Best way to tune a car for rally racing?

[Mcjoz88]

I'm looking for tips and advice on how to tune cars for rally racing. I'm just trying it for the first time. I am trying to use my Ford Focus ST '06, just to start, and learn how to tune cars for rally racing.

I have the Focus upgraded fully, but I don't really know which setting to tune in the suspension, LSD, etc, to help it become a good rally competitor.

I am looking for maybe like just some general tips, like is it usually better to raise the ride height a little, etc, so then I could try it out and make adjustments on my own then.

I am pretty much looking for a starting point for which to tune cars for rally racing, so I can try it out on different cars, and then make adjustments for each car I'm planning on using.

For instance, should I lower the ride height like I do for racing on streets/tarmac? Should I make the springs harder/softer?

Basically, just some basic tips on what to adjust on the car if I want to use it for rally racing...?

Thanks!

 

[Mcjoz88]

I was looking for maybe a starting tune to try out on different cars, similar to the Motor City Tunes thread, where he gave a basic suspension tune setup for FF, FR, 4WD, etc, cars. And then a brief guide on what to adjust if the car wants to slide out around turns, etc...

Are there any guides like that for rally racing? I want to give it a shot, with just regular cars, like that Ford Focus, or the Subarus, etc(you know, regular cars that aren't already designated as rally cars) that I outfit fir Snow/Dirt tires.

If there already is/are guides out there for rally racing, could you just post the link? Sorry if this has been posted before too, but I went through a couple pages and didn't see anything like this here, so....

 

[daveyules]

I usually soften my springs so they are near the minimum and max the ride height. Otherwise, set your center differential to about 30/70 on AWD cars so you can still power oversteer if you need... From there it's just tweaking for handling characteristics. I recommend getting the RM Subie WRX as it's about 150kg lighter than the real rally cars. As for the LSD, keep the settings low, with rear settings 2-3 times as high as the front.

 

[BlueShift]

Actually LSD depends on torque split.

Initial distribution reflects full torque split distribution (for ex initial @6/14 for a torque split @30/70)
Accel reflects something else somehow 50%/50%, depending on the size of the car.
And decel reflect torque split * weigth curve + size of the car effects.

 

[daveyules]

Actually LSD depends on torque split.

Agreed