I will add to another post on here by GC Hinton asking for recommendations or experiences with various tyres for the track. I have been using Toyo R888's which are fairly new and have been satisfied with them but having been out recently and found traction a little less than needed I am looking at going up in width to 9" front and 10" rear. What is the general consensus for short sprint events? Also what sort of shock/spring setup do you all find is best for a road and track car? I have a Mo30/968cs setup and still find it too soft for the track but I don't want a car that is undrivable on the road. Any suggestions?
Best tyre and suspension setups.
- Thread starter 333pg333
- Start date
Diver944
Active member
I think most of us here that use R rated rubber have generally been at trackdays where you have at least 20 minute sessions to get plenty of heat into the tyres, obviously this is totally different to a short 60 second or so sprint [&:]
Suspension wise I too have M030 (recently rebuilt) and while it is definitely firm on poor road sufaces, it is still way too soft for any serious track work. Mine rolls like a tug in a force ten when using full slicks. I have driven Dave Malings Turbo on the road when it had Leda 250lb coilovers and when set to soft it was a much nicer ride than M030, and when set to full stiff it was bone jarringly tight. I have never driven it on track but he comments it was worlds better than standard. He had a lot of fitment issues and now has stiffer revalved 968 CS M030 on standard springs.
Finally we come to KW variant 3 which Fen has fitted to his car. I have passengered round Silverstone when he was using R rated tyres and the roll was vastly reduced compared to my own M030 because the car was so stiff. Yet amazingly if he hit the rumble strips hard the car experienced no bone jarring at all. It's all down to a clever bypass valve which instantly softens the shock over big bumps. I'm not sure what spring rating he has but in my limited experience I think that KW variant 3 is the best overall compromise. Very stiff on smooth surfaces but still able to soak up bumps on the road.
Suspension wise I too have M030 (recently rebuilt) and while it is definitely firm on poor road sufaces, it is still way too soft for any serious track work. Mine rolls like a tug in a force ten when using full slicks. I have driven Dave Malings Turbo on the road when it had Leda 250lb coilovers and when set to soft it was a much nicer ride than M030, and when set to full stiff it was bone jarringly tight. I have never driven it on track but he comments it was worlds better than standard. He had a lot of fitment issues and now has stiffer revalved 968 CS M030 on standard springs.
Finally we come to KW variant 3 which Fen has fitted to his car. I have passengered round Silverstone when he was using R rated tyres and the roll was vastly reduced compared to my own M030 because the car was so stiff. Yet amazingly if he hit the rumble strips hard the car experienced no bone jarring at all. It's all down to a clever bypass valve which instantly softens the shock over big bumps. I'm not sure what spring rating he has but in my limited experience I think that KW variant 3 is the best overall compromise. Very stiff on smooth surfaces but still able to soak up bumps on the road.
Remember it was wet that night, Paul, so the cornering forces were reduced significantly by the lessened grip and the driver being a pussy in the wet [
]. To be fair though it was even more impressive at Oulton in the dry. I do have Weltmeister ARBs as well as the KW to help keep cornering flat, but I have to say the suspension and brakes is (the?) one area of my mods that I am 100% happy with.
]. To be fair though it was even more impressive at Oulton in the dry. I do have Weltmeister ARBs as well as the KW to help keep cornering flat, but I have to say the suspension and brakes is (the?) one area of my mods that I am 100% happy with.
Big Dave
New member
If you can afford it ,, get the KW stuff.[][]
Ive got it fitted to my S2 with stiffer springs alround. incl 968 M030 arbs + polyflex bushes....ITS GREAT..Best of both worlds..+ easy to adjust....[][]
Also got Michelin pilot sport Cups for track use + Goodyear GSD3,s for road + wet track use...all fitted to cup 2,s 8/17 - 235/45/17 tyres fronts + 9/17 - 255/40/17 rears...
][]Ive got it fitted to my S2 with stiffer springs alround. incl 968 M030 arbs + polyflex bushes....ITS GREAT..Best of both worlds..+ easy to adjust....[
][]Also got Michelin pilot sport Cups for track use + Goodyear GSD3,s for road + wet track use...all fitted to cup 2,s 8/17 - 235/45/17 tyres fronts + 9/17 - 255/40/17 rears...
sawood12
New member
Seems to be alot of chatter on Rennlist about removal of the torsion bar suspension and relying totally on rear coilovers. I can see various advantages not just for ease of height adjustability, and the majority of the people who have gone down that road seem to be happy. Has anyone on this forum gone down this route?
sawood12
New member
Not anymore. Apparently KW now offer rear coilovers that mean you can remove your torsion bars altogether. I like the idea of ditching the torsion bars. They are a very elegant solution technically but from a maintenance point of veiw they are a pain the neck. In any case it's all a bit academic for me as I don't track my car enough to justify the cost.
I can only find the website for KW USA which is www.kw-suspension.com
Extra strain where it isn't meant to be is a good point. Even when I got mine the advice was not to pol bush without a roll cage bracing the top mounts, then suddenly it was OK lose the torsions.
The top mount s not especially reinforced in the floor and the bottom mount is a single shear point bolt.
The top mount s not especially reinforced in the floor and the bottom mount is a single shear point bolt.
lali
New member
I'm about to have Leda Race suspension fitted to my car ( same spec as the PCGB open/cup cars) , I still run on 16"s shod with MPC's. I also have some Pirrelli P Zero C's. Trying to find track day tyres in 16"s is getting expensive so I might have to resort to getting some 17's fro track work[]
]If you look at this thread from last year there are pics of the KW kit. It' shocks and springs combined and just bolts up, needing an alignment. Note I changed top mounts at the same time - Dave, what did you do with top mounts?
http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=117695&mpage=1&key=shiny
http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=117695&mpage=1&key=shiny
Andy Duncan
New member
I ran without torsion bars last year and was reasonably happy with the set up but the car was over sprung, see below.
Shocks; double adjustable Leda's, had them serviced by Leda last Dec and i'm happy with the product and support.
KW 's are widely used and from what I here people are generally happy with them.
2005 Porsche Club championship set up; Front & Rear spring rates 600lbs, no TB's
This year track time has been limited due to engine problems but I changed the suspension set up with the addition of Std S2 TB's with 300lb in assister springs. Up front I am using 450 lb in, springs.
I now use a greater dymanic range of adjustment of the shock bump and rebound to compensate for the softer set up.
Big Dave mentioned top rear shock bolts bending, I suffered this moreso on the Near side upper rear, so I used higher tensile strength bolts this year. Removing TB's is fine for race and track only cars in my opinion as you are constantly checking the car after events and the cars don't do anywhere near the same mileage as road cars.
Removing TB's from a road car I feel would be more risky as the lower alloy trailing arm is under much more load, and risk of hitting a high kerb could cause considerable damage to the suspension but there may be some with much more experience running cars without TB's. I understand that the rear suspension can flex more if TB's are removed potentially upsetting Toe and Camber adversly as the car runs up and down its suspension travel.
On my racecar I have removed the end caps from the TB housing so I can now see the end of the splined TB in situ and I've cut round holes approx 2" in diameter in the rear sill (see attached pic). This allows me to remove the TB's without dropping the rear suspension assembly and I can now re index the TB's in approx. 10 mins !!! (sound advice on this mod, courtsey of Kevin and Alex of EMC in Birmingham)
If anyone wants more input on this then give me a call or drop me a note.
andy duncan
Shocks; double adjustable Leda's, had them serviced by Leda last Dec and i'm happy with the product and support.
KW 's are widely used and from what I here people are generally happy with them.
2005 Porsche Club championship set up; Front & Rear spring rates 600lbs, no TB's
This year track time has been limited due to engine problems but I changed the suspension set up with the addition of Std S2 TB's with 300lb in assister springs. Up front I am using 450 lb in, springs.
I now use a greater dymanic range of adjustment of the shock bump and rebound to compensate for the softer set up.
Big Dave mentioned top rear shock bolts bending, I suffered this moreso on the Near side upper rear, so I used higher tensile strength bolts this year. Removing TB's is fine for race and track only cars in my opinion as you are constantly checking the car after events and the cars don't do anywhere near the same mileage as road cars.
Removing TB's from a road car I feel would be more risky as the lower alloy trailing arm is under much more load, and risk of hitting a high kerb could cause considerable damage to the suspension but there may be some with much more experience running cars without TB's. I understand that the rear suspension can flex more if TB's are removed potentially upsetting Toe and Camber adversly as the car runs up and down its suspension travel.
On my racecar I have removed the end caps from the TB housing so I can now see the end of the splined TB in situ and I've cut round holes approx 2" in diameter in the rear sill (see attached pic). This allows me to remove the TB's without dropping the rear suspension assembly and I can now re index the TB's in approx. 10 mins !!! (sound advice on this mod, courtsey of Kevin and Alex of EMC in Birmingham)
If anyone wants more input on this then give me a call or drop me a note.
andy duncan
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