Originally posted by BrianB:
Karl,
Thanks for your reply!
.......at Lime Rock on the 25th of Oct. for a BMW driving school. It was a about a 50 degree day. Early in a session and just past the apex on the downhill turn, the rear end came around quickly and unexpected. I ended up in the tire wall near B paddock. Not much damage,but what concerns me most is why? Could have been slighly off line...there's a bump, cold track, tires not up to temp,came in to fast,suspension travel? I'm not sure why, but am curious if other RX-7 drivers have experienced this?
BB
Well, in the 1st gen car, problems like that are often associated with binding, but as your is a 2nd gen, we can eliminate THAT!
The downhill at Lime Rock is an interesting corner. It starts off with about 1 degree of camber at turn in, then increases to about 4 degrees, then there's a slight wave there, and the camber goes away, just past the apex or so, winding up as a negative camber of 1.5 degrees or so.
So thats the track info. Maybe it's the "straw". Often these things are a combinaton of events that happen to align. In this case, the off camber change of the track, and the fact that maybe you were more "on the edge" than you thought, due to the cold and cold tires. (Hoosiers? I can attest to their absolute junk nature when they're cold!) I would take a look at your rear wheel alignment (you guys can do that, right?) and all the bolts holding things down. (I found a toe change of 1/4 inch after the NHIS event this summer, loose strut bolts...how long had that wheel been flopping around like that?). Then I'd double check the shock, side by side with the opposite corner. Finally, the problem might not be at the rear! Scale it, and check the other corners for the same sort of things!
Glad to hear the tire wall was kind and nobody gathered you up!
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Jake Gulick
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]