Can of worms begins here... :) (long) (archive)

That's the technical truth. But I start with my poor little AVS Intermediates inflated to their maximum rating to keep from rolling them off the rims, decreasing rear tire pressure is actually increasing my contact patch, giving more grip.

But there certainly are a lot of variables! One of the great things about autocrossing is testing them out in a relatively risk-free environment. Downside is each course is different, and your setup may need to change to reflect that.

For example, my above setup works wonderfully at the less gravelly and bumpy 3Com parking lot at Candlestick, and the flatter but more gravelly parking lot at Oakland stadium. However, this weekend, we raced on concrete at the Marina airstrip, which is very flat, and a little more slippery in comparison. My car was set as before nice and neutral, but this course was mostly comprised of wider sweepers which lighten my inside rear wheel so much for so long it would just spin. (No LSD yet!) With other courses I had been able to use this to my advantage to get extra turn-in as I predictably lost some traction in the rear, but it didn't give me an advantage here.

I could probably have compensated a little bit by cranking the rear swaybar full stiff and re-adjusting the tires, but I don't think they'd have stopped the event for me to do that. :) But that's one of the big advantages of swaybars, not only adjusting for oversteer/understeer, but actually helping keep the durn wheels on the ground. Like I said above, there's a lot that goes into it. I certainly don't claim to know it all!

One other bit on autocrossing 02's that struck me this morning was an article I was reading someone was describing a car (a current 911 I think) as working best by steering as little as possible. I think the 02 is the exact opposite. Steer as much as possible; it's a light flickable car that responds well to changing direction, so change direction often to get good lines. By no means do anything abrupt that actually unsettles the chassis, but just like there's a threshold of traction and braking, you have to find the threshold of how much you can keep the wheels turned, and use every bit of it.

Good luck!

Andy -- '72tii

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I run 205/50/15 D40M2s on my Volvo...diff't story! MartyR (eom) 17:46 11/13/2000 (0)

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