# good base settings for circuit racing in a mk2 golf



## off_camber_autosport (Feb 22, 2017)

im in the process of building my 92 golf 8v for racing in the n.a.s.a. northeast division. I build e36 m3 track cars primarily so i have all the tools to do everything from ride height adjustment to corner balancing as well as proper alignment. does anyone here know what a good base setting for ride height/ alignment. if the info is already out there i cant find it and im new to the forum so navigating it isnt exactly my cup of tea yet. any help would be great, thank you!:thumbup:


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## chois (May 12, 2000)

off_camber_autosport said:


> im in the process of building my 92 golf 8v for racing in the n.a.s.a. northeast division. I build e36 m3 track cars primarily so i have all the tools to do everything from ride height adjustment to corner balancing as well as proper alignment. does anyone here know what a good base setting for ride height/ alignment. if the info is already out there i cant find it and im new to the forum so navigating it isnt exactly my cup of tea yet. any help would be great, thank you!:thumbup:


Some basics, which you may already know, but just getting them out there first.

Front - 
Don't over lower the front. The roll center will move below the track surface and you will get terrible body roll. I shoot for just a touch past the point where a line from the lower control arm bushing to the ball joint pivot are level. You can go lower if you install a ball joint spacer.
Lots of people run no front bar, because they don't want to unload the inside tire and cause wheel spin. I run a welded diff, and a stock GLI front bar.
I also run small wheels/tires to get the car lower without messing up geometry (while also improving braking force with the 9.6 rotors). 225/45-13 Hoosier is the shortest DOT tire I have found. They have similarly sized slicks as well.
DOT tires and radial slicks like a lot of camber. I typically am in the -3.0 to -3.5 range. Bias slicks like very little camber.
I shoot for zero toe, but some guys like to toe out slightly, on the theory that a cambered tire wants to turn when it is pointed straight. I have not tested this yet.

Rear -
No geometry issues here, lower away - even reverse rake is fine. Just make sure you have clearance for everything.
Most people run a big rear bar to get things rotating. I run delerin beam bushings (which makes it bind a bit more) and a bolt on bar on a GTI beam. We are starting to test with no bar a bit now, to see if we can get what we want with just springs. The rear shocks matter a lot. More than I ever expected.
You want some camber here as well, to get a little more use out of the rear tires. Otherwise they just pick up a bunch of OPR and wear a tiny bit on the outer shoulder.

Spring rates - 
You will hear folks share rates anywhere from 350 to 1150, and I think a lot of that has to do with driver, weight distribution, tire and setup.
I run 550 lb-in springs on all 4 corners with Advanced Design dampers. We are building a set of custom Penske's now, so this setup will be available sometime later this year.
It works pretty well in my case. With an IT motor (basically a good stock rebuild ~ 110-115whp) at 2300# it ran 1:24.6 at Blackhawk, 2:52.2 at Road America, 1:47.8 at Road Atlanta, 1:47.1 at Mid Ohio club.

Good luck!


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