Changes to Stock Rules in SOLO
 

Either front or rear sway bar can be changed now in Stock class. What are the implications for the 370? Improved turn-in? Think it makes the car more competitive?

SEB 9/28/11:

ITEM 10) Change 13.7 to read as follows: “13.7 ANTI-ROLL (SWAY) BARS
A. Substitution, addition, or removal of a single anti-roll bar and supporting hardware (brackets, end links, bushings, etc.) is permitted.
B. Substitution, addition, or removal of an anti-roll bar may serve no other purpose than that of an anti-roll bar. C. The use of any bushing material is permitted. A bushing may be implemented as a bearing. D. No modification to the body, frame, or other components to accommodate anti-roll bar addition or substitution
is allowed except for the drilling of holes for mounting bolts. Non-standard lateral members which connect
between the brackets for the bar are not permitted.

http://www.scca.com:8080/assets/11-f...k-nov-solo.pdf

Rear sway isn't going to help the car much. If anything, the inner wheel lift is going to be much worse

What if you put an adjustable sway in the rear that was less stiff that stock, would it help keep the inside tire planted while not inducing understeer?

I am not an expert on sway bars, but I believe you would add so much suspension roll that it probably won't help.

Theoretically If you put a softer bar in the rear or firmer bar in front you are going to get more understeer. Firmer rear or softer front would give you the opposite effect. What that means for the Z i have no clue since i have yet to take it out for autocross.

Sway bars make much less of a difference in autocross than the rule book would suggest. Franky, your driving is going to make a much bigger time difference than your sway bar stiffness or settings. Unless you're extremely skilled and competitive, don't worry about it and just focus on improving your lines, braking and momentum.

I don't see sway bars doing much for the Z34 in stock, but what I wonder about is the new ASP.

It helps to put power to the ground, especially when you have giant slicks

generally speaking thicker and stiffer sway in the rear will help the under steering. however, oversteering is much harder to correct.

In Stock class with a square set up (which is what is sounds like people run) does the Z35 really understeer? Is it something that requires correction with a (rear) sway?

z34? i find it understeers just a tad. i do not think it requires correction with a rear sway. but that's just my preference, i prefer a tad understeer, it's more predictable that way.

Front bar is still more useful than the rear on the Z

rear bar is huge for making the car more neutral. wish this had been in place before.

Absolutely. I had huge improvement with car when I went to 35 mm front bar. My car doesn't understeer but it puts power down much better.

Sorry definitely meant Z34.

When you guys talk about how much the front sway helps, are you talking about specifically with R comps? Is there a tradeoff wherein the front sway induces noticable understeer during 'spirited' driving on normal tires while not at the track/autocross?

The rule change is mainly for FWD cars that have terminal understeer, but then cars have come a long way. Most FWD cars don't understeer like they used to, which I found this rule to be a little curious.

FWD cars ate opposite of us. They need to hold fronts down to put power down. Just as a big front bar helps us put power down, big rear bar on FWD puts front tires down.

I ran 27 mm rear bar on my toyota and it transformed that sucker into a Porsche beater.

The 370 needs a BIG front bar much worse than any possible change to the rear bar. Increasing the front roll stiffness keeps the front geometry in its happy place increasing front grip. Because of the torsional rigidity of the chassis it also keeps the rear tires more evenly loaded improving power application out of corners.

My car is set up fairly neutral with the help of tire pressures, shocks, and alignment.