Racing a DLM on asphalt

[sj valley dave]

Looking for a little help. We are going to be racing our Super Dirt Late Model on a 1/3 mile, medium banked asphalt track once this year and need to get a base line setup on the car...It is an older GRT with 2008 rear 4 bar pick up points. Front is 16 5/8" LF lower and 10" upper...Rf is 19" lower and 7 3/4" upper, we run LR behind with no "pop up" shock...We are going to be running D-55's for tires....

[gadirtracer]

D55's on asphalt, good luck!

[Extreme Race Cars]

Would be fun to try this. I would guess you will want to change all your weight percentages. Typically asphalt cars run alot less rear weight, in the 50% range... left side percentage should be higher, in the 60% range. Ride heights would be lower... Not sure how the 4 bar setup would work on asphalt, most run 3 link with a long panhard bar. this might help some... http://www.circletrack.com/chassiste...tup/index.html

[Egoracing]

If you take a dirt late model to 60% left and have to make a right turn it is going to go up on two wheels. When the series I was helping ran them on asphlat the guys that changed went back to an almost normal dirt setup. The Fast qualifier was on a VERY VERY normal dirt setup. The asphalt chassis are desigened for theie setups and the dirt latemodels are designed for their setups. The dirt late models are designed for rearsteer and more rear %.
The D55's are a horrible choice for asphalt, heck D70's are not going to last. D55's (and 70's for that matter) can tear up a car when they come apart. I have seen it in person at Waycross when a tire destroyed a chassis.
Just take some drive out of the chassis and see how it feels and then adjust from there.

[dirty white boy]

puttin a dirt car on asphalt bout like goin to a cat house fer a handjob

[hpmaster]

What.... ya get a happy ending?

[dirty white boy]

What.... ya get a happy ending?

not near as happy as it should be fer what it cost...lolol

[rmrc]

Consider running LR shock ahead with about 180# of bite. Flatten the rear bars a bit from your normal set-up. You might take some rake out of the J-bar. We've used this setup a couple of times and were very quick. I've found the RR top bar to be my friend to help keep the car flatter. We've run the 55s aginst pavement tires and they're not as good but I've never exploded one. Be smooth on the throttle and keep the car straight. Will you be racing against pavement cars too or just other dirt cars?

[bullittwrench]

Agreed, LR spring in front and "old school" on the front springs. Heavy on the RF. Don't use a tie down RF shock.

[slmcrewchief99]

Bullettwrench is correct. LR spring in front and heavy spring on the right front. The SUPR series out of Louisiana has ran an asphalt race for the last several years. And trust me when I tell you that a 4bar car will work and it will haul some A**! Give Ronnie Stuckey a call or maybe even Kenny Merchant since he is the man that keeps winning on the pavement. You can even give Greg Holmes with the SUPR series a shout about the RF spring. I am prettty sure that SUPR put a minimum of how soft you can go on the RF spring.

[sj valley dave]

Thanks for the response...Right now we run LF 475lb and RF either 375lb or 400lb. I was thinking that for the rear 4 link and J bar would be more like a real tacky heavy clay set up. So you all think that we would need to get away from the "hillbilly" front spring set up and go stiffer on the RF and softer on the left front....This is only going to be against other Super Dirt Late Models and everyone has to be on the D-55's...