[attachment=IMG_0942.JPG] I Spent the whole day and I mean the whole day 8am till 9.30 pm at centre of gravity chassis tuning
[link=http://www.centregravity.co.uk/]http://www.centregravity.co.uk/[/link]
to get the car set up properly, these are the people Porsche race teams send their cars to be set up . Chris the owner runs the business with his wife and son in law, 99% of their business is with Porsche's with the odd other make. I have never been with such a knowledgeable anal professional engineer (his own words not mine) Chris encourages you to spend the day with him to watch his every move on the car so he can explain and educate you in the art of Porsche chassis tuning. Firstly we take the car out for a test drive for him to find out what the car is acting like, he thought mine wasn't bad because I fitted the new kit by eye a few days before, but there were a few other noises he pointed out that I thought were normal sounds but apparently not. When we got back he checked the tyres for pressure, age, tread, temp to test my then TPMS system I'm sure he had some sort of machine that tested the elasticity of the rubber or something like that, he then checked and tested the shocks on a machine that in layman's terms shakes the wheel up and down, they were fine but other things were not, that's when it started to drain my penny's, after checking everything else we found the car needed, 2 rear track control arms, toe control arm, inner rod end, track rod end, camber eccentric bolt oh and a shed load of wax. The work the commenced,I have never seen a mechanic work so fast but carful to the point of being OCD about fitting all of the parts, even the snap on tools had to be put back on top of the tool box in line and in its place after use, it took 2 hours to fit all the parts, I held the torch at time to time but would not let me help with anything ells, it was nice to watch for once. After all the parts were fitted the tuning started (this took another 9 hours after which time we were both knackered),I lost count how many times the wheels were put on and off to measure and set things, firstly I was asked what I was going to do with the car which is a mixture of track days and road use so we decided to set it up a little bit more hard core than the GT3 996/7 set up. (Ill give you the abbreviated version) the ride heights were set first to GT3 spec then the geometry this took a long long time, after the geometry he then set the corner weight's of the car, steering set up adjustable ARB's drop links connect, everything tightened down and buttoned up, then sprayed with Worth wax, the tools were cleaned and checked back into the tool box. As I said this was the abbreviated version I really am not able to do them justice there was just too much for me to remember to put everything down in writing but I can tell you the experience was amazing I really learnt a lot. We then too the car out for the test drive with him driving first and pointing out how the car is acting on the road, which is just fantastic,I have never driven anything that feels like this car it is so sure footed on any surface bumpy or smooth wet or dry, and the grip level is just unbelievable and apparently it would be even better with'' grippier'' tyres such as 888's but I'm happy with the Michelin pilot sports that are on it. There are 30 damper settings by means of an adjuster on top of each shock, they're set 7 turns off the stiffest setting on the front and 8 on the back for the road, I really did think the car would be very hard but I was wrong it is firmer but still very comfortable, I can't wait to try it on a track with it on the stiffest setting Chris recons it will handle like a dream, oh one other thing, the car drive straight and true and I asked for it to be set up so it does not track like some race cars so its easier to drive in a straight line, you can drive the thing down a bumpy road and steer the thing with your finger tips, I love it. PS. I forgot Chris found the sleave on one of the high pressure hose on the steering rack had almost corroded right through and if it snapped completely it could have cost me a fortune to fix, we fixed it will a jubilee clip that cost me nothing, happy days.
