Legends Race Day Tips - Dialing In A Legends Car

A Legends Car will need more RF spring to give it stability when entering the corner. Plus, this will keep the weight from transferring to the RF too quickly. Being able to get off the corner without having to feather the throttle is extremely important when racing Legends. The cars have such a tendency to spin the tires off the corner that you really can't run as much RR spring as some would like.

Now with all of that being said, there is no magical spring combination that will produce wins. It all comes back to driver feel. Your driver might like a lot of RF spring or RR spring. Just remember, if you are thinking of adding right-rear spring you will need to increase cross weight. Adding RR spring will loosen the car, especially at the exit of the corner, and the cross will help tighten up the car so that you won't have to feather the throttle.

Rearend Straightness
Not a lot of things will slow you down as much as the rearend not being square. Even if it is only off by a 1/16-inch this can still scrub off vital straightaway speed. Think of it like this: If your LR tire is pushed forward 1/4-inch, then the back of the car will be trying to pass the front of the car. All while your driver is wrestling it down the straightaway.

I can guarantee you the teams that are winning at the large Legends events are spending valuable time squaring the rearend of their racecar. The more time you spend getting everything square, the better off you will be.

Air Pressure
Air pressure plays a huge role in handling. "I could change one and a half pounds of air pressure and my car would go from loose to tight," says Joe Saleem, a Legends racer of many years and an SCR columnist. "When you add air pressure it increases the spring rate for that tire."

Joe brings up an excellent point. If you are in a pinch at your local track and want to make a small spring change but don't have a lot of time, consider changing air pressure first. When you add air pressure the car will respond as if you made a minor change of the spring.

The Dreaded Tight-Loose Condition
The most common response you will hear from a driver at a Legends event when asked how the car is handling, is: "It's loose!" But when a change is made to tighten the car up, this makes it even looser. This situation illustrates why tire temperatures are so vital and will tell you exactly what is really happening to your car. A lot of times in Legends racing, a car will push (or get tight) entering the corner and make the driver put more steering input into the car to get it to turn. Once the driver finally does get back to the gas, the back end shoots out from underneath him and the car feels loose. This happens because the driver has the wheel turned so far. The tire temperatures will show you when this is happening.

If your driver comes in and says the car is so loose he can barely drive it, then check the tire temps. If the right rear is 30 or 40 degrees warmer then the right front, then your driver is not lying to you, so tighten it up. But if you see that the right front is warmer, then you are more than likely battling the tight-loose condition. Try loosening it up and seeing if that doesn't help his loose condition.

Conclusion
Ultimately these cars are designed so that talent will end up in the winner's circle.

"These tires don't make much grip, so the driver really makes all the difference in the world," Rob Hall of Andrew Motorsports reminds us.

Rob spends most of his time setting up Legends for drivers and is an accomplished Legends racer himself. To win, the driver has to be focused and have talent, but the setup also has to be there. Pay close attention to your setup this season and keep a steady eye on those tire temperatures because they will explain to you what exactly is going on. If you do this on a consistent basis, you will likely improve your finishing order, and might just see that elusive winner's circle that we all want to visit.