Re: Milano: Understeer/oversteer

[Chris <chris@domain.elided>]

Rehi all :)

When I said in digest #800 about Yellow koni's:
 "They are adjustable, but the fun part is, you only adjust the ingoing
stroke. The good thing about this is, that at any time you'll keep your
rear wheels on the floor."

I meant to say what Scott Fisher explained to us:
 "Rebound is only one aspect of the car's suspension action that shocks
control -- there's also jounce (that is, compression, either as the
wheel goes up or as the car comes down).  A shock that could be
adjusted for extra resistance in jounce acted like a stiffer spring,
though only for a second or so."

My technical-english vocabulary didn't contain the word "jounce" :)
The difference between yellow and red koni's is, that with red ones
you adjust both in- and outgoing stiffness ("jounce") and with yellow
only the ingoing...(outgoing is fixed, with a little less force needed
to go out than red ones(!))

On shocks; Why buy koni? I do, "'cause they're dutch!" (chauvinist?
me??) I know people who only use SPAX (progressive gas-dampers) 'cause
they're british make :)

Scott also told us about his experience with a VW on the track.
Now I don't think you can compare a fwd with a rwd set-up...
(thus agreeing with Doug Sedon)
>From car races I've seen, the fwd-winners always lifted a rear leg
when cornering, whilst the rwd ones almost always lifted a front leg.
So maybe we should turn it all around?

As for our:"in agreement, in disagreement, and in partial agreement."
I think it shows all the more that you should setup your car to your
wants and needs, which involves a lot of trying out.

Like with "superchips" (don't ever buy them, 'cause your engine isn't
the same as they made their maps on), all cars --and what may be more
of importance: the drivers-- are different, and may need different
setups to make you feel right in command. Why else would Schumacher
and Irvine (amongst others) drive with different setups on
supposed-to-be equal cars?

Oh, what we didn't (yet) discuss is: "cornering technique"
ALL, as in all, cars will have understeer when pushed fast enough in
a corner. (ask me how I know :))
The fwd ones will be more easily "rescuable" as opposed to the rwd ones
where you have to "think" a bit on what to do... hitting the clutch is
one way, using the accelerator _wisly_ is another (and fun!)

If you want to tinker around your car, in order to improve your
driving satisfaction, begin with playing w/the tyre pressure first.
It's the least costly way....

One more thing, could someone please explain me the fun of using a
"w" instead of a "v"? I know doug.s does this constantly but in his
naming a "vw" he skips it. (should've been a "ww" (hehe, weewee :)))

Oh yes, Alfa six (6, sei)
Mike Cosgrove wondered how many there were still left . . .

aprox. 12000 were made from '79 to '86
lots got scrapped or used as donor,
a few now reside in holland (dont know the numbers)
and there is 1 (one) and only one Alfa6 page on the internet
(well, two, if my photo's are ready :))
Mine is a 2.5v6 with 6 (six) carburettors (downstream Dell'Ortos)
ZF gearbox (1 is where your 2 is, and R is where your 1 is) :)
And beautifull . . .
Public guess is: around 6000 left worldwide, imagine getting hold
of spare parts, since FIAT destroyed(!) them.


Have fun now,
    Chris Piepers
    The Netherlands

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