Legends car setups for racing

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Emails are serviced by Constant Contact. Customize Cookie Settings. You have successfully updated your cookie settings. Performance Cookies See More Information. Functional Cookies See More Information. I spent all day yesterday trying to get one set up,to,load with no sucess and no idea where I am going wrong … This may be a good product but useless if you can,t get it to work..

Jeff you say to contact you but without your 4 digit number I can,t do that.. You need to make that available. I did get one to load onto my setups but then when I went to open them it said It could not read the files or something like that. I am sure I am not the only member to get frustrated and leave without one successful download. You need a much clearer step by step process. Good luck. Jeff for newbies, we can find many wrong ways to interpret the download instructions.

Your reply suggests you don,t care so I expect I will follow your suggestion and go some where else. The vast majority of users figure it out quickly.

There are tons of videos on Youtube. The instructions can only be interpreted in one way if you have a basic understanding of Windows.

Hey Jeff! Just wanted to say I love this site! The purpose of a spoiler is to add down force to the rear of the car. This is accomplished by how the air is passed over the back of the trunk lid as it hits the spoiler.

The same basic theories that apply to an airplane wing apply to a spoiler on a race car. When an airplane takes off from a runway, you'll notice that the rear flaps on the wings point downward. This is actually just the opposite of how a spoiler works on a WC race car. When the flaps are pointed down on an airplane it assists the plane is lifting up to get off the ground. This isn't an effect you would want in a race car. This is the effect we desire at most race tracks.

The rear spoiler catches air pushing down on the back of the car allowing for better traction through the corners. How much air catches the spoiler is determined by what angle the spoiler is placed at and the rake of the chassis based on ride height.

The lower the number the straighter the spoiler or the less down force there will be on the rear of the car. You may think a setting of 70 would be the best for cornering, and it might very well be depending on the track. The disadvantage to running a higher spoiler angle is that it increases drag slowing you down on a straightaway. Picture yourself holding your hand out the window of an automobile traveling 55 mph, with your palm facing down towards the road.

You'll notice how the wind pushes your hand back a little bit. This would be similar to a spoiler angle of 45 degrees in a race car. You'll notice how much stronger the wind appears to be pushing your hand when you rotate it. This would be similar to you running an angle of 70 degrees on your rear spoiler. Obviously the force on a rear spoiler going mph over the length of the rear deck lid will be a lot higher than your hand out a window.

On a high banked high speed track like Talladega, you'll probably want to run the minimum spoiler angle since down force isn't as critical. A track like Talladega naturally creates down force on the car. The majority of other tracks will require higher degrees of spoiler to keep the rear end glued to the track. To keep it simple, the higher the spoiler angle the tighter the rear will be.

The lower the angle the looser the rear will be. Spoiler synopsis: The higher the angle the slower your straight-away speeds. The lower the angle the faster your straight-away speeds. The lower the angle the looser the chassis. The higher the angle the tighter the chassis. Springs Four coil springs are located at each corner of the chassis. The springs determine how much weight is transferred to each corner of the car. The springs are mounted in such a way that they can be adjusted up or down to change ride heights.

Springs are rated by how many pounds it takes to compress the spring 1". This is done using a special tool called a spring compressor. The ideal spring combination is one that would produce equal amounts of wheel travel at all four corners of the car.

At all ovals, the heaviest weight is being transferred towards the RF upon entry into a corner. This means the RF corner of the car will travel more requiring a stiffer spring than the other 3 corners. The higher the numbers the stiffer the spring. The front springs are adjustable in 50 lb. The rear springs can be adjusted as low as lbs. An overall softer spring package is usually preferred over a stiffer setup.

With a softer setup though, you run the risk of having the car bottom out on the track. Using softer springs will cause the car to roll over more in the corners. This may require using higher camber angles to compensate for the roll.

In general stiffer front springs will make the car tighter. Stiffer rear springs will loosen the car. Running more spring stagger up front, with a weaker left side spring, will tighten the car under acceleration while loosening it under braking. The greater the difference, the greater the chassis response during these transitions.

Running more spring stagger in the rear, with a weaker left side spring, will have just the opposite effect as the front. A stiffer RF spring will make the car tighter. A stiffer LR spring will tighten the car from the middle, out of a corner because it keeps cross weight in the car. You'll notice that when making a spring change either stiffer or weaker, it will have the same effect on the chassis as it's diagonal opposite corner. In other words, if you decide to make the RF spring weaker to help loosen the car, you could also make the diagonal opposite corner LR weaker to also help loosen the car.

In all actuality, what your doing by changing both diagonal corners together, is changing the wedge or cross weight of the chassis. Try to remember the diagonal corners as pairs. And that whatever one pair does, the opposite pair will have the opposite effect. Using this method makes remembering what spring does what a little easier. In reality then, all you have to remember is what one spring adjustment does, and you should remember how all the others corners are effected.

Let me give you an example. Just remember that a stiffer RF spring equals a tighter condition. Now I know that diagonally a stiffer LR spring also equals a tighter condition. All will help to tighten the chassis. I remember all this by simply knowing that a stiffer RF spring equals a tighter race car. Let's try to put it in it's simplest form. Spring synopsis: Weaker LF will make the car tight. Weaker RR will make the car tight. Weaker RF will make the car loose. Weaker LR will make the car loose.

Stiffer RF will make the car tight. Stiffer LR will make the car tight. Stiffer LF will make the car loose. Stiffer RR will make the car loose. Overall stiffer front springs will make the car tight.

Overall stiffer back springs will make the car loose. Overall weaker front springs will make the car loose. Overall weaker back springs will make the car tight. Steering ratio is measured by dividing the number of degrees the tire is turned into the number of degrees the steering wheel is turned. The lower the ratio the quicker the steering response. You'll notice that using a lower steering ratio will require less turning of the wheel to negotiate a corner.

This low steering ratio can result in a twitchy car since the smallest of steering inputs will be felt in the car.

It is very easy to over steer a car with such a low steering ratio. A car with a higher steering ratio will require more steering input to get through a corner. Too high a steering ratio might give the feeling of a tight race car as you find yourself turning the wheel further to negotiate a turn. This isn't a push, it's just requiring more movement in the wheel to steer the front tires the same amount as with a lower ratio. With a ratio of at a track like Michigan you might only have to turn the steering wheel 45 degrees to the left to get through the corner.

With the same exact setup, but a ratio of you might have to turn the wheel 90 degrees or more to the left to negotiate the same exact corner. There is no correct setting for steering ratio. A lot of this depends on the type of steering device used. With so many different wheels on the market, you wont know what is comfortable for you until you experiment with it yourself.

You may be comfortable with a steering ratio of at Dover with a TSW brand wheel, but find that after using a MadCatz wheel that the ratio is all wrong.

This is because some wheels turn more or less degrees than others requiring different steering ratio settings. Road courses are a track with slow sharp turns that would require a lower ratio.

High speed long sweeping corners would not require such a low steering ratio since you are not required to turn as sharply on tracks like these. Steering Ratio synopsis: The lower the ratio the quicker the steering response. The higher the ratio the slower the steering response. Lower ratios require less turning of the wheel to negotiate a corner. Higher ratios require more turning of the wheel to negotiate a corner.

Tire Pressure Tires are the most important component on a race car. In fact, every single thing you adjust on a race car is for the benefit of the tires. All these adjustments that I've discussed in this guide are all about trying to achieve the best possible grip from the tires to the track. If you have the best grip at all 4 wheels, then you'll have the fastest car on the track. Tire pressure is yet another adjustment that will aid you in achieving the best possible grip.

Tire pressure is simply how much air you have in a tire. The hotter tires get, the more they expand. Air contains moisture.

WC teams actually don't use air in their tires they use nitrogen. Nitrogen is preferred over air because it doesn't expand as much with temperature changes because it doesn't contain moisture. Since it's impossible to remove all the moisture from a tire, it will still change pressure as temperatures rises. When tires expand it changes the size of the tire which in turn changes the weight on that wheel.

This can be either a negative or positive situation depending on your chassis needs. Tire pressures can be adjusted on all 4 tires from as low as 8 psi. Improper tire pressure can cause an ill handling car. Correct tire pressure can be determined by reading tire temperatures. A tire with a temperature reading higher in the center of a tire indicates an over inflated tire.

Over inflated tires will have a tendency to make the car tight. Under inflation can slightly loosen a chassis but give better grip. Lower tire pressure will also increase the amount of heat in that tire. Excessively low tire pressure produces more heat which can result in quicker wear. Altering tire pressures allows us to slightly modify the stagger. Stagger is the circumference of the right side tires compared to the left side tires. The best way I can describe stagger is by using a white Styrofoam coffee cup.

You know, the kind that is bigger around on the top than on the bottom. Now push it along the table letting it roll. You see how it turns in one direction. This is stagger. Imagine the top or larger side of the cup as the right side tires on a race car.

Imagine the bottom or smaller side of the cup as the left side tires. See how it turns left? Stagger on a race car works the same exact way.

By increasing tire pressure on the right side, or decreasing pressure on the left we add stagger to the chassis allowing the car to turn left better through a corner especially under acceleration.

One thing to keep in mind when dealing with tire pressures, is that your also changing the weight of the car on the corner your lowering or raising pressure at. By raising or lowering pressure your changing the ride height of the chassis. Changing the ride height adds or subtracts weight from that corner of the chassis.

So tire pressure actually reacts like a spring. Adding more tire pressure makes that corner of the chassis a little stiffer. Lowering tire pressure will tend to make that corner of the car softer. Tire psi synopsis: Higher psi in RF will loosen the car. Lower psi in the RF will tighten the car. Higher psi in RR will loosen the car. Lower psi in the RR will tighten the car.

Higher psi in the LR will tighten the car from the middle out. Lower psi in the LR will loosen the car from the middle out.

Higher psi in the LF will tighten the car. Lower psi in the LF will loosen the car. The lower the psi in a tire the hotter it will run. The higher the psi in a tire the colder it will run. Excessively low front tire psi will create a push. Excessively low rear tire psi will create a loose condition. Increasing the split more RR psi than LR increases stagger, helping the car to turn in the middle of a corner.

Tire pressure allows us to fine tune the chassis. Drastic pressures changes at various corners of the chassis could produce less than desirable results. Keep an eye on tire temperatures. Although your changing the weight on each tire with tire pressure, your changing it to a much lesser degree than with a spring change. Tire Temperatures When I talk about the inside of each tire, I'm referring to the edge closest to the brake rotors or inside of the car. When I refer to the outside edge of each tire, I'm referring to those edges that are furthest from the brake rotors.

I previously mentioned that every adjustment we attempt to make on a racecar, is an attempt to try an maximize the grip of each tire. By taking tire temperatures of each tire we can "read" how well our chassis is performing. Tire temperatures are the only scientific proof we have of how a chassis is working. It's easy for a driver to misinterpret how a car is handling. Tire temperatures eliminate that mystery by telling us which corner of the car is over or under worked.

The information I am going to discuss below, is what I've learned over the years working on real race cars. Some of the tire testing information I will mention below has given me various results within the sim. Some of this information transfers over to the sim rather well. Use this information to the best of your advantage to better understand the concept behind reading tire temperatures. Tire temperatures are taken with a tool called a tire pyrometer. By comparing tire temperatures across the surface of the front tires we are able to tell if we have proper camber angles, proper toe, proper weight distribution, as well as proper tire inflation.

Comparing diagonal averages indicate the proper amount of wedge in the chassis. The optimal tire temperatures should be in a range of to degrees. Keep in mind that the hotter the tire the quicker it will wear out. The inside of each tire is the edge closest to the brake rotors or inside of the car. The outside edge of each tire are those edges that are furthest from the brake rotors. This is because of the way the tires travel down the straightaway.

On a larger track with longer straights, this spread will be even further. On an oval, the RF tire will have more negative camber, thus resulting in the inside edge of the tire contacting the track more than the outside edge giving you the higher temperature. On the LF you will run with more positive camber, so just the opposite holds true.

The more camber you run, the higher these spreads will be. On a small track were you spend a lot of time cornering, you'll find the spread not as high. This is because your spending more time cornering than on the straights, thus distributing the temperatures across the face of the tire more evenly.

If you try to achieve even temps across the tire you may develop a push. This is telling you that you have too much positive camber. Although the tire may be flat on the track, on a straightaway, the tire will not be flat on the track while cornering. By comparing the average temperature of all four tires you can see which corner of the chassis is working harder than the other. If your RF is a lot hotter than the other three tires your probably pushing because the RF is doing too much work.

Work on cooling that tire off by lowering the RF spring and allowing the other tires to share some of the work load. By comparing the RF average to the RR average you can tell if the chassis is loose or tight. The RF should be about 10 degrees hotter than the RR.

If it's higher your probably pushing. If it's lower your loose. A tire is being under worked when it's temperature is a lot lower than the other three tires. When a tire is cooler or under worked, try concentrating on that corner of the car. Try adding weight to that corner of the car to increase the temperature of that tire.

If a tire is a lot hotter than the other 3 work on making that tire cooler. If it is warmer you have too much cross weight.

If it's cooler then you need more cross weight or wedge. Don't expect to learn everything reading the temps only once.

It will take a number of 10 lap sessions to sort everything out that is going on with the tires. When analyzing tire temperatures it should be done in a specific order.

This is because a problem in one area may mask a problem in another area. Here is what I do. Run 10 laps, adjust front cambers. Run another 10 laps. Adjust tire psi. Run 10 laps. Adjust toe if needed. Adjust wedge. Run 10 laps.. Look for overheated or overworked tire.

Adjust on that corner. Repeat the process all over again. Run 10 more laps. When checking tire temperatures it is important to make sure your not locking up the brakes or making any sudden changes in your steering outputs. These will all create erroneous tire temperatures readings. Let me try to simplify how to read tire temperatures by giving you this guideline. Let me reiterate once again that the results you see may vary. Lets look at a few examples.

Overall average temp is The RR is approximately 26 degrees hotter than the RF. If this RR is also the hottest tire on the car, it indicates the RR is doing the majority of the work in the corners.

This is the corner of the chassis I would work on. We need to take some weight of this corner to cool this tire. I'd start by going with a weaker RR spring. Average temp.

Let's compare this with the RR below taken on the same car. This tire is 10 degrees cooler than the RF indicating a neutral handling chassis. This should be good, but we could be faster with a camber change on the RF. The average temp is After the camber adjustment we no longer have a neutral handling car, but one that is now on the verge of becoming loose. Your general feeling may be that the camber change made the handling worse, and it very well may of.

But were still heading in the proper direction. You may have to take a step backwards at 1st to take 2 steps forward later. To increase the heat in the RF try a stiffer spring. To decrease the heat in the RR try a weaker spring. Either way you will make the car tighter.

How much of a change depends on how much it changes your tire temps. Eventually you should be faster than your neutral handling setup with improper camber in the RF. As you can see from the above example there isn't always an immediate cure. Chassis setup is sort of like solving a puzzle.

Always keep in mind that you may be going the correct way, but there could be an adjustment elsewhere that may be masking your initial change. Because of this chassis setup can become very frustrating for the novice and experienced alike. For every change you believe your making for the better, it will have an adverse effect elsewhere in the chassis. Curing the loose condition exiting the corner now has probably messed up your chassis going into the turn. Now you must loosen it up again. Tire Temperature synopsis: Optimal temp range is between degrees.

The hotter the tire the quicker it will wear. The hottest tire on the car is the tire that is being worked the most. The coolest tire is the least worked. Work on the corner of the chassis that is either the most overworked or least worked 1st. Track Bar The track bar or panhard bar as I like to call it, is simply a bar that is mounted behind the rear-end that keeps the rear end from moving from side to side while cornering. The left side of this bar is mounted to the rear-end, while the right side is mounted to the frame.

Rear roll center directly effects the body roll experienced in the car. Within the sim we are allowed to lower the bar as low as 7. This measurement in inches is simply telling you how far off the ground the track bar is located. Adding stagger to the track bar changes the angle at which the bar is mounted.

By changing the track bar from level, to either uphill or downhill raising or lower only one side, the LR or RR you add rear steer to the car. The easiest way to describe rear steer is by equating it with wheel base. If one side of your wheel base measurement is NOT the same as the other, you have rear steer. When you add rear steer to the car by running track bar stagger, you change how the chassis will perform at various points throughout a corner. Raising the right side of the track bar, or lowering the left side, will make the car looser under acceleration while at the same time tighten you up under braking.

How much tighter or looser? It depends on how much track bar stagger you have. Track Bar synopsis: Raising the bar on both ends loosens the chassis. Lowering the bar on both ends tightens the chassis. If you haven't yet read the setup notes section please do so now.

Proper note taking is the most overlooked aspect of chassis setup. You can never have too many notes. Without proper note taking your always trying to find a needle in a haystack.

With proper note taking you will at least know in which part of the haystack to begin your search. Was it clear or cloudy when you tested with this setup? What was the temperature?

What happens to the chassis under different weather conditions? I'll also keep track of how I like to enter or exit the corners with the current setup. What is the best line around the track to take with the current setup? Enter a race informed of the situation at hand. Proper note taking will keep you one step ahead of the competition. Transmission Ratios The transmission is designed to change the high rotational speed and low torque turning force of the engine's crankshaft into the higher-torque rotation needed to turn the wheels over a range of speeds.

Transmission ratios vary through the 4 gears selected during shifting and are adjustable in varying increments for each individual gear. Most of your ratio changes will be made at the rear end in the differential. The most important factor in selecting proper transmission ratios, is to make sure your not geared to high causing excessive wheel spin.

You must also be sure you have a good split between ratios through all 4 gears. You'll want to maintain as high an rpm as possible when shifting through the gears. To large a split ratio between gears will cause slow acceleration and lost time whenever shifting is required.

For successful gear shifting, remember that it is critical to ensure that all mechanical elements between the drivers hand and the dog faces are in good order and properly set. This includes the gear linkage in the chassis! Successful up-shifting, defined as fast and non dog-damaging will be achieved by fully moving the dog ring as rapidly as possible from one gear to the next, preferably with the engine's driving load removed until the shift is completed.

The opposite is true of a synchromesh gearbox as used in passenger cars, where slow movement helps. It should be remembered that it is not possible to damage the dogs when fully engaged in gear. If a driver moves the gear lever slowly, or if the linkage is not rigid and effective, dog wear will occur. We always recommend lightweight yet solid rod linkage, not cables ideally. I list below the different methods of up-shifting that are used in racing most commonly.

The best at the top, the worst at the bottom: Automated semi automated. Gear-shifts take milliseconds. This system produces zero dog wear when set up well. It is not applicable to most cars, but it illustrates that speed of shift is a good thing. Manual with engine cut. This system is almost as good as an automated one as long as the driver pulls the lever very quickly. Again it is not applicable to many cars, but it illustrates that speed of shift is a good thing.

With this system it is especially important to move the lever ultra fast, otherwise the engine will be reinstated during partial dog engagement, causing damage. The damage can usually be felt by the driver. Manual Best method: With no assistance from the engine management, the driver must lift off the throttle sufficiently to allow the dog ring to be pulled out of engagement. He should then stay off the throttle long enough to allow the dog ring to engage with the next gear.

In practice, the driver can move the gear lever faster than he can move his foot off and back on to the throttle. Therefore the effective method is to apply load to the gear lever with your hand and then lift the throttle foot off and back on to the pedal as fast as physically possible.

In lifting your foot, the loaded gear lever will almost involuntarily flick to the next gear before the foot is re-applied to the throttle. Another method is to load the gear lever with your hand, stay flat on the throttle and dab the clutch to release the dog ring. The overall effect on the gear shift is similar to the above method, but clutch wear may become a big issue. The method causes unnecessary clutch wear, does absolutely nothing to help come out of gear and usually causes dog wear whilst engaging the next gear.

This wear is due to several reasons. Firstly, it is impossible for a driver to co-ordinate the complicated sequence of all five physical movements accurately. Consequently the engagement dogs often find themselves engaging whilst the throttle is applied.

Successful down-shifting, has similar rules applied regarding speed of shift. Unloading the dogs is done in the opposite manner obviously. Whilst braking, the dogs must be unloaded by either touching the throttle pedal or- my preferred method- by dipping the clutch. However, one sharp dab of clutch or throttle is appropriate per shift. Continued pressure on either will cause dog damage for different reasons. Wedge The wedge can be adjusted by clicking the weight bias tab on the garage screen.

Wedge is also known as cross weight or diagonal weight. Wedge is used to keep the back of the car tight entering a corner while also adding bite exiting a corner. A setup that will spin it's tires easily will require more wedge to counter act the traction loss under power.

A setup with a higher gear ratio or one that does not spin the tires will require less wedge. Wedge is required to get through the corners. You might think that by changing wedge you would change left side or front bias, but that isn't the case. Increasing wedge will tighten the chassis.

Decreasing wedge will loosen the chassis. Wedge synopsis: Increasing wedge tightens the chassis. Decreasing wedge loosens the chassis. Steering linearity can effect the way your car performs through the corners.

The reason this option is available to use is because of all the available steering devices on the market. Although I don't suggest it, you are able to race with a joystick, as well as every type of wheel device you can imagine.

Not all steering devices are created equal. Various manufactures provide different degrees of wheel movement. Steering linearity allows us an adjustment to compensate for the differences in steering devices. As a general rule, most steering wheel devices will provide better precision when set towards a higher linear setting than low. Joystick users would probably prefer a lower non-linear setting. With non-linear steering, the steering is slower when the controller is close to center position and progressively quickens the more you turn the controller.