Why Get a Lightweight Flywheel?

By Matthew Eddy - 2018-07-20

First, Ill explain why a lightweight flywheel is beneficial. Obviously, any racer knows, that reducing the weight of the vehicle is always good. In fact, nothing improves a car more than reducing weight because you can accelerate faster, stop quicker and turn harder. Basically it checks all the boxes when it comes to improving performance, so just on weight reduction alone it provides some advantage. Additionally, there is another benefit when it comes to what is called “parasitic power loss.” What this means is the engine uses some of its power to move internal components (pistons, crankshaft, etc) and driveline parts (driveshaft(s). A lot of this is unavoidable, but some of it can be reduced be eliminating as much mass in the system as possible.

They flywheel is one of the heaviest single component in the drivetrain – depending on the vehicle. It serves a few purposes such as helps to start the car, stores energy to smooth out the engine, and ease shifting by keeping the RPMs from dropping quickly (or at least that is some peoples opinion). Essentially, its to make the driving experience more pleasant. However, for a more race/performance centric car this is less of a concern and instead the focus is on speed and power. So taking this heavy flywheel out (for perspective the one in my E36 BMW weighs about 24lbs) and replacing it with a lighter one will reduce the overall weight of the car and more importantly reduce the amount of mass the engine has to turn and that means more power to the wheels.

There are a few different lightweight options available depending on the application. For lower power cars such as my stock BMW that produces 190hp, a good option is an aluminum flywheel. As I mentioned above, the stock flywheel weights 24lbs, the aluminum flywheel is only 10lbs. Now, an aluminum flywheel is not 100% aluminum, the ring gear that the starter engages will be steel, and the face the clutch will grab will be a hardened steel plate riveted or bolted on because the aluminum will just get torn up. You can see the pictures of the flywheel I just purchased for my BMW below for reference. Another claimed benefit is for some cars with dual mass flywheels, the single piece lightweight flywheel improves reliability since the dual mass flywheels can fail when you ham-fist your shifts during some spirited driving.

There is a steel plate bolted to the face of the flywheel where the clutch engages

Other side of the flywheel

Now aluminum is great but some engines produce a lot of horse power and the aluminum may not be able to stand up to it. You choose to go with something that is a bit stronger such as one made from chromoly. The weight savings are not as good but it’s still fairly significant. One for my car would be 11-14lbs (depending on brand) which is a 10-13lb weight savings over stock but still 1-4lbs heavier than the aluminum one. What is chromoly? It’s a particularly high strength steel alloy with relatively high amounts of chrome and molybdenum. It’s from Chrome and Molybdenum that the term chro-moly comes from and is designated as 4140 steel. Most flywheels are made from cast iron which isn’t particularly strong but its cheaper to make. Using high strength steel the weight savings come from the flywheel being a lot thinner and holes are added to remove additional material as well. I am not going to tell you which is best to go with, you may have to do research on your particular car and what makes the most sense for your application. Fidanza has an interesting article that you might light to read for some additional information.

https://fidanza.com/aluminum-vs-steel/


What is 6061 T6 aluminum? 

There are multiple alloys of aluminum out there but the most common “billet” type is 6061 T6. The 6061 designates the alloy, and the T6 is a reference to how it was heat treated. This allow also comes in tubes, bars, sheets etc. So pretty much any aluminum flywheel will be made with 6061 T6, but its also a very good alloy of aluminum. Billet simply means it was made from one big chunk of metal. There really is not any other way to make a flywheel, but it sounds cool to say “6061-T6 billet aluminum flywheel.”   

OK Cool But How Much POWER do I Gain?

This may vary significantly per engine and how much of a weight savings you are gaining over the stock flywheel but if the test done below is any indicator – it may be 1-2% gain in peak horse power and 2-3% gain in peak torques at the wheels. This may not seem like a lot, and its hard to say that this directly correlates, but if we say this could translate to 1-2% reduction in lap times that’s not too shabby.

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/engines-drivetrain/1502-how-to-add-hp-with-a-lighter-flywheel-why-weight/

How-To: Make 37 Degree AN Hard Lines

Story and Photos by Matthew Eddy




OEM brake tubing in the US have what is called a 45° double flare at the ends which means the end of the tubing is folded in on itself and flare at 45°.  A flare nut then crushes the tube end against the mating surface to make seal.  After the flare has been crushed it will require more torque to seal seal each time the system is disassembled and reassembled as well as the potential for fatigue cracks to form where the metal has been folded over.  This is fine for the commuter-consumer they aren’t going to be swapping out components from week to week or season to season.  Racers tend to tinker with their cars and may have to dismantle everything or replace components frequently so they need components that are designed to be disassembled and reassembled multiple times.  The 37° AN flare is a single flare is backed up by a tube sleeve that is held to the mating part with a nut and is capable of being disassembled multiple times without fatiguing and since it’s a single flare its actually easier to make than a double flare.  Additionally this method is rated at higher pressures and is held to a higher standard so the system is more robust and can endure the extremes of racing.  It is fairly common for a race team to immediately replace all stock brake lines with the 37° AN flared tubing as part of prepping the car for racing.
The down side of the AN flare is that the components are much more expensive and they also require an adapter to connect them to the stock brake components such as the master cylinder, proportioning valves and ABS block.  Also the tools tend to be more expensive but you can find a 37° flare tool on Summitracing.com for about $30 HERE.   If you decide to upgrade your brakes to the AN fittings then you can save yourself some money and time by only replacing the lines that run from the ABS block  (or the proportioning valves for those cars without ABS) to the calipers and leave any plumbing that might be going from the master cylinder to portioning valves or ABS block. The AN fittings can also be used for routing fuel, vacuum lines, and various other fluids.  Make sure to use STEEL fittings on the brakes or any other high pressure hydraulic systems and you can use aluminum fittings for anything else.

It is pretty easy to convert to AN flared lines but there are a few more parts you need to buy.  I would suggest getting stainless tubing and an appropriate tubing cutter because the $5 Acme Autoparts special will just cry when you try and cut a stainless line with them; they are barely adequate to cut a regular steel line.  Try this one from Mcmaster-Carr: part number 2764A14.  I haven't use this particular one but it does say its for stainless and titanium.

Step 1:  Cut the stainless tubing to length and deburr the ends.  PUT THE HARDWARE ON THE TUBE!  Easy to forget this step you get so excited about flaring the brake line and forget to put the hardware on.  So put on a TUBE NUT, then a TUBE SLEEVE.  Make sure they are facing the right direction.  See pictures at bottom. 

3/16" Stainless Brake Line Cut and Deburred.

Step 2: Clamp the tube into the flaring tool.  It should be sticking a little above the surface of the tool.  The one pictured below is from Summit Racing.  You can find it HERE.

Summit Racing 37 Degree Flaring Tool

Make sure you clamp this down TIGHT.  If its not tight enough the tube will just slide out.  I used a wrench as shown below to get it extra tight.

Use a Wrench to Tighten Flaring Tool.

Step 3: Flare it!

Summit Racing 37 Degree Flaring Tool in Action.

Successful 37 Degree Flare

Here is a picture with all the hardware on behind the flare.  These are aluminum fittings, so this isn't to be used for brakes.  The steel ones usually are plain zinc. Left to right are the tubing nut with the threads on the right side followed by the tube sleeve.  The sleeve will be beveled on the side that will sit behind the flare. 

37 Degree -3AN Fittings on Stainless 3/16" Tubing. 37 Degree -3AN Fittings on Stainless 3/16" Tubing. 37 Degree -3AN Fittings on Stainless 3/16" Tubing

The adapters you will need to connect these to the master cylinder for instance look like this.  Most domestic car makers use 3/8-24 (I think) so need this adapter HERE.  Japanese tend to use M10x1.0 so you use this adapter HERE.  These adapters simply screw into the MC or proportioning valve then the new AN fittings screw to these.

Baffled Oil Pans Explained

Story and Photos by Matthew Eddy

Outside View of Baffled Oil Pan for 5.0L Mustang

Normal production cars have what is called a “wet sump” meaning the majority of the oil is stored within the oil pan.  A pick up for the oil pump is located in the oil pan and sucks the oil up to lubricate critical areas within the engine.  This system is used because it is simple and cheap to manufacture and is more than sufficient to meet the needs of the commuter consumer.  However, in motorsports the car and engine are going to be subjected to high g-forces for an extended period of time which the wet sump system may not be able to cope with.  For example, in a long continuous high g turn, the oil will slosh to one side of the pan away from the oil pick up.  No oil gets sucked up and starves the engine which leads to excessive wear and catastrophic engine failure in a pretty short period of time. 

The best method to prevent oil starvation is to go with a dry sump system.  This is used in pretty much all the top racing series cars such as Formual 1, NASCAR, Indy, and American Le Mans.  There is an oil pan but it has a very limited capacity and the sump pump basically sucks all the oil out as fast as possible and stores it in a oil reservoir the is external to the engine. Oil pressure is maintained by feeding the oil from this external oil tank back into the engine so the engine is never wanting for oil.  An added benefit of this system is since the oil pan is very low profile, the engine can be lowered to lower the cars center of gravity.  Unfortunately these systems are very expensive.  A bargain basement pump will run you at least $800 and could run upwards of $2000.  Not to mention a new, possibly custom, oil pan, lines, oil reservoir and more. 

Most weekend warriors can’t justify a dry sump system especially if you are just a track day junkie who doesn’t really have a prepped car but there are a couple lower cost alternatives.  One is to get or make a baffled oil pan.  This will limit how much the oil able to slosh around and hopefully keep it where the pump can suck it up into the engine.  Simply put a baffled oil pan will has chambers that make it easy for the oil to travel toward the oil pick up but difficult for it to get sloshed the other way. Also, they tend to increase the capacity of the oil pan so that more oil will be available in the whole system. 

Below you can see a picture of a Ford Racing baffled oil pan out of a 5.0L Mustang.  This one is used mainly for drag racing but the concepts are the same between drag and road track with some design differences to account for lateral acceleration (g-forces experienced while cornering).  

Baffled Oil Pan from a 5.0L Mustang

You will notice the oil pan has two compartments, a shallow on the right side of the picture and a deeper one on the left.  The reason for the compartment on the right (which is the front of the engine) is to allow space for the oil pump.  The hump that separates the two compartments is required to clear the front cross member that goes under the engine.  In the left compartment is a square chamber that that is designed to trap oil and that is where the oil pick up is located.  At first you may be wondering why is seems to be cordoned off, but what is difficult to see in the picture above are the trap doors that only open inward to allow oil to enter the chamber but not exit (see picture below).  A few other features to note are the lips at the top of the chamber and also one on the left side of the center hump.  These lips prevent the oil from splashing up and out of the camber.  The pan is designed such that for the oil to travel from the left or right side of the pan (up and down in the picture), it must pass through the oil pick up chamber where it will be trapped.  

Baffles in Oil Pan

Above you can see a close up of the baffling in the oil pick up chamber.  The doors can only open inward which will allow the oil to enter but not exit.

Oil Scraper in Mustang Oil Pan

The feature pictured above is called a scraper.  As the crank spins, beads of oil are flung around the inside the engine.  The scraper catches most of these to prevent the oil from going up into the cylinders and instead returns it to the pan.  


In the near future I plan to make one of these for my V6 MR2 and when I do so, I will be posting a "How-To" article.

How-To: Coil-Over Conversion
Story and photos by Matthew Eddy

Over the last year I have slowly been prepping my 91 Toyota MR2 for NASA (National Auto Sports Association) Time Trials and eventually race in the Performance Touring series.  Last summer I swapped in a 3.0L V6 and over the winter I have built and installed what I am calling a coil-over conversion; converting the stock struts to coil-overs. 

What may not be clear to all my readers is what coil-overs are and what benefits they bestow over struts since they seem very similar.  If you are purchasing a coil-overs, especially good ones, you are pretty much guaranteed that the dampers and the springs are going to be well matched.  Secondly, coil-overs allow for ride height and corner weight adjustments.   Also they have common spring sizes so it would be easy to swap out springs to fine tune the suspension for individual tracks or if you make other modifications.

Measure First

Before doing this conversion check and see how much clearance you have between the front wheels/tires and the strut housing.  On the MR2, the front spring sits above the wheels and the strut housing is only 1/4" from the wheel.  In most cases you will need to either get new wheels with a larger offset or wheel spacers.  I installed 12mm spacers and new longer wheel studs.  Replacing the wheel studs is pretty easy, especially if you have an impact.  I have posted a video on youtube that shows how to do it here.  I bought both teh studs and spacers on ebay.  To find the spacer search for "hubcentric MR2" and they are usually priced at about $60 pair.  The wheels studs were $35 for 10pcs.  Also, keep in mind that you will need to get new front end-links with this conversion because the bracket is being relocated.  You can deal with this one of two ways; buy Powergrid Endlinks which can be ordered at custom lengths (you will need 5.5" center to center), or cut and weld the stock ones but the stock ones are probably so old and rusty you are better off getting new ones anyways.

Powergrid End links.  It might be hard to believe, but these aren't new, they have been on my car for 2-3 years.

Next, measure your current ride height for baseline for future adjustments after installing the coil-overs.  Park the car on a level surface and measure from the ground, through the center of the wheel to the lip of the fender.  Also measure from the center of the hub to the fender lip.  If you have any fender damage or rust that might make these measurements unreliable pick another point to measure to.  WRITE THIS DOWN, or at the very least, text message yourself.  You will want this information later.

New Studs and 12mm Spacer.

Strut Preparation

The following write up is specific to the MKII MR2 but is still applicable across many makes and models.  One major difference you may encounter is that many cars cannot take strut cartridges.   In the MR2, I can remove the actual damper from the strut housing itself but I do not believe this is a common feature.  If you find this is the case with your struts you have one of two options.  Convert the strut to accept the coil-over sleeve or convert the strut to accept cartridges.  I will address this a bit more at the end of the post since my suggestions will make more sense after you see what is involved.

It might be a good idea to buy an old used set of struts to work on that way if you mess them up some how or the project is more involved than you anticipated you can take as much time as you need.

Strut Diagram - parts of the strut.

Strut Diagram - Distances to measure

See the diagram to the left as a reference for the terms I use for the various parts of the strut. 

1. Disassemble the strut and remove the upper mount and spring.  Second, take measurements.  See my video posted on youtube that shows how to disassemble struts HERE. Reference the diagram on the right.  

2.Measure the overall length of the strut, the length of the body, the distance from the end links bracket to the end of the strut (if applicable) (G or F or both), the shock body diameter (A),  length of the strut rod (D), the diameter of the strut end (B), and distances to other brackets you may have on the strut body.  Also measure the length of the spring, and the thickness of the upper strut mount.

MR2 Struts in Before Being Disassembled.

Disassembled Struts with Spring Perches

3. Cut off the spring perches and grind the housing "smooth."  For the MR2 front strut you will also need to cut off the sway bar end-link bracket.


3a (Optional) - To convert struts that don't usually take cartridges you can convert them to cartridges by drill a small hole near the bottom of the strut to relieve the pressure, then cut off the top of strut to remove the guts.

Disassembled Struts with Spring Perches Cut Off.

Struts Close-up; Spring Perches Cut Off. You can see the gland nut just above the grounded down area.

4.  Put the strut housing into a vice and remove the gland nut with a monkey wrench.

Removing Gland Nut From Strut.

5.  For the front struts, weld the front sway bar bracket just above the knuckle bracket.  Then weld a bead around the strut for the coil-over sleeves to sit on.  For the rear struts, the sleeve will also sit on the sway bar bracket, and you should weld a bead around the strut at that location. 

Weld a bead around the struts for the coil-over sleeve to sit on like this.

6. Cut the bump stock bump stop in half.   More than likely you will be lowering the car which means you will be decreasing the travel of the shock so cutting the bump stop in half will give you a little more travel.

7. (Optional) Sand blast and paint the strut housings.  I would also suggest grinding off any sharp features.  That will reduce the chances of the paint chipping or peeling.  For instance there are little tabs on the knuckle bracket that should be ground down.  After painting them, us caulk or silicon to fill in the gap around the top of the knuckle bracket.  This will prevent water and debris from collecting there and causing corrosion in the future.  I used a special caulk that is applied before powder coating (see the second picture below).

Stock Struts Sand Blasted.

I Have Applied Caulk to the Above Area.

Strut Assembly

I have compiled parts list with prices so you can have an idea of what you need and how much it will cost.  I have not included the cost of the struts or dampers (aka shocks).  For certain parts I have included links to where you can buy them. 

Parts List:

Coil Over Parts - (Left to right) Gland Nut, Lock Nut, 1" Washer, Strut Cartridge, Strut Housing, Top Mount, o-ring (center of pic), Coilover Sleeve, lower Spring Perch, Upper Spring Perch, Spring.

Coil-over Sleeves; 2.038" ID, 5" Length (x4): $15.53 ea

Lower Spring Perch (x4): $12.60 ea

2.5" Coil Spring Tops - Upper Spring Perch(2 sets): $64 total (with powder coating)

Springs – Fronts (Set of 2) (Eibach, 250# 8”): $103 – bought as Edelbrocks on Summit Racing

Springs – Rear (Set of 2) (King, 400# 10”): $43 – bought on ebay, used

O-rings (8 total): $4 (local hardware store)
18mm Washer (6): $2 (local hardware store)
1" Washer (2): $1.50 (local hardware store) 
Light Weight Oil (engine oil, shock oil): $4 (local autoparts store)
Total: $334

Part List Notes:

Spring Rates: Not sure which spring rates to use?  Check out my blog posting about choosing spring rates HERE.  For my MR2 - which I drive to a from the track/autoX, I choose 250 in/lbs front, and 400 in/lbs for the 

Coil-over Sleeves:  I used 5" sleeves because I am using sway bars and that's probably as low as you can move the front sway bar bracket.  I would not suggest going sway barless because there might be a time that you actually want a sway bar.  Also you shouldn't need to get more than 5" of travel that I can think of.  However, on the rears, you can move the sway bar bracket down 2" and get a 7" soil-over sleeve.  

2.5" Coil Spring Tops:  You will need to measure the diameter of the strut cylinder and the guy will customize the inner diameter for you.  I would also suggest getting the parts powder coated to protect them from debris.




Assembly


1. Put (1) o-ring on the strut housing (about 2-3" from the top of strut housing)
2. Slide coil-over sleeve over o-ring.  The sleeve should slide over the o-ring and be moderately tight.  If the o-ring is just to thick, wrap the strut tower with electrical tape about 1" above the weld bead.  The purpose of the o-ring or electrical tape is to remove play between the sleeve and the housing and prevent the sleeve from spinning when adjusting ride height. 
3. Take a second o-ring and force it into the gap between the strut housing and sleeve from the top. See pic below.

Using a flat head screw driver to insert o-ring.  Here the gland nut is already on, but its a lot easier to do this before installing gland nut.

4. Screw the lower spring perch onto sleeve (can be done later).
5. Put the strut housing into a vice, and protect the paint with rags.  Pour about 3oz of oil into the housing.  The oil fills the gap between the cartridge and the strut housing to prevent heat building up in the shock.  I prefer not to use tranny fluid or gear oil because of the smell.  I used some engine oil because it was convenient.
6. Insert strut cartridge.  Check oil level, and fill as necessary.  You want the oil to be about .5-1" from the top.
7. Apply some anti-seize to the gland nut and screw it on.  First by hand and then tighten with a monkey wrench.
8. Put spring on. 
9. Put bump stop on the shock cylinder.
10. Put top spring perch on
11. Put (1) 1" washer on (FOR THE FRONT STRUTS ONLY).  This is acting as a spacer so that the top spring perch contacts the bearing portion of the front strut mount.  See below photos.  I also added bearing greases here to prevent corrosion and wear.  This section will be turning with the wheels.  Though I have two pictures, each showing a washer, you only need to use one washer.  The pictures below are just to demonstrate where the washer will sit. 

Washer sitting on spring top.

Where the washer will sit on the strut mount.

12. Put the strut mount on.
13. Put (3) 18mm washers on (FRONT ONLY).  The stock upper strut mount would usually sit under the mount and without it there is some play between the mount and the locking nut that holds this all together. 
14. Screw on the locking nut on the end of the shock shaft.  The hardest part about this is that the shock will want to spin.  You best bet it to snug it up by holding the shaft with your fingers through the coil.  Once it starts to spin you can try wrapping a piece of rubber around the shaft and grip it with vice grips.  Get them as tight as you can.  Don't worry, you won't be able to get it super tight, but it should be good enough. 


When you are done they will look something like this.

Coil-over Conversion.  Fronts for a MKII MR2 with 10" springs.  I later switched to 8" springs.

Here is a pic of them mounted in the car.

Front Coil-overs mounted on the cars.

For struts without gland nuts you can weld on the strut without removing the inner shock but take a few precautions such as welding in short durations.  Do not weld weld near the valves (toward the top or bottom of the strut). But the better option will be to cut off the top of the strut, remove the damper and then weld a threaded collar that will allow you to swap out strut cartridges.  You will probably have to do some research and find a cartridge that is the proper diameter and length to fit. 

Adjusting Ride Height

 When I installed mine I moved the lower spring perch up to hold the spring against the top mount, then mounted the coil-overs on the car.  Measure the ride height from the ground to the fender as described above.  Remember to do this on a level surface!  If, by magic or math you got the ride height perfect on the first go then make sure everything is tightened up and take it for a test drive.  If you want to make adjustments then jack up the car, remove the wheel and measure the distance from the lower spring perch to some point on the strut.  Then adjust the position of the lower spring perch to change the ride height. Below you can see how I measured using a metric measuring tape.  I find metric to be much easier than figuring out what fraction of an inch I was looking at. I was using the knuckle bracket as my reference point.  In this cse I was at 73mm.  I wanted to reduce my ride height by 1".  25mm = 1" so to lower the car 1" I need to moved the lower spring perch down until I measure 48mm.
 
 

Measuring the Distance of Lower Spring Perch to Reference Point on Coil-Over.

Sure enough, I dropped the car and I was at exactly where I wanted to be.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask them in the comment section below.  


Fine Print: You are responsible for your own safety and modifications to you car.  I am not responsible for any damage, injury or death that may result.  Follow these steps at your own risk and if you aren't sure you are doing something safely then don't do it. Always use proper safety equipment.  Modifying or changing existing products on your car is risky and not suggested by the manufacturer so any damage, injury or death is your own responsibility.  Do not attempt if you don't feel you can accomplish this safely.  Make sure to check all the bolts are tightened properly and test the car before driving it.

Suspension Series Part 1 - Shocks and Springs

Selection of coil-over springs.

To avoid confusion, I want to be clear that I am not a suspension expert.  I am preparing my MR2 for NASA HPDE (High Performance Driving Events) with the intention of working toward my time trial and competition license.  Over the last couple months I have been reading articles and books about suspension design and tuning so that I can make my car as good as I can.  The more I learn the more I will share.

It seems that a lot of people confuse the purposes of the shocks and springs.  The spring should be determining the “stiffness” of the suspension not the shock.  That is not to say that their functions aren’t interrelated and as such it is very important that they complement each other in order for them to be effective.  Primarily the function of the spring is to keep the wheels in contact with the ground.  In short the springs allows the wheels to move vertically over bumps and into divots to maintain contact with the road.  The spring is actually the load bearing component of the suspension and is a boundary between what is referred to as “sprung” weight and “unsprung” weight (see future articles).  The shock’s, or the damper’s, sole purpose is to control the motion of the spring.

When a spring is compressed and then released, it will bounce or oscillate.  The same can happen to an unrestrained spring in a car and in such a case you will see the wheel literally bouncing after it hits a bump or pothole.  It’s not very often you will see this on the street, but I have seen it a few times.  The damper is designed to control the spring to prevent this from happening.  Ideally, when a wheel encounters a bump it will travel over it causing the spring to compress.  As the bump tapers off, the wheel will follow the profile of the bump back down to the level surface of the road and then its vertical motion will cease.  In other words the natural tendency for the spring to oscillate will be limited to one up and one down motion also known as a cycle.  This is achieved by a properly designed and matched set of springs and dampers. 

Another way to think of this relationship between the spring and the damper is to consider this system separate from the car.   If the spring is compressed then released it will want to bounce up and down a few times.  As I described above, paired with the right damper under the same test, the spring will be compressed and when released will rebound back to its uncompressed length and stop.  Now imagine that we replace the spring will one that is much stiffer but we don’t change the damper.  When we compress the spring we will need much more force to do so.  The spring is now storing or absorbing much more energy and when we release it the spring will rebound with a lot more force.  Now the spring is too strong for the damper and it cannot be controlled.  The spring will oscillate a couple times more than we would like it to because the damper is being over powered by the spring. This is an example of an under-damped car.  Now if we instead swapped out the spring for one that is much softer than the original, then this condition would be called over-damped.  When the spring is compressed and released the spring will rebound slowly; too slow to react to changing road/track conditions.  In a car, imagine hitting a bump and the spring can’t compress because the damper is to stiff.  This artificial increase in spring rate isn’t beneficial to the handling of the car because even minor bumps will be  

Adjustable Shocks

Considering the above examples, if you get stiffer springs for your car but use the stock dampers, then you may be under-damped depending on how much stiffer your new springs are.  This is precisely why adjustable struts/shocks/dampers are available.  You can buy adjustable dampers and throw on a new set of springs and tune the damper to them.  If you decide you need to change out the springs, then you can quickly make adjustments.  Some racers change their spring rates to suit specific tracks or in the case of an Auto-x’er they may change out their springs for different lot surfaces.  Theoretically, once you have set the dampers to the correct stiffness for your springs, you shouldn’t have to change them, but that isn’t so in the real world.  Different tracks and surfaces will need fine tuning.  However, it’s not likely your adjustments will vary much from the theoretical “ideal.”  Even adjustable dampers have a specific working range.  If you choose springs outside that range then you will need to change them out. 

One major drawback of adjustable dampers is that the adjustments can be very inconsistent and aren’t usually repeatable. Dennis North, a highly successful Auto-X’er has tested thousands of shocks and repeatability.  Unless you pony up big bucks for Penske’s, the adjustability is pretty much useless.  No two shocks from the same manufacturer are alike.  Sometimes adjusting them a little stiffer has the complete opposite effect and vice versa.  His suggestion, for the serious yet budget conscious racer, is to get Bilsteins which are re-valvable. This means you can disassemble the shocks fairly easily, change out the internal valves which control the compression, and rebound to tune the shock.  Obviously having to disassemble the shock is not as convenient as an adjustment knob, but it is more customizable. 

Another drawback of most adjustable dampers is that they will only adjust rebound, compression, or both simultaneously.  Compression is how much resistance the damper has when the spring/damper is being compressed and rebound is when the spring/shock is extending.  If you can only adjust one you might find yourself under/over damped in compression but OK in rebound or vice versa.  Higher end dampers will allow you to adjust both independently but they also tend to be quite a bit more expensive.  So the end of the story is, if they aren’t going to be consistent, it probably isn’t worth spending the extra money.

Alfa Romeo Giulietta - aka Dodge Dart

Some of you may know that the Dodge is re-releasing the Dart later this year to fill the compact car opening in its vehicle line up.  Though the body will be Dodge its bones will be Fiat; more specifically the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.  Since I am not the die-hard buy American type I am actually pretty excited that Chrysler is using this chassis since the car may retain some of the Alfa’s character.  Even though Alfa Romeos are notoriously unreliable the Top Gear guys still love these cars.  Which means I will definitely take the opportunity to drive one when I get a chance.  I do like the body styling of the new Dart, and I hope its fun to drive.  According to a friend of mine who is a vehicle dynamics engineer with Chrysler said the engineers working on the Dart are trying to preserve the Alfa driving experience.  I hope they do.

I can’t say there are many benefits to living in South East Michigan – like crumbling roads and loose rocks that crack windshields, but I do get to see a lot of the new cars in their razzle-dazzle or flat black paint schemes like this Alfa Romeo Giulietta mule I saw a couple days ago.  I can only speculate what Chrysler’s intentions are with this car; testing for the Dart, Fiat may release the Giulietta in the US, or they may use the platform for a number of other cars.  I heard a newer smaller Jeep model might use this chassis

Alfa Romeo Giulietta test mule painted flat black.

Alfa Romeo Giulietta test mule painted flat black.

How To Inspect Your Car For The Track

For your safety and the safety of other participants, it is important that you bring a car that is mechanically safe for the track.  There will likely be some sort of safety or tech inspection, but no one will know the car as well as you, so ultimately, it's your responsibility to make sure that the car you are bringing to the event is safe.  If you aren't the mechanic in the family I would suggest learning the basics like changing a tire, torquing the wheels, checking fluids and bleeding brakes.  It isn't uncommon to have to bleed the brakes while at the track because you cooked your brake fluid.

- Fluid leaks:  Look for any significant leaks and get them fixed.  If the engine is wet from oil, but its not dripping significantly, you will be OK.  Significant leaks are anything that leaves a quarter sized puddle after the car has been sitting for an hour.  This is transmission, engine, radiator, brakes, power steering, fuel (want to burn to death?), differential, blinker fluid and any other fluids your car may have that I forgot about.

- Brakes: Check to make sure your rotors are in decent shape and you have plenty of meat on the pads. Even if the fluid looks good and you have good pedal feel it's still a good idea to bleed the brakes to get some fresh fluid in the calipers.  If you change pads then you should bed in the brakes to give you the best possible braking performance. It is also a good idea to bring an extra set of pads in case you wear out the current set on your car.

- Suspension/drive-train.  Check for any loose components especially ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, and control arms.  One way to check it is to grab the top of the tire with the car on the ground and shake it.  If there is play or funny noises, you better investigate further.  Then jack up the car, and grab the tire in the 3 and 9 o'clock position and shake it.  Then repeat in the 12 and 6 o'clock position.  Again, you are looking for excessive play or noises that indicating that there are some loose parts.

- Tires:  You should expect to wear the tires pretty significantly, so check them for thread depth, uneven wear, cracking, cuts or damage.  Check them between sessions to make sure you still have meat on them, but I wouldn't recommend going to an event unless the tires have at least half the thread depth left otherwise you might have to retire from the event early.

- Battery:  It must be secured so that it doesn't become a wrecking ball inside the car.

- Wheel Torque.  Bring a torque wrench to check the lugs regularly before, during and after the event. Know what you should be torquing your lugs to because if you over do it you can break wheel studs which the organizers won't like to much.  Plus, think how embarrassing it would be if a wheel came off on the course.

- Steering:  I should feel tight.  Older cars with the conventional steering linkage may have more play, but if its excessive you need determine if you have any worn components.

-Misc:  Safety belts need to be functional.  Tail lights usually need to be functioning.  The inside of the car needs to be cleared of loose items, including the floor mats. No cracks in the windshield. No loose or hanging body panels. No significant rust in structural areas of the car such as the frame, suspension hard points, and strut towers.

Just figure that you could be going 100+ mph into a turn, do you want a mechanical failure to send you into the wall?  If the answer is yes, then please let me know which track day you will be at so I can avoid it.  When in doubt, slow the car to a safe speed and return to the pits and ask someone to help you.  There are a lot of cool people out there, and they will be more than happy to help if they can.  Track days are the most fun when you go home with your car and your self in one piece, so don't worry about getting your moneys worth. 

Track Car for the Novice

It’s easy to find a lot of articles about which car is the best track car, but they are usually measuring which car can turn the fastest lap time.  That is really good for experienced drivers, but what about the best track car if you are a first timer?  I thought it would be good to do a write up on what the best novice track car would be.  If you are interested in really honing your skills so that you can drive a car at or near its limit on a track or would like to get into racing, then please sit down with an open mind and let me explain my philosophy before you just peruse the list to see where your car falls.

Whenever I talk to someone about tracking a car they always assume that a car needs to be modified.   Why?  I guess many assume that when taking a car out onto the track it should be prepped for the track with power and suspension mods, but most cars that you would want to take to the track will be just fine in the stock form.  Adding power and suspension modification only adds another layer of complexity and obscures the skills a novice driver should be focusing on.  Watching track and race videos can be very deceiving since you really don’t get a good feel for how fast those corners seem to come at you, how hard to turn, and then there are the walls, the little bumps, and the slip angle of the tires.  A friend of mine summed it up in one word: scary.  It’s a fun scary, but you won’t really know what I mean until you have done it.  Even now you are probably thinking “I am going to tear the track up!”  Basically if you really want to be a skilled driver then put on the training wheels.  It seems that every hobby I have pursued, there are the foundational skill sets that when mastered will make it easier to concentrate on practicing the advanced skills.  So with this in mind, I have a few suggestions on what is the best way to learn to drive a car at speed on a track.  Of course, always be safe.  You aren’t going to become a great driver if you crash and burn.

Try AutoX (pronounced auto-cross) first.  Not glamorous, but it is fun.  One benefit is that the courses are set up to try and limit the possibility of you wrecking your car if you spin or otherwise make a fool of yourself.  But really the best part of autoxing is that you can get a feel for the car in a relatively safe setting.  Don’t make excuses that the events are “confusing with all those cones” or some BS like that.  Try it.  When you do, really push the car.  Try and make it spin.  Try and brake really late and hard.  Practice threshold braking.  Feel how hard you can corner.  What does the car do when you take it into a corner to fast?  What happens when you give it to much throttle in the middle of the corner?  There shouldn’t be any hard obstacles or people out there to hit if you totally push wide in a corner or spin.  When I make new significant modifications to my car I like to thrash it around at an autoX first just to see how the car feels and it gives me more confidence when I got to the track that if I do spin I have some idea what I need to do to recover.

I will assume that you probably already have a car, and that is the car you intend to track.  However, if you don’t have a car yet or want to buy another car, I have compiled this list of cars from Ideal to Terrible.  Now I wish that I could have driven all these cars, but I haven’t so some of this is based on the tech sheets or second hand knowledge but I wanted to list most of the popular models.  It’s important to note that one assumption I made with this list is that the cars are NOT MODIFIED or have minor modifications such as intake, exhaust, sway bar change maybe some newer slightly adjustable suspension.  So no turbo upgrades, no coilovers, no aero.

Ideal Cars - These cars will all share common characteristics; front engine, rear wheel drive, low powered. Why these characteristics?  Most high powered race cars are going to be rear wheel drive and since those cars are going to be prone to oversteer, you should learn to control it and use it.  Sure a lot of high power cars are going to be mid-engine, but mid-engine cars can be difficult to learn in because when they start to spin, they spin fast where a front engine car has more progressive oversteer, that’s easier to detect, correct for, and recover from.  Now, the most important part is you want a low power car so that you can concentrate on fundamental driver skills such as racing lines, smooth down shifts and car control without having to do it at 100+ mph.  Trust me, like I said earlier, it may seem like the faster the better, but once you actually do it, it’s better to start slow, learn the fundamentals and then step it up to the fast cars.  Remember, training wheels before the ten speed.

Mazda Miata (base model, no forced induction)
Mazda RX-7 (old models that aren’t turbocharged)
Toyota Corrolla (83-87 AE86, RWD car)
Pontiac Solstice (no turbo or supercharger)
Saturn Sky (non-tubro of course)
Nissan 240SX, 300Z
Porsche 944 (non turbo)

Good Cars - These cars are fun and will help the novice driver learn to drive a track, but may not have handling characteristics that emulate the typical race car or higher end sports cars.

Honda Civic, Accord, Fit, CRX
Dodge Neon (DOHC or SOHC versions, not the SRT4)
Acura Integra (not the Type-R)
Nissan Sentra (normal or SE-R)
VW Golf, Scirocco, Corrado, GTI (no VR6 or turbos)
Ford Focus, Escort, Fiesta
Chevy Cobalt (not the SS of course)
Subaru 2.5RS, Legacy, regular Impreza
Mini Cooper

Marginal Cars – These cars are rated as such mostly because they are a little fast to make the Ideal or Good list, though a couple mid-engine cars made the marginal list since they have well tuned suspension or low power so that they aren’t to much of a handful.

Ford Mustang
Chevy Cobalt SS
BMWs
Dodge SRT-4, Challenger, Charger
VW R32, VR6’s
Toyota Supra (Mark 2&3), MR2 Spyder (’00-’05)
Nissan 300ZX (non-turbo)
AudiA4, TT
Porsche Cayman, Boxter, 944 Turbo
Fiat X1/9
Nissan 350Z & 370Z

Mazda RX-8

A Little Scary – Handling characteristics are tricky or speed is just getting to fast to make them a good novice car. For instance, the mid-engine layout has some very solid advantages, but they also can be very “snappy”, meaning that when the tail end breaks loose and starts to spin, it will do so quickly and the driver needs to be very attuned to the car to be able to catch it.

Chevy Corvette, Camaro
Toyota MR2, Supra (Mark 4)
Lotus Elise
Subaru WRX or STI
Mitsubishi EVOs
Porsche 911 (non-turbo)
Nissan GT-R

Terrible – Keep in mind this is for a novice driver.  Don’t misinterpret this list; all of these cars make great track cars but not if you are trying to learn.  Basically, take all the super cars and lump them into this class, but here are some particularly difficult to drive:

Porsche 911 (especially the older ones)
Dodge Viper
Ariel Atom

What is a Driver's Car?

 Photo by RUD66, Flickr, apart of the creative commons

It was 1964 when Porsche began to sell the 1965 model year 911, the car that has been described as the ultimate driver’s car.  Besides the unique styling, the car had a few other features that set it apart from most cars of its day such as independent rear suspension, four wheel disc brakes and decent power from the 2.0L flat six that utilized overhead cams instead of the more common pushrods.  However the most notable characteristic is the rear mounted engine that gave the car a 40-60 (meaning 40% of the weight is on the front tires, and 60% on the rear tires) weight distribution that gave the 911 interesting handling characteristics.  Because of its relatively affordable price point, refined suspension, and power the 911 became popular in all sorts of motorsports, from road track and autoX to hill climbs and rallys and its popularity exploded from there.

What is it about this car that sets it apart as being the preeminent driver's car?  The rear engine lay-out seems nothing more than some dressed up VW Beetle with some extra power, but that oversimplifies things and doesn't do the car any justice.  It would be like calling a Viper a dressed up truck. Sure, some of the suspension and the engine of the early models were based on a truck, but that doesn't make it a truck. The 911 is strapped with a more sophisticated suspension, and the brakes to handle the extra power. Having the engine in the back means the car has shorter braking distance, is more stable under braking and makes the car very oversteery.  If you didn't know it, drivers prefer oversteer to understeer, and this car has extra helpings. But with the weight hanging out behind the rear axle, if the driver looses the back end, it can come around very quickly. A driver has to be very vigilant and in tune with the car or it will spin, and because of this it reputation of killing many a rich yuppie who thought they were driving some godly car that couldn't possibly spin off the road into a tree and kill them.  Perhaps in defense of the 911 or maybe another car that had similarly dangerous reputation, the 911 was labeled as a "driver's car". I can't say for certain when the term was coined or why, but the 911 has become the poster child for the ultimate driver's car. 

What does this tell us about what makes a driver's car?  If we distill out the features of the Porsche that makes it unique, we can sketch out an accurate definition for what a driver's car actually is.  The 40-60 weight distributions gives the car great braking performance, helps keeps the weight on the drive tires for better traction, and gives it the famous twitchy back end.  Besides that, it is also mixed with some decent power and a well tuned suspension that makes the 911 a very capable car at negotiating road track.  Challenging, yes, but also rewarding and that is really what makes the car worth it.  A Reliant Robin is a challenging car to drive around a track in anger, but its' three wheel layout and weak motorcycle engine doesn't give it a competitive advantage.  Herein lies the essence of the driver's car; it is fast, it shreds corners, and it pushes the driver as much as the driver pushes the car.

If you go looking for the definition of a driver’s car online you would likely see a blog post talking about the car being “fun” or perhaps that it has a good cockpit, a steering wheel that feels good in teh hands or help give the driver confidence in a corner.  But based on what we know about the Porsche, this is all wrong.  In fact a true driver’s car would probably be bat shit scary to the new or lightly experienced driver.  The key is that the car is challenging to drive because if it was easy, the true driver would be bored with it.  For instance, I would consider a Formula 1 car to be a true driver’s car, but I doubt that I would be able to really drive one very effectively.  If you haven’t see Richard Hammond try and drive the Renault R25 Formula 1 car, I would suggest you watch it (here).  The F1 car is the most challenging car to drive that I know of, and it is driven by the most respected drivers in the world.  So for those who think that an Acura Integra Type-R is a driver’s car, I would say you are wrong.  Though I haven't driven one, I assume that its fun, and fast, but its but because its FWD, it can't be a driver's car.  I hate to broadly define cars based solely on drive train configuration, it is pretty safe to say that all FWD cannot be a true driver’s car for two reasons. One is they tend to understeer, which isn’t helpful in racing, and its also a more benign handling response than oversteer, and second is the front wheels perform two functions, steering and acceleration.  This is fundamentally weaker than a RWD layout that has the front wheels dedicated to steering and the rear wheels dedicated to accelerating the car forward.  So in a turn, a rear wheel drive should be able to put more power down to accelerate out of the corner.  All wheel drive is a whole other animal, and it isn’t so easy to categorically praise or denounce them since some are very raw with a rear wheel bias and mechanical diffs, while others are highly tricked out with yaw sensors, traction control and electronically controlled center differentials. 

For perspective I have listed the weight distributions, and stopping distances of some popular race/super cars. 

Car	Weight Distribution	Braking Distance
Formula 1	46/54	Unkwn
Indy Car	45/55	Unkwn
Dodge Viper GTS*	48/52	60-0 in 139’
2005 Corvette	53/47	60-0 in 114’
Lexus LFA	48/52	60-0 in 94’
2010 R8 V10 5.2	44/56	60-0 in 104’
2003 Ferrari Enzo	44/56	60-0 in 106’
2004 Porsche Carrera GT	41/59	60-0 in 101’
2007 Lamborgini Mercielago LP640	48/52	60-0 in 107’

*I believe this is the stat for the first generation Viper and later models had improved their braking distances considerably.