Going down the straight aways

I am new to late model racing and I took my Rocket blue/gray car out yesterday for the first time. For the most part everything went well. The only problem I seemed to have was going down the straight aways while on the throttle, about half down the straight the front of the car seems to want to dart to the right. The front seems to want to step toward the outside wall maybe a foot or two. Is this a normal thing in a late model and what is some things that can be done to make it more comfortable going down the straight aways.

Are you running a traction shock?

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Originally Posted by strong08

I am new to late model racing and I took my Rocket blue/gray car out yesterday for the first time. For the most part everything went well. The only problem I seemed to have was going down the straight aways while on the throttle, about half down the straight the front of the car seems to want to dart to the right. The front seems to want to step toward the outside wall maybe a foot or two. Is this a normal thing in a late model and what is some things that can be done to make it more comfortable going down the straight aways.

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Are you out of the gas when it happened?

I had this issue when I first was out in my rocket (black front), I ended up going with a bit less toe out than they reccomended, think I was down to 1/4". Once I got the car to pin on the rf better I was able to get up in the 3/8-5/8" toe out range when needed. Just got to make one tire drive harder than the other, so they don't fight for control. At least in my case anyway, your mileage may vary.

yea ive ran over 1/2" toe and it does get a little unstable like he said, may take some caster split out also

No I am not running a traction shock. It does seem to do when on the throttle and I am not spinning the tires. Seemed like harder I ran the car the less it did it but it was still present.

It could be a bumpsteer issue.

Especially if you're new to late models, I'd bet 10-1 you are losing LR ride height due to not having a shock in front of LR axle. This takes a lot of roll steer out in the first inch of travel down from full droop and you'll get exactly what you're describing.

Imho anybody new to late models should have a traction shock. For consistency alone

I am running a 604 crate motor so would I still need the traction shock since i am not running a high horse power super motor. Thanks for the information so far.

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Originally Posted by strong08

I am running a 604 crate motor so would I still need the traction shock since i am not running a high horse power super motor. Thanks for the information so far.

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We're talking about a shock in front of the left rear birdcage. People have gotten in the habit of calling this a "traction shock" but that is a tremendous misnomer. Whether you need one or not is a good question but horsepower is not a determining factor in the answer.

Check to make sure RF tire is not touching the fender under compression (it will have paint worn off bottom of fender. That caused this same issue for me at one point.