NASCAR race engineer says details are key for steering and suspension tuning

Performance Unlimited is not affiliated with NASCAR, Richard Childress Racing or the No. 27 Menards Chevrolet currently ranked sixth in Sprint Cup with Paul Menard at the wheel. No one from NASCAR is expected to attend the event Sunday. However, Denny Norton, of Performance Unlimited shares one thing with the people who compete at the NASCAR level; he understands that competitive racing doesn’t start and end with the horses under the hood.

That’s why Performance Unlimited is holding a Tech Presentation from noon to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 13. NASCAR racing is comprised of an elite field of top performers in auto racing. For those who dream of one day taking a car out onto the track at Daytona or the Brickyard, or even those who just enjoy an opportunity to compete at a local track, every competitive edge counts.

Mike Wolf is a race engineer with car No. 27. When told about the event Sunday at Performance Unlimited, Wolf said, “If you can understand your car better than the other guy you’re going to beat him at any level.”

Wolf said one of his duties is to analyze tire and wind tunnel data on the No. 27 Chevrolet.

“We look at the alignment, springs, shocks and try to optimize the overall performance of the car – to get the most out of the tires in the corners,” he said.

Wolf said it’s all in the details. The key is to find the right balance for the track, not to mention the right feel for the driver. The crews will adjust the front and for more camber (positive camber occurs when the bottoms of the front tires are closer together than the tops and negative camber is the opposite), which provides more grip from the tires. Done correctly, this will improve the handling of the car.

“But, if you’re driving around on the inside of the tire … that’s one way you can roast the tire,” he said. “You’ll see that at Daytona. A lot of people will be pushing the camber. The teams will travel the front of the car as close as possible to the ground and keep a high amount of camber in it to turn. In the end you’ll see a lot of blown tires, particularly in the nationwide series. This is less of a problem now with the track being new and having more grip.”

Wolf said other factors also come into play in terms of adjusting the steering and suspension. For instance, they’ll adjust the suspension one way for a hot track and another for a cold track. Even on a single day, the track can start out cold and, as the sun comes out, warm up significantly. That’s why, he said, it’s critical to get it right.

“If you miss it on something Saturday you can fix some things but you’ve kind of made your bed,” he said, indicating that, the closer they get to the starting flag the less they can change things to meet conditions. “If you have a fundamental problem on Sunday, you’re in trouble.”

He said the goal is to get everything you can out of every tire. In particular, they want to use the left front and the left rear tires as much as they can. This has a lot to do with adjusting the weight distribution from tire to tire.

He said that looking at the static weight distribution at each tire is critical but it’s also important to tune the spring for adjustment at speed to help in the corners.

Wolf said there’s no room for saying, “That looks good enough.” What looks good I the shop can turn into trouble on the track. He reiterated the importance of finding the right balance.

“If you’re too conservative (in tuning the steering and suspension) you’ll be too slow,” he said. “Then again, you can get to greedy.”

Leaning too heavily towards the high end of speed and handling can lead to blown tires and wrecks. Wolf said this is a little less critical when qualifying where the car only needs to make two circuits of the track. On race day, however, they’re tuning the car to run fast and long.

Though many of the competitors attending the event at Performance Unlimited are not competing at the level of Richard Childress Racing, Wolf said, “These short track guys are real good.” He said they understand that a well tuned suspension and steering equals a safer ride and “free speed.”

For more information about Performance Unlimited, visit: http://www.4performanceunlimited.com. To learn more about Paul Menard and Car No. 27, visit: http://www.rcrracing.com/teams/driverPag.asp?teamid=27.

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