Any ERA track suspension tips?

[chuckbrandt]

Does anyone with on-track experience with their ERA have any chassis setting tips? I'm looking forward to a couple of driving school type events this summer and want to be well prepared.

My car has the ERA rear suspension and SPAX dampers all around.

Specifically how would I want to adjust he adjustable feature of these shocks?

When adjusting the ride height I assume you want to do that with two people in the car and a tank full of gas?


Sorry for all the questions...

Chuck Brandt

[ERA Chas]

The guy to ask is Don Durner, who ran and maybe sold an ERA bigblock track rat, extensively.
Try a search here or maybe on ClubCranky.
If that doesn't work, perhaps Bob can point you?
Good luck,

[Tongue Pirate]

Any small block car tips are welcome too!

[ERA Chas]

Peter, Doug and the boys at ERA set-up the"Russin" for Peter to open track.
Just don't paint yours copper-orange with yellow trim...

[Tongue Pirate]

Originally posted by ERA Chas


Peter, Doug and the boys at ERA set-up the"Russin" for Peter to open track.
Just don't paint yours copper-orange with yellow trim...

[strictlypersonl]

If this is going to be a dual-use car, I'd set the front and rear camber at their most negative street limits or even up to 3/4 degree past. The track use combined with street will (hopefully) average out the tire wear.

If you like to spend money you can have the car's corner weights checked. Personally, I would find a flat parking lot and do circles in both directions to check the car's understeer/oversteer balance (use some weight in the passenger's seat). If it's pretty close, you can do some adjusting at the rear anti-sway bar link lengths.. If there's a big difference that can't be adjusted out with the links, you can change the left/right spring preload.
While you're at it, adjust the bar link position for your preferred understeer, but don't forget that tire pressures are also a big factor.

Dampers: For the track, increase all the damper settings by a couple of clicks. There's a section in the manual about how the damper settings effect the transitions of entering/exiting a turn which should help.

[Tongue Pirate]

That's great, thanks! Now I have to go read

[Pete C]

Chuck,

When I was open tracking my ERA I found that the car cornered best if I adjusted the rear spax shocks quite soft. My recollection was 3 or 4 quarter turns in from full soft. I found that this allowed me to get into the gas earlier as it would permit the rear to squat and bite. If the rear is too stiff with all of that torque and the short wheelbase they are just too hard to handle. I take that back. They are always hard to handle but a real stiff rear suspension set up can make em impossible. The tires are also important and I used the Goodyear Cobra slicks and started with 23 or 24 psi cold. I also think that I was using lower air pressure in the rear. Good luck, have fun, be safe!

Cheers, Pete C

[chuckbrandt]

Bob - thanks that helped a lot. I found the manual page on Spax too.

Pete - thanks that was really useful, much appreciated!


Chuck