So, to carry on from where I left off.......We left it that The Baron was at center Gravity with Chris. Very interesting day and a lot learned.
Firstly, Chris takes you out to see if he can identify any problems on a pre-determined route. This he knows like the back of his hand and has set amounts of time for the car to react. When it doesn't then he make a mental note. The Baron as I had discussed with him has had the front suspension pretty much thrown on, as I knew it was coming to him. The first thing Chris noticed was when reversing up the slope from the unit, the front end just bounced over the gutter. We spent a while just rocking back and forth over this to feel what was going on. It was determined that the front end was pretty much on the bumpstops! This Chris later confirmed by hanging off the anti roll bar and shaking his weight up and down. The only movement was in the tyre side wall. The gap from the arch to the top of the tyre didn't change!!! anyway I digress. The first thing is to check the condition of the shocks. This is done by driving onto a machine that puts each axle through it's paces by vibrating up and down at different frequencies.
You can see on the graph the detail of the shock through the test, with the end result as we expected 'All Good!'
Next the car was driven onto the ramp.
the wheels lined up on slip plates.
Next job was to remove the wheel centres.
With the car sat back down Chris attached the sensors for the alignment rig.
The car was then rolled back and forth for the overhead sensor array to see the wheels.
So now was 'Crunch Time' to see where the car was.....
Suffice it to say, things were not looking too cleaver :grin:
So fast forward a while and we were at the point of being able to measure the ride height.
So we got a measurement of 105mm, bearing in mind that RS height is 125mm, we were dragging our chin on the floor. This would explain why there was no travel on the front!
So as we were starting to zone in on some good settings, we went for corner weighing. Chris removes the slip plates and replaces the which scales.
You can see here the weight each corner is applying to the road along with the overall weight (full tank of fuel)
Small quarter turns on the coilover spring perches make huge differences to the corner weights.
The next few scans are of the final result.
So there you have it. Just a glimps into the world of suspension where Chris Franklin spends his day. As I left at gone 7.00p.m with frost and ice on the ground, I didn't feel confident in trying out the new set-up, however Chris and I drove around the test circuit again. The results were exactly as he said they should be earlier in the day. I'm looking forward to trying out the new set-up, which should be as the say "Bob on!"
There we have it, not as detailed as it should be, but gives you an idea of what is involved.
All the best everyone, and thanks for following....
The Red baron over and out, currrrrsh, over.........