Expert: Dan Liddy - 5/30/2008

Question
Dan; building a neon for road course racing. car has been stripped down to 2200#'s. What I am looking to put on the car; KYB G@ w/ matching springs (1" lower) 22mm front sway, OEM R/T rear sway. My questions- what would be optimum tire size? (i.e. go smaller than OEM diameter or larger) What Toe and camber (front and rear) would be good to start with? Any other tips suggestions greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Sam:  

Tires first:
Most racing associations have rules about rim width, rim diameter, and tread or no tread, etc. So read the rules and go from there. I'm very partial to Hoosier race tires, and buy them from Appalachian Ract Tire in Johnson City, Tenn.  phone is 1-865 681 6622.  They'll be able to help you with sizes and applications once you know what's allowed.

Front toe:
Toe OUT about 1/8" for shorter tracks, and 1/16" for faster and longer tracks with long straights like Sebring long course, and Roebling Roads in Savannah, Ga.

Rear toe:
Toe IN about 3/32" for all and adjust until you have the amount of oversteer you like. You may want to change this for longer tracks too.  

Front Camber:
Start with 2 Deg. negative in the front, and check your tire temps.  The inside should be about 15 Deg. hotter than the rest of the tire. (Make sure you run recommended pressure)

Rear Camber:
About 1 1/2 Deg. Negatiive in the rear, also check temps and adjust accordingly. This will also affect your oversteer so only adjust one thing at a time.  Otherwise you'll be constantly chasing your tail. Literally !

Change all bushings to neoprene or even better solid aluminum (you'll have to make these on a lathe)  It will get noisey in the car but you're wearing a  helmet!

Caster:
Caster is faster !  So get all you can.  When it's nearly impossible to steer the car in reverse, back it off just about a half degree and go racing . You'll find that it really frees up the turning ability!

Write every thing down and keep a notebook with various settings, lap times, track temp and anything else you can think of.

Go out and run it like this for a couple of weekends and write back wiith results and any questions.

I appreciate positive feedback.

Good luck !!

Dan Liddy
Sarasota, Florida