Re: Traction

[glen.powell@smc.com]

  Unfortunately, SCCA  Solo II Stock Class rules do not allow any
  suspension mods that would really help the traction situation. Front sway
  bar, struts and alignment are all that is permitted, so resorting to
  playing with the diffs, tires, pressures and alignment is all I can
  really do. We're talking about low-buck, amateur racing here with very
  limited legal mods.

  Ths issue of increasing traction or not, is, possibly, a question of
  semantics. Let's look at a situation where the car is hard in a corner
  and accelerating out of that corner. If the diffs are both open and the
  inside rear wheel is up in the air, than virtually all power and torque
  is wasted spinning the inside rear tire and no power is transmitted to
  the ground, what I would call "low traction". If the rear diff is locked,
  then the weight transferred off the inside wheel onto the outside wheel
  will prevent either tire from spinning and ~100% of the power and torque
  will get to the ground and be used, what I would call "high traction".
  Yes, I guess that "traction" with respect to cornering forces is the same
  in either scenario, but "accelerative traction", if there is such a
  thing, is vastly improved in the locked rear diff scenario. Makes sense?

  -glen