In general, big sweeping tracks: more toe-out; tight-turning corners: a bit more toe-in. How Does It Work? Take the rear targets and place them 14 feet in front of the front hubs, and line up the centerlines with the laser points. Knowledge of it is important for all types of auto racing, not just circle track. Free Shipping (13389) On Sale (58) ... Wheel Alignment Tool, Two-Wheel System with Toe Plates, Camber and Toe Measurement, Caster Measurement, Built-In Tape Measures, Aluminum, Kit. Toe Settings - Proper toe settings at the front and the rear are important. Seen it in Circle Track and some other places. Since toe-in forces the car’s momentum through a slightly narrower front wheelbase, the car can feel more unstable in straight lines. So is this a good thing? If you adjust your left side tie rod so that the difference in distance between the front and rear targets is 1 1/2 inches, you will have 1/8 inch of toe. Set four targets, two on each side, at equal distances forward and rearward from the vertical center of the rear hubs. Around the pit area, a trick that is used to swing the rear-end of a powerful sprint car around these flat-banked, tight-cornering, and narrow tracks is a trick called “right-front wedge.”  Essentially, the teams toe-in the RF tire a little more to make the rear flick out in the center, allowing the driver more drive off the corner on a wet night or if the fast line is around the inside rail. That much is easy to understand. However, this can also make a car that is inherently difficult to keep on a straight line (because of the huge RR tire) even MORE difficult to keep on the straights. Generally, toe-out is useful on heavier cars that have a lot of load transfer under braking and heavy cornering. Use toe plates for the analog method. Basically, caster is … 1. By Bob Bolles, Circle Track Magazine . If using the laser system, thoroughly clean the surface of the hubs and make sure there are no protruding threads from the bolt holes. Most car builders will align at least one framerail parallel to the intended centerline of the chassis. So if the racing demands only the use of one certain tire, then you don’t have to worry about getting beat by another tire, but rather by someone who figured out how to get better performance out of their tires. These plates, as you will soon see, are not accurate enough for this measurement. Someone else has figured out how to make their tires work better than yours. The number should be low, around 1/64 inch of added toe for a half-mile track. For the camber thrust to be working with you in the corners, the top of $20-$50 (1) $50-$100 (1) $100-$250 (1) $250-$500 (11) Filter Options . Turn the wheel the approximate amount that the driver does when negotiating the turns at the racetrack. Step 4 - Once the right front (RF) wheel has been adjusted to point straight ahead parallel to the RR hub, level the RF laser (vertically) to shine the point on the floor. It is recommended you go over the hub surface with a flat file to eliminate any bulges or edges of metal that would cause the laser to be improperly aligned. If your toes point in (pigeon-toed), that is positive toe. It saves time and energy to put the most important items at the top of the list and work on them first. Compare Related Articles. With standard suspension travel and a static camber of 3.5 degrees negative you would achieve about 5 to 6 degrees of camber in the center of the turn. November 13th, 2013 by JaimeB. Ackermann Adjusted - The last alignment priority is making sure you have very little Ackermann, which is the creation of additional front toe as the wheels are turned. This entire process should take only about an hour or two if there are several team members helping. Sign up to get interesting news and updates delivered to your inbox. Will help the car turn better. You can use toe plates to do this. The best way to use this guide is determine the problem you have first then see what the track conditions are like and then determine if you are on a small stop and go type track or a faster –momentum type track. Increasing the angle at the RF upper A-Arm raises the Front Roll Center and moves it to the right. With the lasers attached to the front hubs, level the front lasers (vertically) and reposition the targets so that they are equal distance from the center of the front hubs. Alignment Services Offered: Note where it is positioned in relation to the centerline. Just the expense of building & setting up the car, and just getting what you need to set every aspect of the race car was costing a fortune. Translation: Toe-in will scrub straightaway speed and develop heat in the front tires faster, which can be a good thing in cold weather, but in a longer race, will cause the RF to warm past optimal temperatures. It takes a lot of force to stop a car, especially so when they weigh upwards of 3,000 pounds! To counter this nose-dive, a bit more toe-in will give the driver an added sensation of control and response through the steering column. You used a string. Many times I have run across a car that has all the right ingredients of roll center design-a good balance of front and rear suspension design, and proper weight distribution. An alignment that is improperly set can cause your car to want to pull to one side or another or require more effort to make steering inputs. Toe-in is also used on dirt to great effect here in Pennsylvania with sprint car racing. September 13th, 2013 by Copyright © 2021 iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, LLC. Circle Track (287) New Product (75) PowerSports (42) Pro Packs (32) Marine (18) Jr Dragster (4) Savings Central . Now, we will show how to align all the critical parts so the wheels will track true to the path of the race car. Before this can be accomplished, you must address the critical area of chassis tuning. the compromise is that TOE –IN will produce an increase in scrub. . Equal measurements to the tire front and rear means the rearend is perpendicular to the chassis centerline. Once you're convinced your car is aligned, you can concentrate on the other important aspects of your chassis setup. This increases camber gain similar to doing the Guldstrand mod, and the taller outer tie rod end helps reduce bump steer to stock levels. Published: June 26, 2017. The difference in distance between pairs of targets is now divided by 168 and multiplied by the tire diameter to find the Ackermann toe that is added to the static toe settings. Measure between the two target centerlines on each side. You’ve heard about torque steer and “wrong-wheel drive” and might write it off as being for grocery-getters, not real performance cars. We will go through the process using both methods in order to show you how to perform each step. This means as the wheel rotates, the outer edge of the tire will wobble slightly. Then, multiply this number by the diameter of the tire (tire circumference divided by Pi or 3.1416). The TA Truck Service network is your alignment expert. Well, common-sense physics will tell you that the faster you go, the more force you’re going to put on something. However, that is only one of the three basic geometric ways to move a tire on a race vehicle. In past ancient setups that were prevalent in the early ’90s and before, the left front tire did little, if any, work. When using the string, you must compensate for the camber of the right front wheel which moves that tire contact patch out. Rear Alignment - The direction that the rearend is pointed in relation to the chassis can dictate how a car will behave in the turns. For the analog (string) method, the nylon string we used was from the local hardware store. Chances are, it’s through the turns, where the chassis of the car is changing force and distorting the tire. Step 2 - Once the rearend has been toed straight ahead, shine the right rear (RR) laser so that you can measure the offset to a straight framerail at the front and rear or two places offset from the centerline of the chassis. We have talked about the importance of proper steering related to Ackermann as well as the alignment of the rearend. Remember to be careful and accurate and do the measurements several times to be sure of the numbers. Remove the front lasers from the holders and align the centers of the four targets with the beams from the rear lasers. Problem is, this is racing, darn it, and that means we need to go faster! In most cases, you need to line up the right-side tire contact patches. Oval Track Alignment Squaring Tools in … True Laser Track (TLT) makes Alignment Simple! Every car and track is different and these ball parks give are a simple view of old school camber Do the same for all head blocks. Repeat this entire process often, especially after kissing the wall or being involved in a crash. If your teams’ alignment is not in sync with the organization’s goals and objectives, it becomes quite challenging to fulfill the tasks. World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Championship, World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Championship. Negative camber is the characteristic generally desired in performance driving. If the rearend is pointed to the left of the centerline of the chassis, the car will be tight through the middle and off the corner. 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