Set Up Tips

Coastal Model Car Racing Club hope that the following tips will help you set your car up wherever you race. The most important factor is to get your car handling consistently before you up the power. If you are beginner get used to driving the car around the track without hitting other cars or the track markers before you put that super all powerful new motor into your car. Check your lap times after each heat, you can actually achieve a better overall result with a slower motor in a car, that you can control, than with faster motor hitting everything and everybody!

Do not be afraid to ask the "superstar" drivers for help in setting up your car, especially if you run the same make. BUT do remember different drivers like different handling cars. For example driver 1 likes his car set so the grip is all at the front, this makes the car very sensitive to steering input, the theory being the back will follow the front!. Driver 2 cannot drive a car like that, preferring the back end to stick to the track, so although they both may have identical equipment the set ups can be vastly different.

Before you race check your car. You will find it almost impossible to set you car up if you have bent hinge pins etc, so make sure your suspension arms drop under their own weight when the shocks are removed. Ensure that nothing is rubbing, creating drag etc. These can create many problems like major understeer or oversteer, inconsistent cornering oversteer one way, understeer the other.

When you change anything on the car do it ONE at time, this means you can actually tell what difference your adjustment has made, if you adjust three settings how will you know what the effect of each change was? Your car may handle better due to a single setting but the two other changes make it worse overall. MAKE NOTES of what you change and the effects. It takes a long time, but in the end it is worth it. All adjustments should be made in small increments - half a degree for castor, camber, toe in or out, One grade of spring, 5wt of oil etc.

Setting		Effect	Notes
TYRES	Tyres have the most affect on your car. With the wrong tyres you find it extremely difficult to set the car up. Recommended - Take Off CS22 or Sorex 24R. Good all round Corally SSB	Softer Use when it is cold. Gives more grip, but wear can be high. Harder use when it is hot, lees grip but longer war	Start with harder compounds i.e. D30 rather than D20. If you have a lack of grip try a softer compound or insert. If the tyre grains go to a harder compound.
TYRE INSERTS	Inserts are way of fine tuning the characteristics of the tyre. They also help stablise the contact patch Recommended - Medium Moulded	Softer either foam or moulded increase grip Harder best for high grip or hot conditions	Start with a soft/medium insert-foam Schumacher blue or Grey, moulded- Losi Soft or equivalent
CAMBER	Camber is measured in degrees, it is the angle from vertical of the top of the wheel/tyre. Recommended - 1 front -2 rear	More More grip and stability Less Less grip	The angle is normally negative (the top of the wheel leans inwards) You should ideally set the angle for even wear across the tyre
CASTOR	The angle of the front hub to vertical (from side on)	More less steering into the corner, more steering out of the corner. More stable Less more steering into the corner, less out. Less stable	This is not always adjustable see your cars instructions
RIDE HEIGHT	The height from the bottom of the chassis to the ground. Measured when the car is ready to run Recommended 5mm front 6mm rear	Lower less roll and weight transfer, quicker cornering Higher more chassis roll, slower cornering	On flat even surfaces run as low as possible without the car grounding. For low grip surfaces run the car higher, it also makes the car easier to drive. Can be used to alter balance between front and back. Normally the back is slightly higher than the front
TOE in/out - front	Toe in/out is the amount of angle between the front and back of the wheels looking from the top Recommended 1 neg	Toe In (wheels point inwards) less steering into the corner, more stable Toe Out (wheels point outwards) more steering into the corner, but can make the car unstable	Both can scrub of speed and increase tyre wear, aim for parallel or 1/2^o either way
TOE in - rear	Recommended 2 - 2.5 degrees	More increases rear end grip, scrubs of speed increased tyre wear Less less rear end grip, more straight line speed	Not all cars have adjustable toe in, you may have to fit different hubs.
SPRINGS	Springs are measured differently by manufacturers some use lbs others use wire thickness	Softer more grip and body roll, slows cars ability to change directions Harder less grip but corners quicker	Can be used to alter front to rear balance. Try not to run to great a difference front to back. Normally if you change the springs you also change the weight of oil. Softer springs use thinner oil (lower number e.g. 30W), Harder springs use thicker oil e.g. 80W.
DAMPING	The amount of damping is altered by using different weights of oils and/or adjusting the number of holes in the pistons	Heavy thicker oil/less holes in piston, give less grip less chassis roll, quicker response, best on smooth high grip tracks Softer thinner oil/more holes, more grip, more chassis roll, slower response best for bumper tracks, damp conditions	60wt oil with 3 holes in piston equates to 40 wt oil with 2 hole pistons using the 60wt/3 holes can improve handling on bumps.

Trouble solver

Understeer - Harder rear springs or softer front springs, less rear toe in, thinner oil in front shocks/thicker oil in rear, loosen front diff do not let it slip though!

Oversteer - Softer rear springs or harder front springs, more rear toe in, thinner oil in rear/thicker in front

This site was last updated 07/01/07