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[junglejustice]

Long, but, Wow!

What an awesome week at the National “Potlatch” Alfa Convention here in Seattle! Weather was great and ol' Ron Simons had a great time. (We drove the Caddytank a few times - That supercharged 6.0 litre V8 Escalade is a beast) Looked funny too with the Dutchman hanging out the window taking pictures like a REAL TOURIST!

Any way, we installed a full RSRacing suspension setup on the 12 valve 3.0 Verde (with the Gotech on it) and decided to make that the track car for the week since the 3.7 was not yet sorted! We also did the new 4 pot GyroDisc/Group 2 (Wilwood) floating aluminium hat brake conversion on the front! WOW! I am doing the rears next! Amazing bolt-on mod – so worth it… Gives you a much larger vented front disc, 15” wheel fit, vented rear disc and floating aluminium hats back there too with nice new reconditioned rear calipers and OEM handbrake fit and like I said, new aluminium 4 pot Wilwoods up front!

This is the same setup that Jes (AR4me) is running on his street Verde…

Any way, on the suspension, all I can say is AMAZING! The car is on rails! Small things did it too. Ron quickly bent the accelerator pedal arm back to be more level with the brake and clutch pedals for more efficient heel-and-toe and we installed Jes' little Momo steering wheel (destined for his 3.7 litre Milano) on my car. It is amazing what a different feel a smaller, thicker, grippy suede steering wheel gives you.

The whole driving position was also enhanced by the installation of Ron's 90mm billet aluminium steering-extender! Cool. I am tall and with my seat-rails modified way back and then the seat adjusted all of the way back too, the steering was too far (now closer to me) - fantastic!

We ran one track-day Wednesday on street SO 3 tires and Friday on some used Toyo RA 1 DOT R-compound track slicks. The tires made a huge difference, but even without them, on Wednesday the RS kit was absolutely amazing. Funny - now I hate the larger contact pad 225/50/15 setup versus the 205/50/15 tires! They sometimes rubbed, they felt heavy and they did not stick. The smaller 205s just worked better and having the slick was just the ticket!

The optimal ride-height for the track was pretty low (4 centimeters), but I had no major ground clearance issues even on the street and it should not scare anyone. It works! Negative front camber was about 3.5 degrees with allot of toe-in!!! Also, maximum castor (limited to a particular level with the coil-overs running inside the hole of the upper control-arms…) Nice neutral steering feel!

The turn-in was sharp and the car can now be brought to controlled over-steer. It will not snap on you and most important off all: IT WILL NOT UNDERSTEER IN TURN 3a…. Ron talked about over-taking GT3s in the turns at “The Ring”, but I was still skeptical. We cruised through the turns at PR with a GT2 and I was made a believer! (Ron as a driver was somewhat restricted by the marshals due to his “lack of experience” with our club and on PR, so he had to take it easy…)

Even with my limited driving-skills, I had no problems running in a group with other modified 911s and M3s through the turns at PR where power is not an advantage at flat apex. (Up-hills are still a battle and I can’t wait for the 3.7 power), but it is nice to now have much greater exit speeds due to the increased cornering of the car!

Group 2 here in the States is now the exclusive distributor in North America for Rons' toys! This was money well-spent! (Much more grip with that 30mm front anti-roll bar and adjustable say-bar end-links) This would be a great starting point for someone who wants to do much to the handling, for little money.