calsonic

neevosh - Isn't Club4AG hosting a drift clinic at Candlestick or 3Com park soon?

Semi Confirmed - Drift Day 6 @ 3 Com - July 5 (www.driftday.com)

I'm trying to keep the rear from oversteering too much. A little toe in helps the wheels track a bit better. It helps keeps that axle stable through turns. Some negative camber will help flatten out the tire patch when the wheel is under cornering load. The Caster right now is at 7.3. I want to drop it to 6 degs. That's what I have seen to be suggested. The caster will help the steering recoil during feints (pendulums).

I just came from an private event in Irwindale on 5/2. I ran 225/50/16 ES100's on the fronts and 225/50/16 AVS Sports on the rears. With -2.5 deg. camber on the fronts and about the same -2.5 on the rears (I eyeballed it (2 notches)). The car feels a lot better now. The smaller tires all around makes the car very easy to pitch out but I have to be very light on every thing to keep it from spinning. I don't have to throw it as hard as with the 245's. I think the softer AVS Sports compound feels like it holds a bit better but it still heats up like the ES100's so I had to spray the tires to cool it down in between runs. I don't think I need to run that much rear camber but I just did it to try it. I am not sure if the camber made too much difference but I like the AVS Sports. I decided to try same tire sizes just to test compounds and I think this setup is okay for stock wheels on parking lot surfaces. I'm still experiementing. It's kinda hard to tell the difference in setups because I don't have the different tires at the same time to compare. The different events are sometimes on different types of pavements so I don't know if it's the setup or my technique or pavement types that's affecting it.

I don't know. I think I am thinking too much on setup and I should just worry about building up my skill. The more events I go to, the more confident I feel. So I am just trying to attend as many drift events as I can. I hope to see more FD's drifting at events so we can all help each other out.

Calvin
Red FD3S

Infini IV

Cool, I was there at the Private event .... Just being an innocent bystander though. Looked pretty good out there. At first, it seemed like your tail would step out a little too much higher in your RPM's. But after awhile, seemed you got the hang of it

calsonic

Okay I'm semi recovered from the Drift Day 5 weekend. Too much long distance driving / not enough sleep.

I learned a lot this weekend. I posted before about testing the tire compounds. I ran Yokohama ES100 and AVS Sports in the 225/50/16 size on stock wheels. I put the ES100 on the rear at first and the AVS's on the front. They were gripping okay at first but when they started to heat up, they just wouldn't grip anymore. I just kept on spinning, very hard to recover.

So I moved the AVS Sports to rear. Big difference. A lot more controllable grip. The car will recover a lot better. The AVS wears very similiar to the ES100's. Very durable, no chunking. Irwindale's parking lot's asphalt is very smooth with decent grip. So it does not wear tires down too much. I can't say the same for 3 Com's pavement. It's a bit more abrasive there with not too much grip. You will wear tires down more there.

The thing that I learned from the weekend about tires is about tire pressures and heat ranges. I was trying to keep the pressures at 34 psi in the front and 32 psi in the rear. What I learned was that tires grip differently when they are cold and when they are hot. When they are cold, the tires seem to grip better, but they don't want to be slipped. When you slip them cold, they give out quick. I kept spinning during my first runs because they were unpredictable. When you heat the tires up a bit, the air pressures will increase so you have to drop them back down to your set pressures, but they grip very predictably. I was able to hold the feints a lot better when they were at their right temps. But then they started to get overheated and they would just start to lose grip a together. Thus, more spins. So I started to spary the tires down with water to cool them down to bring them back to optimal temps and they would grip again. I guess you have to have them within their temp range or they won't perform right.

I did not try this but I think I will do burnouts in the begining of cold runs to heat the tires up. I actually remeber seeing some D1 guys donig burnouts before their runs, I guess that's why they do it. I thought they were were just trying to be cool or something.

calsonic

Reza came down with me and helped me out a lot all day. He took hella pictures, so you guys can see them at: www.berudu.com/rx-7

Go down to the gallery section and it's under May 2003 / Drift Day 5

:[TenzO]:

calvin do you drive your FD as a daily driver? if so hows the wear w/ such a high negative camber?

calsonic

I actually don't drive the FD too much on the street anymore. I figure it's getting a lot of abuse already, so I'm trying to keep the mileage down. Plus it got too many damn stickers on it and people don't understand what it's for and I'm tried of explaining why the graphics are backwards on the other side.

So sorry I can't really tell you how the camber wears the tires during daily driving. But I think the fronts will wear down pretty quick with -2.5 degs. But if you drive your car hard you might need the camber so you don't wear the shoulders down.

Calvin

DamonB

I run between 1.5 and 2 degrees negatice up front and I average just under 25,000 miles from a set of street tires. Those are "easy" miles as the car is always raced on race rubber.

:[TenzO]:

How about in the rear?

calsonic

Sup Guys,

I'm back from the D1 Driver Search. That was a very fun event. It was nice to see Drift King himself actually making a demo run. There were 7 D1 cars that came out. Holy shxx they are savs! They were drifting hella close to each other and the Team Orange guys were drifting 3 wide, side by side, through the turns. Crazy asses. I can't wait to see what these guys do in August.


I have finally found a decent setup that kinda works for the equipment that I have been running.

Suspension:

Tein HA

- Front Spring Rate: 10kg
- Rear Spring Rate: 8kg

This springs are too soft for competitive drifting. The car will drift fine in parking lots with these but if you drift on the track at higher speeds, they are a little soft. The D1 Apexi FD runs 16kg fronts and 14kg rears.

Dampening
- Front: 1 click down from full stiff
- Rear: full stiff

- Dampening: You need the car to be stiff especially in the rears so you can keep it siding and transfer the weight quickly and smoothly. You want the fronts to grip during entry but understeer a little during mid drift so you can carry speed and keep forward momentum. FD's tend to rotate very easily so you need to do what ever it takes to keep it from spinning all the damn time.

- Height: You want your car to be low. But not too low so you ride on the bump stops. This helps transfer the weight quicker and it is less abrupt. You can adjust under/oversteer with height. If you want more oversteer: lower the front, raise the rear. If you want more understeer: lower the rear, raise the front.

Stock R1 Sway bars
(The D1 Apexi FD runs an stiffer adjustable front bar.)


Stock Wheels

Tires:
I have been trying different sizes and brands, new and used. The best tires that I have tried so far are the Yokohama AVS Sports. They have good grip and they are a softer compound than the ES100's. I haven't gotten the AVS Sports to chunk yet but the ES100's chunked a little bit on the track where the speeds and loads are higher. FD's need grippy tires to hold drifts. You can use cheaper tires for practice but for competitions I suggest newer grippy rubber for more control. I have yet to try some other brands. I am interested in how they perform.
I am planning to move up to 17" or 18". I think wider, lower profile tires will help control and grip better than 16"s.

Fronts: 225/50/16
Rears: 245/45/16

Offsets:

I have been running H & R spacer all around. The stock +50 offset is too deep in the wheelwell. A wider track helps stability. I have the offset staggered to increase rear grip. (My wheelwells are rolled and I actually have a little more room all around, but I think the wheels won't rub if you run staggered sized tires)

Front: 15mm
Rear: 25 mm

So the actual offsets for the stock 16x8 wheels are:
Front: +35
Rear: +25


- Calvin

calsonic

My alignment by C2 Automotive in Oakland (510) 272-9869 is currently set at:

Front: Camber: -2.5
Toe: 0
Caster: 6.5

Rear: Camber: -2.0
Toe-in: 0.03"

- Calvin