31/10/03:   I was on the phone to my race guru mate Bruce today, chewing the fat and talking cars - as you do.

Well, talking my Soarer specifically, I had often found the back breaking out under heavy braking into corners, e.g. when chasing the P.Scott active, and was wondering if Bruce had suggestions, or more specifically, would he help design/build me a spoiler/wing to keep the back down. After a bit of cajoling, Bruce agreed to come for a drive with me as he has promised many times before, but as always he didn't know when he would have time. So I said "Right now!" He took the bait, and that was the end of the working day for me. I had a view that I would pick him up, and do maybe 2 runs up the Eagle with him, and we would take it from there. After picking him up however, I soon realised we were off on the scenic route to the Eagle, via lots and lots of twisty bits and I didn't have the fuel for that. So we changed the route to be able to get to a decent PULP tank, then went direct to the Eagle.

After our first run, we were parked and discussing the run, when I spotted another Soarer coming the other way. Captain Scott it was, so he pulled over and we spent an informative and fun hour or two discussing various Soarer handling issues with Bruce. Peter had just had his engine and gearbox mounts replaced, all stuffed (that's a warning to the rest of us), and was noticing a rubbing noise that appeared to be coming from the front left wheel. He was also investigating his elusive active suspension problem. That was the reason he gave for having the inside of his car COMPLETELY stripped! PI Junkies take note, I think there is also an ulterior motive, this guy takes his racing seriously!

Peter and I swapped cars for a brief drive, and man, his car kicks arse - I mean literally! Get the G-forces up on a right hand bend, and the right rear suspension starts to pump up and down. All by itself. For free. You don't even have to ask nicely! It was a bit disconcerting when it happened the first time, tight into a bend, car not quite sliding, then bang bang bang this jackhammer kicks the back of the car try to help it get loose. I also picked the rubbing noise to be the exhaust leaning on something on bends, as the sound varied with engine revs, not with wheel speed.

Bruce and I then parked next to a nice RH bend and watched the car as Peter wound it through, the kicking was visible to us, about 2 cm of movement and it also shook the right hand exhaust tip noticeably. we could also hear the tyre noise change as it kicked. After 2 runs, Bruce had a drive while Peter and I watched, Peter was impressed at how nice his car sounds from the outside, the joy of always being the driver is you never get to hear it from the outside.

After a couple of drives, and Bruce does DRIVE, we talked some more, Bruce put his money on a mechanical/hydraulic problem, so Peter is going to borrow and swap the rear strut to see if the diagnosis is correct.

Bruce then took my car over the same stretch, he had it flat around a bend I used to be mildly gentle with, it was very impressive to watch with the controlled slight drift.

We then talked tyres etc. I have Kumho 712's, and I was wondering whether to get something stickier when they wear out in the near future. The conclusion we all came to, was that they are probably the best tyres for my car and driving style. They are economical, quiet, grip well and are very predictable. They let go in a very gentle manner when really pushed making the car easy to recover. Peter has more grip, but the tyres have less "feel" and most likely would let go in a bigger way, though Bruce and I didn't test that as it "isn't my car" etc. The different suspension systems would also play a part in that choice, I have coil spring, Peter has the active 4-wheel steer system.

Peter then left and Bruce and I did some more evaluation. Bruce is a great passenger, it didn't bother him at all to be not in control of the car in tight corners, but he kept saying "Why are you backing off? and "hit the pedal harder!" as I was hanging on to tight corners. That was a little disconcerting to put it mildly, but as we had watched Bruce driving 2 cars that he wasn't familiar with and that weren't his, both Peter and myself were pretty damned impressed, so I wasn't going to argue.

It was back to school for me, Bruce as a passenger didn't have to worry about driving, so was able to concentrate on the cars characteristics and how I was handling it. Out of that, he was able to demonstrate how the car handled differently going uphill, on the flat and downhill, with different driver responses required to balance the under steer and over steer to make a quick corner. He also pointed out, that though the car was sliding through the corners, the tyres hadn't actually let go, and I could and should both turn the steering wheel in further and squeeze the pedal harder to balance out the slides. I was driving within my confort zone, and under utilising the cars abilities. (Coff!)

Bruce decided that the front tyres needed more pressure for that road, so we toddled off for a break and to add more sky to my rounds. From Bruce, it turns out that there are NO general rules for tyre pressure at all, it depends on many factors and on what you are trying to achieve on the day. As I was wanting to achieve quickness through corners, on that particular road he suggested adding 6 psi to the front and leaving the rears alone.

Wow! What a difference it made, both to the car and my confidence in cornering! Straight away, I was able to drive the car faster and more smoothly through the same bends. My comfort zone shifted dramatically, and I had no qualms about pressing harder through all of the bends.

Bruce talked a lot about the tyres, and explained that if that road surface was finer grained, ie less chunky gravel in the asphalt, then I should use lower pressure for better grip. He briefly covered a lot of other variables as well, but we were just concentrating on that particular road, some specific corners and quickness under today's weather conditions.

With his guidance, the car - or should I say that my driving - got quicker and quicker through the particular bends we were training on, and at the end of the day, he said I was now ready for even more pressure in the fronts! I was now driving closer to the limits of the tyres (on that road, on that day, with those weather conditions).

What baffles me, is that not once did we have the bad back end breakout that I had experienced often previously. Whether this was a factor of having a passenger, hence driving a little more cautiously, or the better weight distribution, or whatever else, I have no idea, but today the car behaved itself very nicely, and we did probably about 25-30 runs, most of them under pressure. We also decided that the car doesn't need any extra down force for the Eagle, just different driving techniques and different tyre pressure.

Since returning to suburbia, I have noticed the car tramlines more and is noticeably harsher with the higher front pressure, so will probably revert back to 32/34 psi in the fronts for standard driving.

It's all a compromise, weather, road surface, and how you want to drive being the main factors. What also came out of this, was that there wasn't a need to alter the rears from 32 psi even for the Eagle runs.

So for me, it's stick with the Kumho's, 32 psi rear, and 32/34 psi front for street, 38+psi front for hooning. As others have suggested, I will probably go higher front and rear for track days simply to reduce overheating, but that's still a story waiting to be told.

Yehaaa, Come on Mallala!

PS. The last comment from Bruce as I left him, was "How long will it take for your silly grin to wear off?" hehehehe...

And it couldn't have been a better way to spend Friday afternoon.