Club Cobra - Spun my Backdraft!

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Or as Sterling Moss famously said, "It's better to go into a corner slow and come out fast than it is to go in fast and come out dead."

Lifting the throttle in a turn can bite you. Are your tires pretty decent?
Speed Test

Tires are key.
These hard 17" type set ups are not typically made for lightweight 90" wheelbase cars....
15" - Avons, Dunlop or Billboards hold the road.

I always say, "tires are key to traction" !

I try to think of it as a mater of traction equals A. Everything else takes away from A .Speed, braking, accelerating, decelerating and cornering. Try this in a safe area, put the car in neutral at a good rate of speed and coast in the corner. now will know the maximum speed your car can go in a corner. I have tried this and it has saved my life. IN both the rain and the snow and even once in a cobra while being foolish.you will be amazed how well these cars stick with good tires you will also be amazed how easy they wont stick when you take away from A.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hauss (Post 1510674)

While I don't disagree with the basic premise of this interpretation of how traction between a rolling wheel and the ground works, it does get complicated when you introduce variations in downforce on each of the tires. The amount of force a rolling tire can generate before it starts to slide is directly proportional to the down force on it. So accelerating out of a turn simultaneously demands the rear tires provide traction for both cornering and accelerating while the effective weight transfer to the rear provides them with more downforce. And, of course, there is side-to-side effective weight transfer that means the tire on the outside of the turn is getting more downforce that the one on the inside. Managing effective weight transfer to optimize traction from four different tires in a dynamic environment is most of what race car drivers do. It's a great skill to learn at an autocross or track day event, but not so much on Interstate highway exits.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1985 CCX (Post 1510621)

Tires are key.
These hard 17" type set ups are not typically made for lightweight 90" wheelbase cars....
15" - Avons, Dunlop or Billboards hold the road.

I always say, "tires are key to traction" !

I agree, Avon's on 15" wheels is best. Too bad their 2k.:JEKYLHYDE
I had a group buy on them, but only 7.5%, but with the economy now, I don't know if I can get anything.

With my rebuild of my Cobra, I only have 2k left in the piggy bank, so I can't afford tires, and I need to replace them after sitting for 15 years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy (Post 1510680)

Actually I don"t disagree with your comments but if you read what I said it is not very complicated and it will give the average guy a good understanding of his car regardless of what tires or suspension he has I believe it to be good sound advise.

Now you guys know why we take tire temps & pressure readings when we com off the track...

They tell us exactly what the chassis and suspension are doing on the track and what adjustments we need to make.....ride height, shock settings, alignment, chassis stiffness and ideal pressures. We study the data and keep notes

To really drive your car you need to know it's limits. The best way to do that is at an SCCA Solo2. You drive around a parking lot with the race track marked by rubber cones. When you really push it and the tires start to slide, you learn very quickly what your car needs. After a bunch of these, I ended up completely rebuilding the Jag rear end with a 3/4" sway bar. On the front, I have a 1 1/4" sway bar. With the right springs, I can now go into a curve much faster and slide the speed off and drift onto the next straight. I knocked down a lot of cones and bought a lot of tires learning to do that right. But, I do have an SCCA Championship trophy on my shelf.

I highly recommend the learning experience!

RS

Sounds like Rallysnake was paying attention. That would be a safe place as I had mentioned in my comments. Good job RallySnake !