Stop And Turn Or Lotsa Squirt

[Cro]

I'm a fan of damn good brakes, coupled with damn good tyres.

If I had enough money for big brakes (like micks and brians), and rims to fit around them(19"), and damn good tyres to go on them ($800 each) I would do exactly that in a heart beat.

Till then my Premium Brakes, and Michelin Pilot Preceda's (which offers twice as much traction than the SP3000A's) will have to do the job. At least I have a heaps better combination than some performance car owners with up to 3 times as much power as me.

It's scary to think there are people out there running massive amounts of power, but without the brakes or traction to stop them in an emergency.

I'm also a big fan of a good suspension setup, this will be the next thing to upgrade for me (shocks, springs, camber). I'm not a straight line freak (that's why I got a real gearbox this time). I love track work (once a year is all I can get the time/afford to do) and twisty drives. Leaning into a corner at twice it's recommended speed (but still at or under the roads speed limit) gives me my thrills.

After that I might consider the edit, just to give me that extra bit of power to get back on the right side of the road when overtaking.

[Flukey]

Lotsa squirt

As several others have stated already, I am not into throwing the car around on public roads, as I have neither the skill or desire.

More interested in the 0-100 typre result.

[Lumpen]

As much as I love the thought of a car that can launch you at 17000G at my level of experience, I have ALOT more fun trying to take a corner at 5 km/h more than what I did the last time...

A good example of this is when I took Dad's Sprint for a run into Maclean. Now the Sprint is "only' around 200Kw and good for a low 15s quarter, which is just a touch quicker really than a BA XT.

I took it along the barely travelled back roads and gave it a bit of a squirt. That thing is good for 120mile in third gear! In a blink of an eye (comparitively). Way to much pace for me to be 'comfortable', but it also has what is reportedly one of Tickford's best efforts at suspension set-up and very good brakes, so 'throwing' it into a corner was great fun and left a far bigger smile on my face than saying 'I clocked it'...

Also doing 600 highway KM a week Id be far more secure with 450mm 12 pot Brembo's on my car just to give me a bit more of time when reacting to all the idiots out there.... (Bad day on the roads today )

Lumpy

[Romulus]

Handling and braking for me. That's why I ordered my car with the Performance Brake package, and within 2 days of taking delivery of it I had Bilstein shocks and 35mm lower Lovell springs installed. Sway bars will be done in the next few weeks.

Straight line speed doesn't impress me, it's ones ability to control a car at it's limits through corners without fluking it that grabs my attention. Sure, power is good, especially for safe overtaking, but that's where it ends.

[Turbo6man]

I'm entirely with you Plonky. EVERY car I've ever owned has had the suspension worked on before anything else. A car with well tuned suspension and a capable driver is worth a lot of horsepower on the road or track.

For instance my fully rally prepped MkII 1300cc Escort, with a totally standard engine, could outdo 1600cc (many with 180B motors) Datsuns all day (and all night) long.

And for those people who say they rarely or never need to improve the handling of their cars because they don't go to the track, well, consider this. Today I was witness to a fatal accident near my place. On a suburban 70km/h four lane road. A car travelling north, in his left hand lane at much higher than the limit was suddenly confronted with a vehicle entering from a private driveway. He swerved but clipped the rear end of the second car. Then lost control and veered across the right lane then into the path of a 4wd travelling south, in what was his right hand lane. The 4wd took what avoiding action he could and moved to his left and he was about straddled (at 30 degrees angle) the two lanes when they collided. The impact was so bad that the 4wd was turned around and pushed back the way he had come, and both vehicles carried onto the south bound footpath. The impact was between the right front guard of the 4wd and the left "B" pillar of the sedan. The entire passenger compartment of the sedan was pushed into the centreline of the car and the passenger died instantly. The two drivers survived.

My point is that I know that my car would have had the steering and suspension control to have avoided the incident entirely, whichever of the vehicles it may have been. All the power in the world wouldn't have helped.

It was a very sobering start to the easter weekend for me ...

[ktford]

Sure, power is good, especially for safe overtaking, but that's where it ends.

Don't forget towing, important that the trailer has its own stoppers LMAO

Scotty

[DallasQLD]

As a motorsport competitor for over 20 years, handling for me every time. In the old days LA lancer rally cars could beat the Datsuns with double the horsepower because they handled.

I have a 27km handling course that I use to check the handling and performance of cars. Heres the times over the last 5 years.

WRX 155KW = 16:08 dry

BMW 523i 125KW =15:03 dry

Xr6T 240KW = 15:25 dry

BA NA 195KW = 16:11 dry

Mazda 2 95KW = 17:05 dry

BMW M5 300KW =13:01 damp!

BMW M3 257KW =13:21 dry

VY SS 250KW = 15:41 dry

Pajero 140KW = 18:25 dry

So I have tried many cars over the same piece of road. The most impressive was the 523i and the Mazda 2.

So for me handling is the go.

Cheers

Dallas

[F6 UTE]

It depends.... I got bored of the whole 1/4 mile drag racing thing pretty quickly.,

corners and stopping are more important, but balance is what is mandatory.

Like someone once said to me...

Drive an 11 second car down the strip 10 times and see how slow it feels at the end of the 10 runs.

Take that same 11 second car around a track for 1/2 a day a see if it ever feels slow.

horses for courses.

[Geeseman]

I've AP racing brakes on my car as well as lowering it for better handling. Car is a good package as is although yet to run it on a circuit to really find its limits. You can never have too much breaking ability but I think what I have now matches my power level. Im happy to use the power on the streets which is also why I have bigger brakes.

[MRDOHC]

those in melbourne will no doubt know a well driven piece of road know as Yarra Boulevard near Fairfield, and god knows I have had some wonderful days in the Capri there with all that lovely twisty stuff.. trying to see if I can do faster and faster though the corners .... cause the Capri wasnt the fastest 0-100 car but it sure was fun to throw into an apex ...

I agree a good al round package is good but unfortunatley it comes down to the 0-100 in day to day life more and more ... cause at the traffic lights it all comes down to who can make the lane merge first ... etc ... not who can twist through sububan streets .. not that its a good idea too many idiots reversing out of their driveways while asleep...