Re: Caltracs setup for AutoX
This has been discussed on the 1st Gen Camaro boards before. Caltracs *can* turn the rear axle into a giant sway bar, but only under extreme conditions (something we may not likely see on street tires). Essentially, the Caltracs themselves become the forward "links" of the "rear end sway bar", making solid contact with the spring/perch. The only phenomena that is not quite completely well documented is the fact that under cornering you would only be engaging one side of the Caltracs, so it'd be like a sway bar that had the unloaded side unhooked. This gives the energy nowhere to transfer to as completely as a sway bar allows. This energy has to go somewhere and it could be lost through bushings, transferred in a meaningless way to the other side, or render the affect of the bar null in the first place.
Now, I know that we're a different beast from Camaros, but the geometrical affect is similar in regards to cornering and exit traction (though we'd rely less on the Caltrac benefit at speed as there's little weight over the rear and we do have the benefit of the AWD "pulling us through"). After talking it over with a good friend of mine (big autoXer), we came to the conclusion that it should have a fairly neutral affect for us in an autoX environment. The bigger effect(s) would be from removing a sway bar, adding a rear sway bar, ride height (F&R), and tire selection (size and grip).
BUT, this is all subjective as you would need to make a run w/ Caltracs and compare it to a run w/o. Same with the Camaros, driving style matters (a detriment for some might be a benefit for others), learning the course matters, etc.... It's just impossible to remove all the variables.
The point? Gotta get out there and test it out. :tup:
Which is why I am curious to find out if it actually does anything other than straight line blasts.
