Sunset Red 1.4 TSI(TFSI) GT Sport - daily drive & track car

[rex]

As promised I am returning with some pictures...
The car is ready for Mondays' Hungaroring Track Day.







For those of you who don't know the 1.4 TFSI engine (and would, for some reason, want to learn more) here is a picture:



I also raised the back end. Now the car is a little bit higher than I like but I thing this is the was to eliminate wheel rubbing.







In this photo you can also see the Janus Camera (next to the rear view mirror).



This is my current setup:



Not sure this is the correct one. But I will know on Monday  . My initial impression is that the steering is much lighter and I do not like that. Before the last wheel alignment the car felt like it was on rails. Now I seems more vague. I hope I lost the feeling and gained stability. Only time will tell so fingers crossed.

Thanks for watching!

[danishmkvgti]

good luck, and drive carefully 

[the bruce]

Not sure this is the correct one. But I will know on Monday  . My initial impression is that the steering is much lighter and I do not like that. Before the last wheel alignment the car felt like it was on rails. Now I seems more vague. I hope I lost the feeling and gained stability. Only time will tell so fingers crossed.

Think I told you that toe in (same amount) on front is much better
for steering feel and cornering speed.   

All the other data is perfect !!

Good luck and have fun !! 

[rex]

good luck, and drive carefully 

Thanks! 

Think I told you that toe in (same amount) on front is much better
for steering feel and cornering speed.   

All the other data is perfect !!

Good luck and have fun !! 

Thanks!
Yes you did tell me that. But from what I read steering feel is lower but cornering speed should be grater.
Also toe out is required to balance the Side Force. Please correct me if I am not making sense:



And if you have some date why I should use toe-in please share because I am willing to learn. Thanks again! 

[the bruce]

Not easy for me to explain in English. 

We both agree toe in improves turn in.


The point is dynamic toe when cornering. 

As you'll know the outer wheel has more weight.
A wheel with more weight is able to withstand more slip to it's optimum
force (a fact many people don't know).
So the outer wheel needs more steering angle and the inner wheel less
angle for maximum corner speed.

Race cars have steering geometry different to road cars like the Golf.
True race cars' steerings provide more toe in the more you turn.
The Golf gets more toe out according to Ackermann.

So toe out on front does not make any sense to my understanding
- not for turn in, not for cornering speed and not for steering feel. 

But of course, try it on the track now and report us. Stay with it if
it feels ok and change it later if not.

 

[rex]

Thank you very much for the explanation!
Yes, the car has to get more toe out when steering (Ackermann angle). But my guess is the bigger the angle the more stable the car will be on bends (I saw this in carting, correct if I am wrong).
I will definitely make a review once I am back home and I will change what is wrong. The problem is that I changed the toe-out, the front and rear camber and it might be hard to see which one is wrong.
LE: And is it correct to say that toe-out on the front, for our cars, reduces understeer?
Thanks for all your help!

[the bruce]

Stop, Rex. 

According to Ackermann toe out has to increase in corners, yes.
But this is just for low speeds and very small diameter corners
to minimize wear.

Under race conditions things are contrary different !!

On track you want to maximise grip and so cornering speed and
so you need increased toe in on corners.
Sadly a street car's steering geometry doesn't offer the needed
increased toe in.
So you have to adjust even more static toe in as you'd do on a
race car.

 

[rex]

the bruce Thank you very very much for explaining those things to me. I really appreciate it! 
If I am doing something wrong please do not hesitate to tell me.
Yesterday I arrived home and I can tell you that the car has more grip mid corner with the TT arms and the new setting so it is impossible to say if toe in or toe out are better. I will however take your advice and go to 0.05' toe in next time. This way I should be able to say if toe in helps or not.
I saw that the car did not have any grip when exiting the corner. Any thoughts on that (it was a little bit damp but I am pretty sure it was not that because I saw this on the dry parts also)? Could it be the toe out?

Am about my last experience on the track...
As I previously said I went to the F1 Hungaroring Track on Monday. Unfortunately the weather played tricks on us. It was really cold and raining when we woke up. But one hour after that the track began to dry. Unfortunately there were regular showers and the track never was 100% dry. Consequently I tried to avoid the kerbs and the white line between the raceway and the kerbs/grass because they were really slippery. My times refracted that. I got to improve my last times but only with about 0.3 seconds. This is a little bit considering the changes:

1. the NQSBBK:
- excellent brakes, no fade whatsoever, great stopping power and much more confidence for the driver
- I got to really cook them so that the paint job on the disc did not last for long.
- one really small minus is the noise of the disks (no an issue for me)

2. the TT arms
- the car was better than with the old setup
- I may have made a mistake as the bruce explained above; how much this affected my time, I have no idea.

The car really was a great car to drive. It was really alive and I liked that. For Nring I would need a more stable setup though.
I thing I improved my lines since the last visit but I will only know that if I am faster under normal conditions. Except one corner were I deliberately did not go over the kerb (because of the above reason) I should be faster on any corner. I guess time will tell...

Here are some pictures of my last trip:



















And here are the 2 cars I went with:
S3 Revo stage 3 500+ bhp (running only low to mid 400 for this trip) with quite a few mods
Polo GTI Revo stage 3 400+ bhp (running low to mid 300 for this trip) with few mods
The Nissan is not one of ours





Thanks for watching!

[danishmkvgti]

Excellent Rex, great shots and informative review. 
What ARB's do you have? The car seems to "tilt" quite a lot through the corner.

 

[rex]

Thanks  .
I have H&R sway bars: 26 front and 24 back. They both are set on HARD.

[danishmkvgti]

I'm not sure this is possible, but a link from Facebook of mister Rex:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=211700905515149&set=a.211700762181830.61072.100000257238506&type=1&theater

It works 

Here's a Subaru with to much speed into the turn 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=211700905515149&set=a.211700762181830.61072.100000257238506&type=1&theater#!/photo.php?fbid=211701528848420&set=a.211700762181830.61072.100000257238506&type=1&theater&pid=808587&id=100000257238506

[the bruce]

I don't think the car isn't flat planted. Look at the BMW E90 and you'll agree. 
26/24 mm set hard/hard is a nice combination with similar results to 28/24 set soft/hard.

Nice pics.  Hope you weren't too disappointed by the weather.
Unfortunately you can't compare the lap time after the mods you did, but most important
you had no issues with an accident on the slippery track.

 

[danishmkvgti]

You are right Bruce, i noticed the BMW also, here's a video featuring Rex in the warm up lap 

Rex do you know what camera he was using?? 

[rex]

the bruce yup... Getting back in one piece was my primary concern.  I think that is the most important thing at the end of the day.

danishmkvgti Ha ha.. I did not think you would find me on Facebook or youtube 
He is using Go Pro Hero. 

Here are some more photos with the car in action.

[the bruce]

no helmet ???

 

car looks great  !!!