Handling

When I was talking my proxy racing friend who gave me all that great advice a few posts ago, one thing that he said in particular made a lot of sense to me regarding how certain cars have different handling characteristics over others.
I've been going on about how the Alfa is lighter and quicker through technical sections compared to the Fords, which are more like cruisers and have a tendency to oversteer on turns if pushed as hard.
My proxy racing friend explained it like this: a car's responsiveness will have everything to do with the location of the guide pin in relation to the rear axle. A car with a guide pin closer to the back wheels [not the fronts - that's important] will have more nimble handling characteristics than one that has a more pronounced front end with a guide pin further towards the front of the car.

Here is the Alfa and the Ford #8 lined up at the rear axles:

The difference in length from the guide pin to the rear axle is significant and can be seen in this pic. The Alfa's guide pin is so close to the front axle that it overlaps it by almost 1/4 of the length of the guide pin. The Ford, on the other hand, has about that same amount of space between the guide pin and the axle before it even begins.

Because of the Alfa's shorter length, the back end is closer to the pin, which makes it more difficult to oversteer, being more compact. The Ford's length puts the rear axle much further away, lengthening the overall car, and stretching out the mass, thereby effecting weight distribution.
I think anybody looking to buy cars by the pairs to compete with each other need to know that a difference like this is considerable, as you can see from my race results. The Alfa crashes less, generally handles better and is, most importantly, quicker off the line. That means it gets out of the turns better and can get into straights smoother.

Last days on the rug: I used the same layout as last night's inside lane drift race to do some handling tests. I put DVDs under the curves to give a slight banking. I should be able to get the complete 20-race season finished before I move off the rug and into the new house, which will have an attic track.

With that said, if this track had double the straight length, I think the Fords would have shown their stuff. On a short straight like the 6 pieces I tested on, it takes time to get up to speed AND to brake for the tight corners, and the Fords aren't as nimble at it as the Alfa.

My next area of focus will be working on the #11 Ford. Enough time has passed that it now needs some work. The drive continues to get more and more rough as time goes by, and it's having an effect on its lap times. Currently 9 points off the lead, which is getting critical, and not looking to get better without a little work.

I will also be taking the magnet out of the R18 and running it against one of the Fords to see if it can compete. If not, the magnet goes back in and I'll continue to run it as a Class B car. I don't know when I'll get more Carrera cars, as I have other things on my radar, so I want to keep these cars involved. I'm considering Group C cars next, as there will be proxy racing opportunities, but I will always continue adding to the Classics as well.