Oh my god it's... so different
Discussion
As I may have mentioned I was having a few handling issues with my S3 - it was prone to going in to snap oversteer at high speeds with very little warning. The first track day a few weeks back was downright demoralising.
Last week, however, I raised the front ride height (it had dropped considerably when the new springs settled) and firmed up the damping - 3 clicks on the front, 2 on the back. I hoped things would help a little bit, but assumed some of the previous idiosyncrasies were fundamental to the design.
And so, the first lap around Llandow last weekend I went very gently. Picking the pace up a little, it suddenly dawned on me: 'This is handling well, this is handling really well.' I was genuinely shocked at the transformation. In place of the low speed plough-on understeer and high speed snap oversteer it's now remarkably neutral and extremely stable. At low speeds you can provoke it into oversteer on the throttle and at higher speeds you can get a little bit of lift off oversteer into a beautiful kind of four wheel drift. And for sheer indication of grip levels the steering feedback remains about the best I've experience.
Really cannot explain what a revelation it was. Who'd have thought two such minor changes would have had such a big effect! I thought I was going to be afraid to push it in the faster corners, but instead I found myself going past several Scoobies, a track prepared Clio 182 and even a Murtaya!
Last week, however, I raised the front ride height (it had dropped considerably when the new springs settled) and firmed up the damping - 3 clicks on the front, 2 on the back. I hoped things would help a little bit, but assumed some of the previous idiosyncrasies were fundamental to the design.
And so, the first lap around Llandow last weekend I went very gently. Picking the pace up a little, it suddenly dawned on me: 'This is handling well, this is handling really well.' I was genuinely shocked at the transformation. In place of the low speed plough-on understeer and high speed snap oversteer it's now remarkably neutral and extremely stable. At low speeds you can provoke it into oversteer on the throttle and at higher speeds you can get a little bit of lift off oversteer into a beautiful kind of four wheel drift. And for sheer indication of grip levels the steering feedback remains about the best I've experience.
Really cannot explain what a revelation it was. Who'd have thought two such minor changes would have had such a big effect! I thought I was going to be afraid to push it in the faster corners, but instead I found myself going past several Scoobies, a track prepared Clio 182 and even a Murtaya!
I'll let you know! I don't actually know what it is off the top of my head - I just asked the TVR Centre to equalise the ride heights because it looked about right at the back.
Not surprisingly it's stopped grounding now too. The difference was incredible though, you can throw it around like a Caterham now.
Not surprisingly it's stopped grounding now too. The difference was incredible though, you can throw it around like a Caterham now.
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