Turtle

I'm not so sure Don Palmer's stuff would help with the ITR. IF I get an S2k then I'm a definate. If not Mira's literally on my doorstep so I'd certainly say hi, and come along if the origanisers were okay with it. Depends when it is. I'm going to make my -ahem- rational detatched decision as to getting the S2k or not in a few days. I just want to get the ITR's brakes back to 100% to give a good account of itself before I make my final choice. I think the ITR got a little jealous of the time I was spending with watching Andy's S2k

-Brian.

awinskill

Brian,

Apologies for not taking you out in the S2K. I feel really bad in about giving you this period of worry . Obviously, if you'd been a passenger on my last run you'd not be worrying over the decision now!

Don't put it off. You know what you're going to do now don't you....

Save your brake mods for the S2K!

Andy

SimonJackson

I had my wake up call in 99. On a lip road joiing the A34. I think we all have gone through the swing swing experience.

We have all come out a lot wiser and more cautious.

I am willing to join anyone on a driving day. My only problem was that when I enquired most places wouldn't train me in my own car.

Let me know if anything develops in the south/middle of England. I know the skid pan instructore at Thruxton and if there was enough interest I could ask him about discounts. I think he wanted around 20 people though.

Sam.

awinskill

I'll give Don Palmer a ring this afternoon.

We have a number of options:

1. Race instruction
2. Handling instruction

Race instruction - the guys at Bentwater were excellent. They teach about keeping the car balanced. It's track focused but the skills they teach would be, I'm sure, transferrable to the road.

Handling - this is all about what to do if you get the back out. It's done on a wet, low grip surface. I know someone who did it in a barchetta (FWD) and someone who did it in 4WD and they thought it was absolutely excellent. (Brian - I'll ask Don about how much it'll benefit the ITR)

The cost will be similar

Turtle

Thanks Andy.

For the rest of you wondering if Andy Winskil and myself have gone completly nuts, well all I can say is the difference really has been that large for me.

Training really seems to pay off. At the Honda-R day, there was only one person who didn't like the training. He complained that he didn't like being told what to do at every corner. The again he was slow, and hammered his tires and brakes. If you just want to dip your toe in an airfield day, with some tuition, petrol etc could easily come in under

awinskill

I'd echo Brian's comments. I made the arrogant mistake of believing that I could drive, and drive quickly, handling the 240bhp of the S2K. A couple of laps of the airfield showed me quite quickly that I can't I'm really pleased I found this out where I couldn't do any damage to the car and, more importantly, myself or any others.

Now I'm driving around trying to focus on being smooth, watching my steering and trying to learn how the RWD really differs from FWD..... The S2K is a wonderful car to steer by the throttle

I can't wait for another driving lesson!

(The experience of getting it right is just like getting your golf swing right and the ball landing just where you want it! --- you just want to do it again, and again --- but you know if you push it you'll stuff it! )

N-a-$-t-Y

After all this talk of putting the back out.... i was a little curious as to what effect having side skirts, front skirts and rear spoiler have on the handling ?
Im not to keen on the large black rear spoilers ive seen, but the small ones that sit on the bootlid. Do these help with downforce / road hugging on dry roads ?
I dont suppose in the wet it really helps at all.


[QUOTE]
awinskill wrote:
BTW which prison is it your S2K is parked infront of?

awinskill

Ups. Thumnail makes it look like a prison. Now that's value for money....

Turtle

At any sane speed the spoilers on the S2k are for show. Certainly won't effect low speed handling. (Were you changing gear when the back twitched?)

At high speed (I'd guess into 3 figures...) it might make a minor difference.

The aerodynamics of the S2k, being an open car don't promote lift to any great extent anyway.

The ITR's spolier only starts working above 50mph and is only really effective from 80mph. It doesn't produce downforce - it just reduces rear end lift and keeps the lift front to back balanced. (The ITR is lowered as well to help reduce lift and lower the roll centre.)

At the end of the day I very much doubt you'd notice any difference from the body kit. But if you like it for looks, go ahead and get it - just don't expect any handling differences.

-Brian.

awinskill

I believe there are only two production cars with rear wings that generate downforce. The Exige and the Noble M12.

I've been out in an Exige as it is very very noticable. At high speed it feels stuck to the road more than at low speeds. It squats under the downforce. The problem with aerodynamic downforce is that it doesn't work well in corners....

Seems strange after watching F1 but it's true, you've got to be going fast enough for the wing to be effective and there's very few cars which can hold the corners to make it so.... Also the wing starts to make an angle against the airflow which further causes problems. If the Exige didn't have the defuser to counter this it would be undrivable.

Oh and when the aerodynamic downforce disappears you're relying on the mechanical grip of the tyres..... If you were going fast enough for the wing to be effective then I'd be surprised if the tyres could hold on....

The best aerodynamics on a production car come from the underside of the car and how the air exits from the rear. A defuser and a gurney strip will keep most really high performance cars stuck down...