Flat floor setup by Freestyle

[frankyknuckles]

I'm having Gary sort out my car tomorrow, front to rear rake needs sorting and front alignmnet also needs sorting.

I'm running 13" rims and Yoko 48's. Are there any recommended settings for this or should I just let Gary 'do his thing'?

Cheers

 

www.R300.net

[CharlesElliott]

I think that you should let Gary do his thing. His expertise is what you're paying him for!! I'm sure that he'll ask about your driving style and what you want/don't want.

 

Charles

---

My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

[robmar]

let Gary do his thing

[knowley]

...and look forward to the 9th 😬

 

R300 Register

My R300

[donkey kong]

(1) whats happening on the 9th (2)enjoy the cappicino's franky,AND the sense of space in his garage(gary had a clearout !!!of his workshop ,apparently they found some illegals living under one of his cars 😬!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Always driving with a can of WHUP-ASS in the car!!!

[Bafty Crastard]

Well this is the way we do a "flat floor set-up" up north...

 

Drink about six Carly Specials, then.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..!!!!!! 😳

 

My R300 NUT Hurts !

 

 

Edited by - Bafty Crastard on 2 Jul 2004 15:58:13

[Alba 7]

sense of space in his garage(gary had a clearout!!!of his workshop)

Jeepers, he hasn't thrown out my car has he???? I know it has been there long enough to almost claim rights of residency but I was hoping to get to drive it one day soon ❗

 

Franky, can you let us know your impressions of the car after Gary has done his stuff as it is something I'm considering too.

[Miles Taylor]

I'd like to know too, as I'm thinking about it as well.

 

Milo

[Alex Gurr]

Very interested too.

 

Slightly O/T, but could anyone tell me Freestyle's contact number, e-mail 🤔

 

[Ferrino]

All info here.

[frankyknuckles]

Bowser - There is an R300.net rack day at Keevil with MSE on the 9th August. Places are still available.

 

You have to breath in when you try to squeeze yourself into Gary's workshop !!!!!!

 

It is so nice to take you car somewhere and chat with the guy when is he working on your car. Gary is a top bloke, no mistake. We discussed all the things that I thought were wrong with the car and discussed my driving style and how I use the car (mainly road at the moment). We discussed the recent changes to wheels and tyres etc and discussed what should be changed (if anything).

 

Gary sorted out the alignment (but a few tweaks are still required, but I can do this) and sorted out the tyre pressures. Gary recommends that the 48's are run at 20psi (cold), the theory is that the tyres will not get to operating temperature and presure (20 psi) when used on the road, hence cold pressure should be 20 psi.

 

Corner weights were then adjusted, rear lowered by about 20mm and the front raised by a few mm. The reason for raising the front end was because when I was sat in the car, the dampers were almost resting on the bump stops.

 

These were the only adjustments necessary (car was flat floored by CC at PBC). gary was keen not to change anything 'just for the sake of it'.

 

Driving conditions were damp on the way home so I did not push it, but as I got closer to home it was dry so I gave it some around a few roundabouts and good corners that I know well. In my opinion the car is alot better, the front end bites more (could be pressure change in front tyres, I was using 16 psi), car feels more balanced, no rear end twitches, the front dampers also seem to be moving alot more and the car is less judery over sharp bumps. The car just feels much much better and alot more balanced (I did have a 50mm rake before Gary adjusted it due to change in wheel tyre combo).

 

In my opinion, it is well worth a visit to Gary's place, even if just for a general check-up on your settings, I learnt alot from talking to him, he must of been working on my car for about 1.5 hours and ponly charged me £50. I think I am correct in saying that CC charge £175 for this work.

 

All in all I'm very pleased I had Gary sort the car for me. He is also keen to follow up with my thoughts on the settings when we meet at brands Hatch on the club track day.

 

Final figures are

 

Actual KG

LF 139.5 RF 146.0

LR 165.0 RR 184.5

 

SELECTED 285.5 45% (not usre what this means )

TOTAL 635Kg (with me in it) 545.5kg without me in it

 

www.R300.net

 

Edited by - frankyknuckles on 2 Jul 2004 18:23:39

[Strangely]

285.5 45% refers to the weight over the front of the car, i.e. 285.5 kg, 45% of the total weight.

 

I had my car flat-floored by Gary (and had Avo dampers and springs fitted) and I concur with all of your comments. He's a top bloke.

 

If you're interested you can see more about my session here:

http://www.strangely.org/diary/200208/Freestylehandingkit-fitte.html

[Chris K]

when I went there I just let Gary do his thing.. he asked whatsthe main usage etc but it was a marked improvement over b4..

 

'Going round the corner givin' it a handfull'

[Petrolhead]

Actual KG

LF 139.5 RF 146.0

LR 165.0 RR 184.5

---

 

Interesting read.

 

I recently had mine done at CC (£175 ) and this was the result

 

LF 136 RF 136

LR 166 RR 175

 

Tot weight inc me 613, I weigh 80 so car = 533

 

Now with SL No 148

[Paul D Jones]

I cornerweighted my car myself and set the ride hight at the same time

 

the cornerweights where re weighed at Couborougher Westfield sprint day on Adrians scales

 

results from Adrian

 

 

Below are the details of your car from the weigh in at Curborough. Firstly start with the bare car details:

 

Total unloaded car weight: 566 kg

This breaks down from

Left Front: 138.5 kg

Right Front: 137 kg

Left Rear: 149.5 kg

Right Rear: 141 kg

 

Loaded with driver the car weight was 644.5 kg

 

This breaks down to

Left Front: 139.5 kg

Right Front: 154 kg

Left Rear: 171 kg

Right Rear: 180 kg

 

Or in percentage terms for each corner of overall weight

Left Front: 21.644685802948022%

Right Front: 23.894491854150505%

Left Rear: 26.532195500387896%

Right Rear: 27.928626842513577%

 

The front of the car currently sits with 45.539177657098527 % of the weight. The cross weight percentage (LF + RR vs RF +LR) is 49.573312645461598.

 

 

 

Paul.

See My Car Here

[Petrolhead]

I was in the car when it was done as was told this is the way it should be done

 

Now with SL No 148

[Paul D Jones]

"I was in the car when it was done as was told this is the way it should be done "

 

Unless you carry a passenger ALL the time and then do it with a passenger in as well

 

My car was cornerweighted with no fuel but the above figures are for it fully fuelled and me in it and out of it probably best to do it when the fuel tank is half full [normal tank sizes]

 

Paul.

See My Car Here

[Petrolhead]

Confused buy you figures paul

 

Your front cornerwieght with you in the car 139 and 154

Withouut you in the car 138 and 137

 

With you in the car is no longer setup???

 

 

 

Now with SL No 148

[Paul D Jones]

It's all a compromise

 

The ride hight needs to be correct this is easy use a ruler and can be the same both sides as it should be

 

The ride high with the SBD widetrack suspunsion I have requires the wish bones to be parrellel with the floor [level floor] the ride hight can be further adjusted with tyre profiles. This is best done with driver.

 

Then the tracking needs to be as required

then back to the ride hight to check nothing has been compromised

 

Cornner weights with driver and car as used [track ,road, touring etc]

 

If you move the damper platforms to adjust the corner weights you buggfer up the ride hight and the tracking etc. so after hours of fidilling I have this set up that is sbout as close as I can get it with the car the way it is

 

I intend to move components when I fit my Duratec so as to try and balance the car better as this is now the only way to get the cornner weight closer [moving the weight around in the car and not jacking the damper/spring platforms up/down.

 

you just go around in a big circle untill the gains and improvment are so small as no longer worth the effort.

 

 

 

Paul.

See My Car Here

[StewartG]

Franky, you origimally noticed more understeer having fitted 13" wheels and 48Rs.

Whilst the rake was excessive I would have thought lowering the back would worsen the understeer.

Having read your comments about higher tyre pressure I decided to give 20psi a try.

Findings appear sinilar to yours. The front wheels do move up and down more presumably because bumps are being absorbed by the springs and not the sidewalls.

The ride over bumps does seem better with less lurching around as the tyres deform but and it's a big but, I suspect that ultimate grip levels are lower with earlier slides on known corners. I'm also going to keep a close eye out for excessive wear of the centre of the tread.

I'm not convinced that a tyre running higher pressure heats up and therefore grips more. There is an arguement to the contrary which says that a tyre with less pressure deforms more and thats what heats it up. Maybe greater minds than mine know which effect dominates.

[frankyknuckles]

Whilst the rake was excessive I would have thought lowering the back would worsen the understeer.

Agreed, but I think I was experiencing non-scrubbed-in tyres and more back end grip than I was used to. Now, the tyres are scrubbed in (300 miles) so I think the fronts are working better.

The front wheels do move up and down more presumably because bumps are being absorbed by the springs and not the sidewalls.

What I meant by this was that with the adjustments made to the front dampers, there is more damper movement, ie, it is not hitting the bump stop.

 

The increase in tyre pressure has provided more feedback through the steering wheel, I think the tyres were too squashy at 16psi and the steering was heavy all the time so it was difficult to feel grip levels changing when cornering.

 

I'm not convinced that a tyre running higher pressure heats up and therefore grips more

I'm not sure I explained myself correctly, I am not saying that a tyre with higher initial pressure will heat up more and grip more. What I am saying (or more precisely what Gary is suggesting) is that the tyres, when used on the road, will not generate enough heat to raise cold pressures of 16psi to hot working pressures of 20psi. Therefore, by setting the cold pressure to 20psi, you are ensuring that the correct working pressure is in the tyre to get the best out of it. I need to drive the car more to test this theory, but it certainly sounds sensible. As I have already said, there is more feedbackk from the tyres at 20psi, this can only be a good thing.

 

One thing is for sure, excessive rake is bad on a 7, my car really did feel horrible and unbalanced, but now, it feels spot on with front and back end telling me what is going on.

 

The bigger debate is whether or not the 48's (medium compound) have more grip than CR500's (super soft), and even if the 48's are better than the 21's they replaced (I think they replace the 21 ). I will only find this out on a trackday.

 

www.R300.net

 

Edited by - frankyknuckles on 3 Jul 2004 16:40:25

[StewartG]

I had the same problem with lack of damper travel (after going widetrack) but rather than raise the ride height and perhaps compromise the handling I was able to remove the hex damper top spacers.