Quote:
Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering
Wow, a lot of good posts here!
Big questions to start are:
1. What is your driving experience?
2. What is your suspension tuning experience?
3. What specifically do you want to learn more about?
For #1, some of the best suspension tuners and engineers I know aren't racers and don't track their personal cars. But being consistent and able to feel/describe what is happening is helpful when you don't have a pro driver to work with.
For #2, have you experimented with suspension/chassis adjustments in the past? Read any books? Do you understand suspension frequencies, damping ratios, and nerd stuff like that? Do you want to learn about those too?
For #3, are you interested specifically in how low/high speed adjustments to compression and rebound affect the car with a 4 way shock? Or do you want to go through the process of choosing spring rates and initial damper valving?
Damper adjustments are the fine tuning. You need to be in the ball park before worrying about them, both with spring rates and base valving and the rest of your suspension. What happens frequently with even a 1 way coilover is people try to fix all their handling problems by turning knobs without even looking at their tire pressures or temperatures or the other basics. I can't stress enough how often that exact scenario happens.
Accurately interpreting what's happening (by feel or with logging), identifying the problem, and deciding on a solution...each of those steps are difficult. Turning knobs on a 4 way shock is just 1 possible solution and very frequently not the best one.
This car is a fantastic platform for learning when it comes to driving, wrenching, and tuning. It sounds like you'd like to take the learning to tune a suspension part seriously and it is really fun (at least to me).
- Andrew
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Thanks Andrew @
Racecomp Engineering. +1 on a lot of great posts (this community is great!)
>> 1. What is your driving experience?
~1000 hours of road course time. Repeated driving schools but did not go for racing license. Average driving skills is probably where I would put myself. In a sense, I am at a stage where I am not after the quickest lap times as I know I won't be truly competitive and outright performance is not what I enjoy the most. These days, I enjoy driving as a form of "meditation" if that makes sense. I find focusing on driving and feeling the car to be relaxing and joyful. Perception wise, I'm probably also average. Part of my goal is also honing my perception. From theory, to adjustment, to feeling what the car is doing.
>> 2. What is your suspension tuning experience?
Relatively basic. I understand most of the mechanical concepts and would like to refresh and learn more. I read "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" long time ago.
>> 3. What specifically do you want to learn more about?
My original thinking is likely quite flawed. First, I was thinking going with spherical bearings & hard bushings will simplify things a bit. With the platform pretty well known, fixed tires & spring rates, that leaves the 4-way adjustment to "feel/log, solve, adjust, repeat". Ultimately, I'd like to learn about chassis and suspension design (and beyond). The end goal, if I get there, is designing & building a car myself. Think Ariel Atom 4 & GMA T.50 cross.
4-way being the "easiest" mechanically to mess with is one of the primary attractions. Of course, I don't mind having to swap springs and other relatively simply mechanical tasks. I'm letting wanting to be lazy influence my thinking for sure.
I'd list my priorities as,
1. driving enjoyment in terms of being connected to the car, being to feel what the car is doing, translate that into a mental model of the mechanical aspects, problem solve and "tune" it to make it more how I want it (of course, preferences and goals are dynamic as well).
2. learn tuning and design.
3. wrenching is likely the lowest on the list.