front sway bar re-re-revisited

[soltwede@privateI.com (Night Shadow)]

> Keep in mind that DICK's mind is solely in racing. Were talking stripped
> out, welded in roll cage, no ups no extra's in the car flat out RACE ONLY
> applications. This is his flaw. He will argue that his way is the only
> way til he dies. That's fine with me. 
> 
> Jonas laid it out spot on for you. Shine uses NO front swaybar because
> they use extremely high spring rates on their cars. So high that it would
> be unbearable on the street. So, depending on what you want out of the
> car, you will have to decide what the give/take ratio is. 
> 
> Ill also note that the top FSP VW's at nationals for the last couple
> years all had a front swaybar. Its a long time debated topic.

All good points from Mr. Meze, as usual!  And yes, Daun's Nationals
Winning FSP Mk1 rocco (that running yet Daun? :-)  A free non rusty Mk1
with a history...you lucky duck :-) ) was running massive bars, front an
rear.  Kevin Wenzel, the driver of that rocco, did extensive testing and
found *for autocross* the front bars were a necessity.

Mr. Shine's theorys are all based on *road racing* which I want to point
out is quite different than autocross, and the Shine setup has been proven
many times on the road course...now autocross...doesn't seem to work as
well.

My experience, I have a massive ST rear bar on my 80 rocco, konis,
neuspeed race springs, full stress bars.  HAD a neuspeed front bar too,
car understeered TERRIBLY on the street...I hated it.  With sticky
autocross tires I probably could have taken advantage of the
suspension...but with street tires, they just didn't hack it.  So I
decided to yank the front bar completely....yes I got a lot more body roll
than before, but the car actually handled BETTER on the street.
Understeer was greatly reduced, turn in greatly enhanced and in general
the car drove nicer (till I recently blew one of my konis).

Thats MY experience, take it for what it is worth.


PS -- Shawn you talk to Kevin or Mannix lately?  I can't wait to see what
they are coming up with for that Rabbit...I heard some of the
plans...haven't seen anything yet

--
Eric
Northglenn, CO

76 Honda CB400F Super Sport
80 Scirocco (Parts car again, no more DD duty)
81 Scirocco S (2.0 16v swap and complete restoration in progress)
81 Rabbit Truck LX Diesel (THE NEW RIDE)
91 Cabriolet (2.0 Crossflow 8v swap and mechanical rebuild in progress)
00 Golf GL TDI (Katy is driving this for now)

"For Aquarians, the physics of loopholes is a perfectly valid science."
-Kelli Fox