Victors Mutterings part 1

[Victor Meldrew]

Looking for a ball park figure for spring rates for sprinting/track use. The car is very much turning into a 95% track use car that has to be driven to the circuit.

I have spoken to a few people about rates and there are several different opinions about how hard you could go. I would expect a little compliance would be needed to ride some of the kerbs. Any opinions would be very much valued.

[robin]

If you're only talking about proper race tracks you can go very hard. The kerbs aren't really an issue, provided you're setting the car up properly for them (and you will simply take less kerb where the kerbs are higher and upset the car - the fact that your car is flatter and rolls less means you'll simply drive around the kerb more).

The problem is that to make very hard springs make sense, you need the camber and ride height to go with them - ordinarily the body roll translates into extra camber in the corners, less cambers on the straight (though it also translates into reduced contact patch area in the corners). If you remove the body roll, you need to increase the camber to compensate - that means you'll carry that camber up the straight and on the road and will wear your tyres out more quickly. You will want to aim for 110/120 ride height if you're going to carry on driving on the road 100/110 would be the absolute minimum.

So were it me, I would aim for a compromise - something like 400/525 with an adjustable anti-roll bar at the front and a ride height of 110/120.

At the other end of the spectrum, you can go all the way to 100/110 with 500/650 springs (or more - I've seen spring rates in the 700's on the rear of some elises!).

Cheers,
Robin

[Shug]

Are you on the LoTRDC forum John?

Would be the ideal place to get this sort of info from the guys who now have a couple of seasons experience in what works and what doesn't. Important to mention that you'll be looking to sprint it though - so no need to conform to the LOT ride height regs.

Randy at Hofmans also known to give good advice - you'll need to get the dampers re-valved (or flog them and go all new might be as cheap) if you're going to go track-specific on spring weights and Hofmans have a pretty good rep for this.

[tenkfeet]

Are you on the LoTRDC forum John?

Would be the ideal place to get this sort of info from the guys who now have a couple of seasons experience in what works and what doesn't. Important to mention that you'll be looking to sprint it though - so no need to conform to the LOT ride height regs.

Randy at Hofmans also known to give good advice - you'll need to get the dampers re-valved (or flog them and go all new might be as cheap) if you're going to go track-specific on spring weights and Hofmans have a pretty good rep for this.

Randy's real name is Chris Randal , I got confused who the hell is this guy Chris . He is very helpful no hard sell and replies to U2u's on Seloc.

[mckeann]

it depends what dampers your using with them, and what valving those dampers will have internally.

[Victor Meldrew]

I have been looking at the new Gaz gold pro shocks. separately adjustable bump and rebound for around £600. Basically need to specify the spring rates before I order.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lotus-Elise-Gaz-G ... uspension-

Now normally I would dive in and go for Nitrons but after the bad press they got with the racing reds I'm not completely convinced that they are the dogs danglies.. So if I can get a set that is good enough for what I want for half the price then why not..

As can be seen on one of the other threads I was toying with the idea of a decent size rear wing, so was thinking that (as recommended by Elise parts) stiffer springs could be fitted later..

[mckeann]

Personally, i would spend once and spend right.

For me, having driven a couple of cars now with them, that would be hoffmans spec nitrons.

I'm sure, if you scrimp on this, you wont get the results you want, and you'll be back buying better soon enough. It depends how serious you are, and if your not looking for wins, then save your cash.

[hiscot]

imo std spec nitrons have big issues hence randy comes along and sorts the valving and droop , therefore if its to be nitrons the randy spec seem the better choice
however be carefull on spring rates a race car will have a far stiffer setup than a road car that may use road tyres
too hard will make a very lively car on wet roads , spring choice also favours eibach over other makes

[tenkfeet]

Personally, i would spend once and spend right.

Wise words

[Shug]

Now normally I would dive in and go for Nitrons but after the bad press they got with the racing reds I'm not completely convinced that they are the dogs danglies..

Erm, the reason the Reds were withdrawn is that they couldn't get them made up to the quality expected of Nitrons (believe the construction was outsourced to keep the price down, wasn't it) and didn't want to hurt their rep. I believe all RR testing customers were offered a refund, yes?

That'd make me more confident of the company, not less...

[Victor Meldrew]

Now normally I would dive in and go for Nitrons but after the bad press they got with the racing reds I'm not completely convinced that they are the dogs danglies..

Erm, the reason the Reds were withdrawn is that they couldn't get them made up to the quality expected of Nitrons (believe the construction was outsourced to keep the price down, wasn't it) and didn't want to hurt their rep. I believe all RR testing customers were offered a refund, yes?

That'd make me more confident of the company, not less...

Good way to look at it.. will give hoffmans a phone later on this week.. see what the options are.

[ABZ-Elise]

My car is down at Hoffmans just now getting a full geo set up (bump steer and corner weight) and a few other bits done. Its getting set up for track only use. I drove it down there from Aberdeen and found the ride to be quite good, alot better than what I was expecting. That was with me just throwing the Nitrons on and roughly setting the height. I'm looking forward to getting the car back and trying it out on the track.

Kev.

[tenkfeet]

My car is down at Hoffmans just now getting a full geo set up (bump steer and corner weight) and a few other bits done. Its getting set up for track only use. I drove it down there from Aberdeen and found the ride to be quite good, alot better than what I was expecting. That was with me just throwing the Nitrons on and roughly setting the height. I'm looking forward to getting the car back and trying it out on the track.

Kev.

How long did that take you ?

[ABZ-Elise]

To long!! I had a numb ass by the time I got there. About 11 hours in total I think. Could have done it a bit quicker but due to bad road conditions and 888's I had to keep slow.

[tenkfeet]

To long!! I had a numb ass by the time I got there. About 11 hours in total I think. Could have done it a bit quicker but due to bad road conditions and 888's I had to keep slow.

Thats dedication to the cause . I would be interested to hear how it feels afterwards.