Post Race Car Checkup

 I wanted to take a look at some of the cars that didn't do so well in the Summer Salami race. There were a few, and each didn't perform well for different reasons, as it turns out.

First up will be the last over the finish line: the #11 GT40. When I only had the three Slot.it cars, the Alfa and the #8 GT40, this one was a pretty good race car. It wasn't until I really started exploring tuning options that the other cars left it in the dust. Don't know how it happened, but it did. There's fundamentally nothing different between it and the other two Fords, so it should be able to keep up.

When I opened up the car, aside from being a little dirty the chassis and its contents were otherwise okay. Nothing seemed out of place, although there was some binding in the front axle. I took a closer look and noticed that the small adjustment screw that sits over the axle had fallen through and had wedged in between the axle and the chassis. It's hard to say how long it has been like that, but there was a good amount of dust and crud down the hole the screw usually goes down, so it had probably been there for awhile.

I have to think back to just exactly what was giving me trouble with this car. I've had a lot of performance letdowns with it, mostly due to it feeling lethargic with its handling. Could I have just found the problem? Maybe. I think it's a stretch. But if it was binding while going around a curve, that could be a problem. I'll have to get it on the track in the morning and see how it does. 

I also reset the car to medium/medium float. It had been set a little tight on body float, and it didn't need to be. This will put it more in line with the #8 GT40. Hopefully.

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I have an issue with the Porsche 962C. I want it to go a little faster. It's got a problem where it gets a little boxy in the turns, so you can't keep the hammer down. Strangely enough, it kind of reminds me of the way the Audi R-18 drove that I have. A lot of the action is in the front, and the meat is in the back. That's fine and all, but ultimately I'd like to have a little bit more balanced race car. I don't think that letting that massive backend get lively is the solution to better lap times. I gotta get this car more planted so it can win races. The Group C car is my future. There will be more Group C cars showing up, and I'd like them to be competitive. Showing up in the lower half of the pack isn't very competitive. 

I took the top off and, the thing about this car is that it has the rear body mount screw on the tail, as opposed to near the rear axle. Having the mounting screw that far back makes it tricky to set body float on the car. It tends to be tight until it's too loose. When I took the screws out, one of them gave me a little difficulty, springing the body a little bit when I got it loose. I decided then that I need to reset the suspension and ride height. The float was medium tight/medium, so I loosened the body just a little bit to go med/med. Everything else was otherwise in its place, so I focused mainly on getting the right amount of float. The ride height stayed pretty much the same, and I did a little tighten up of the front wheels. They had a little up/down play in the axle. Kinda the opposite problem the #11 GT40 had. 

I know there's a good place for this car to be, and it just isn't there yet. It was almost 20 seconds off the race pace. I'd accept 10 seconds, but not 20. Especially not on a track that's practically built with this car in mind. It should be hauling ass out there. But I don't call coming in 7th hauling very much ass. 

We'll see if the adjustments to the float and suspension helped the car. The wiggle test felt better, and it didn't seem like it was set to tight/tight. But y'know, this car is a bit of a work in progress, so it might take awhile before it really starts to kick ass. I believe it has it in itself to do it. I'm going to have this track up for a bit, so I'll be able to run tuned laps and see how the numbers compare. 

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I also wanted to check the #66 Chaparral, since I had been having a bit of a rough start with it, got it running better, and yet still was off the pack lap pace by .2 of a second. The problem with the #66 is that it has a twin, the #65, so it can't make excuses. It should run just as fast as the #65. But it's not. While it ran some pretty fast time trials once, it still hasn't shown a bit of consistency yet. It's such a beautiful race car, though. 

So I opened it up and nothing looked off to me. I did a lube/oil, adjusted the front end a little because I had been doing that with the other two cars tonight, and then went about setting the float. Pod float seemed to favor one side over the other, as one screw was tightened a bit more than the others. I guess I could have done that while prepping. My mind wanders sometimes. 

I'm going back to a med/med float. I figure I'm going to mimic the #65 until we've gotten up next to him, then start making little tweaks and adjustments there. Much more satisfying than shooting fish in a barrel. I could try stuff all day and end up being completely wrong about it all. 

So that was all pretty informative. I feel like doing this has been good for everyone involved. The cars as well as the people. 

I might have to get to thinking about racing the outside lane of this layout. I think it would be pretty cool to try it with the new controller. Might be worth doing.