Racing setup

In motorsport, the racing setup or car setup is the set of adjustments made to the vehicle in order to optimize its behaviour (performance, handling, reliability, etc.) for specific conditions. Adjustments can occur in suspensions, brakes, transmission, and many others.

The following trends will apply in most cases, but there can be exceptions to some of these. Generally changes should be made one at a time, in small steps.

2) These also improve road holding, under most conditions.

* Actually every tire has its "optimum" pressure at which it makes the most grip. Above this grip slowly drops and below this it drops quickly. Just keep this in mind so that if you find dropping pressure improves that end of the car or adding pressure lowers it.

In addition, lowering the centre of gravity will always help the handling (as well as reduce the chance of roll-over). This can be done to some extent by using plastic windows (or none) and light roof, hood (bonnet) and boot (trunk) lid materials, by reducing the ground clearance, etc. Increasing the track with "reversed" wheels will have a similar effect, but remember that the wider the car the less spare room it has on the road and the farther you may have to swerve to miss an obstacle. Stiffer springs and/or shocks, both front and rear, will generally improve handling, at the expense of comfort on small bumps. Performance suspension kits are available. Light alloy (mostly aluminium or magnesium) wheels improve handling and ride as well as appearance.

The car's roll centre is the other fundamental piece of the equation. Care must be taken to avoid lowering the centre of gravity past the car's roll centre. The distance between the car's centre of gravity and its roll centre is known as the roll couple, or the length that the car rolls around. Ideally, if the roll centre and the centre of gravity occupy the same space, the car should exhibit zero body roll.

Moment of inertia can be reduced by reducing weight, usually results from using lighter bumpers and wings (fenders), or none at all.

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Wikipedia