Having run Suzuka and Sebring more times than I care to think about, I saw this and realised that the SS is the nearest thing I have to a project car. With your collective indulgence I thought I might try and keep track of how it develops over the challenges. Before I start though, I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who gave advice over the weeks gone as without your help and advice I wouldn't have ended up with the car I have today (68.599 at Sebring, 82.086 at Suzuka).
So, here's the set-up for the challenge just gone:
The Stats:
Power: 424 bhp
Torque: 469 bhp
Weight: 3030 lbs
The Build:
Power: Race Intake and Engine Block, Sport Exhaust, Street Fuel System
Handling: All Race except Sport Weight Reduction, no aero
Wheels: Center Line rims with BF Goodrich DOT's, size 215/R14's
The Tune: (F/R unless stated otherwise)
Tyres: 28/28
Gears: FD - 3.30, 1-6 - 2.82, 1.98, 1.45, 1.14, 0.92, 0.75
Camber: -1.0/-0.9
Toe: 0/-0.2
Caster: 5.3
ARB: 16.29/13.18
Springs: 585.9/334.6
Ride Height: 6.0/6.0
Rebound: 9.6/8.3
Bump: 8.7/5.9
Braking: 53% Front, 106% Pressure
Diffs: 32% Accel, 24% Decel
Generally I start of a tune using Feuerdog's calculator which gives me a pretty good set-up, although I often find I want to dial out some understeer. This was the case with the SS, so first of all I reduced the caster from 5.5 to 5.3 degree. The ride height was still set pretty low from the ALS Speedway run in the same car (slightly remodelled paintjob now though as I'm sure you'll see - Dirt, let me know if the pic above needs to be in the picture board) so I lifted it to cope with the kerb I cut at the first hairpin at Sebring. Reducing the diff setting was to try to help prevent me lighting up the rears out of corners. I've got to admit I can't remember if I played around with the spring settings but I fine tuned the handling by softening the fron ARB to try and reduce understeer further. I try to stay away from dampers as much as possible because they haven't clicked fully yet in my head (I haven't got a very big brain and it's filling up with muscle car stuff instead of work stuff
)
As for how it drives, possibly the best way to describe it is to describe a run around Suzuka in it (sorry if this should be in the track thread). Generally you should reach the high 140's mph down the start/finish straight before entering 130-R at about 125 mph. A light touch on the throttle will allow you to 4-wheel drift around it and get a pretty good run down to the Turns 2 and 3. Dropping down the gears, Turn 2 is taken in 1st, a quick grab of 2nd and snatch of acceleration then off the throttle and into Turn 3. Being in 2nd you should now be able to straight-line accelerate out in 2nd (it doesn't quite break traction) before another 4 wheel drift through Degner 1 and down to 3rd for Degner 2. The car will then get towards the red line in 4th before the hairpin which it takes in 2nd. Again you need to straightline accelerate out of the hairpin (if you have any steering on you will need to featehr the throttle) but it will accept full throttle out of the corner in a straight line. The car will go flat through the fast right reaching 5th gear before braking down to 3rd for Spoon. You can use a lot of throttle (say 80-90%) between the 2 parts but must back down to about 68-70 mph for the second part. Then it's back on the throttle in 3rd and you should reach about 100 mph before the end of the outside kerb, and about 125 mph over the start/finish line.
Well, I hope that hasn't bored you all senseless and has given you all some idea of the sort of car I'm running.
Spiny Anteater
EDIT: Edited to add a missing minus to the toe.
