[swtour]

I know most guys play FOLLOW the LEADER when it comes to body mounting - but I want to hear some input on the affects caused or created by different mounting positions.

Guys will RAKE the heck out of a High Downforce body, especially in the FAST Classes, and will lessen the rake in the slower classes and/or use lower downforce bodies.

But what are the affects, benefits or detriments of how far forward or back the body is pushed?

How does this differ on different types of track surfaces, banking vs. flat, etc. (Yes OVAL WORLD there are tracks that aren't CARPET!!)

I always like seeing different peoples thoughts and input on these types of questions - and they usually appear to answer questions for other people as well.

 

[JDW]

How about the easy one body mounted forward = turn more body mounted back= less turn.:hat:

Jake

 

[swtour]

LOL Jake - you take ALL the Soft Balls!!

 

[Sam 7]

I coppied this from one of Kevin Koback's threads on body mounting.

There is no single answer to all of your questions. Bodies and body mounting are another tuning variable just like tire compound, tire tire, etc.....There are different ways to achieve different results, but no single way is correct.

Mounting a body forward and/or raked makes it turn more IN GENERAL, mounting it back/flat makes it tighter IN GENERAL. It sometimes effects it more turning -in versus turning-off, just another tuning option. Mounting a body shifted left versus shifted right just makes the car drive different. Mounting it shifted left in front, right in the rear (yaw) makes the car drive different. A body that is thin in the roof and the hood versus a body that is thin on the left side versus a body that is thin on the right side (due to tolerances in lexan and how they're pulled) just make the car drive different. Screwing the body down versus body clips makes a car drive different. A body that is 10 grams heavier than another body can cost someone anywhere from a minimum of 2+ seconds on the track, and I've seen as much as 1.5 LAPS on a short track. (If there's a way to overcome it in setup, guys like myself, Monti, Andy Mac, Corey Heft, etc haven't found it yet.....)

The guys that take the time and $$ to try many bodies, mounted many different ways on a consistent chassis, and know how to use the information they gathered to make their cars faster will always come out ahead in that area. The faster the class and the more downforce a body creates (a THD versus a COT) increases the impact/differences in all that stuff.

While I'm sure there's some guys that only mounted one Nationwide body this season, and hit the nail on the head the first time (I only mounted 1 COT body, TQ/won Snowbirds, BRL races, and TQ'd every club race I ran with the car), they're few and far between at the top level of racing. Next to tires, body selection/mounting is the most critical setup item on a car. It's where the fast guys gain speed, and the average racer loses it. Just like tires, the guys that know how to use it as a tuning tool are far ahead of those that don't, but the only real way to learn it is trial and error.