Thread: Ideal Rake?
View Single Post
      12-31-2012, 10:27 AM   #10
The HACK
Midlife Crises Racing Silent but Deadly Class
The HACK's Avatar
1817
Rep
5,337
Posts

Drives: 2006 MZ4C, 2021 Tesla Model 3
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Welcome to Jamaica have a nice day

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by exdos View Post
Rubbish! Rake counteracts the tendency to aerodynamic lift from which the Z4 has a tendency to suffer. According to the information found here: http://www.genmay.com/showthread.php?t=827884 at 200km/h (125mph) the BMW Z4 3.0si Coupe already has 28kgs of front end lift and 43kgs of rear end lift, What happens to all the careful corner weighting then?

Then again, it all depends upon what you're using your car for. If it's relatively slow speed stuff, aerodynamics are less important. But for flying around the Nurburgring, I want all the aerodynamic advantage I can get.
Seriously? All that careful corner weighting helps DYNAMIC weight transfer. When the car is either accelerating or decelerating, the "rake" of the vehicle will change accordingly. What happens to your carefully measured "rake" of the chassis when the car is entering a corner or exiting a corner? How often do you drive an entire course while doing exactly 200km/h?

Rake is irrelevant. It is FAR more important that the cross weight is as close to neutral as possible and the car is as low as the roll-center allows while still maintaining a reasonable front/rear weight balance. IF lift or aerodynamic grip is your concern, find ways to add or subtract downforce while minimizing the impact on drag, rather than fix the "rake." If your chassis is set-up right, "rake" will fix itself.

Rake is for "stance" crowd poseurs. You might as well lower the car PAST its roll center with massive negative camber in order to tuck your 10.5" F, 12" rear wheels shod with 205f/225r tires into your fenders.
__________________
Sitting on a beat-up office chair in front of a 5 year old computer in a basement floor, sipping on stale coffee watching a bunch of meaningless numbers scrolling aimlessly on a dimly lit 19” monitor.
Appreciate 0