Entertainment only:
Last year was the first competition year for our TR4.
We put stiffer springs and a sway bar in the front, added a leaf to
each spring and a sway bar at the rear rear and did some shock work.
We took it to the track and it was the goofiest handling car I'd ever
driven. When going into a corner, it would start to oversteer and when I
corrected, it would start to describe a completely different arc
requiring a second correction, almost like it was making two corners out
of every one.
I managed to keep Joe Alexander behind me for a few laps and he gave me
amusing descriptions of the antics of my rear end (no sniggering
please).
Afterwards, I got out the few books I had and pored over them for some
clue to the possible cause and found a paragraph in one of Carroll
Smith's books that said the front half of a leaf spring should locate
the rear axle and the rear half should do most of the springing.
I looked at the rear springs and noticed all the leaves of the spring
are asymmetrical - the center hole is not in the center at all.
Further inspection revealed that the spring shop had reversed them all -
and had made the front half of the spring too flexible, allowing
excessive roll steer. I reversed the leaves for the next event and the
problem was solved.
Drum Roll please, for successful sleuthing -- or maybe catcalls for
allowing such a dumb mistake in the first place.
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