Topic: Kappa Racing Setup Sheet

[Robotech]

Getting back into the Kappa family this time around I'm itching to try my hand at autocross. I've been a car nut my whole life but my racing fix has mainly come in the world of RC Cars. 

Now, before you think I'm nuts, modern day racing RC cars have a lot in common with the Kappa platform. Caster, camber, toe, roll center, cg, spring rates, dampening rate, shock angle, ride height, anti-sway bars, tire type, compound, and size...these are all adjustments on RC cars that have the same roles and same affects on the car as on our full size counter parts.

When we race, we often are tweaking our cars regularly and trying to remember what worked and what didn't often is difficult.  As such, we have setup sheets where we write our settings down along with any relevant information and important notes. Going beyond the RC world though, this was also something we did when I raced with a Southwest Tour NASCAR team back in the early 90s. 

As such, I came up with a very simple setup sheet for our Kappas. It doesn't cover everything but it's not meant to. It is just something I came up with real quick today. (Looks like crap but there is a lot of info on it.) 

Any input from you guys would be helpful since I'm just relying on the experiences I have and you guys may have found information I'm missing more helpful than what's getting captured on here.

This sheet can be printed out or opened on your computer and filled out there. Let me know what you think.

http://b17queenofthesky.com/Sky/Kappa_Setup.pdf

[normsf]

Hello, very cool. Just printed one off. Thanks Norm

[Robotech]

Thanks Norm. I would like to add sections for things like your stuff, engine tune details, and more settings for shocks that offer increased adjustability.  Just wanted to start with something and keep it simple for the moment. Looking forward to getting input from people as they use it or what other people may keep track of that I can add to it.

I'm also thinking about expanding this where there is a database component.  Think of a database where you store your overall car, then modifications and when you make them, then that extrapolates to this sheet so It will autofill certain things such as a turbo 2.4 or what valve springs you're running then allow you to quickly change the other options such as sway bars and spring rates.  In that database we can start listing all the different options we have for the car (Including vendor information for reference) and allow them to be selected with drop downs which would, in turn, allow you to select other options/settings based on the part selected. Yet you could still use sheets like this for data entry and could print out trackside sheets that would allow you to write in changes and notes by hand to be later entered into the database. 

This would allow you to quickly find and compare setups from past events to get a better idea of where you were last time you were at that track under those conditions and what you might want to change next time. I just want to get a better idea of what racers would need and want in this kind of system.  Keep in mind that if there are suspension geometry calculations or cross weight calculations that would be helpful to mention those too.

This could turn into something VERY cool.

[Kelu]

Damn, I just miss a Hudy setup bench for my Kappa ))

On the other hand, changing setups to an RC car requires only few minutes from a skilled person, such changes on Kappa requires hours which generally for amateur means they are done before race, hardly you can change setup during the race event (few exceptions apply). Even so is nice to document and keep track of the setup

 

[Robotech]

Damn, I just miss a Hudy setup bench for my Kappa ))

On the other hand, changing setups to an RC car requires only few minutes from a skilled person, such changes on Kappa requires hours which generally for amateur means they are done before race, hardly you can change setup during the race event (few exceptions apply). Even so is nice to document and keep track of the setup

LOL I have the Hudy board for my TCXX that I got when I worked for HPI. Would love it to be that easy to setup a Kappa.

No most things you have to change before race day but things like shock settings and tires can be changed at the track. This is why I'd like to have a couple different input types, one for things you don't change at the track and one for things you do. For instance, things you can change at the track that you may want to document:

Engine tune. Real easy to reflash the ECM at the track. I use to do this all the time with the Grand Prix. A tweak here, a tweak there...then run and see the results...tweak some more. Each tweak would be saved with a new file name and even if there is a place on the sheet where you put that file name and a brief description of what you changed would be helpful when trying to remember what you did later on.

Shock settings. These are something most people can change fairly simply at the track. 

Sway bars. You can change out a whole swaybar or, in the case of the WERKS racing swaybar, adjust the firmness of the swaybar without taking it off the car.

Exhaust. Doubtful most people do this with the Kappas but for drag racing we sometimes took off the entire exhaust behind the cat at the track. We saved about 45 lbs in weight and a bit more open flow for WOT passes down the strip.

Intake. Same thing here as with the exhaust. At the track in the Grand Prix we often took out a headlight and ran the filter for the intake where the headlight had been.

Tires. People do play with tires and some might even carry a couple sets. Again, doubtful there are many who do this but having the option would be nice.

Camber/Caster/Toe/Rideheight. Again, I've heard of people who are able to adjust this at the track and therefore being able to jot this down would be handy.

The big thing is having the history. You may remember last year you went to an event that you're going to again this year but you may not remember exactly all the details of setups you tried or notes you may have made at the time about that track.  Being able to go back and read what your setups were and anything you noted that didn't work or that you would like to try "next time" can be a big help.  Breaking it down not just by track but by each individual run is good too if you are playing with minor changes during the race weekend you can get an idea of what changes made the car better and which didn't on a per run basis.

[GXP_Matt]

I have an excel sheet with all the autocrosses I've been to the past 2.5 years (50ish), tracking my results and the car's setup.  Once I was happy with the alignment I didn't touch it very often, mostly changing shock settings and tire pressures from event to event.  Tires, shocks and sway bar settings are usually what you would change going from say a high grip surface like grooved concrete to a low grip asphalt lot.