Quote:
Originally Posted by MrFabulous
Does anyone have suggestions or opinions on rake? Between this and the suspension thread I think I've only seen it mentioned once (it was a lot of posts to go through) and that was just to say that Robbie's car is lower in the rear than CSG Mikes. Since I'm looking at a minimal drop with softer rates and I don't have scales (yet) I'm open to suggestions. Thanks!
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Ooh, something I actually know. Unless prevailing wisdom says otherwise I'd start with a level car and use rake to dial the amount of oversteer/understeer. A higher rear end than the front end will result in some oversteer as the rear is less grounded to the ground for lack of an easier description. A lower rear end than the front will result in the opposite adding some understeer to the setup. Aggressive changes will result in changing your static camber and maybe toe so I wouldn't go adding or subtracting a 1/4" at the track without knowing what that does first.
When I get coilovers I will certainly try throwing a turn or two at the front or back to see how it feels on track between sessions, that kind of thing may be unnoticeable to many drivers but it can show up in the data and lap times, in my experience, tire temperatures never lie, 1/16" of rake adjustment shifted the tire temperature delta front to back ~2-4 degrees F on the little karts when I was a teen.
Again, someone with experience could chime in that the car definitely likes a higher/lower front/rear end, anything more than a 0.XX" rake is undesirable, an adjustment of a 1/2 turn is or is not enough, etc. But in my past it's been a pretty predictable knob to turn, although racing circle tracks tilt was more effective.
As long as you're scientific about it (i.e. you don't make a bunch of changes at once) figuring that stuff out on your own is one of the reasons I love playing with cars.