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build diary June 29, 2006: I've been hearing from a lot of people about the magazine article. There's a comment in the article about how my car feels tighter than the others, and it's hypothesised that this is due to the frame. I think that does a disservice to Mark, Chris and Jon. All the frames are built to much the same design, with only slight variations for packaging reasons. I think the real difference is the result of the amount of time spent on the car dynamics. Chris and Mark's cars had only been running for an extremely short time before the test. It's not shown in the published pictures, but Mark's didn't even have any rear bodywork! Give them two years to work on their car setup and I expect those cars will feel pretty darn good as well. For example, I've changed brake pads, rotors, master cylinder sizes and brake bias since the first time my car turned a wheel. Had the test been done that first August weekend two years ago when it hit the track, the comments about the brakes would have been quite different. The same goes for other aspects of the car. The purchased frame gave me a head start on my build, but I don't think it necessarily made the final product any more effective. So what's next for the little orange car? Well, there's a track day coming up on July 9th. Since the very first drive was on July 4th, 2004 I think it will be a good opportunity for celebration. Will I be able to take a bit of time off the track record again? Hard to say. It's going to be hot. I'll definitely enjoy myself, though. It's been too long since the car was used for anything more than driving around local roads. entry 1256 of 1439 |