Öhlins Spec E9X Dampers: Finding the Setup Window
We put the Öhlins kit under the microscope to see what the clicks are really doing, and why not all of them are worth using.
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Car Setup Requires a Lot of Set-Up
Exploring Why Race Alignments and Corner Balancing Are So Expensive Some people like getting down and dirty working on their cars. I prefer being organized, methodical, and thorough rather than rushing to get something done quickly. That's probably why I like setting up my car myself. While corner...
The Right Timing: When to Fine-Tune Your Track Car Setup
I was recently asked: at what point should I start making setup changes to my car? There is no clear-cut answer to this, but in my opinion, the earlier, the better! As a novice driver, you will experience exponential progression in your lap times simply from improving your car...
Shaking Down The GLTC E90
It's nice to be back after taking August off from RE. Some work was done on the #73 E30 (which is for sale!), but I mainly focused on prepping the E90 for test days and GLTC next year. Sure, the car came to me basically in race-ready...
Setup Advice Sucks
Frequently I will come across a vague setup advice question along the lines of: My E36 understeers. How much front camber should I run? A question like this is needlessly restrictive (why camber?) and hard to answer accurately. There are so many missing variables, such as:
Dissected: BMW Factory WTCC E90
We are in an era where almost all professional race cars are official "factory" cars produced by the marque, as opposed to customer-built creations that started life as showroom production cars. It wasn't that long ago that teams had to build, develop, and campaign their...
Car Setup: Sometimes, The Opposite Is True
When I was younger and didn't have the finances to race real cars, I raced radio controlled cars instead. Specifically, I raced electric 1/10th-scale touring cars on outdoor asphalt with rubber tires (they were also raced indoors on carpet with foam tires). The cars were highly...
Splurge or Skimp? A track car conundrum.
When building a track or race car, there are a lot potential upgrades that are going to be vying for your time, attention, and perhaps more importantly your money. In the absence of an unlimited budget, you're going to have to prioritize some upgrades over others.
Roll Cage Door Bar Design
I love nerding out about roll cage design. Door bars in particular. There is something almost voyeuristic about seeing part of a roll cage through an open door. While a roll cage alludes to protection in a rollover, in wheel to wheel competition you are more likely to get hit...
Setup For Aero: My Thought Process
After more than a year of on-again-off-again preparation, I recently got to drive my new M52-powered, fully-caged, and aero-sporting E30 race car for the first time. For it being the first shake down of the car, I have to say that it went surprisingly...
String Alignments II: The How and The Why
We recently introduced the concept of string alignments, and today we are back with part two of the series: a deeper dive into the how and the why of DIY alignments. Without yet getting into the actual alignment process, we must understand why you would need to string a car...
Slick Tire & Aero Device Myths
Coming up through the HPDE ranks, there were two somewhat mythical beasts that came up a lot, in hushed tones: "slicks," and "aero." Slicks in reference to DOT radial slick tires, such as the Toyo RR, Maxxis RC-1, and Hoosier R7. Aero in reference to...