1964-1974 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Paul,
Anti sway bars would not be my first choice for handling improvements, judging by you telling us that you still have old Michelen street tires on the car but anti sway bars can be effective on the Sonett, yes.
My first choice at buying an autocross run second eliminator tool would be a set of wheels and R-compound tires.
2nd would be a new set of shocks, Konis preferrably.
3rd but preferrably in concert with the shocks would be a set of stiffer and lower springs.
4th is finally where the anti sway bars come in.
Really, anti sway bars are a "band-aid" tuning tool, intended only to fix the ills a spring and shock setup may not be able to fix by themselves. You'll find many successful race cars don't use any anti sway bars at all. I feel the Sonett may be one of these cars that can get away without them... but I am the first to admit that I dont know for sure... yet.
I think that with the proper springs, shocks, and alignment a Sonett will handle just how you want it to on an autocross course. It is already so unbelieveably light in the rear end that getting the car to rotate around the turns isn't hard with a little left-foot braking. (How light it really is was rammed home to me when I had the car on jacks at the front jack points and was able to lift the rear of the car right off the ground, all by myself without busting a gut.)
In my autocrossing I have found the car to have admirable balance, but be too soft in dive and squat, PARTICUARLY with the R-compound rubber I run. The body roll isn't really as big a problem, though it is something that needs attention. I tend lose the rear end under braking because the front end dives so much that the rear just hops right up and comes around. At the same time I lose traction under acceleration because of the weight transfer to the rear wheels. I've stiffend up my 17 year old Konis as far as they'll go but it is time to get rid of my stock springs and go for something stiffer.
I think last year I finally found good support for my feeling that the car was well balanced, but was just too soft for autocross. I normally place very high (in my local region) in the raw times for the day, almost always in the top ten. But a real commanding top time has eluded me... until it rained! And rained and rained and rained. We had an event which has come to be known as the infamous "Aquacross!" I was the only car there without a top! I had all my usual competition there including the CRX that I'd never been able to beat when at the end of the day I found myself with the FTD (Fast Time of Day) by over a second on the rest of the field!
Evidenced here: http://www.brr-scca.org/10-14-01ax.html
What had changed?
Basically nothing, except it got really wet and everyone's grip levels were reduced. I may be a good rain driver? I do tend to do better in wet conditions than most... but I think there was more to it than that. In the wet I couldn't brake or accelerate quite as hard so I couldn't upset the car with such aggressive weight transfers from the front to the rear and vicey versey. The car still handled well enough in the rain to lift a rear wheel a few inches off the ground but I wasn't throwing the rear into the air under braking anymore... so the car stayed flatter and the carefull alignment I'd put into the car (http://www.at-speed.goof.com/writings/alignment/index.html) was able to do it's job better.
A long winded answer I suppose. Hope it made sense?
-STEFAN
posted by 12.111.209...
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
