Three Days and Two Sways -- Tarett Sway(bar)s, With pictures! Options

[eeyore]

I got two more weekends in on the Tarett prototype rear swaybar with an AX April 30, a DE May 1 and another AX May 15.

The 200 lbs rear springs plus swaybar setup was too stiff for the street and AX, so I changed to 175 lbs rear springs. I set the rear swaybar to 50/50. The ride quality wasn't all that bad with 200s. But I would occasionally get hung up on very irregular pavement, like the deepish rain gutter that crosses my street.

April 30:
The AX course was very technical. There was discussion afterward where everybody expected to drop 4 seconds between the first and the final, timed sessions. Most managed to drop only one second by the end of the day. I'd rather not say how I did. Fortunately, I can't remember now, and results have not been posted on the PCASDR site yet.

May 1:
The DE course was quite fast for a parking lot course. The first session ranged from 3rd to 5th. After a course change to account for potholes, it ranged from high 2nd to 5th. The very first layout had the course tester getting into the neighborhood of 130 with his GT3. The course was adjusted to slow things down.

Over the 2 days I gradually moved the rear bar softer, and added a bit of stiffness in the front. This allowed me to dial out throttle-on tail sliding from corner exits.

For the last DE session I disconnected the rear swaybar and ran the front at full soft. I fearfully entered the course expecting suspension setup disaster to strike. Alas, the car was still well balanced but there was more body roll. Not huge, but noticeable. Later inspection of the tires showed the tire was rolling almost another 1/4 inch onto the outer sidewall. NOTE: This additional rolling may have been caused by stock rear bushing failure.

May 15:
Looking for additional data, I nearly shot myself in the foot. I spent Friday in a moderate thrash to replace the driver's side rear bushings and a Saturday of twiddling to get the car re-aligned and finished up.

I set the rear bar to full soft and the front to 1/4 firm. Bad move. Way too much oversteer in the 1st practice. I went to nearly 1/2 firm on the front for the second practice and did much better. I added another 1/4 inch of firmness on the front for the time laps. The car was still a little loose, but managebly so.