How to balance wieght, ride height and spring rate

[Maxbashing]

Hi all,

I am fairly new to this racing thing and need some advice on a Cougar SV setup.

I entered my first race this weekend and it went really well but I was finding that I really would like more rear end grip as I come out of corners (I'm sure a softer throttle finger will also help).

To try and achieve this I am trying to put as much weight towards the rear as possible but as I do this of course the ride height is dropping. To counter this I have wound more pre-load into the springs but my brain is telling me this is stupid as it will be stiffening the rear end and therefore making it more likely to slide.

I bought the car second hand so I am not 100% sure about the current spring rate but I presume they are the kit standard ones, I was thinking that I would like to put on some softer springs but again I am concerned this will make the ride height issue even worse.

Can anyone provide any thoughts?

[mark christopher]

putting more tension on a spring does not make it stiffer, the rate remains the same, unless you had a progressive spring. only way to alter spring tension is to fit a defferent spring rate

[Maxbashing]

Thanks Mark.. Since reading your post I have read some things online (to remind myself of my GCSE physics) and of course spring rate isn't impacted by preload it makes sense now I think about it, please excuse my stupidity.

So now I have demonstrated I'm a fool anyone got any other thoughts on improving rear end grip? I have already shifted the shocks to the back of the wishbones, I have a Trishbits brass weight coming (thanks to the for sale section), I am looking at softer springs and I have read the idea of running a the smallest possible spur gear and a bigger pinion to shift the motor back. I am sure that running Saddles would would help but I have several good quality stick packs and I'm reluctant to spend a fortune on MORE new batteries. The car has the +8mm chassis fitted and I have the rear wing set at the maximum angle of attack. I am running Bowties on the rear and proline ribs on the front with soft inserts.

I am trying to get my head around roll centres and when I can work this out I might try playing with that too.

To give some detail the track is very low grip loose dirt with a few small jumps. I am finding the back steps out on me as I turn in under braking and as soon as I try and get on the power as I leave the turn. I guess the issue under braking is more my skill/technique than the car but I was definatley having to wait longer than others to get on the power.

[mark christopher]

have you had a look at the schumacher site in the cougar set ups, sure there was a dirt one in there, dont worry about asking, as you never know unless you ask.

[Maxbashing]

Yer thanks Mark I have been looking through the setups the issue I'm having is that many of them are for named tracks and being a noob I have no idea what surface those tracks are! I will keep researching the tracks and see if I can find something similar to what I race on. I guess I was hoping that someone might just have some general suggests that might set me off in the right direction.

[adamjimny]

What surface do you race on?