Camber set up for Daytona

[Tim Stevens]

What type of – camber do you run at Daytona? Not sure with the banks and all if you still are looking for “as much as you can get”! Thanks - Tim

[barney911rs]

Hopefully someone else will chime in as well. Last time I ran there I was using 15" cantilever slicks, and I was only using 1-1.5 degrees negative camber. So I did not change anything. I would suggest you reduce the negative camber in the rear a little then you would use at a flatter track (Atlanta, Barber, Roebling, Sebring). You are going to give up a little in the infield, but it should make the car more stable on the banking. You may also need to up the tire pressures some to handle the higher loads the banking will induce. If you have a tire pyrometer, I would highly suggest you check the temps and adjust as necessary. Other factors of the car's suspension will effect the proper settings for your car.

[Tim Stevens]

Thanks John,
My current set up is -1.5 all the way around. I am trying to get -2 to -2.5 all the way around for Road Atlanta, Barber, and Sebring. From what I gather I should stay with the set up I have and adjust after Daytona. I do have a pyrometer and will check temps. I will be running Hoosiers... Any suggestions on cold / hot temps.

Thanks again for the help – Tim

[John Rogers]

I would think you have to find out what percent of the lap time is on the NASCAR track and waht part is on the infield road course? If it is like 75% banking and 25% infield then I would tune the suspension for that and let the rest take a small hit. At the CA Speedway the infield is a higher % than the banking so the suspension on my 914 is set for left and right turns equally. We did try setting it for plus 0.5 degree camber on the left and minus 0.5 camber on the right (I use cantilever Goodyears, 9x23x15) and while the lap time fell off a little, it was SOOOOOO easy to drive around the banking foot to the floor as the car felt like it was on rails. The infield suffered a bit though so it went back to 0 on both sides.

[barney911rs]

I'd never suggest doing a NASCAR type setup. Yes it great on the banking, but the rest suffers way too much. All I'm saying is that too much negative camber will put a larger then normal amount of load on the inside shoulder of the right side tires. Stand it up a bit, so more of the tire is carrying the load. In the banking it's more vertical load then side load.

Tim, I have no experience with the Hoosiers, so can't help you there. Lookup who the Hoosier rep is for that area and they will be able to give you good starting numbers.

[beamonk]

Tim, if you go contact Ervikingo (Juan Lopez) he's one of us gooberheads, but a good guy!

[Tim Stevens]

John,
Do you have contact info for Jaun? Glad to see you car getting close!

[barney911rs]

Tim,

Find my post in the Porsche Talk Forum about Rennsport Reunion. I'm pretty sure Juan posted there, so you can find him and send him a private message.

[ErVikingo]

Hello Gents,

I'm here, sorry for the delay in coming here. How are you John (coming to Rennsport)?

Tim, it depends a lot on the tires you run. I read you run Hoosiers but I can't find a reference to see if they are slicks or?

Anyhow, I run Toyo RA1's so my setup would not be ideal for you (I'd think) and I don't have reference points for Hoosier temps (sorry !). In general terms and on my specific setup, I run the same camber settings we use at Sebring.

Have you ever driven Daytona?

Let me know what you figure out and if you have any questions contact me here (PM) or by email.

Cheers, Juan

[Tim Stevens]

Jaun,

I drive an f stock 911. I run Hoosier Dot tires. At road tracks my hot temps are F36 R 40. I am open to trying other tires but I have not experienced one that is as competitive as the Hoosier. I can not run slicks due to the class I run in.

I am heading down to Daytona for Rennsport. I have never driven Daytona before. What type of Camber do you run? Is it more the negative 1.5? At Barbers I have to get more camber because I am cording the front and rear left side tires quickly. I was going to try and get 2. to 2.5. Will that be too much for Daytona? Do you increase your air presser from Sebring to Daytona or do you run the same? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks for the response
Tim Stevens

[ErVikingo]

You got a PM Tim

[Eagledriver]

I'll preface this by saying I've never run at Daytona. I have run at California speedway however. IMO you should do nothing different on your alignment unless you find control problems or bottoming out problems. The banking is basically a straight away. NASCAR runs flat out at 190MPH on the banking. I suspect your F stock 911 will only hit 180 or so .

-Andy

[barney911rs]

The banking at Daytona is steeper then Cal Spw. The handling is not the issue, it's the loads generated on the car while running the banks. There is a large vertical load on the tires as opposed to the lateral load generated in a normal flat corner. I'd suggest calling the tire reps in the southeast who support events at Daytona and see what they say about camber or pressure settings for their particular tires.

[Tim Stevens]

Guys
Thanks soooo much for the input. John i think calling Hoosier will be the best. It isn't like i am going to set any records I was just trying to see what other people are doing. I think the set up i have ( - the sway bar settings and tire pressure) will work. I will increase the camber after the rennsport to help at Barbers and others.

Juan, Thanks for the links. I have already started studying the line. See you there!

[ErVikingo]

See you there and feel free to ask about lines and stuff....

[Walt Fricke]

Tim

I suspect that Bob Woodward Tires will be there. They were at the PCA Daytona race last year. Bob knows this stuff cold.

Stock class cars did not have tire issues, at least safety related ones, at our event last year. I think the general view was to watch and perhaps add a bit more pressure than usual to the right sides. I don't think anyone with an F class car was adjusting the suspension.

Some cup cars had tire failures (luckily without disaster resulting). The guessing was that was due to not having quite enough pressure. But your F car won't be hitting those kinds of speeds.

Vic Elford recounts setting up his race car for Daytona. The standard setup was biased for the oval. To experiment, he and a buddy reduced that so they could do better in the infield. He said they scared themselves silly, and promptly went back to a conventional setup. But that was in a very high speed race car.

It appears that guys running the 24 hours sometimes bias (or unbias) their cars for the infield for qualifying. Then they change to a banking setup for the race, because an infield setup is too hard on the tires on the banking for those kinds of runs.

So I think you needn't worry. Low key is the word for this event, right? And no two hour stints behind the wheel.

Say hi to me when you go through the tech line, where I and my compadres will be checking cars.

Walt Fricke

p.s. - Elford also says Dale Earnhardt addressed the drivers, telling them what to do if you lose it on the banking. He then added "closing your eyes is optional."

[barney911rs]

Good info Walt.

[Tim Stevens]

Thanks again to all! Walt I wil be looking for you at the track. Looking forward to it...