All News: commodore

Commodore’s Garage #24 – The Dreaded Push-Loose

May 12th, 2017 by Matt Holden

  All three NASCAR iRacing Series just finished a short-track swing, and during those weeks I saw, heard, got involved with, and was even asked about one of the most difficult phenomenon to understand in sim-racing:  The “Push-Loose”.  The series went to four of the most troublesome tracks to set a car up for, starting … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #24 – Minor Settings

April 28th, 2017 by Matt Holden

  We’ve gotten almost every major part of a race car covered in the articles so far.  All that’s left before we dive into the meat ‘n potatoes is the adjustments in the garage menu that frequently get overlooked because they rarely need any attention.  Despite this, they can often lead your setup process in … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #23 – Sideforce & The Gen6 Update

March 31st, 2017 by Matt Holden

  I’m not sure if you guys have noticed, but lurking in the shadows of the dirt update was a small update to the NASCAR Gen 6 Cup cars.  In addition to a reworking of the aerodynamic behavior of the car itself (2017 butter-knife spoiler!!), the suspension was updated with new, tighter restrictions for the … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #20 – Bumpstops and Crossweight

February 17th, 2017 by Matt Holden

  Following our look at the details pertaining to crossweight last week, we’ll now turn our focus to a situation unique to cars with bump stop suspension systems.  This is the first concept we’ll look at that will not apply to every car in some way, but while your interests may not fall into a … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #19 – Crossweight

February 10th, 2017 by Matt Holden

  Last week we looked at bump stops, but this week we’re going to cover weight distribution, specifically crossweight.  Why would we move straight from springs to crossweight?  When we dive deeper into bump stops (specifically shims, gap, and contact timing), preloads, and shocks, crossweight is going to come into play a lot.  And I … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #18 – Implementing Bump Stops

January 27th, 2017 by Matt Holden

  Of all the things available to us in the sim-racing garage, the most confusing thing is typically the simplest component on the car:  The bump stop.  Ironically, the bump stop is just a tiny version of the one thing that almost everyone understands:  springs.  The confusion doesn’t come from its characteristics, but instead from … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #16 – Adjusting the Spring Package

December 24th, 2016 by Matt Holden

  As we approach the holidays and the close of 2016, instead of putting more information out there, I’d like to send everyone on a mission.  It’s pretty simple, and the few weeks we’ll have should be plenty of time:  Get your spring package right!  In previous racing sims, that was pretty simple, right?  iRacing’s … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #15 – Starting Spring Package

December 9th, 2016 by Matt Holden

  We now know the basic ins-and-outs of the spring components in our race car, but we need to apply that to the car and get started with our race setup.  “Where do I start?” is probably the most common question asked, and in almost every case, the answer is the spring package.  We have … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #14 – Ride Heights, Perches, and Deflections

December 2nd, 2016 by Matt Holden

  The last major piece of the puzzle we need to look at before diving into building a setup are the three simplest things in the garage:  ride heights.  Older (and even some newer racing games) have a “Ride Height” adjustment in their setup garages, completely independent of the rest of the car.  Anyone who’s … Read the Rest »

Commodore’s Garage #13 – Tire Pressures

November 18th, 2016 by Matt Holden

  Tires are a racing vehicle’s only form of contact with a race track and, as a result, can be the reason why a car is a race-winner or a mid-fielder.  Many factors can determine how well a tire is gripping the track surface, from tire compound, to load, and especially its own behavior when … Read the Rest »