NSW Dutton Rally this weekend!

[Alpine*]

Well done again speedy!

:roundel::respekt:

wish I had reliased you were over at Fairbairn, would have come look see, maybe next time!

[NQLD135iMsport]

Congrats, Nice haul of trophies there. Bugger the pool room though, spend it on the car!!!!

[Zuzu]

Well done Jeff.....Great effort mate.

[Breville]

Mate, congrats again. I assume you'll be buying shares in Brasso?!!

[Guran]

Congrats Jeff. What an amazing result! Did anyone loan you the JB3 or was this all with a stock ECU?

Did you get any 400m times at Goulburn Airport? The Dutton site only quotes 800m results. I've driven on that runway before and it's a bit on the rough side which tends to add half a second or so to your standing start times.

[spdrcr]

No JB3 - imagine how good the car would have gone with an extra 50kw! No 400m times, only 800m sprint - not sure if 22 seconds is that great - fastest car was a 19 or something...

[Guran]

22 seconds for 800m is pretty damned quick on that surface. Here's some perspective. My mate's best time in his 6.0L VE Clubsport R8 was 22.8s. Another friend in a modified BA XR6T managed 23.7s (against the wind). The quickest run on the day was 22.6s in a heavily modified Starion ... including wheelspin in the first three gears! Seriously boosted! My Cooper S did a 24.9s run ... which was the 2nd quickest out of a total of 7 MINIs on the day.

[andrew@southernBM]

Well Done, thanks for sharing

How did you find the KW's under all those different conditions.

Again, well done

[spdrcr]

Everything was pretty good except for the last day at Oran Park. Up to this point the rear was always very settled. At Oran Park the rear kept on stepping out which made it very hard. It did rain on and off during the day at Oran Park so this could have been a factor. Also, I'm not very experienced with semi slicks so the pressures could have been out.

We tried a number of different pressures as we were really struggling to get any heat into the tyres (Dunlop 03G R compound).

BTW official pics are up:

http://www.motorsportfotos.com/galle...NewSouthWales/

And pics of our car here:

http://www.motorsportfotos.com/galle...hWales/Car055/

[AussieRacer]

Well done. If the shocks are adjustable for height, lower the rear to stop it oversteering. Or increase the rebound on the rear, and lessen the front rebound.

[andrew@southernBM]

interesting stuff, i am going to change some settings on Way's car when he has his big brake kit installed and the Semi slicks run in a bit, it was way too hard with his RFT's to get any consistant idea of handling in his car.

[spdrcr]

I'll see what happens next time I get out to the track, could have just been pressures and track condition on the day. I have to admit that I don't know a huge amount about suspension setup - I've just driven what I've got and tried to adjust my style accordingly...

This has served me well up to this point but learning more about car setup is something that I'd like to do but just don't really know how to go about it.

[AussieRacer]

Tyre pressures can play a part, but unless you are talking about variances of 2-3 psi on semi-road tyres it isn't a huge change in handling. Tyre pressure are just one setting on a whole car setup. Obviously in standard cars it is pretty much the only setting to play with, but with adjustable suspension a whole raft adjustments can be made based upon track, track conditions, tyre conditions, and driver preferences.

Best way to learn is first become comfortable with the car, and then play with the settings one at a time and in big changes, with accurate measurements so you can always return to the baseline. Big changes allow you to "feel" the difference the setting change made, so you can work out what does what, and what you prefer. Then you can fine tune to achieve the best result which is worked out by a combination of the seat of your pants feel, and the times. Eg. you might not like the feel of an oversteering car, but it might be a lot quicker due to the way you can put the power down, and it works the tyres. So it is a compromise.

[spdrcr]

I would like to work through this with someone that KNOWS what they are doing. In my experience even the well known suspension places seem a bit hit and miss. Can you recommend anyone in NSW that would be able to spend a day/s at the track with me to provide this kind of service?

[WAY]

Jeff, I have the same issue as you. I think the best way to do this is to hire a good racing driver who knows how to set up cars for a day on the track. But of course this is a very expensive exercise unless you share it with a couple of other people. It's a shame you are not in Melbourne because I would definitely do this with you. I can't seem to get as much traction as I would like!

[andrew@southernBM]

Way,

Wait until you have had a run with the new tyres first man, hard to get traction in bald run flats.

[AussieRacer]

Like WAY suggests, I'd recommend getting a racing driver, but it needn't be expensive.

I'd suggest any E30 racing driver would be all too happy to help out. Even amateur racing drivers (like myself) know the basics as you'll either have to spend big $$ on a race engineer, or struggle with speed at certain tracks if you don't know how to setup the car.

[Guran]

Jeff - you could consider entering the BMW Drivers Club and have a go at their regular track days. Nick Peek from Peak Performance is a regular there and I'd guess that he might be good to tap for advice.