What are typical race spring rates?
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What are typical race spring rates?
We're doing this year's 24 Hours of Lemons in a '88 DX Sedan. The race is on a flat, smooth track. Top speeds are ~70mph on a mini-road course with lots of turns.
I want to tighten up the suspension, but I wanted to get some "typical" auto-x setups to use as a starting point. I've seen numbers thrown around ranging from 400#/in up to 1600#/in. What's the consensus? Is there a writeup that's got some details?
We'll be hunting junkyards for spings out of donor vehicles and chopping them down for ride height, so I'm guessing that no matter what I'll likely have the rates that are too low.
Also, does anyone have numbers to help me out with the calcs? Things like CG height, F/R weight distribution, the ratio of the spring action (to calculate wheel rate), etc.
I want to tighten up the suspension, but I wanted to get some "typical" auto-x setups to use as a starting point. I've seen numbers thrown around ranging from 400#/in up to 1600#/in. What's the consensus? Is there a writeup that's got some details?
We'll be hunting junkyards for spings out of donor vehicles and chopping them down for ride height, so I'm guessing that no matter what I'll likely have the rates that are too low.
Also, does anyone have numbers to help me out with the calcs? Things like CG height, F/R weight distribution, the ratio of the spring action (to calculate wheel rate), etc.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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From: nowhere, CA, USA
i'd suggest going to the honda challenge forum here is some info i got from that forum
i have been doing a lot of research on this most of this information comes from honda challenge racers
there are two setups for beginners and for the more experienced the hands down choice for both setups where the gc/koni setup and they don't go bellow a 4 inch ride hight
setup 1 good for aggressive street driving, canyons, auto x, occasional track day, and the track beginner
koni yellow sports with ground control top hats or
koni sp3's with ground control top hats
ground controls
400-500lbs front spring rates
500-600lbs rear spring rates
(generally they have a 100Lb difference between them)
stock all around sway bars or a thicker rear can be used too
setup 2 too aggressive for street only for the track
koni yellow sports with race valving and ground control top hats or
koni race shocks (do to the shorten koni body ground control top hats are unnecessary)
ground controls
600-700lbs front spring rates
800-900lbs rear spring rates
no front sway bar
very thick rear sway bar
after all this research there is no doubt that gc/koni combo is the best setup but i'm still torn i can get ksports for 500 with custom springs rates i'm most likely going to spend twice the money and get the gc/koni setup thought from what i hear from a lot of racers i will not be sorry hope this helps some ppl
there are two setups for beginners and for the more experienced the hands down choice for both setups where the gc/koni setup and they don't go bellow a 4 inch ride hight
setup 1 good for aggressive street driving, canyons, auto x, occasional track day, and the track beginner
koni yellow sports with ground control top hats or
koni sp3's with ground control top hats
ground controls
400-500lbs front spring rates
500-600lbs rear spring rates
(generally they have a 100Lb difference between them)
stock all around sway bars or a thicker rear can be used too
setup 2 too aggressive for street only for the track
koni yellow sports with race valving and ground control top hats or
koni race shocks (do to the shorten koni body ground control top hats are unnecessary)
ground controls
600-700lbs front spring rates
800-900lbs rear spring rates
no front sway bar
very thick rear sway bar
after all this research there is no doubt that gc/koni combo is the best setup but i'm still torn i can get ksports for 500 with custom springs rates i'm most likely going to spend twice the money and get the gc/koni setup thought from what i hear from a lot of racers i will not be sorry hope this helps some ppl
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rasta420
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Jan 13, 2003 07:31 PM
