[V8] Track F/R

[J123fs at aol.com]

In fact, I really didn't mention any of those inferences......but, Scott  
came the closest to explaining things correctly.
You can look at the finite level of grip at either end of the car- on our  
front heavy cars when push (pun) comes to shove the front tires will always have 
 less absolute grip as you are asking the front wheels to both corner, turn,  
brake, ect while carrying most of the weight. With the exception of braking  
this ALWAYS equals less grip, ergo understeer.
Making the track wider, increasing the tire size up front, or also in my  
case extra negative camber to counteract the roll of the chassis, ect gives the  
front some MORE GRIP. 
Not less in the rear, or some other explanation.
As I mentioned with regards to the wheels spacers up front before is:  making 
wider the track lowers the roll center (more grip) and lowers the  effective 
front spring rate as you just made the lever arm acting on the spring  longer 
- this too will equal MORE grip up front on an understeering car. Making  the 
front tires wider than the rear increases the amount of friction the tires  
can put on the pavement relative to the rear - this too equals more grip up  
front all things being equal.
 
Sadly, I have put way too much thought into car handling lately rather than  
putting it to practice, and because I haven't been racing actively since my  
kids where born, and money, time, wife's patience, ect (well, not exactly  
true, I HAVE raced some) where in more abundance. I spend more time redesigning  
the suspension(s) on my current and future race cars (all VWs, with both  a MOD 
and Production car on the way, so I KNOW about understeer :-) on  software 
and in my head in an effort to get some relief from  the pressures in life in 
general! I just wish I had more of the fore  mentioned items, mainly time! I 
have learned one cardinal rule though - in most  cases it just takes more $$ to 
solve most handling issues!

 
Here is a good primer on basic handing fixes courtesy the Texas region  SCCA.
Title:
Car Setup and Troubleshooting Guide
Taken from the book  "Performance Handling" by Don Alexander (Motorbooks 
Intl. Publishers)

_http://www.wtrscca.org/tech.htm_ (http://www.wtrscca.org/tech.htm) 
 
 
 
Cheers,
Jack



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