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Better Handling or more Power

2K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  Darth G-F 
#1 ·
That was a question I was asking myself last fall. With a higher budget, the answer is both...
Elisetalk is a valuable source of information I used a lot. To be honest with you I read more than I post...
But I wanted to share this experience for all of those who wants to make their car faster. I my case I was interested in a Supercharger...first.

After a +- 1500 miles of lapping last summer, I noticed a lot of guys with Supercharger or Turbo having a lot of fun at the track. I also noticed most of them were off the track to fix their car, if not returning home on a flatbed...

I my opinion, my choice for buying a Elise was to enjoy the maximum time on the track with the minimum maintenance. It’s a matter of available time (air loose).

That being said, I opted for better Handling. Here is a list of modification I did from a Touring pack base model:

RTD Brace
Denag wheels
Toyo R888
Nitron Sport/Pro
Alcon 295X28 front Disc brakes
Custom hub from my buddy Marc Julien
Raybestos ST 43 (track only)
Steel braided brake lines

Guys, I just want to tell you. The Car is another CAR. It is FAST.
Almost 1.5 sec faster (Short track 52 sec per lap). It brakes like no tomorrow, the stiffer suspension is impressive combined with the wider and stickier Toyo tires. More important, I was able to do all those modifications in my driveway (and I am not a mechanic).
That’s it. Will I install a Supercharger later? Definitely, but not until I am sure something reliable is available for long days of fun at the track. If my car breaks, I will have no time to fix it, and that means (for me) no track fun.
 
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#9 ·
A stiffer front swaybar also lets you put power down to the rear wheels easier during tighter turns (avoiding inside wheel spin).

But yes, I recommend the BWR swaybar next and then their SC kit if you need more power. It sounds like you already have a great handling setup so the next logical step is MORE POWER :evil:
 
#7 · (Edited)
Do you have any information you can share about the custom hubs from your buddy Marc Julien?
 
#8 ·
dmh,

Please find the hub drawing. I am not responsible of the design, not use for highway. The front and rear hub are not the same since the front disc are 28 mm thick (with spacer 2 mm inside the caliper, and spacer 3.5mm to fit with the disc OD, 295), and the rear disc are 25 (my car have ALCON disc at the back (295x25 machined at 288 mmOD), not sergialized).

I tried the set-up of sergialized. I was very impress by the suspension set-up, mine at that time was with the OEM set-up, base.

I have now the ALCON set-up also (I should send the bill to sergialized). Basically, my philosophy is to have medium spring with big anti-sway bar. I am not with the Alcon, big spring, small anti-sway bar. I don't have time to set the car with big anti-bar. Stiffer bar at the front will require to add a bar at the rear.

I don't agree with Insane to adjust the understeer with the camber. My philosophy is to adjust the roll bar to reach the car balance, and adjust the camber to obtain a constant rubber temperature accross the tire width. Stiffer sway bar at the front will increase understeer, and adding negative camber to compensate it will create inside overheat on the tire.

Playing with anti-way bar is a big job. On my other car (Lotus Europa 69), I changed 3 times the spring all around, and 2 bar at the front, and added one bar at the rear to find the good balance.

Katana or suspension, depend of the track. Katana will be better fot long high speed track. The Nitron set-up is very good with track with quick S curve. But the Nitron on downtown like Montreal (where I am leaving) is average...

Darth, sergialized have already tried my car with the Katana...
 

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#10 ·
Darth,

The Track is Sanair (Trioval). It’s a custom track we layout. We use the infield and out on the trioval where we set cone to create a quick chicane and few other turns. Nothing to technical, but a lot of fun.
My point was just to share my experience from a stock touring package, to a more aggressive track package. From my point of view it is quicker by a noticeable difference and is mandatory before heading for more power. Of course my next step is a Supercharger. Again as I said before, I’d rather read than post especially when reading a guy like Marc where you see he knows what to do and what to write.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Yeah suspension mods are good. But you need to know your stuff. We're lucky that most suspension options for our cars are very good. It is not true for every car and you sometimes spend lots of money on average results. The same is true for power mods.

Personnally, I feel like my LSS suspension is doing an ok job. So I went straight to the power mod. But I plan on adding the Nitron Pro next summer. That's why I wanted to know what track you went to. Let me know any impression you have on them.

Power mods are fun because you can use it on the street and track all the time. Suspension mods are fun at the track. However, suspension mods don't do much on the street where the base/LSS suspension are already too good and require to go too fast for law enforcement anyway.

If you're in Quebec city sometime let me know. I'd like a ride in one. :coolnana:
 
#11 ·
I went for the handling mods.... ( see sig )...... that's all you need.:up:
 
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