review: PSI Ohlins TTX36 kit and Wicked Tuning monoballs
 

It's been a long 12 months since I last had my car well sorted but it's finally working and better than before. I felt confident actually driving the thing. A touch of turn-in understeer but I was more confident using the whole track and rotating the car with the throttle. T5 at Laguna was fun every time.

Initially I thought the Ohlins' high-speed damping wasn't on par with my previous dampers (Moton triples) because I sense the bumps more now. However, I think that the Ohlins react a little "faster" than the Motons did because the car remains settled despite the bumps. I continue to believe that the Ohlins have superior support and low-speed damping. Not a huge difference, but I was impressed how much I could soften the Ohlins while still having good roll-control in transitions.

As for the monoballs, they have improved the predictability when the car starts sliding. With stock rubber bushings it felt like the chassis had a small spring that would store energy as the car got close to sliding. Feeling and reacting to the release of that energy was tough. With the monoballs that feeling is greatly diminished. It's still present (presumably the tires) but it's easier to handle. It's a subtle upgrade but now I'm more comfortable using the whole track because I'm more confident that I can accurately judge how far the car will drift.

The proof: I was 2s/lap faster than my last time at Laguna and took 2nd in class, 3rd overall (Group 5). If I had stayed for the 2nd race I'm confident I could have dropped another second/lap.

Thanks to Shad@Driving Ambition for tunes and diagnosing my engine problems (clogged fuel injector filters).

Thanks to Bruce, Beau, Andrew and the whole crew at PSI for putting up with me.

Thanks to Andrie@Prima Racing for installing his Wicked Tuning monoball control arm bushings. He also suggested a new alignment and different spring rates which I'm very happy with.

Race 1 part 1 (before safety car):
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLOeIl0xDQM[/media]

Race 1 part 2 (after safety car):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qAjSG3ciSo

Bump - now with video =)

Nice review, thanks!

What spring rates are you using and which settings do you have them set to if you don't mind me asking?

So you changed shocks and top hats at the same time? Seems like that would make a solid assessment of the highspeed damping a little difficult. It also seems that your comments about how the Ohlins have a stiffer highspeed damping would align with the effects of a monoball top mount.

Regardless, I have yet to drive on Ohlins but they sure look nice and the plots I've seen are good looking.

Those PSI TTX dampers are the bees knees. :)

No, same top hats. The monoballs were installed in place of the control arm bushings. And I don't mean stiffer high speed. I mean faster. Hard to describe.

I dropped down to 800/700. At Laguna (very smooth) I was right in the middle of the range (compression and rebound). I'm running 225/45-17 BFG R1s at all 4 corners.

Off topic question:

How do you like the BFG R1's?

Can you compare them to the Hoosier R6?

Thanks

I haven't driven on the R6 before so I can't offer a direct comparison. Compared to Toyo RA1s:
- take a bit longer to come up to temp
- not as much feedback when used with stock rubber control-arm bushings
- grip falls off faster at a big slip angle compared to the RA1
+ noticeable stiffer
+ grip stayed constant throughout the 25min race as opposed to RA1s which always seemed to fade a bit
+ more absolute grip than RA1

From what I have seen with other guys comparisons; Some have said that BFG R1's are faster than the Hoosier R6, others say they are close but not quite as good. The BFG-R1 should be massively faster than Toyo RA1.

RA1 should not even be in the same Zip code as either one.

Thanks