Hey all, today at the autocross I had a lot of fun however this car is REAllY nose heavy. Trying to figure out ideas to relocate or remove weight from the front of the car that's allowable in fsp. This is a daily in AZ so unless there is a more light weight AC I'm keeping that.
So far I have an eBay battery location kit. Ideas? Thanks in advance.
Adjusting your driving style is more important. There really isn't much you can do, plus the car needs weight for traction to some degree. I've driven dozens of FWD cars and didn't find my Focus to be particularly nose heavy. Try driving an Audi coupe with a 5 cylinder sitting forward of the front wheels...that's nose heavy.
Yeah, Focus can handle. A proper tire here with proper pressure there and a driver mod should do you wonders.
You could go with a lithium battery instead of relocating the heavy lead unit, there is some sub $100 RC battery that is supposed to work well and weighs something like 1000 grams.
Try running at 40 psi Cold in the front, as a starting point and see how that feels. A major factor in getting it to turn in hard and stick is to not load the front end too roughly: "smooth is fast" really applies here. Too keep it stuck from apex to track-out, do not stomp on the throttle, but rather begin feeding it in at a rate that matches your unwinding of the steering wheel. Next major factor is rear sway bar, but before we can advise you on this we need you to tell us what your Focus already has on it; precisely what size, in mm, on the Front and precisely what size Rear (if it even has a rear bar).
Trail braking is the real key to keeping the front end stuck. Pretend as if there is a string tied between your hand and your foot. Stay hard on the brake into the corner, right at the limit of the front tires under braking, then as you start bending into the corner, ease off the brakes slowly. Past the apex, start gradually adding throttle as you straighten out the steering, again as if there is a string tied between your hand and your foot. When you're back to straight ahead on the steering, you're back to full throttle.
I give this same speech to novices on the instructed walkthrough. I highly recommend having an instructor ride along with you at your next event. He or she can correct some fundamental errors that cause understeer like coasting into the corner, excessive steering input, or applying the throttle too early.
Here's a great article that should help:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/race-craft-autocrossing-front-wheel-drive-cars/
You'll need to log in to post.
