Race Car Preparation - Five Top Tips

Do not Change Multiple Things At A Time



Making several adjustments to a car in the same session is an oversight often made by novice race drivers. This poses a dilemma because in order to understand how each adjustment has altered the cars performance, only one modification can be made at a time. It’s also important to make notes of all the changes made (as in how the parts were pre and post the changes), along with how they affected the cars performance. It is then simpler to readjust the car should the changes not work out as anticipated.



Adjust The Camber Properly



Camber refers to the tilt of the tyres. A correctly adjusted camber is vital in race car preparation, as it will ensure the car can grip the road properly and is able to turn corners at maximum speed.



The camber will either be ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. A positive camber is where the top part of the tyre is pointing away from the centre of the vehicle, and a negative camber is where the tyres point in to the centre. Figuring out just how much to modify the camber is attained by studying the tyre temperatures. How much you may alter the camber is dependant on the sort of race that you are participating in.



Make Sure That The Caster Is Postitive, Not Negative



The caster refers to how the top of the tyre leans. If the wheel is tilted towards the rear of the car, it is a positive caster. A negative caster is when the wheel leans towards the front.



Making certain that your tyres caster is positive is such an integral component of race car preparation since a negative caster not only causes it to be harder for the car to maneuver forward, but it also makes the car more difficult to control.



This article was written by R. Deans on behalf of DMS Racing, experts in race car preparation. For more info on race car preparation please visit DMSRacingLTD.co.uk


Assess The Ride Height of The Chassis



A chassis which is too low could cause a vehicle to bottom out on the track, meaning that this is a significant element of race car preparation. However, the lower the chassis is the lower the centre of gravity and the lower the total weight is to the ground. The lesser the load is the simpler it is for the car to turn corners. To be able to ascertain the optimum chassis height, the track has to be learnt after which it is just a case of experimentation until the correct height is established.



Check The Tyre Pressure



Altering the tyre pressure is one more adjustment you could make to guarantee the best achievable grip between your car and the track. The pressure is merely referring to how much air is inside the tyre. Problems occur since the tyres expand as they get hot. The air inside the tyre comprises moisture which turns into steam as it gets hot. This then increases the tyre pressure. It's worth contemplating using nitrogen inside the tyres as an alternative to air. Nitrogen filled tyres will not expand as much because nitrogen doesn't contain any moisture. As a result, most professional racers opt to use nitrogen as opposed to air.