 275 front and 200 rear or something. OTOH - this TOTALLY ignores the change of dampers and so renders the above total rubbish ❗ And I've gone widetrack as well, so the 'softened' front could just be to the geometry change (worth 12% of softening I believe)

 

Peter, can I ask how you get those your numbers 🤔 using the backside-o-meter or have you made an attempt to measure them...

 

Dear santa, please can i have that suspension book for christmas 🤔

 

PS Do i win a prize for the earliest mention of christmas this year 🤔

 

HOOPY CYCLE WINGS CUCUMBER

[Jason Plato]

I would rather like know what spring rates I would be purchasing .

If you didnt like the setup once it was on the car then how would you know which direction to go in ??

 

And what is the effective range of the adjustable arb compared to the caterham bars ??

 

Simon - I would plump for 150 rears with 1/2" bar and 250 front with 1/2" bar .

 

The springs can be bought from Merlin Motorsport for around £18 each . Just double check the lengths you require for the AVO's .

 

Dave

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Both Len and Gary are very cagey about the spring rates. Spring rates is something that totally confuses me anyway. My car was faster with 170lb front springs than it is with 250lb (both with the standard progressive rear springs and standard widetrack Bilsteins) which goes against all the advice I've received. I do have a Freestyle kit but haven't fitted it. I think I'm going to go back to my softer springs when I have some time.

 

Edited by - Alex Wong on 18 Aug 2002 22:07:35

[Mike Bees]

DaveJ wrote: "I would rather like know what spring rates I would be purchasing .

If you didnt like the setup once it was on the car then how would you know which direction to go in ??"

 

I agree Dave. Of course the advantage to the seller of being secretive is that if you don't like the setup then you your only option for improvement is to go back to the seller and spend more money... I can't for the life of me see why spring rates should be a closely guarded secret. We know what ball-park they will be in, and there's no way that there will be a 'magic' setting in that ball-park which is massively better than anything else in the ball-park.

 

Mike

[Jason Plato]

As Alex has kinda said , the set up which one person thinks is the Doggies , may not suit another person driving style . Only testing and development can produce a set up which suits the driver , inspires confidence and produces the lap times .

 

Dave

[EFA]

Mike,

 

I think if you purchase the springs from Gary then they will tell you the rates.

 

The agenda here could be getting the rates and purchasing elsewhere.

 

Personally Gary is an excellent set up engineer - he got my heavy old VX car so it handled better (i.e. faster) around Curborough, than Richard Ince's R500 (when Richards tyre warmer was driving)...... On hot tyres he thrashed me however, but the playing field will be levelled this coming weekend....(assuming I get the car back OTR by Tuesday night.

 

Fat Arn

Visit the K2 RUM site

See the Lotus Seven Club 4 Counties Area Website here

 

[Peter Carmichael]

Hoopy,

 

Having known Gary for years and talked to him many a time, I know that he knows that the rear of the car needs to be soft. He is very scornful of people going higher than 150lb/in at the rear. If the backside-o-meter is telling you otherwise it is going to be down to the damping or ARB settings.

 

Peter *eek*Loadsachequestubs Carmichael

[scooby dooby doo]

i was surprised the rear felt stiffer as well as I'd thought that the enlightened view of rear suspension setup on a caterham was to not go too hard. I guess it *must* be the dampers then as road driving in a straight line doesn't really work the ARB much.

 

I did go to wider tyres at the back but that shouldn't make any difference either...

 

I have a few other issues to sort but should be able to give a good test of them at cadwell in september (twice )

 

HOOPY CYCLE WINGS CUCUMBER

[Swiss_Tony]

Not wanting to state the obvious but if someone wants to know the spring rates why not test them?

 

James

 

[scooby dooby doo]

cos we're all too lazy 🤔

do you have something suitable to test them withor are you volunteering to stand on them and get a willing volunteer to measure how far you go down....

 

HOOPY CYCLE WINGS CUCUMBER