Tire Pressue, Weight Distribution, and Tire Smoke

July 23rd, 2008 - Geoffrey Chandler's blog

Data point 1:

Increase the weight over the rear axle the amount of traction that the car has will increase. You need to be careful to keep the weight as low down in the car as possible so as not to upset the balance of the car and increase the leverage on the roll center. The spare tire area is a good place for this. I may also try out the rear wing. To counteract the effects of increased center of gravity height, the panhard bar can be raised if needed.

Data point 2:

Increase tire pressure and your tires will spin more easily. In the latest episode of his RiceBoyTv show, Patrick Mourdant talks about Takatori recommending that he add as much as 70 psi of air into his rear tires to increase entry speed and make more tire smoke. Typically we run about 35lbs, but I think that it is time to start experimenting with more.

The Experiment:

I want to play around with increasing the weight over the rear axle and increasing tire pressure. The goal is more tire smoke and a better balance between front and rear traction. I figure that I will start out with maybe 50lbs/inch of air and 25 lbs of weight.

Geoffrey Chandler's blog

Yeah I normally like around

On July 24th, 2008 piner (not verified) says:

Yeah I normally like around 42 psi in my rear tires and I've found leaving my spare tire in the the spare well at events makes the car a bit smoother on transitions. I used to take that stuff out to lower the over all weight but the balance is much better with leaving it in.

Im even considering adding a bit more weight in that area to see what it does for me.

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About Geoff

I have been building cars since about 1996 when I bought a 1966 Chevelle Malibu and modified it. My first exposure to drifting was back in 2004 when the shop (Hotrods to Hell) that I worked at was commissioned to build the 1969 Camaro that was campaigned in the 2005 Formula D series. In order to get a better idea of what the Camaro needed to be capable of I went to the Formula D Irwindale event and was instantly hooked.

My approach to car building is methodical. As you watch along with our build you will notice that we only make a few changed between each episode. I do not believe in throwing a bunch of parts at a problem and hoping it will be solved.

When you are developing a chassis for the first time you need to take you time and establish what I call a "vocabulary for the car." Basically what this means is that you need to learn what impact different parts and modifications will have on the car and on each other.

My roadmap for the Mustang was first to address the inconsistency in the car. The coilovers, panhard bar, and rollcage have done wonders in that direction. Then since this is a drift car, we need to make some drift specific modification, steering angle and LSD. The next move is to fine tune the car, getting the right spring rate, finding alignment settings that work well, trying different sway bars.

If you have any questions for me or suggestions for the car, you can make a post in the forum.

-Geoff

Drift Mustang