944 on F1 qualifying

[Peter Empson]

Did anyone else see the qualifying today? Coultard was driving a 944 on a trackday at Brands (for about two seconds on screen) as part of the National Motorsport Week. Looked like a nice oval dash with teardrops, anyone here?

 

[Mike_Pollock]

I saw it will try to copy it!

Edit - Tried and failed to copy it but there is a blue one passing through in the background too.
The one DC drove is a Lux with teardrop mirrors and looks like its used for racing, no number plate and racing numbers - 46

 

[Peter Empson]

Excellent, it's about 20 minutes in for anyone watching on iplayer

 

[944 man]

TrackDriver p73. I believe that you can read all issues on-line. Its a track day car owned by people who work for a TDO. Its been pretty lame for the last year, but it seems to have taken shape of late.

Im surprised that you havent heard of it Pete - its free too as well as being an excellent (bi-) monthly read.

 

[Peter Empson]

Ah, thanks Simon, have the mag just not had a chance to read it yet.

 

[944 man]

http://www.trackdriver.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=196&Itemid=22

http://www.trackdriver.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=197&Itemid=22


Simon

 

[944 man]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

Ah, thanks Simon, have the mag just not had a chance to read it yet.

Sorry Pete, I missed your reply before posting the links above. The black and gold car youve seen on the telly is the old Slate Grey 1987 half-hearted track day car.

I have to say that I dont agree with the opinion expressed about PU bushes though: it sounds cliche based rather than experience based.....

 

[pixie*porsche]

I didn't see it, my mum did and told me about it though

 

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: 944 man
I have to say that I dont agree with the opinion expressed about PU bushes though: it sounds cliche based rather than experience based.....

Agreed, I get it sent to me each month as I got in on one of the freebie subscriptions when it started. That article annoyed me somewhat, they could have got a much better and truthful experience from any number of ppl on this forum for example or our contacts.. They really do need to try better in that mag because BS like that is just spreading dissinformation. They had an article the other month about how wonderful the new boxster race cars are, their figures saying it weighs about a tonne when in fact their regs give a mass north of 1300Kg. Makes a huge difference to a 250 Bhp race car facts like that and getting it so badly wrong just makes you question their editorial.

Does have some really good driving articles by Mark Hales though which makes it just about a worthwhile read for me.

 

[944 man]

The 'replace all bushes with PU' cliched nonsense came from Nico Ferrari; who is a partner in Bubble and Kick, the firm who prepared the car in question (and still young enough to know it all []).

 

[JamesBall]

So what is the sensible advice re bushes? I thought going PU all round was the general advice?

 

[Neil Haughey]

Don't change them unless there shot. The problem area bushes such as ARB bushes and the castor mount bush are all easily replaced by OEM parts. The castor mount in particular if one goes to the 968 updated part has hardly any rubber or movement in it anyway.

 

[Hilux]

ORIGINAL: James Ball

So what is the sensible advice re bushes? I thought going PU all round was the general advice?

A road car has compliance built in via the rubber bushes. This prevents undue stress on the factory spot welded body/chassis. When they wear (their shore rating is low) the geometry is affected.

Firmer bushes (higher shore rating) reduce compliance thereby increasing the rigidity of the suspension geometry (a good thing) but if the body or the parts of the body the suspension is attached to are stressed too much they can fail (a bad thing) If on fully hardened suspension then seam welding is to be highly recommended.

The best anallergy I can give is to try a 944 on 45/50 profile tyres and then on 30 runflat profile tyres. The larger aspect ratio and sidewall compliance is required for the tyre contact to be maximised and also forms part of the overall suspension design. The lessening of the compliance (modern suspension geometry is designed to cope with low profile tyres) means a harder and more skittish drive.

Note that the cheaper bushes are rock hard so use a good make if you must as they do have the necessary compliance and wear characteristics are a lot lower

 

[blaine54]

It belongs to a few guys who work for MSV and organise the trackday trophy race series. It's been a work in progress for a fair while but hopefully they'll be on track with us soon (they get ribbed about it at every race meeting). A lot of the prep work has been done by a company called Bubble and Kick (run by one of the brands instructors), they also offer track day support for the series. I'm led to believe that it was the 1st time it was used in anger when DC turned up, I'll give you an update on how good it is on track when we get to race against it[]