This is my first foray into Solo I and I'd love to get any help from veteran drivers in setting up the car.

My current settings are:

- Tein Flex coilovers
- front Tein camber plates
- Cusco Rear Adj sway
- Rear stb

The brakes were flushed with Motul 600. Steel liines were added along with DS2500s all around. The engine has been tuned @ 20psi.


In preparation, I've gone ahead and rolled the rear fenders. I dunno if the staggered tire set up is preferred or not. I'm going with V710's. Assuming 275/40/17s make the most sense.

I could use help with - setting up the shocks, camber, toe, tire pressures, etc. Along with a rim and tire choice.

Thanks in advance -

 

can you get V710's? khumo is notorious for being out of stock on the race tires...

traditional wisdom tells you to not stagger your tires especially in an AWD car.

go with some really really light wheels. SSR comps or the tire rack has an inexpensive alternative called kosei (sp?) that are also ultra light. that is a good tire choice assuming you can get them.

don't ask me about camber/toe/caster settings cause i haven't messed with them yet.

 

I've heard some good results with 285 fr and 245 rr on Hoosiers. Although it may look wacky, the understear was cured.

I've got a line on V710s, so thats not a problem. I may also pick up a stock set of rims - if 275s fit without bowing.

Any ideas on the suspension settings, namely the flex's.

Thanks so much

 

why don't you just use the sway bar to fix the understear? set the rear to full stiff and not go with such a huge stagger on tires. for short courses like solo2 and solo1 if you use huge tires they might not ever going to get up to temp, thus hurting you more then they will benefit you. also, if you play with the tire pressures you should be able to mess with over and understeer a bit. i found that running extra pressure in the rear reduced my understeer quite a bit for A-stock class in solo2. sense then i have gone to an adjustable rear sway (but still waiting on the replacement mounts from the hotchkis bar because one is broken...).

 

Personally I would stay away from staggered tire sizes for high speed events like solo I.

-You will be spending a lot of money on front tires. Equal sizes will allow you to rotate tires
- You will have more fun, and be a lot safer with a car that is prone to a bit of understeer at the absolute limit.

If you really want to improve as a driver, this is what I would recommend.

- Put all the stock suspension except for the camber plates back on the car.
- See the threads for suggested track alignment settings.
- I can not give you any compairsons on wheels and tires, other to tell you that stock rims and tires are quite capable on track, and I am very, very happy with 255 40 17 RA-1's on 8.5x17 + 40 Enkei RPF-1s.
- Pick a wheel and tire combo priced so that you can affort to have a spare. Yes people look crosseyed at my spare Enkei sitting in the paddock, but guess who is not going to loose a bunch of track time if I catch a nail or cord or otherwise screw up a tire?

Get in as much track time as possible in a car that you are not going to constantly have to tweek/work on.

 

So, this is the very first time you're going to set foot on a track and you've already installed a full coilover suspension and you're planning on running 275-width R-compounds???

Don't take this the wrong way...but you're barking up the wrong tree in a big way! At this point, car set-up is the LEAST of your concerns. You'd be much better off with stock suspension and street tires. R-compounds would be a REALLY bad idea for a novice on the track.

Since you've already blown a wad of cash on coilovers, I guess you're stuck with them. My advice would be adjust them ONCE to a very conservative setting (i.e., not too stiff, not too low, and with some mild understeer). After that DON'T TOUCH THEM for the rest of the weekend. Until you can consistently put up lap times within a 10th of a second of each other, adjusting your suspension is ridiculous. The only thing you want to be adjusting is your hot tire pressures.

As for super-wide R-compounds...just don't do it. As a novice, it will take will take you most of your session just to get them up to temp. And you'll probably never be getting even wear across the treads at this point. And don't forget how easy it is to flatspot those expensive tires the first time you lock up the wheels or spin. It's just a stupid idea.

Stick with good street tires in a normal size. They heat up fast, they're more predictable at low temps, they're more resistant to flat-spotting, they'll last longer, and they'll be cheaper to replace. Most importantly, they have a lower limit and progressive break-away...so if you do "lose it" in a corner, you won't be scraping what's left of your car off the barriers with a spatula.

Emre

 

For the record, I think the Evo is a horrible car to learn how to drive quickly on a track. The limits are just too high and you can get away with very poor technique. You will find it's more of a hindrance than a help. Everyone who starts with an STi, Evo, E46 M3, Porsche 996 C4S, C5 Corvette, etc. has the same problem: they're slow drivers in a fast car. But they never realize how slow they are because they keep passing everyone. It's the car that's doing all the work...not the driver. It will take you much longer to be really fast if you start with an Evo.

The trick to driving truly fast is to be on the limit. You need to be able to balance the car right on that edge...that's where all the magic happens. One of my chief instructors once told me: "Your grandmother can drive at 8-9 tenths. And at 11 tenths you crash. Everything happens at 10 tenths." If you think about it, you'll see he's 100% right.

You need a car with a low, comfortable limit so you can be relaxed at 10 tenths. An Evo tricked out to the max is definitely NOT that car. The last thing you want to do is raise the limits of your car so high that you're nowhere NEAR the edge. Do yourself a favor and borrow a BMW E30 (preferably an M42-powered 318is if you can find one). Use that for your first season. You'll thank me later

Emre

 

Thanks for all the good advice.

I probably should have made a couple things more apparent in my first post. I have raced continously since 1991 - beginning in Solo II, then to open track events with Chin Motorsports and then on to Hillclimbs and Club Trials with SCCA.

I began with Sentra SE-Rs, NX2000s then moved to RX-7 turbo II's and finally a S2000.

This is my first jump into Track Trials with an EVO. I've raced it competitively (since June 2003) at open track events with great results. Coming sometimes within 1-2secs of Street Mod class cars on the same track (with me on street tires, no less).

The mods I've listed have been added over time. The car, as I found out this week - I am precluded from ESP b/c of my Cams and Cam Gears mods. Although Street Mod is not a Solo I (Club Trial) class, our region adopted it (Dixie).

So I'm stuck in this class unless I go back to the OEM cams/gears.

As far as the tires, I'm sticking with 245/45/17 V710s b/c if I'm not competitive in SM, I'm going to switch to ESP - where the rules dont allow for anything larger than 245 series tires (f/EVO).

That being said, this is were I could use any hardcore tuning or advice to get a good baseline for Club Trial stuff.


Thanks so much!

 

The rear bar is set on full stiff. I may consider adding the Perrin end links to preload. I noticed Rhys is running Tein Flex's on his car with a change in spring rates. - which may help balance the car. Out of the box the Flex's are 8K, and 9K - fr and rr. Rhys is running 7k and 9k rates. Maybe softing the front helps. I have a set of 7k springs. I might swap to those on the track if the car still pushes with the V710s.

First race is Skelly, AL - on May 28th