This week, we'll cover some final things to round out our theoretical view of suspension tuning. It's really just two items so this will be a quick read.

First: Ride Height. The general rule for on-road racers (i.e. Mini-Z's) is that lower is better. Let's look at our equation one final time:

Mx'' + Cx' + Kx = F(x)

Lower CG means less weight transfer, which means that the absolute value of F(x) is reduced. That lends itself nicely to reducing the amount...

color0

This week, we're going to go over some accepted "tuning rules" for Mini-Z, and explain why they work in the scope of the theory we went over last week, i.e.

Mx'' + Cx' + Kx = F(x).

Of course there are plenty of aspects of car tuning that don't involve the springs and dampers at all, and a whole other book of subtleties based on tire characteristics alone -- let me leave those for later articles. So without further delay, let's begin.

Tuning...

color0

So, recently there was a question posted on the forums regarding the function of springs and dampers: why do we need them, what do they do, how do we use them? I thought that this might be a good time to cover some basic theory behind car suspension dynamics, and hopefully answer these three questions using as basic language as possible.

Basic suspension tuning theory dictates that to maximize tire traction, therefore cornering speed, the fluctuations of load on the tire must be minimized....

color0

This is going to be more of an anecdotal story rather than hard data analysis with lap times and such, but hopefully I can get my point across just as effectively.

I'm sure that most of you guys will have heard the saying "loose is fast". You'll see this at the top echelons of every motorsport: the tires are pushed to their very limits of traction, sometimes even deliberately breaking traction (WTCC, WRC, etc.) and visibly getting the tail end of the car out. When I first...

color0

Although many of us Mini-Z Racers have high-end KO, Airtronics, and Futaba radios for our Mini-Z's to use, I'm sure that there are just as many out there who read this blog who have just gotten started with Mini-Z -- which means that you very likely have a Perfex KT-18 in your posession.

The KT-18 is not a bad radio: it's 2.4GHz ASF, has throttle and steering trims and EPA's, and even has a "training mode" that you can use to save battery power or test run a new track layout....

color0