I really need to get the blog up-to-date as there is quite a lot of activity on a new project. Unfortunately, there's also a dissertation to write so perhaps the updates will be a little more lightweight...
Having dipped my toe in the water at Silverstone, I decided that it made sense to get the suspension set-up to suit my bodyweight and establish what we were playing with. I also hoped that we might be able to dial-out a little snap-oversteer.
So, the car and I headed-off one Sunday morning to see Matt and Ivan at Procomp. Once the car was rolled into the workshop, they removed the dampers and got them on the dyno to see how suited they were and how balanced the pairs were. The results were not fantastic with the rear valving in particular looking more suited to a saloon car. In addition, the rebound valve on one of the fronts appeared to be stuck. I had never intended to replace these and so the decision was made to make the best of a bad job. At least the springs seemed about right. Next the ride height and geometry was measured and set. Interestingly, the rear wheels were shown to be running a lot of negative camber. Now, conventional thinking would suggest that the camber can't be altered on a live axle. In reality it can. I believe that the most common way of doing this is to weld the axle so that it gently kinks. In the case of my axle, no welding was evident and Ivan's best guess was that it had been put in a very large press. Money had clearly been spent on the axle so this seemed to add-up.
Once the suspension set-up was done, Matt extended my throttle pedal and repositioned it slightly to aid my heel-and-toe issues. Ivan then spotted the throttle mechanism and insisted that "No car is leaving my workshop like that!" He seemed to regret this exclamation as the fix took quite a while.
I eventually left Procomp's Birmingham base about nine hours after arriving. I can't fault their service - even the sandwiches tasted pretty good!
Next up... the fabulous Oulton Park circuit.
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