clubstylus

Me and a few kit car friends are off to Blyton for a track day on the 15th April.

If any of the more northern based Stylus (or others) wish to come and join in, get booked on the Javelin web site and let me know to look out for you on the day. There are probably some local camp sites or B&B for any who wish to travel from further a field. Give us a shout if you need any assistance on this and I'll help where I can.

Details of the track are here: http://www.javelintrackdays.co.uk/track ... 9&Itemid=1

Cost is £99 and the noise limit is 105db. Details are here: http://www.javelintrackdays.co.uk/track ... 1&Itemid=1

Cheers

Rob

A long way and too many other commitments competition wise for me You have fun and let us know how you get on , car handling wise

Well, what an experience, 1st trackday for me and the car.

The track is loverly, nice and smooth, well set out with some interesting corners. Others there were curtious and friendly. All in all a well run day and a nice track. Booked to go again

Now to the down side. I've found out how crap I actually am at track driving. Took one session of £20 tuition from the instructor so I had an idea on the lines. More practice needed, I think I was the most overtaken on the day but I still had fun.

The car was a bitch to drive. The front was planted, on rails, but the rear was more tail happy than a dog with a bone. Started off with 14 clicks on the rear and 10 on the front. Ended up dropping down to just 4 on the rear over the day and it was better but still not confidence inspiring.

A couple of mates took it for a run and they said the same, tail happy and not easy to push hard! Spoke to the instructor and he guessed the rear was way too hard, he was going to take it for a run himself to let me know but the weather changed and driving in heavy hail is fun to say the least

Now I'm toying with dropping the rear back to the 200lbs from the 250lb i fitted last year. Or maybe going to a pro and getting a basic setup done so I have a basepoint to work from and glean as much knowledge from them so I can tweak it and understand what needs tweaking.


Either way, it was fun and I've booked on again for the 27th May to see if I can improve a little more.

I remember advising on spring rates some time ago after you told me your body weight(was it 16 st ) If your mates or instructor got in it and weighed 12 to 14 st it would feel harder. What shocks have you got If AVO or Spax then 10 front , 14 rear would be way too stiff .
If your on Protechs then it would need just 10 clicks of range 1 up front & 7 clicks of range 2 at the rear.
Have you got piston travel left in the shocks ie. you can see minimum 10mm's at the front & 50mm's at the rear If not , then once you're seated and the car gets driven in a way to take up all the piston travel THEN the suspension becomes a solid item --- hence big time oversteer and giving the impression of '' rock hard '' suspension .
Lastly , what rake have you set ie. rear higher than front . 25mm , 30mm , 40mm Obviously your weight effects the rake needed ----- having said that , if all the above are set correctly and it still oversteers badly even with tyre pressures at 17psi Toyo R888's then your either in too low a gear whilst turning the wheel OR the rake is too much.
If you do all the above then track drive it but take your C spanner with you -------- if it still oversteers then lower the shocks at the rear by two complete turns --- drive again and adjust till you like it

If your shocks are AVO then 6 clicks front and 12 clicks rear.
If Spax then 3 clicks front and 7 clicks rear .


Just to convince you your spring rates aren't too hard --- I run 285lbs front 250lbs rear with 23mm rake but I only weigh 81kgs or 12st 10lbs ---- it handles beautifully (that rake leaves me with 8mm's once I'm seated )

I wish I was 16st add a couple more to that....

Gaz shocks, 45 click max if I remember correctly. 250lbs springs front and rear.

The Rear is so hard you cannot bounce it much even with just 4 clicks on. Thats with me standing on the seat bouncing it up and down. It could be that my dampers are fubared and it's stuck on a higher damper setting?

Car handled a bit better when it was 2 up, which led the instrutor to say thats the equivalent to softening the springs, but as you say it could also be the rake being too much (which was my thoughts but I didnt have a jack or C-Spanner on the day.

Not sure what the rake is currently set at, I did it originally to your recomendations I believe) but will measure at the weekend and see what it currently is.

I was running Toyo T1R tyres with 18psi front, 20psi rear, cold.

I also think there is an element to my lack of driving skill contributing to it. But hey, it's still fun and will get there eventually.

CMA wrote:I wish I was 16st add a couple more to that....

Gaz shocks, 45 click max if I remember correctly. 250lbs springs front and rear. {{{ that's a hell of a lot of clicks ---- are you certain of that Most were 24 max that I came across ---- so front would be 6 and 12 rear ------ hardness is more likely lack of rear piston travel }}}

The Rear is so hard you cannot bounce it much even with just 4 clicks on. Thats with me standing on the seat bouncing it up and down. It could be that my dampers are fubared and it's stuck on a higher damper setting?

Car handled a bit better when it was 2 up, which led the instrutor to say thats the equivalent to softening the springs, but as you say it could also be the rake being too much (which was my thoughts but I didnt have a jack or C-Spanner on the day.

Not sure what the rake is currently set at, I did it originally to your recomendations I believe) but will measure at the weekend and see what it currently is.

I was running Toyo T1R tyres with 18psi front, 20psi rear, cold. {{{ I'd run 17psi front and rear then pop another 1psi in the rear if after track driving they squeel a bit }}}

I also think there is an element to my lack of driving skill contributing to it. But hey, it's still fun and will get there eventually.

I wouldn't go spending a pile of cash getting it set-up until you've tried following my previous post reply

Just checked one of my previous posts and the dampers have 31 clicks not 45

They are an old damper as when I took one to Dampertech to get the 250lb springs he said "Ooo they're old ones as they haven't done the big thread like that for a long time"

CMA wrote:Just checked one of my previous posts and the dampers have 31 clicks not 45

They are an old damper as when I took one to Dampertech to get the 250lb springs he said "Ooo they're old ones as they haven't done the big thread like that for a long time"

Ah --- then your 10 front and 14 rear wasn't too far off Change them to 8 clicks front and the 14 rear should be fine . Sounds so much like '' travel '' once you're seated ie. piston travel rear

Just checked the ride height. (I took the measurements at the rear of the seat base and the front cross member under the shocks)

Front 153mm
Rear 185mm (drops to 175mm with me in)

That equates to a 32mm rake or 22mm with me in it. Is that too much rake? If I remember rightly you mentioned 25mm rake minimum in an earlier post but can't recall if that with or without my ballast in it?

Checked the clear movement on the shocks and there is 60mm of shiney stuff before the bump stop without me in, so if the ride height drops 10mm with me in then I guess there will be 50mm of clear shock travel with my lard arse sat in it

CMA wrote:Just checked the ride height. (I took the measurements at the rear of the seat base and the front cross member under the shocks)

Front 153mm
Rear 185mm (drops to 175mm with me in)

That equates to a 32mm rake or 22mm with me in it. Is that too much rake? If I remember rightly you mentioned 25mm rake minimum in an earlier post but can't recall if that with or without my ballast in it?

Checked the clear movement on the shocks and there is 60mm of shiney stuff before the bump stop without me in, so if the ride height drops 10mm with me in then I guess there will be 50mm of clear shock travel with my lard arse sat in it

I'm puzzled it just drops 10mm's when you sit in(you are apparently 18st )
My rear springs are 250lbs / same as yours BUT I'm only 12st 12lbs

Mine drops 15mm's when I'm seated , so I'd expect yours to drop around 20 to 23mm's ---- something's not right here , maybe the shocks are buggered
If they were working properly , with your 1.5 times my weight , the piston travel would swallow up at least a third of the 60mm's , leaving 40mm's left for deflection under cornering etc

Just checked and I'm 18 and a half (but shush don't tell anyone!)

I have a damper off at the moment, spring removed and the damping on 1 click is easy to move by hand and gradually get stiffer up to about 10 when I start to struggle to move it. This is as I expected so assume the damping is working correctly in this shocker.

The springs has 250 written on the side. And I asked for 250 when I went to get them. Could be that the are not 250 but something else? this would explain why there is only a 10mm drop at the back of the seat pan when I sit in? Hmm wonder how I can check the poundage

Just checked the spring and it's defo a 9" long 2.25" ID spring which has 250lb written on the side

Quite a few companies will test them for you --- PROCOMP for one -- you can buy spring lbs checkers on Demon or Merlin

Funny you should mention PROCOMP as they were top of the list to go and see to get it setup properly.

I think I'll reassemble as is, and drop the rake so it ends up as about 10mm with me sat in it.

I have another track day booked at Blyton on the 27th May and I'll see how it goes there, then I'll consider having springs checked or pro setup

Rob (Stylussprinter)18st is near enough 250lbs, the damper/ wheel ratio on a Stylus is near enough 1:1 all round so 250 lbs is enough to depress one of his rear springs by 1" or both by 1/2"so even allowing for the majority of the drivers weight being distributed over the rear wheels I wouldn't expect the ride height to change by more than about the 3/8" (10mm) Rob (CMA) is seeing.

If the front feels nicely planted and the rear loose then softer and or lower at the rear is the way to look. Did I read right that you have 250lbs all round? most people seem to run the front about 10%-20% harder than the rear so it might be worth looking at 200 or 225lbs for the back.

Bikenuts