Road Course Set Up

[jmker60]

Does anyone have a basic road course set up that they would like to share?

I'm going to try some road racing and I'm not sur about a set up. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John

[elimn8u_43]

Here is one that I have  front camber -1 1/2 degrees both wheels, caster +1/2 degree both wheels, toe out 3/8". Front springs 250,  rear springs 185. Rear end square,  50% cross. Hope this helps .

Geoff

[nhmcclure]

do you have any problems  with understeer when using a spool in road racing

[elimn8u_43]

I don't road race yet. 

[justfreaky]

John,
 I would think that you would want to stay away from a locked rear end in a road course car. Unless you are running   relatively tight turns and short track. Even then, Don't know that there will be any gains. Kind of a go kart approach if you know what I mean. Would cause a lot of wear on tires.
 I am planning to run SCCA auto-cross. I'm thinking, due to the tight turns some of the courses use, that a locked rear may help in some situations.
 I have a friend that ran road courses down south. If you have specific questions, I could ask his oppinion. He's military, and working on his schooling right now. His time is fairly limited; but I would pose your questions to him and pass along his answers.
 There are some others on this site, that are also running venues other than ovals, that may be able to give you better answers. Post up your Track, set up, and any other info you can supply. PM me if you are not comfortable with that. I'll try to get you in the ball park.

 Steve

[qweedqwag]

PM me and I will get you a setup for road course, and yes run a spooled rearend in it, we run our oval setup at the RC because there are only two right hand turns, it is amazing how good the circle track setup works, if all you are going to do is RC then yes I would run a traditional rc setup.

200 front springs
185 rear springs
2.5 degrees of camber
2 degrees of caster
22 pounds of air in the front 18 in the rear
make sure the rear end is square and no lead  on either side (No not lead the heavy stuff)
Make sure you run new camber cut tires
Run the wheelbase to the maximum.
1/8 inch of toe out.


Mike

[jmker60]

Thanks everyone for the info.

I ran my first road course at Sandia Speedway in Albuquerque NM and I had a blast! You'll never know how fast these cars are until you run it down a straight in 5th gear with a 330 rear and the pedal to the floor!

As far as set-up, I used the setup given to me by the locals and it really helped. The setup is very close to those I have received here. They varied only about a half of a degree on the caster/camber and it is the same on the springs.

The Sandia R/C is more technical versus speedy as I was told. To get through the course there are 13 shift points, all the way from 2nd to 5th and back again. I must say it takes quite a bit of concentration and focus.

I started the main 6th out of 12 cars and finished in 6th place. I feel pretty good about that due to it being my first road course race.

Again, Thank you all for the great info, not just on the set up, but on all of the other topics too!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a great 2008!l

[JGRacing]

Should the clutch be used for up shifting on a road course?  Was not sure if the transmission would take the abuse. 

John

[MegaMang]

This is not the first time I've seen a post questioning the clutch's ability to take the strain.  Is there a problem with the clutches in legends?  Do the have a habit of crapping out if used a lot?

I assumed the clutch was made to shift as needed, and well paired to the engine.  Does this concern have to do with shifting hard?  Does the heavy duty clutch fair better?

Any views would be appreciated,

Mike

[justfreaky]

I would think it has more to do with the added weight and resistance. Going from a bike that weighs much less, to a 4 wheeled vehicle weighing 1100 - 1200 lbs. sliding through turns...... Not exactly what the factory had in mind when they built the bike.

Just my .02

 Steve

[RickyBobby]

I think you are right Steve.  I once took a VW bug as a dune buggy and put huge tires on the back and started burning through clutches.  The extra rotating mass was just too much.  I wouldn't mind knowing though as Mike posted if anyone has had success with a heavy duty aftermarket clutch.

[MegaMang]

I'm pretty sure that Paul said mine is a heavy duty clutch, so I'll be interested to see what others have experienced.

Mike

[elimn8u_43]

I use aftermarket clutches in both of my team cars. One car has a Barnett and the other a APE. Both work equally well with no slipage troubles. I also have a spare one up for grabs if someone needs one.

Geoff

[qweedqwag]

One of the best and most effective ways to beef up you clutch is to add another clutch spring to the clutch pack, they are availible from 600 racing, running two springs is what we run in all our customers cars as well as our personal cars, we have tested at two different road courses and one race in the month of December, we have had zero failures, and yes use the clutch to shift and downshift, just make sure you brake when down shifting, the rev limiters dont work when you down shift so be careful, we have seen 12000 + rpm downshifts that are really hard on the engine sometimes they go POP!!!


Hope this helps,

Mike
Cherokee Racing.

[MegaMang]

Didn't think of that.  Of course that rev limiter isn't working downshifting.  The wheels are driving the engine at that point.  Thanks for that tip.