Mark Pavidis Tuning Tips

SETUP SHEETS
Don't underestimate the importance of setup sheets!

TUNING ORDER
Did you know there is a step-by-step order to tuning your car to the track?

TUNING ORDER

Not many racers know that it helps to tune your car in a particular order. Tuning your car to the track can be ordered into three main steps: practice, tires, then car setup. I will cover each in a general way. Print this out and use it at the track.

1. Practice

When you get to the track, begin your car’s setup with the standard setup published online. Concentrate on getting around the track with consistent lap times.

Find a buddy who will time your laps. The person who wins is the one who is most consistent over the entire race, not over just a minute of it. Try to keep your lap times consistent. They can be inconsistent because of crashing and poor control. Once you can keep the crashing to a minimum, having consistency and control, then make changes to your car to bring those lap times down.

Don’t make setup changes before you have a consistent driving pace, otherwise you will not know if the changes you made are better ones because of the setup changes, or because you became a better driver!

2. Tires

Changing tires is one of the most important changes you can make to your car. When going to an unfamiliar track, call ahead to see what tires the local racers are using. This saves you money—it keeps you from buying tires that won’t work on the track. Write out your tire info in the setup sheet at the bottom.

 

Pay attention to the correct foam insert. Too firm an insert will cause your car to bounce, resulting in loss of traction. Too light a foam will cause the car to wander and to be very unstable. The foam insert that comes with the tires nine times out of ten is the insert you should use. Once you are confident about your lap times and you’ve done your best with the tires, then you can fine tune your car to the track. Write out your tire insert info in the setup sheet at the bottom.

3. Car Setup

When making changes to your car setup, start with small changes first. Always keep track of your changes on your setup sheet. Test your changes with your buddy timing your laps. Compare your lap times to the times before the change was made to see if they are better or worse.

BUMPY TRACKS. Try to keep your car's rear end on the ground as much as possible on bumpy tracks. Try these tips for bumpy tracks:

A. Move your batteries back (RC10B2/B3, T2/T3). Move your batteries back by moving the spacers toward the front of the car.

B. Change to a lighter oil and springs.

C. Make your car longer by moving your hubs to the rear (RC10B2/B3, T2/T3).

D. Increase your negative camber by a degree or two to help stabilize your car, and keep it from catching those bad ruts and flipping over. The photo shows you which turnbuckle link to turn for your front camber.

HIGH TRACTION SMOOTH TRACKS. The standard setup works extremely well for these tracks. With these types of tracks, you are usually looking to get a little more speed through the corners. To achieve this, try using sway bars (#9104 RC10B3/T3). Sway bars are an easy way to pick up corner speed, but work best when the track is smooth.