My Mars Red Mk1 - Thread REBOOT- P82

A bit of a late update with some pics from both the Curby and Donny CGti track days.

The car behaved great in the dry at Curby with some intital setup drama that alllowed me to net 2nd fastest time of the day! The car still had some understeer to resolve didn't hinder me too much on this dry small circuit.











Donny was a different matter. With the cold and wet weather this was going to be anything but a fast day for driving. The car understeered very badly out of each corner leaving me to try and aim the car out of bends. Still, it was a good experience and gave me some work to do on the chassis.





Thank you to everyone who posted their pictures.from these events. If anyone has any objection to using thier pictures, please let me know and I shall remove them. Thanks.


Gurds

 

Nice progression G.

I think I may bump my thread up with a few curby pics as well!

From the Donington pictures, are you using 45 profile tyres and 195? Did you get any rubbing at all at at any of the corners?

What is your ride height on the front from centre of the wheel to the wheel arch?

Sorry for all the Q's, I've got a set of those BMW wheels and now that I've got a fair bit of camber going on up front, I'm hoping I might be able to use them again for a dry setup.

 

Some great pics there - car looking very smart, and was sounding very crisp & raspy at Curborough.

Do you have pics from when it was initially stripped?

 

Yours was one of the cars from Curby that inspired me to get my own mars red mk1 ! Turned into an expensive day that.... hopefully mine will be ready for the next track day

 

Hooked

 

I reckon the Mk1 will be more fun (even if its slower than the diesel) and wont cost me as much if it all goes pear shaped, doubt it will give vw_singh much of a run for his money!

 

Thanks for all the positive comments guys.

James, with standard trackwidth the BMW wheels will go on even with 50 profile tyres. Just make sure your arches are rolled back flat and that you trim the plastic away too. Because of the wide track, I have to run 45 profile tyres and -2.5 degrees camber to eliminate the arch contact on the front. The ride height was also too low at donny and the car now sits about 10-15mm higher at the front. I will measure it for you.

Chris, all I have is this.....





Robo, good luck! Mk1 ownership is a deep hole that is hard to get out of but not many want to once your in.

Gurds

 

nice pics

 

Gurds

what tyre width are you running 205's or 195's , i'm looking at getting some R888's 205/50/15's.

cheers

Brookster

 

Hi Brookie,

I have 185-55-14 R888 on the 5 spokes and I have 195-45-15 on the BBS for road/wet use.

I am looking at getting 205-45-15 for road/wet use instead.

Gurds

 

I Can't find any 45's in 205 can only find 50's !

but 50's will be ok i think.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=350134642565

 

looking sweet Gurds!!!

 

Cheers G, I found that out to my cost with the 50's! A pair of dead GS-D3's that trackday!

Arches haven't been touched yet, apart from the rubber burns of the above episode, so that's what will have to happen then. Do the inside edges of the tyres have enough clearance to the coilovers at that level of camber? I guess maybe loads due to the wide track? Mine might need spacing.

Ride height figure too when you get a chance, just to check that I'm not too low as I am currently. Muchly appreciated.

 

Like you said, I have plenty of clearance between the wheels and coilovers. However, when I ran standard track, I think 2 degrees was easily doable with the BMW wheels.

Gurds

 

I've just sold my set of 205/50/15 Colway cut slicks as they were just too big overall and instead use 185/55/15's on my BMW wheels which are the same as Gurds, which i was using at Curborough. Side by side, the 205's were about an inch taller.

185/55/15 on a ET25 BMW wheel:



205/50/15 on the same type of wheel:







No idea how much camber i was running at Curby, but it wasn't enough and needed more and there wasn't enough clearance between tyre and coilover to get a tyre strap between!!!

If you've got adjustable top mounts that should help. I did all the adjustment using the strut bolts, whereas i should have altered the top mounts for maximum camber and then used the strut bolts to get it just right. They didn't rub though.

All the arches have had the full lip removed and the plastic arch trims trimmed right back.

HTH's.

 

Do you think the wide track makes much difference Gurds?

 

To be honest, it has been so long since I have driven a standard track mk1 that I have forgotten how it felt before. The car does require more work before I can reap the full benfit from the work carried out so far.

I think that there is so much to be had in terms of handling potential from the standard width car before widetrack becomes a valid upgrade. I did the conversion partly as an experiment and partly as I had a complete workshop at my disposal so just fabbed them up in a couple of lunch breaks.

Gurds

 

did you sort out the understeer issue yet? the autox guys i know that run softer spring rate up front usually run really high rear rates (450f, big bar, 600r no bar) to get the handling neutral. just food for thought

car looks awesome btw!

 

Thanks for the positive comments.

I don't want to run spring rates that high as the car does get used on the road now and again and I also want to be able to drive the car at the 'Ring too.

Gurds

 

i daily drive mine with those spring rates hahaha