Tag: Niknak Motorsport

Excellent article on suspension setup by Simon HOADE (Niknak Motorsport)

Excellent article on suspension setup by Simon HOADE (Niknak Motorsport)

My setup…

First off I have to stress that I’m not even close to being an expert with this stuff, and I completely acknowledge that what is working for me quite likely won’t work for a lot of other people. However, if anybody else can benefit even a tiny bit from this then that’s a good thing. Maybe it will work for you, maybe some bits will, maybe it won’t fit your driving style. Either way – here it is, all of the detail for my car and its setup right now.

Core components

Year 2002 imperial chassis with widetrack and K Series (140-145hp estimated), 6 speed box, 3.92 ZF LSD
Powerflex polyurethane bushes everywhere
Nitron dampers by Meteor Motorsport, re-valved early 2016, with Eibach springs

Setup

Weight (without driver): 520kg with approx. 20 litres of fuel, two thirds of a tank
Total weight: 580kg (yes I need to eat more pies)

Corner weights are set to equal diagonals which I prefer over equal fronts.

Front left: 128kg
Front right: 136kg
Rear left: 154kg
Rear right: 162kg

Ride heights (probably not a lot of value since I’m not sure where they’re measured from)

Front left: 118mm
Front right: 118mm
Rear left: 134mm
Rear right: 132mm

Average rake: 15mm

Geometry

Caster: 7.2-7.4 (full forward on wishbones)
Front camber: -2.7 (I might increase this for track – one turn of the ball joint should be worth approx. 0.3 degrees)
Rear camber: -1.4
Front toe: 2mm in each side (this is for road only, I change to 2-3mm toe-out for track)
Rear toe: 2mm in each side

All of the above was with virtually new Avon ZZR tyres (185/55/13 front, 215/55/13 rear) set to 17.5psi

Tyre pressures: 20psi starting/cold pressure (all round)

Front roll bar: blue (9/16″)
Rear roll bar: +2 (0 being disconnected, 4 being stiffest)

Radius arms set to lower position

Front springs: 225lb/in
Rear springs: 150lb/in (plus 4lb/in helper springs)
Front dampers: -8 from full hard
Rear dampers: -6 from full hard

That’s about it. I have various other things on the car like the 22% rack and big brakes front and rear. Lowered floor and Tillett seat, aero screen, half-doors, tonneau cover – many of those things contribute to how the car behaves. Since the setup was done I’m running a little more pressure in the tyres which will have potentially increased the ride height a tiny bit, and as the fuel burns off the rake does increase by 2-3mm towards the very end of the tank, so it really starts to feel quite lively by that point – but that’s what I like. It works for me and I’m extremely happy with the car at the moment.

Please take with a pinch of salt of course – use what you like, ignore what you don’t like, suggest improvements if you can. It’s one big learning experience