Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Elworthy
Good going Steve,
I totally agree about the rear end being too locked in so I went out with the intention of trying to make the front of the car more nimble off power as I've found the car consistent but a little safe so far.
The track was around 50/50 very high grip carpet and slippy gym floor. Even on the slippy sweeper at the end of the straight the car just wouldn't come round enough into turn one losing a lot of time.
Through the day I increased the front caster to give a little more steering through the corner and increased the rear wheelbase to take some of the weight off the rear tyres. I noticed that the rear had lots of droop and the front very little so I unwound the front shock eyelets 3.5 turns (maybe a little too much so will maybe reduce to 2 turns for next time) which made the car far more balanced front to rear and settled the car a lot when going through the skippy bumps as the car landed between them far better. The biggest improvement in making the car feel more racey was to move the front shocks to the inner hole on the front wishbone which gave me the steering i needed to keep the car tight into the corner although the rear was a little looser on corner exit.
I'd been around a second a lap slower than Team C driver Adam Perei's fast laps all day but these changes put me just .2 of a second off his quickest for the final. I stayed with Adam for half the race before getting caught on the carpeted ramp somehow losing a few seconds and drove a few tatty laps allowing Adam to drive away with a faultless run.
Given that this is only the 3rd time ive ever raced a 4wd I need to start learning to drive the car more like a 4wd and not like a 2wd. That said to be on pace with Adam who is a very quick driver especially on low grip surfaces with years of 4wd experience is very promising. This car is getting better and better and inspires confidence.
Fellow Sworkz driver Mark Redmond rolled home in 3rd. Running a far different setup to mine he didn't quite get onto his usual pace yesterday. We was running far different diff oil setups with 500k in mine and on 20k in Mark's centre diff. As you would expect Mark's was far smoother on power than mine but was still trying different shock oil combo's to get the desired feel. I was running 600/400 oils with AE purple front and AE green rear springs where Mark was running 650/300 oils but unsure of springs- I'm sure he will share shortly.
Young Hayden Calf is learning quickly and got far more assured with his car through the day. Hayden was running new faster equipment for the first time on a slippy track so took a little bit of getting used to the conditions and extra speed. Hayden looked nice and assured and I'm sure when he's got used to the extra power in the car he will develop into a very handy driver.
Onwards and upwards for Sworkz!!!
Thanks once again to Sworkz UK/Answer RC for the support.
Chris
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Sounds like Mark may have found what i have found this morning. I reported my weekend findings back to Kev, and after a chat about things, i loaded 15k into the centre diff this morning and had a scud about on my living room carpet.
All i shall say is i know living room carpet isnt the same as racing carpet, but ill be trying 15k in the centre tomorrow night for sure. currently in the diffs is 20-15-10
On the shock side of things i found the 1.4 piston in the front stopped the car from slapping the deck so easily. the additional 1mm holes on the rear pistons took away a fair chunk of the pack that the 1.5 pistons have on the rear. it now soaks up bumps and lands jumps so much better