I have searched on the internet and read the spring guide here at R2P but did not find an answer, so maybe there is not an answer, but I thought I would ask anyway.

In the past when developing setups for high end open wheel cars I have noticed I usually end up with a pretty large spread between the front and rear spring sizes. I usually keep dialing down the rear springs until I can go no further (either because I reach the softest spring, or because the highest rear ride height/softest rear spring combo begins to bottom out). I then proceed to stiffen the front springs until I get what I feel is a close to neutral setup.

I am wondering if there is a general rule some of you more experienced guys use when setting up your spring package (something like never going above a certain spread between front and rear). I have been experimenting as much as I can lately but have not seem to come up with anything definitive for my driving style.

There may not be an answer to this, but the discussion will be fun at least :).

Thanks,
JJ

That is what I do too Jimmy (though I tend not to increase the ride height by much). Yes, drop those rears until you can not go any lower due to bottoming, then start increasing your fronts. While my setups do not normally have the fronts more then 25-30% greater then the rears, there are times where I have had to increase well beyond the norm. You just do whatever works for you.

Yeah, there's no set rule here, especially when it comes to sim racing. Personally, I go the other way. I have the softest springs in the front and hard(ish) springs in the rear. This helps me turn the car faster with ease in the corners. I compensate the oversteer with lessening the rear springs a bit and also with dampers.

So I'm thinking it would be good to go out in an rTrainer with all other settings in the middle and try different ways to find my comfort zone with a spring package.

can you give me a general rule of thumb regarding springs and dampers.

Regarding F1 cars for twisty tracks with tight corners (Monaco) I want my springs and dampers to be soft????

Regarding F1 cars for tracks with high speed corners (Istanbul, Barcelona) I want my springs and dampers to be stiff???

I'm confused because I'm thinking that I should have everything as soft as possible no matter what to get more grip because at some point in to the turn the car weight has fully transferred so it doesn't really matter at that point?

I understand that with stiffer settings the car can be more responsive and that will transfer the weight more quickly which could or will give me more O/S or U/S.

Yes, I know... go out on the track and see which gives me better laptimes and yes I will use Tim's great tool.

Thanks

Phil

I guess if anything the rule of thumb is;

As soft springs as possible until you are bottoming out OR having to increase your ride height past its best aerodynamic setup.

A Formula Trainer car is not very aero dependent, but a F1 car is all about aero grip. So, you would increase springs in an F1 car so you can run a lower ride height which is a better center of gravity and better aero downforce from the under-body. But you still want to run the softest you can while still achieving the other goals and maintaining the balance you prefer.