Touring Car Set Up Guide Part 1

I often get asked - "How do you set your touring car up?" Not as a question for a specific track more a general guide for what process I use to guarantee repeatable results. I have tried many over the years - some with more sucess than others and the method I currently use has, for th elast year served me very well. Here I will go though it and I will be posting setups in the future for both the Kyosho V-One RRR as well as the Kyosho Evolva and the Kyosho TF-5 "Stallion". Check back here or in the Inside Line Section of Ben Racing for more info and the latest team set ups!

Right OK, got your car in front of you (Cleaned and rebuilt? Really???) - OK, lets begin!

Step one - For me the first step is to remove the shock absorbers, anti roll bars and set the car on a flat surface to check the chassis is dead straight with no twist This is the building block for any good race car setup. From this base you can be sure that all other measurements wil not be adversly effected. First check the chassis does not rock - as in the case of an electric touring car this will a carbon fibre chassis so should be straight as a die - if no, and the car has a top decy - undo the vertical screws that connect the top deck to the chassis to relive any stresses generated by the mis-aligment of the top deck in relation to the chassis. Let settle and tighted up again - this should remove the misalaignment in 90% of cases. IF this does not help start by removing the top deck and then components one by one on the car to try and determine where the misalignment is occuring.

In the case of an IC car the chassis will be most likely aluminium. Start by checking that the chassis is not bent by use or a straight edge (rule) against the floor. A simple way to remedy a bend (rather than twist) is to re-bend the chassis in the opposite diection (yep - crude, I know) this can be a quick fix but the better cure is a new chassis plate. Trust me - it's well worth the time!

Once this is etablished as a good base the first step I take is to measure the front and rear track width (in the case of a pivot ball based car). and make sure this is equal side to side. Th eoverall width is not v=overly important at this stage, however reading will later will be taken that rely on these widths being equal.

After making the front and rear equal I then set the front and rear down stops. These are used to limit the amount of weight transfer that occurs when the car is acellerating or decelerating or cornering, and as such are very important to get right left to right. Again, absolute setting will be determined by the manufacturers recomended base settings but having equal settings left to right will ensure the car accelerates in a straight line and brakes in a straight line. For this I use a Hudy Set Up Station, however there are many on the market that will do the trick just fine.

In the next part I will go into how I set up the anti roll bars, shock absorbers and toe in (no, thats not how you arrange your feet on the rostrum!) on the car for a good base set up that is repeatable!

Until next time!

Ben