X6 Southport Setup

[ianjoyner]

Any tips for helping an X6 go fast around Southport?

[danDanEFC]

You were going pretty fast on Sunday!

[ianjoyner]

Well as you sneakily beat me in round 4 I decided I need to go faster!

[JoelMaher]

Take all the weight out!

[ianjoyner]

Really? I'm fairly light already and was thinking of trying more weight to calm down the bumps and grip roll. But interesting if people find lighter is faster.

[JoelMaher]

When I had my X6 I prefered running it light especially at southport, but I know others prefer running a heavier car. Running saddle layout made the biggest improvement over the bumps for me though

[ianjoyner]

Something I tried was running the wheel base long at the rear hub. I normally run it short.

The car immediately felt more loose, I could have sworn it was faster, it felt like it was quicker in the corners, I couldn't seem to match my best lap with the short wheel base though...

[super__dan]

This is what I ran last year when it was VERY grippy. What I found was that removing steering and allowing myself to push the car was faster than having an edgy car I had to drive carefully.

We're running the car generally long wheelbase these days and weight balance further forward.

[ianjoyner]

Thanks Dan, how does Elvo mount his staggers?

[elvo]

It depends.

[elvo]

Most of the time, like this:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U...2/_MG_2454.jpg

Narrow wheel, outermost inner rib removed, bottom of the tyre's glue bead glued to the flat part of wheel. The outer ribs on the wheel are there, but they're not glued to anything.

Sometimes, if there's a lot of grip and I can't quite handle it, like this:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U...2/_MG_2454.jpg

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/U46041/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png[/IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--O1ifG5leqk/S5bLoURjSDI/AAAAAAAALTE/5gZCDlLL-Gg/s512/_MG_3410.jpg

Narrow wheel, outer ribs removed, so the tyre is soft laterally, thus forgiving.

[super__dan]

Elvo, last link not working there chief.

Basically though as Elvo says remove the outer ribs (cut with lexan scissors then dremel smooth) then glue the bottom of the rib to the outer face of the wheel. As elvo says there is move lateral movement and easier to drive. I think the ones in the pic are the actual ones from Southport last year

[ianjoyner]

Interesting! I've never run the original staggers, I've found the new cut-staggers mounted normal-style on wide rims pretty good. But I know some people comment on them being a bit aggressive.

[super__dan]

Cut staggers are more like mini spikes than stagger in my opinion, their shape and sidewall is the same it's just like some slightly wons spikes as the sides are tapered on the outer spikes and tapered on one side for all the others.

[ianjoyner]

Well it was dry today at Southport, I started out with cut staggers but was finding the front end a little nervous on the high grip astro.

I gave the staggers a go, almost Elvo style, but I left the inside rib on (after trimming the wheel down to slim). I needed to remove the outside rib to get them to sit well on the wheel.

They felt really good, I hadn't realised they were such a different profile to mini-spikes. It didn't feel like they lost much mid corner grip over the cut staggers, but particularly in the bumpy bits they seemed to be less snatchy than the cut staggers. I don't know if they aren't just more compliant and therefore smooth out the little bumps better.