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May 17, 2008
May 13, 2008
M3 Race Car Build (part 2)
We're glad to report that the E36 M3 race car passed its first technical inspection and the owner/driver has his first couple of races under his harness belts. The basics we completed before the first race-- installation of safety components, removal of non-essential weight, thorough maintenance and re-build-- worked as planned. Now it's time to further develop the car, and the first area we touched was the suspension.
The truck suspension that came with the car-- heavy duty I-stock springs and shocks-- had to go. We replaced it with a more subtle, completely tunable coil-over system from TCKline Racing. The I-stock kit relied on overly stiff springs to control the car's motions, where the TCK system utilizes sophisticated damper valving in conjunction with coil springs made of special alloy. It cannot be overstated how important a properly tuned suspension is not only for a race car but also street cars.
Here you can see what comes in the double adjustable TCKline kit:
In order to corner weight the car, the spring perches need to be height adjustable, here's the rear perch:
The dampers can be adjusted for compression and rebound; this is a close-up of the damper adjustment dial:
The front camber and caster is adjustable as well, using these plates:
Thanks to all the suspension parameters we can now adjust, we will be working closely with the customer to optimize the car for each of the tracks he will be racing at. Stay tuned as we make progress through the season.
May 01, 2008
Brock is Back (sort of)
The original gonzo automotive journalist is back and has his own blog. Yup, I'm talking about Brock Yates, formerly of Car and Driver (before that magazine lost its personality and went to shit).
Brock has been a hero of mine for as long as I can remember. I had a chance to meet him many years back when I ran in the One Lap of America, and he was not only gracious to the young car nut that I was, but his hero status did not diminish one bit. Very cool.
Check out his blog here
