- Speed Passion F1 - Ed Clark - Logan - 06.04.2014 -



For the first time in a while, had a good meeting with my SP-1, although the day didn't start out so great...

I've been struggling for a bit with the car, trying to achieve a good compromise between high speed and low speed... It had gotten to the point where I was pretty sure that there was something pretty fundamentally wrong with the setup.

Anyway, we had the first round of the SE Queensland this past weekend at what I call my local track, and the one I've practised most at. The main difference was running in the daytime instead of at night, so track conditions were different.

In practise the car was better than it had been, mainly as I'd given it a full rebuild during the week, and reverted to more of a base setup, at least on the rear of the car. Whilst it was an improvement, it was still obvious that it was steering too much at high speed, whilst also being unstable at low, although some of this could be attributed to the much lower level of grip in the track.

For Q1 I left the car as is, with just wanting to put a round in and then start trying to make it better. TQ'd the round, but it was hard work, and I knew that racing it for 15minutes in the final without a mistake was going to be impossible.
Q1 results

For Q2, I threw a couple of changes at the car. Reduced the front camber and took out 0.5mm of pod droop. Both these made the car worse. It was still nervous on centre, but also lacking steering in the middle of the turns, so no improvement .
Q2 Results

In Q3 I went for my first make or break of the day. Threw a brand new set of 571/572 Pits at it, whilst also making some change for what I would expect the tyres to give (knowing that the 572's free up the rear a lot compared to the ride R1's I normally use). And... It was a break steering was certainly improved compared to Q2, but it wasn't as quick as I was expecting. Surprisingly, seemed to lack corner speed, and forward bite, making getting on throttle a gingerly affair..so consistency suffered as well, and I ended up flipping on a kurb and ending up as a dnf after the lower ball pulled out of the front arm.
Q3 results

All this left me 3rd on the grid with little confidence I would be able to duke it out for the win. So, took a huge swing at the settings, going back to R1 rears (albeit a new set), changing the front upper arm spacers (leaving 2mm under the front ball, but going to 0mm from 2.5mm under the rear), less Ackerman shims, softer side springs (Tamiya RM01 copper), and softer roll damper (Tamiya soft grease). I did briefly get a chance to run the car before the final, and it was night and day difference. Well balanced, good corner speed, and above all, consistent, even in the lower grip of the afternoon with more heat in the track.

And so onto the 15min final... Actually not much to report, with the exception that I almost didn't make the start after I drove up the back of a parked car on the grid, popping off the upper arm and pulling out the lower ball again. Managed to pop them all back in though, but didn't leave a lot of time to get ready for the start.
Despite the pre-race excitement, got into second off the line, and then passed the leader on lap 2 and was never headed. Eventually managed to lap the field, and with a race time that I was quite impressed with. Fastest lap was a tenth better than I managed all day, and this was despite the track dropping off by around 2-3/10ths from qual. Even better was a cons of 0.37 for the 15mins, despite being careful with traffic the whole time. A good improvement from earlier in the day! Talk about pulling it out when it matters.
Final results

Certainly feel a lot happier with the car now, and a decent base setting. I am going to revisit the 572 rears later in the cooler nights, as there seems to be something to be found with them, if I can improve the consistency.


Things to note on it are;
  • Front ride height is set with 1mm under the plate (kit) and 4.5mm under the arms.
  • Width is in 190mm setup, mainly as the Ride rear have a different offset and are wider compared to Pits. Hence also no need for axle shims with the Rides.
  • Steering rack is raised 3mm to improve bump steer, but otherwise as kit, including 1mm Ackerman shim.
  • Servo is mounted with the spline vertical, and the horn flat so as to remove angle issues with the drag link. Same setup as seen here. Also helps hold the battery in place better
  • Using carbon reinforced side links and front hubs, plus carbon battery brace, and v2 left rear axle hub
  • As mentioned above, settled on front upper arm inner shims as 2mm front, 0mm rear.

Regards
Ed


Source:

THard.co.uk