Have you ever gone to a track that you haven’t been to in a while and you can’t remember the setup that worked so well last time? Or, what was that change you made 2 weeks ago that fixed a “push” on corner entry? Or, exactly when did you go to the stiffer shocks on the front? If you’re like most racers, you just expect you will remember it. Or, if your one step better, you right it down somewhere. But now that piece of paper is lost, or you can’t really make out what your notes mean.
Organized records are incredibly valuable to a race team. Written log books are nice and easy, but have limitations. However, Performance Trends Circle Track Log Book can help you keep track of you vehicle’s setup from race to race, and track to track. It keeps records of your Chassis, Springs, Front Suspension, Rear Suspension, Tires and Track Results. Plus it even let you put in User Defined values just in case you have something on your car that is not in the program.
Some of the chassis parameters you can keep track of are: the Corner Weights, Brake Pads, Frame Height and Fender Height. Other chassis inputs could be aerodynamic parameters like the Nose Height and Width, Roof Height, the Rear Spoiler Angle, Height and Height above ground. Other inputs are Pinion Angle and Gear Ratio, even any Ballist weight and location.
Suspension parameters you can record include the springs, like recording your Spring Rating and giving each spring a description. And you are able to record your Shock Rating Bump and Rebound, shock travel, and again you can give each shock a description. Sway Bars go hand in hand with the springs and you can record both front and rear as well. Circle Track Log Book will remember different components you’ve entered, like springs. This way you can build up a library of components, and you don’t have to type them in again next time. You can just pick from a list you’ve already entered.
Other suspension parameters include: Caster, Camber, Toe In, the length and angle of your upper and lower A arms, plus the percentage of Anti-Dive or Anti Squat. Some of these parameters are not straight forward measurements, like percentage Anti-Dive or Anti-Squat, and would have to be handled in a suspension analysis program. Circle Track Log Book will actually link up with Circle Track Analyzer to have these calculations performed automatically.
Tires are one of the most important and most difficult to record. But Circle Track Log Book will help you with this chore. You can give the tires a Description and record the Compound. Plus you can record the tires PSI, Circumference and Stagger when they are both Cold and Hot and record the difference. Most importantly, you can record the tire temperatures for the Inside, Center and Outside of the tread. This recording keeping program can produce valuable suspension tuning suggestions based on tire temperature analysis. These suggestions would include basics on tire inflation pressures, to suggesting changes to camber, cross weight, stagger, etc.
And of course you need to remember what track you were at and how you performed. You can name the track, record the track type and the banking, make Comments on the car’s handling on the corner entrance and exits, record weather data, plus your lap times.
Once you start keeping your records in a computer readable form, you can easily search for when changes were made, or make comparisons between setups. Now you will know exactly what changed you have made, and what setup you should be running for this track.