Joe Fischer, a fabricator working with chassis for Performance Unlimited, (address), Ringwood, laughed, “Once you get me talking about cars it’s hard to get me to stop.”

It wasn’t just the incredible depth of knowledge Fischer brought to Performance Unlimited’s Tech Presentation Sunday where racers and fans of the sport learned the fine art of fine tuning suspensions and steering for maximum performance, it was also the passion for the subject vividly flashing in Fischer’s eyes as he described how balancing the weight of a racecar at each tire is a process that has to account for fuel consumption, spring compression in turns and road temperatures while racing. In fact, Fischer said the timing of these factors is also crucial in racing as the goal is to have the car operating at its optimal weight and balance late in a race.

“You’re not going anywhere early when the cars are all packed in tight together,” Fischer said. “You want your optimal weight late.”

To achieve the optimal balance of weight, Fischer said they can add weight in different areas of the car. However, adding weight becomes counterproductive. By maintaining the chassis at the lowest possible weight, they have more flexibility to modify weight distribution.

Prior to Sunday’s event, Mike Wolf, a race engineer with the Paul Menard Car 27 (more) spoke of all the minute details required to give a NASCAR racer the best opportunity to win. Fischer echoed those sentiments. However, he also pointed out that most people don’t have millions of dollars for the kinds of equipment the ‘NASCAR boys’ use. In the case of measuring and adjusting the car’s weight at each wheel, NASCAR has a 7-post shaker that simulates the effect on weight distribution while going around the track.

“Obviously, we don’t have that capability,” Fischer said. “We use a bump-steer system – meaning the way we determine what the steering does with travel.”

Fischer demonstrated how they set the bump-steer equipment up to the spindle with the tire and wheel removed. With a floor jack, they raise the spindle through its range of travel. The dial indicator on the equipment shows how much steering the car has while driving. As Fischer explained, bump-steer is just that; the car hits a bump and, as the springs compress, the wheels pull one way or the other. The goal is to reduce the amount of pull, or steering, that occurs when going over bumps.

Fischer said everything comes down to one simple equation – how much tire can they put on the pavement.

“The bottom line in racing, in any way, shape or form – it always comes down to tires on the ground … the contact patch,” he said. “Everything you’re doing with the chassis is to achieve the most contact patch on the track.”

He said that a car with a 600-horsepower engine will lose every time to a car with 150 horses if the prior is running on bicycle tires and the other has a good set of road shoes.

The minutia of detail extends to the level of measuring the temperature of tires.  Fischer described how they take three temperature readings across the surface of the tire from outside to in. The variation in temperature tells a lot about how a particular tire is running. Even the temperature from tire to tire is informative.

“Ideally, you would have 140 – 140 – 140 (degrees) across the front left tire,” he said. “The left rear might be a little hotter because it’s the drive tire.”

For instance, Fischer said that, if a tire had readings of 110 – 50 – 110 (degrees) that would indicate there is not enough air in the tires. If the middle temperature is highest, there’s too much air. Other readings can indicate whether the camber is too positive or negative, as well as other factors.

Approximately 25 racers and enthusiasts attended the event last Sunday. The attendees brought varying levels of knowledge about the subject matter but all came away with a better understanding of the myriad of influencing factors involved in trying to tweak a racecar to its ultimate performance.

One thing that makes tuning a suspension and steering so difficult is that everything is interrelated. As Fischer explained, when they make an adjustment in one area of the car’s chassis, it tends to effect adjustments in other areas. Sometimes, identifying a problem isn’t all that easy either.

Fischer was driving a car in a race for another owner a few years ago.

“For the first 10 laps, I was dominating the field,” he said. “No one could touch me.”

But, after a yellow flag, Fischer discovered that the steering had become extremely loose; when he went around turns the rear wanted to slide out. He said that, every time they ran the car, it was the same thing. Fischer said he was talking to the owner of the car a short time after the race.

“He told me, ‘We found it,’” Fischer said.

It turned out the problem with the chassis was related to the header (exhaust manifold) requirements for the particular engine in the car – a Ford power plant. There wasn’t enough room for the headers to fit around a round brace that connected the center of the chassis to the right front of the chassis. To solve the problem, the car’s crew cut the bar out and replaced it with an aluminum alloy that was bolted in so they could remove it to fit the engine in and slide it through the headers afterwards to reconnect it.

“The thing about aluminum is that, at about 700 degrees, it turns to butter – it loses its rigidity,” he said.

When the bar, which was designed to help stabilize the chassis, became soft, the entire handling of the car changed dramatically.

Fischer said there are also differences in how they tune and balance a chassis that depend on the type of racing the car runs in. Short track racers, like Fischer, run on a circular track, always turning to the left. But, road racers run on a track with multiple turns to right and left. The optimal balance for the road racers is generally more equalized.

They also have to consider the qualifications for their type and class of racing.

“We want to be more than 58 percent (of the weight) on the left side of the car,” he said. “But, if you’re 58.2 percent to the left you’re disqualified. That’s illegal.”

In fact, the specifications change based on what type of motor a car has. Teams that choose a bigger carburetor are penalized on weight. He said that, as soon as a race is over, the top four or five finishers drive straight to the garage where they are checked to ensure they qualify. If they fail the test, they’re stripped of their winnings.

All of this translates to tuning and balancing the chassis as close to the allowable standard without crossing the line. Fischer described it as a quest.

“No matter how good you are, you’re always looking for more,” he said. “You try different things and, if they don’t work, you go the other way.”

For every improvement, the car receives what Wolf called “free speed.” And Fischer agreed that, ultimately, that’s what drives racers and their crews to continue challenging the envelope.

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.

Denny Norton, of Performance Unlimited, 5415 Austin Court, Ringwood, knows cars. His team of qualified mechanics constantly attends classes to keep their skills up to date. There is no one in the area better prepared to ensure that your car is properly maintained and operating at peak performance. However, Denny and the men at Performance Unlimited also know a thing or two about high performance automobiles.

“We’ll have three stations setup to demonstrate how a vehicle’s suspension affects its performance,” Norton said, referring to the Tech Presentation at Performance Unlimited from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday, March 13.

The three stations will include a Weight Station where current and aspiring competition drivers will learn about the importance of proper weight distribution and how it affects the handling of a car. Norton said Performance Unlimited has equipment to measure the amount of weight on each wheel. Chassis setup will help to optimize the driving experience.

“We also have an Alignment Station,” Norton said. “Our sophisticated alignment system can dial in any car or truck model. In a street car, this means better handling, safer driving and, possibly, better mileage. On the track, however, this is crucial to getting the safest and best performance out of your car.”

The final station is the Bump Steer Station. Here, drivers and pit crews learn how toe alignment if affected by a car’s front suspension based on an at-rest 2” compression.

For those in the high performance arena, the event is an opportunity to gain an edge against their competition. For the casual visitor, the Tech Presentation offers an insight into the minute details that are considered in preparing a sports car for a competition. It will also provide insight into the full extent of qualifications Performance Unlimited has to offer for those merely seeking safe and economical driving experiences around town and on the open road.

Of course, it’s not a good thing if the term ‘solid’ appropriately describes the antifreeze in your car. But, antifreeze is not the only fluid you need to consider as you prepare for the winter ahead. There’s also power steering fluid – make sure it’s filled to the ‘Full’ line; windshield washer solvent (we’ve already spoken about that); brake fluid, should be clear and full, transmission fluid, transaxle fluid and engine oil.

The latter fluid is the one we will focus on here, not that the others aren’t important as well; just try to imagine the outcome if you ran out of brake fluid. If the temperature drops to the extent that your oil freezes, surviving the arrival of another Ice Age is a greater concern than whether your car will start. In other words, you can rest easy – your oil is unlikely to freeze into a black cube.

But, that doesn’t mean the cold won’t affect your engine oil. Oil generally doesn’t freeze but it does thicken. For the most part, oil will thin after the engine starts and begins producing heat. However, as your car sits overnight or throughout the day, as the oil draws colder, it progressively thickens.

From your car’s perspective, the engine oil is even more important than antifreeze. It shares responsibilities with antifreeze (in its coolant stage) in carrying away heat from the engine block. But, more importantly, engine oil serves as a lubricant reducing friction between uncompromising metal parts. Take the oil out of your engine and just see how long your engine runs. And when it stops running, it probably will never run again.

You’ve almost certainly heard it before but it bears repeating: change your engine oil every 3,000 miles for cars built in 2004 or earlier and 5,000 miles for newer cars. When changing your oil, you should also replace your oil filter.

When you change your oil, you can use a synthetic oil. Some people swear by synthetic oils. They can generally run longer in your car before beginning to break down and may offer superior lubricating abilities. However, there is something else you can do with your oil to make winter life easier on your engine; you can switch to 5W-30 oil that is more attuned to the cold. In other words, it won’t thicken as much in the cold as, say, 10W-30.

The numbers related to different oils represent the oil’s viscosity. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) sets the auto temperature ratings – viscosity. The SAE measures the flow of the oil at different temperatures. The first number, with the ‘W’, refers to the oil’s ability to withstand colder temperatures. So, using an oil with a lower first SAE number means your oil will do its job better in cold weather. Try it. You’re engine will thank you and you’ll thank your engine.

To learn more about winterizing your car, visit our facebook account at: http://bit.ly/Winterize_otherfluids+

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