Interesting, good to hear positive reviews about them. One thing I have come to learn/realize though when comparing others' experiences to my own, is that things do vary quite a bit. Be it driving styles, car differences, or lap times. There's no question one thing may work for one person, but may not for another. A great example is when looking at people running FI setups at the track. One guy has huge overheating problems but the next guy is running fine. Come to realize the guy w/o problems is running NA comparable times, which explains a lot. I'm interested to see how they do.

 

Hi Kevin,
I am from Massachusetts but check in on Mid-A sometimes. I've been to the Dragon 4 or 5 times with some of your members. Specifically Artin and Goldenfri.

Palmer isn't open yet, this is the first year. They did host an open house last year and friends of mine drove street cars around the pavement, but the runoffs and curbs weren't installed yet. The layout was nice, and the scenery was great, but until we drive it at speed I can't comment further.

Thompson looks fun on paper, but the shift points and drivers flow were all wrong to me. It felt more like Auto-X then a circuit. I'm used to places like Lime Rock and Watkins though, so you could say I'm spoiled. I relate it to a golf course. Many look great, but you can really tell a properly designed course as you're playing it.

-Mike

 

My status:


Yes, it will breath again. *rubs hands together menacingly*

 

Damn dude!! Will it be ready this season?

 

Id also add that the whole roll bar/ no roll bar can be something that instructor can call out the student on. If the car with stock roll hoops is in the beginners group, the chances of having problems with not having a roll bar are slim. However, if the car is in advanced group, it can pose a problem. Especially if any of the individuals in the car are tall enough to raise concern.

I would also advise to be careful when talking about the braking performance of the car on the track. People have widely different habits when it comes to using the brakes on the track. Adequate or insufficient brake performance can not only be due to the different techniques utilized on the track, but also due to the way the car is setup. Alignment, tire specs, even tire pressure, can affect the braking performance of the car, not just brake pad/rotor/fluid combination... Bottom line is that there are many different variables that affect braking performance, and the fact that is is hard to compare things back to back doesn't help. The best way to go about braking upgrades is just like with every other modification. Get a baseline data point, identify all the variables, and then go forward by changing one variable at a time and noting the changes that induces.

 

Steve, I just got an '07 and also need to do a roll bar. I've been reading up all the threads and still am not sure if I want to do all the work and carving up of the car. I really feel like I want to keep the OE hoops (I have speakers) and really don't want to cut them either but must do the removable diagonal and harness bar so it is a lot of surgery and I'm unsure if I'll have time this year. If you actually are going to pull the trigger, perhaps we could get together, even more than two if possible, and do them as a group together in one place but I suspect that means more than a weekend somewhere based on reading.

I would think that doing them as a group, we could likely speed it up and also might be able to get someone there who did it before to help. Just a thought, probably should put it out there as a new topic. What do you think?
Stuart

 

Definitely feasible although from my experience a a single install can take a very long time. My car has the OEM HT and the soft top has been gutted which makes my installation a little bit easier. I also wouldn't put all of the rear plastic parts back in. I'd rather leave them out than hack them all up. If I'm going as far as putting a rollbar in then I'm trying to keep out as much weight as possible.

I'm not a huge fan of loosing the roll hoop speakers either but we'll see.

 

Just my 2 cents..

The OEM rollhoop speakers are garbage. I disconnected them before installing my rollbar. A headunit/2 channel amp/decent components and you won't miss them one bit.

I cant remember how long my rollbar install took, I believe the better part of 2 days. That's with reinstalling a lot of plastics. I reinstalled them not only for cosmetic reasons, but I believe they do help keep the noise in the cabin down a little.

 

I do roll bar installs on the side btw, as well as fender rolling, if you guys are interested.

 

I took all of one day by myself, but removed pretty much all of the plastics aside from the center console and the trim just behind the door. It's not really that bad of an install, but you're 100% correct the less plastic you have the noisier it is.