FTO Drivers Club, Western Australia

[RichardH]

I've totally ignored that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" thing, and gone and messed about with the suspension. Last week, I got the car back from WA Suspensions, and now have adjustable front and rear sway bars (aka anti-roll bars). Each end is set on the softest setting. First impressions are from street driving only, but it's overwhelmingly positive.

First off, the straight-line ride isn't any harsher, so it definitely hasn't turned into an unpleasant bitch on the road. A good start!

There is a noticable improvement in stability during turn-in. There used to be an instant of indecisiveness just before the car settled in, once the required amount of steering lock was applied. That's gone completely. Now, weight transfer is over and done with sooner.

I'm hoping that this will translate to a better track experience. Until now, it has paid to trail-brake quite aggressively - the transition from braking to turn-in worked best if I didn't try to rush it. Maybe now the car won't need such babying into the corner. Not that it hurt, mind you... taught me a lot about being smooth!!! But it would be nice to have a little more crispness!

I also hope the balance is still pretty well right. The car was beautifully neutral before, so we'll see if replacing both stock swaybars with matched Whiteline bars will have preserved its balance.

We'll see. By the end of the week, in fact... got me heaps of track time booked!

- Rich

[RichardH]

Okay, some track times. MC Motorsport "Challenge 4" (ye olde slalom).

Previous personal bests...

Competition: 44.55 sec - October 2005
Practice: 44.00 sec - July 2005


Today's times:

45.00 + 2 (whoops!)
44.10
44.85
44.75
43.95
43.85
44.05

I'm very happy with these times! I beat my previous competition PB on the second attempt, which means the basic drivability hasn't been buggered up.

The quickest time (43.85) was faster than my previous practice PB, which I would have clocked when I was practicing more regularly, when the AHG surface was a bit grippier, and at a time when my LSD was sharper (diff clutch plates are now over 18 months old). And yet it's still quicker.

The corner exit speeds are definitely higher now, and the car is more settled through the slalom. There's no noticable trend towards worse lift-off oversteer. A little more understeer when I get corner entry speed wrong or turn in too clumsily (ie. fault for bad driving). It looks like the FTO's great balance is remarkably well preserved.

Got some more track time tomorrow. I should be getting quite familiar with it by the end of that session.

- Rich

PS. Also fitted a carbon + fibreglass bonnet, to cut down on a bit of weight. Can't hurt!!