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From the Donnie and Eric files of "trusting your instinct"...

I finally got a chance to crawl under the CRX this afternoon and change the rear swaybar mounting points. Much to my surprise, I found that the left bolt that holds the endlink to the swaybar was missing! I haven't messed with the swaybar since I installed it in the middle of the year so I'm not sure when it fell out. It's possible that it sheared in half which caused it to fall out as the one on the other side was looking a little "crusty".

Either way, I guess that would explain my recent wheelspin issues and episodes of pushing like a dump truck. The last few surfaces I ran on were sticky concrete (with the exception of Dixie which is a world unto its own) and the car was supa' dupa' pushy. It was the first time I've been able to increase the rear shock stiffness a great amount which looking back on it now was a vain attempt to get the car to turn mid-corner. I attributed that mostly to the surfaces being a lot gripper than I've run before but somewhere in the back of my mind I kept telling myself there was something else amiss.

If I had to guess, I would say it happened sometime around the Toledo pro since that was the last event the car seemed loose. I made a bunch of changes directly after that event but didn't touch the rear swaybar so it is hard to say for sure. Anyway, I'm looking forward to having everything back on the car and functioning properly but this weekend may get a little interesting. I have a sneaky feeling the car will be wicked loose but I can live with that and tune some of it out.

There is a Triad event in Danville tomorrow which should serve as a good TnT before seeing you guys in Sanford. If you see me spinning like a top on Sunday, you'll know I haven't completely adjusted to having a functioning rear bar.

Jim

Wish I could see the look on Vincent's face when he reads this.

Jim,

In the future I recommend a complete "nut and bolt check" before major events . . . easy for me to say with a simple open wheel car to check.

Great job!

_________________
Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

Shawn Whipple told me a long time ago...that if you're a pretty good driver and the car is not doing what you want, it's probably the car and stop blamming driving. This was great advice! Unfortunately, I'm a slow learner and usually blame myself first. The more experience I get the quicker I am to question and check to see if something is wrong with the car. Donnie, Chris, and I have been burned by the failure to check the car on too many occasions. Anyway, you always kick yourself when you find out something like that.

Jim, now you can drive out to Oklahoma this month for a local event and take the Seelig's to the woodshed

Eric

What Eric said!!!!

Any time that your normal range of adjustment doesn't "correct" a change in the car's handling it is either pavement conditions, tire conditions, or something broken. On some sites it could easily be gravel or sand just off line.

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

I've heard you say that before and I guess I should have listened more closely. I think my stubbornness (stupidity?) in this situation stems from the fact that I wasn't sure what the car was supposed to feel like in the first place. At the beginning of the season, I was changing the car from event to event ping-ponging from loose to tight trying to find something that felt good and was fast. At some point I quit messing with it for a while and somewhere in the haze, I'd lost track of where I was exactly.

I really can't say for sure when it picked up a bad push and I think that is bugging me the most. I've learned to toss the car around (sometimes violently) which helps loosen it up but that had its limitations and certainly doesn't work in sweepers. I guess a big factor is the adjustment to FWD and learning to deal with the tendencies inherent in that platform.

The good news is that the car now rotates very well again on top of losing most of its wheel spin problems. It's actually way too loose at the moment but I'll live with it until I can make a better than haphazard stab at adjusting it. At the very least, I have something I can work with now.



Now that's an idea! On second thought, I'll just wait until some tours/pros next season and let the chips fall where they may.

Jim
- who, as predicted, spun like a top on my 1st run today