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- #601
Great Shakedown today. Wet in the morning, so I took it steady, bedded the brakes, and got a feel for the car. It's LOUD, way louder than my Boss 302 with Long tubes and open side pipes -- gonna need ear plugs
Need to move the dead pedal as it's too close to the clutch, and the driving position will take some getting used to, as I had to drop the seat 1.5" and move it inboard to avoid my helmet hitting the side roof bar -- the S550 package with a cage is way tighter than the S197 with a cage. With the lower seat position I lost a few of my normal reference points.
Used Contis for the first few sessions, and the car was loose, especially the rear. Experienced the same in the 350R on the same tires to a lesser extent, so I softened the rear sway bar, and increased rear wing -- time improved to slightly better than the 350R on the same tires, on a very green (drying) track.
Switched to Hoos R7's and times got a lot better -- 1+ seconds faster than the R on a Dry, but green track with more much more throttle lifting than in the 350R to avoid max rpm late in 3 segments of the track and one high speed corner, where I probably need more wing.
Perhaps, not surprisingly, it's a very different car to drive (compared to the 350R) anywhere close to the limit: Throttle response is way more aggressive, the increased torque, lower weight and reduced rotating/unsprung mass are very apparent. Brake performance is slightly better, which is a real shout out to the OEM Brakes, although the AP brakes are WAY lighter, enable the use of 18" wheels, and likely need proper cooling ducts to get even better performance, especially for trail braking.
I need to download the AIM data and look at back to back performance to the 350R for more detailed insight.
A VERY encouraging first outing -- Fun!!
Need to move the dead pedal as it's too close to the clutch, and the driving position will take some getting used to, as I had to drop the seat 1.5" and move it inboard to avoid my helmet hitting the side roof bar -- the S550 package with a cage is way tighter than the S197 with a cage. With the lower seat position I lost a few of my normal reference points.
Used Contis for the first few sessions, and the car was loose, especially the rear. Experienced the same in the 350R on the same tires to a lesser extent, so I softened the rear sway bar, and increased rear wing -- time improved to slightly better than the 350R on the same tires, on a very green (drying) track.
Switched to Hoos R7's and times got a lot better -- 1+ seconds faster than the R on a Dry, but green track with more much more throttle lifting than in the 350R to avoid max rpm late in 3 segments of the track and one high speed corner, where I probably need more wing.
Perhaps, not surprisingly, it's a very different car to drive (compared to the 350R) anywhere close to the limit: Throttle response is way more aggressive, the increased torque, lower weight and reduced rotating/unsprung mass are very apparent. Brake performance is slightly better, which is a real shout out to the OEM Brakes, although the AP brakes are WAY lighter, enable the use of 18" wheels, and likely need proper cooling ducts to get even better performance, especially for trail braking.
I need to download the AIM data and look at back to back performance to the 350R for more detailed insight.
A VERY encouraging first outing -- Fun!!
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