Saturday 17 May 2014

Race Tips 101 : Finding Traction


Everyone wants to have a "dialled in car" for the race and a "dialled in car" means a car that you feel comfortable driving and is PUSHable. What are we looking for exactly?

In my early days of racing, whenever I reach a new track I always try to get the car to perform at it's best. The pit table will be full of stuff, you name it you have it. Front springs, DPS springs, T-plates, tools ......... the list goes on and on. I see a lot people going through setups during practise day. They start wenching their car by changing springs, ride height, body shell, almost anything you can think of just to get the car to perform at it's best. IF it is a need to go through so much things then why not just build a new car at the race? LOL

There is absolutely nothing wrong with your car, it's just the RIGHT TRACTION you are looking for.

Finding the right traction is always the key to winning races, so when talk about traction it is nothing but tires. So you might say I have the right tire combi everyone is using it and their car is performing good but mine is not.

Front Tires

Do you know that same pair tires feels totally different when you glue them, tape them and best of all tape them using different types of tape.

Do you also know that the same tires also feel different when it is of different thickness?

The front tires gives you steering and it is also mainly the cause for traction rolling. Here is a simple chart to help you see the picture better

Tire Status                 Traction Roll Level        Pushable Level        Cornering Speed

Fresh                                     10                                 1                              10
Trued to 23mm                       6                                  5                               7
Trued to 22.5mm                    4                                  7                               6
23mm Glued                           6.5                               4.5                            8          
23mm Taped                           6                                  5.5                            7.5
22.5mm Glued                        4.5                               6.5                            6.5
22.5mm Taped                        4                                  7.5                            6.5

For the rear tires, try to use a brand new set and of course you still have the option of glue or tape.

As you can see, tires alone affect the car quite a fair bit. Your choice, wench and potentially ruin your car or work on your tires.

Happy racing !

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