[quote=Mr Pesky]Well said Ben. Anyone who thinks/says that Randy doesn’t know his stuff is talking bollox (meant in a nice way). This season he’s done a fantastic job on his Europa - his performance at Silverstone in the GT Cup was awesome.
However, it doesn’t surprise me that his kit is not “road friendly”, but you pays your money… [/quote]
Great thread drift again!!! (always happens to my posts!!! )
NO one is saying that Randy does not know his stuff!!! Or the Hoffmann set-up is not FAB!
But with my new ‘toy’, 60/40 road/track use, that route for me is too extream
I think this is why Nitron are in the process of offering the ‘best practice’ compromise set-up.
Interestingly, on my Exige, I just had some humble Protech shocks with 375/450 spring rates… it was super on the road and for a man with my humble driving skills, it certainly seemed fine on track!
However… given the opportunity (SWMBO approval!) to fit Nitrons to the heavier S2 (what… a return to thread!!!) I am looking fwd to what the evolved NTR will offer my intended of the Elise.
But the setup does fly in the face of some of the well proven setup principles. If that means he has found something special for the Lotus then good on him.
From experience of a friends Nitron Porsche development project I am not surprised it took someone other than Nitron to come up with a workable product.
And I think there are more to the wins the suspension.
Yep nobody said he does not know what he is doing, however if you read other forums you might believe they are the be all and end all of dampers and that they are also a great road damper, that imho is just not the case.
Having spoken to a guy who’s job it is to set up suspension and Nitron themselves it seems that the guys in the know are not a lover of the Hofmanns spec dampers, thats not to say they dont do a job on track but opinion seems to be that you need a certain driving style to get the best out of them.
That’s fair comment, Andy, & tbh I think we all agree that there are various options…& that these come inevitable compromises. Certainly, Nitrons & Ohlins seem to have had the most development suited to our cars, & tbh I’d be more than happy to have either.
I haven’t touched the settings on my dampers for 2 years (car feels okay to me on both road & track!), but I’m seriously thinking about having them serviced by Nitron, & fitting new springs in the New Year (now done 40K miles!!!). I think the current springs are 450f/550r.
When are you expecting to get yours back from Nitron?
[quote=Mr Pesky]That’s fair comment, Andy, & tbh I think we all agree that there are various options…& that these come inevitable compromises. Certainly, Nitrons & Ohlins seem to have had the most development suited to our cars, & tbh I’d be more than happy to have either.
I haven’t touched the settings on my dampers for 2 years (car feels okay to me on both road & track!), but I’m seriously thinking about having them serviced by Nitron, & fitting new springs in the New Year (now done 40K miles!!!). I think the current springs are 450f/550r.
When are you expecting to get yours back from Nitron?
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Mine are still on the car Rob, I will hopefully be going down in January and they will be done and re fitted in the day. I think they will be changing the car to 450/600 and also changing the valving, I must say they have explained what they will do to the valving but its a bit over my head tbh
Since having kids I barely get to use my car apart from trackdays so I’m happy for now to run what is essentially a race car setup knowing the road compromise that this entails. Since fitting them I’ve only done Donington, Anglesey and Bedford and loved the handling at all three. I’m a clueless numpty but found the handling of the car great wet and dry*
based on the experience of a single individual and not considering other potential uses- suspension travel may go up as well as down
Odd I was just considering going from 450 575 up to 500 650 and getting the shocks re valved to suit, but now I’m not so sure it will make a once of difference with my lack of talent and all. Just hoping Damon can get us a couple of “advisors” for Easter and I’m going to spend the cash on them instead
The following is a cut from one of the many emails I have exchanged with Guy at Nitron when discussing what to do with the heavier ‘S2’… at that stage did not know if it were to be an Elise or Exige!!!
Suffice to say, the following is interesting and I am sure Guy would not mind me sharing this particular paragraph…
[color:#990000]‘A very good road / track compromise is 400 / 475 lbs, but you will hear all kinds of crazy rates being quoted as being suitable for the road. We have a number of people running hard springs that have been specified for them, and are reverting to a softer more compliant setup. If you felt the car was becoming more of a track-day toy and less of a road car, you could try 450 / 550 lbs. would really need some grippy tyres for those rates’[/color].
The 400/475 lbs route kind of lines up with the slightly lower rates I had on the S1, and I was happy with that given my mix of driving.
I’ll have a chat with Guy and see what he thinks for mine again, not forgetting my car is probably 100kgs more than yours though Pete, S2 111s 830kgs ish?
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