- Team Associated B4.1 - Wayne Schroeder - Fastlane Raceway - 06.01.2013 -




Track
Fastlane Raceway in Blue Springs, MO. Indoor packed topsoil maintained with water. Generally speaking, super soft bar style tires with closed cell inserts are the ticket. The traction ranges from extremely low to extremely tacky and sticky depending on watering schedule, generally staying on average at what I would consider medium. The current layout one extreme high bank bowl corner and one high speed banked sweeper (thanks to the influence of our home town legend Jared Tebo) as well as a nice infield with one large triple/table jump with a short take-off and various small jumps.

Springs
Been going back and fourth between black and brown front springs. Finally settled on the black fronts due to being able to get plenty of steering with blacks and the blacks offering significantly better rear traction under decelerating corner entry compared to the lighter browns. I had previously wanted to use the browns due to the extreme amount of steering they provided in the infield, but they just allowed too much weight to be transferred forward for my taste. The stiffer green front springs really locked in the rear under deceleration to the point of pushing and really only worked well with the white rears in my opinion.

As far as rear springs go, the whites were really nice and provided oodles of steering when the track was the best, but in average track conditions, what I consider medium traction, the whites just unloaded the rear too much on off power corner entry. The greens seem to be the sweet spot--a nice balance of overall rear traction and on power steering.

Pistons
Tried 1.7 pistons, which offered more low speed damping tuning options, but the 1.6s definitely offered more traction for medium and low traction conditions and were still quite good in high traction conditions. The 1.7s seemed more "tame" in higher traction, but when the track got drier, I found myself waiting on the car more than I did with the 1.6s, to the point where the car was not as competitive. The 1.6s also provide way more pack, so I settled on those due to our large jump and average traction conditions. The 1.6 pistons continue to not offer the low speed damping tuning options of the 1.7s, but for me, they work just great with 30 front /27.5 rear oil. I'm interested in trying the avid 2+2 options in the future, but for now, 1.6 it is.
Wayne

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