How do you tune a car on the track for the fastest speed?

[KGL]

I did a search on how to tune a PWD car on a track. Found lots of good stuff on tuning boards and setting the steer but nothing on how to tune a car on a track. Once I set the steer on my car on the tuning board, what are some basic things that I can do on a track to get my car setup and get the fastest speed possible?

 

[Resophonic Racing]

First do a slow roll to determine if the back wheels are centered over the center guide rail. You can adjust that by the amount of wood you shave off of the DFW.

After that you can adjust the steer to stabilize the wiggle. You want it to be on the edge of stabilization.

Then you can adjust the weight placement on the car do maximize the velocity in the transition.

That should get you headed in the right direction.

There are a few more things after you fine tune it but that would not be any fun if you learned everything at once.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

Keep making slight turns and run and get your fastest speed, once the turns start slowing you down then go back to the mark that was the fastest.

 

[B_Regal Racing]

This thread will probably be of particular interest to be as I am a novice racer and entered my first NPWDRL race. There I things I know I could have done better, and in a scout race, I could have all but crushed the competion. Racing here, I have quickly learned attention to detail should not be taken for granted.

Wtih scout racing, I could easily coach my son to build a car that would easily make it to the top 3 in coucil. That means, we were always out in front. In racing in MA, we were in the hunt with many other builders that are far better. I used to tune my car to be on the edge of instability; it is the fastest. My tuning is not nearly as refined as most do here and it shows (attention to detail). I say this because when you are in front, tuning on the edge like that works; however, in traffic, the air from the car next to you can disturb your own car. One of the cars I sent into MA ran as solid as it could run, but in traffic, it wiggled all over the place. Upon getting it back, I put it back on the test track thinking the "shipping" affected it somehow, but it ran perfect.

Like I said, this thread has the potential to be very informative for me as well, but my suggestion is no matter what it said, you need to send a car in to race to gauge your tuning. There is so much to prep and tuning I do not understand myself, but attetion to detail is paramount. Resophonic Racing gave some suggestions that could take hours to do, at least from my perspective it could.

I'm hoping in a year, I can really challenge some of these guys...we'll see. Who else can help with tuning suggestions?

 

[Knotty Racing]

I love this topic! Very timely as something I have been pondering.

Resophonic Racing,

Then you can adjust the weight placement on the car do maximize the velocity in the transition.

Can you explain this more or give an example?

Derbydad,

go back to the mark that was the fastest.

I have adjusted as described, but find it hard to get things back to the exact spot. Do you have any tips? or is the Mark your referring to a number on the tuning board?

 

[OPARENNEN]

Part of a good tune involves placement of the pin (ELIM or UNL) or the NDW on SS. Lets hear some advice on that. I know it makes a difference, but not sure of the fine points. E.g., say on SS, if DFW is 1/16th, what is best starting point for the NDW? I know it can be slightly different for each car, but what starting point?

 

[Kinser Racing]

I just adjust it until I'm getting what I want. Wheels, pins, NDFW it doesn't matter. Keep messing with it and you'll start to get a feel for it. I really can't explain anymore that that. It's an acquired talent, very few if any have it right away. It took me a couple of years to finally get it and I still struggle sometimes.

 

[Guest]

Part of a good tune involves placement of the pin (ELIM or UNL) or the NDW on SS. Lets hear some advice on that. I know it makes a difference, but not sure of the fine points. E.g., say on SS, if DFW is 1/16th, what is best starting point for the NDW? I know it can be slightly different for each car, but what starting point?

Thanks OPA,

I am right at the NDFW in my build now and could use some help with placement.

These fellas that put it at 45*, do they use a pin?

If not going 45*, what is the best canting?

I figured negative with toe out. Is this correct?

Should I push it way out to the max, or keep it tight to the body?

Thanks so much,

 

[ngyoung]

I have adjusted as described, but find it hard to get things back to the exact spot. Do you have any tips? or is the Mark your referring to a number on the tuning board?

Take pictures of your axle head.

 

[LightninBoy]

I have adjusted as described, but find it hard to get things back to the exact spot. Do you have any tips? or is the Mark your referring to a number on the tuning board?

Take pictures of your axle head.

But don't do a Brett Favre and text those pictures.

 

[Resophonic Racing]

I love this topic! Very timely as something I have been pondering.

Resophonic Racing,

Then you can adjust the weight placement on the car do maximize the velocity in the transition.

Can you explain this more or give an example?

If you watch your car in the transition real close. If it is not perfectly tuned to its potential you can get a wiggle in the transition. This is where the NDFW will rub the rail before the car steers back into rail and stabilizes. So you can try adding more steer to fix it but that may cause the car to slow down but look good in the transition. You can also play with the the tungsten cube placement in order to balance the car through the transition without compromising the steer.

 

[Knotty Racing]

Thanks for the replies. Good food for thought.

I have taken pictures of the axle heads before - even used the lettering as a makeshift degree setting marker.

Last year, I had a car with a loose DFW axle. That car ran the fastest time ever, but only once as the axle kept moving with each run. Lost a lot of sleep over that one, till I figured out the axle was too loose in the hole.

That's where I think a car with a very low standard deviation on times is a solid setup. The complete opposite of that we have dubbed "Time jumpers" as they will not stay consistent. That I hope is all behind us know.

 

[The Iceman]

I could start to hear the transition, and would start to move weights to make the transition sound different, it wouldn't sound as harsh. (which meant more speed) then I started hearing how many times or how hard it would hit the rail on the stretch and move weights around for that. my 2 cents

 

[B_Regal Racing]

So, is this equal weight on the rear wheels more hype than necessary? You're only adjusting weight to minimize steer without sacrificing stability. Do I have this correct? Typically I have always tried to balance the weight on the rear wheels in what some have dubbed the "triangle of speed." Maybe that's not as necessary as I originally thought...

 

[resullivan]

I have adjusted as described, but find it hard to get things back to the exact spot. Do you have any tips? or is the Mark your referring to a number on the tuning board?

Take pictures of your axle head.

But don't do a Brett Favre and text those pictures.

HAHA

 

[Resophonic Racing]

So, is this equal weight on the rear wheels more hype than necessary? You're only adjusting weight to minimize steer without sacrificing stability. Do I have this correct? Typically I have always tried to balance the weight on the rear wheels in what some have dubbed the "triangle of speed." Maybe that's not as necessary as I originally thought...

IMHO there are many ways you could fine tune your car. Each time compensating for different adjustments. Like King Kinser said, practice makes perfect. So to answer your question sometimes the triangle of speed will work sometimes it may not, I use it sometimes. It just depends on what the car needs.

 

[GravityX]

Somewhere in the midst of this forum, I has been said that equal weight on each rear does not necessarily equate to speed. Moving weight around, as an example, left to right, forward or backwards obviously changes weight at the rear but also at the DFW. Weight changes here effects steer. So in other, words a weight change/movement alone may not see an improvement in speed. Steer may need to be adjusted to compensate. I wish I had the secret formula, not there yet, but working on it.

 

[Mister B Racing]

Good info in this thread. I have for the most part have been adjusting the steer to try and find that spot where the car is stable and it's fast. As a newer racer I am trying to master that skill then I'll start to do some of the other things listed here. If I try to adjust too many things at once my car will not be competitive at all.

 

[Kinser Racing]

I love this topic! Very timely as something I have been pondering.

Resophonic Racing,

Then you can adjust the weight placement on the car do maximize the velocity in the transition.

Can you explain this more or give an example?

Derbydad,

go back to the mark that was the fastest.

I have adjusted as described, but find it hard to get things back to the exact spot. Do you have any tips? or is the Mark your referring to a number on the tuning board?

To tune on the track effectively you have to have a tuning board. This is the mark John is referring to. It's difficult to know how much of an adjustment you made to steer without being able to see it on the tuning board.

 

[Knotty Racing]

Thanks Kinser.