Front sway bar settings... (long) (archive)

I dunno, there are an awful lot of variables between Gary's S2000, Mark's Coupe, and Mike's.
Ok, increasing front roll stiffness *might* reduce understeer to a degree because of a better contact patch for the outside tire, but that balances against loss of front grip from increased transitional lateral load. My point is that Mike is still running street tires, and although they are KD's, the car still should not roll nearly as much before the front tires lose grip compared to Mark's car on Hoosiers. So if Mark has figured out the optimum balance of sway adjustments, they might not work on Mike's car or mine.

Secondly, having taken autox runs in an S2000 before, I felt that car was *way* looser than my coupe to begin with. And I only have 225's in back! The S2000 felt like a very easy car to rotate, almost too much so for most mortals, so the understeer that might come from a really stiff front bar might help to balance it out. And hey, if it keeps the inside rear on the ground too, then bonus!

Of course, these are all just my own whack theories, and with my amount of experience I really can't claim to know anything about setup. I'd say since you have an adjustable bar, try it. It's the only way to find out.

And I might be able to shed some more light on the S2000 next week, as I might have a chance to co-drive the car again this coming weekend. Since I last tried it, the owner has installed a Mugen front bar.

Seriously though, Nationals seems so very tough, and you can make a good argument that AS is *the* toughest class. I personally applaud Mark Sipe and everyone else who made the trip. Being the top BMW is no small feat, and to be honest, Mark is one of the few guys I saw in AS who was driving the same car as he did last year!:)

Peter T
'99 Z3 2.8 Coupe

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