Beej

thanks - which pad material should I go for? The problem I have is I don't know what the current manufacturer/material type is and I don't know what is fitted to the fronts. I was just guessing that it is Pagid because its got RS on the back - not very scientific really! I don't want to fit something daft that will screw up the braking.

My rear brake pads need replacing and I am having some difficulty in figuring out what manufacturer and material they are. Can anyone help? The car is an ex Taylors Foundry Vx Challenge race car SVAd for road use. There is every likelihood that these are the original pads since the car has only done about 7000 miles, so they could date back as far as the early 90s. It is used almost exclusively on track. The calipers are AP racing 2 pots and the pads are the same shape as Ferodo FCP825 - which I seem to recall is a pretty common old Lockheed pad shape The rear face is inscribed RS 11 C, which sounds like a Pagid pad but there doesn't seem to be an RS 11, only RS14 and RS15. Can anyone tell me if RS 11 is an old Pagid material or am I barking up the wrong tree? If so, what is the current replacement? Cheers

cheers. i must admit I thought of doing this but didn't think the extra distance gained would stop the problem. It can't hurt to try. I suppose I could always try cornering more slowly.. nah.

Anyone got any ideas..? I am rubbing a nasty groove round the inside edge of my left hand rear tyre from where the rear anti roll bar drop link is contacting the inner tyrewall. This is an ex Vx Challenge race car (road legal) running standard 6 x 13 minators with standard 6 (or 7)-13 -21 ACB10s or 205 Yoko Ao21s - doesn't matter which, they both rub. Its only the left hand side because spookily enough most circuits have right hand turns and it is definitely a sideways pressure issue. You wanna see the rubber shavings inside my wheelarch! At rest, there is loads of clearance between the arb link and the tyre. You wouldn't imagine that it could contact but it does. Whats moving so much that this could happen? The arb is on its softest setting because the car is quite tail happy enough and I don't think chnaging it would make much difference to the contact problem. Should the A frame allow that much movement - I would say at least 1.25" sideways. What is it doing to my geometry?? any ideas much appreciated. don't worry, they all do that sir!

Thanks for your replies.. 1. Myles. yes with no load on either wheel, axle in the air, propshaft disconnected, if you spin one wheel, the other will turn (in the same direction of course). If you try and stop the other one from moving, you can't - the two wheels are locked together. 2. Gambo. If my car has a ZF plate type LSD (how can I tell?) then am I right in thinking that in no load situations such as one I have described above, the plates will immediately rise up the ramps and lock the axle solid? If so, I have nothing to worry about. Even so, I am surprised that with somebody at each wheel (ie putting some load across the axle) we cannot induce any slip whatsoever. Is that correct? don't worry, they all do that sir!

Can someone tell me just how limited the limited slip should be on a limited slip diff!! Put it this way, if you jack the back of my ex Vx racer up and turn one wheel, you cannot stop the other one from moving.. it doesn't slip at all, not even a little tiny bit.. Its as though the diff is locked up solid. BUT, either I could teach Kimi a thing or two about car control or somehow this isn't noticeable when driving. I am completely confused. Can someone reassure me that they all do that? Help. don't worry, they all do that sir!

Andy. I'll mail you offline. Cheers Mark

Hi Andy, are you open to an offer? Cheers Mark don't worry, they all do that sir!

Gary, 13" 6.5J minators (minilite style) According to Avon, they are the right size tyres for the wheels but I am sure you are right, the sidewalls will move about more or less depending on the fitment. Mark

oh bugger. so ACB10s should handle pretty much the same? May be I should talk to Taylors?

ok now I'm really confused. Simon Lambert thinks its camber and so do several other people on this thread but may be it isn't? The car is not tail happy in a "no grip at the rear = lots of sideways fun" good way - say like runnning some knackered old tyres in the wet. Its tail happy in a nasty, snappy, no where near the loud pedal but still wants to leap about way. And I should point out that it handles perfectly on radials - Yoko 21s in the dry are pretty sticky when they are warmed up and had none of these snappy characteristics. Does anybody know what tyres the Vx race cars ran on? My car was built by Taylors foundry as a Vx Challenge car but never raced and subsequently road registered. Its reasonable to assume that it was set up for the control tyre. If those were ACB10s then I'm really flummoxed. Cheers Mark

brand new. 33's (I think). 18 psi all round. it looks like its the camber thats caused the handling trait. I guess I'll have to change it and try again.

actually, now that i think about, my previous caterham (which won a well known 24hour race in America!!) had both an oil temp guage and water temp guage but neither of them worked *cool*

No. At least, they aren't the right colour and don't have a stamp on top, so I assume not. That being said I could not detect any static camber, so I am not so certain. Even so, extra camber at the back is more likely to resist rear steer than create it, isn't it? I know it "feels" like its from the back but I wonder if its actually to do with the front?

If the car is in Whiteley, then you could do worse than see Lance or Roy at AMV 3000 (the classic MG/Ferrari garage in Park Gate). They are pretty good and it can't be more than 1 mile away. If the release arm has jumped of the pivot at the bottom of the bellhousing, its not actually an engine out job.. more of an "engine shunted forward enough to get your hand in the gap" job

so what have I done wrong? Went out on my new ACB10s at Goodwood on Saturday and I've still got the problem (in the dry) that I was having in the semi damp on the worn predecessors (which I put down to it being damp and worn out). The problem is that the rear feels like it wants to overtake the front. On lift off, braking and turn in the effect is a very disconcerting tendancy to wander about at the back - as though it was toeing out (which it isn't). Under power on exit you can adjust with throttle and steering but its not right. The car handles very neutrally on "normal" tyres. It must be something to do with the cross plies. Any ideas from anyone? BTW, even with the nervy set up, it was still a hoot and very very grippy. Big fun.

glad you found your answer. As I said.. ignorance is bliss! Best advice I can give you is disconnect the oil temp guage 😬

thats interesting.. you are not the first person to tell me that 32s are actually softer than 48s. They were suggesting that for lightweight stuff like 7s Yoko would be better off manufacturing 48s tread pattern on 32 carcass and compound. I imagine its a lot more complicated than that but it would be good to see 48s work really well on a 7 cos, as you rightly say, ACBs are hellishly expensive. Are they really twice as good though? I doubt it. I will be pleasantly surprised if I knock more than 1 or 2 seconds (unofficially, of course) off a lap at Goodwood. We will see (if its dry!)

in defence of BMTR, they called me back and have promised overnight delivery on 4 luverley new ACB10s. Call me old fashioned but I love late braking. 😬

thanks guys. I need 21 x 7 x 13s , so sorry, your 15" jobbies won't fit Steve, otherwise I would have had them. I absolutely agree on grip and weight and yes i need to double check the camber settings but I'm pretty sure they are ok at the back having posted some decent laps on ACB10s at combe in the sunshine last year. I just wondered how much difference there is between Yoko 48s and the Avon cut slicks (which is what they are really). I have no experience of Yoko 48s on a track at all.

sorry, should have said.. 100% dry track use I've got 21s for the wet/road

Do you change the seat position much (eg to swap drivers?). If not, I can heartily recommend ditching the runners and cutting a hole in the floor to take the bulge where your bum goes. I gained about 2inches and can now get a decent upright seating position with my helmet under a standard cage (fnarr fnarr). The seat bolts straight to the floor with an ali tray riveted (and foam filled) under the floor pan to house my delicate posterior. It works a treat.

Yoko 48s or ACB10s? I need some for Saturday, CC don't have any ACB10s, BMTR won't call me back, Yokos available fairly easily. What would you do? 😬

ok - sorry I was being thick, so the cross plies (ACB10s) require a more parallel set up than standard.. I thought it was the other way round.. doh! In that case, my front settings are miles out. I will have to thoroughly inspect the back end. I guess the alternative is stick with something like Yoko 38s but they are heavier and (?) less grippy?

thanks guys.. 0.25 degrees negative rear is hardly anything - can you really tell the difference? On the other hand, I am surprised to see the fronts set parallel because you can tell at a glance that I'm not even close to running parallel at the front (oops?). The rears are (obviously) not so easy to see.. what do the new type ears do? Are they basically set wider at the bottom than the top - hence you could achieve the same thing with some shims? I'm assuming that these measurements are set at the car's current ride height, loaded - not at a nominal level of suspension compression that I don't know about? Finally, say I had inadvertently got the tyre rotation direction mixed up (I don't know this for sure) would it make the car very very tail happy (to the point at which a well known classic car racer offered me a bravery award for driving it!). Just a thought.