Kringle

Well guys - next track day is tomorrow and I am very psyched. My brother just bought an new 08 M3 and he is in my run group. We're a little competative. ( I have a few more events under my belt) It'll be interesting to see how things go.
To make sure I put the BMW to shame I just got the Hotchkis antiroll bar set put on this afternoon. 305% increased stiffness in rear, 60% in front. Coming home I have to say I was really pleased that I could not feel any degredation in ride quality. This was my fear as my previous car had slowly crossed into the "not so nice" on the street category and I am trying to avoid this. I can honestly say if you're thinking about it go for it, ride quality is just fine. Of course I'll tell you about the handling after tomorrow but I expect good things.

My new set of Carbotech race pads did not arrive on time though so I will be going easy in the braking zones.

The order was put in on Mon with 2 day shipping. When Friday came and no tracking # I phoned the distributor and he tried to contact Carbotech with no luck. I called Carbo this morning and they really went all out to get the pads here. Apparently the distributor did not check that they didn't have stock and didn't let them know they were needed by end of the week. Not their fault. Really good service from Carbotech though. They are going to overnight the pads for early AM delivery but I don't know if I can get them between runs as they are over the boarder in the US. We'll see. The stock pads did OK last time so I hope I can get one more use out of them. Maybe I will have the new ones for after lunch. Wish me luck.

Kringle

Well almost a week post track day and here's the scoop on the new antiroll bars for those interested. Car definitely has a more balanced feel. It will still understeer if pushed too hard but you have to go lot harder in the slow corners to get that. Way more balanced when up and down on curbing. With the stock bars I got a lot more roll around and took longer to get settled. It will actually oversteer a bit if pushed hard but very predictably. Enters and exits oversteer with a very smooth, catchable progression. This can be a bit faster in hairpin "esses" if you really overcook it but easy to stabilize. There is definitely way more response to throttle inputs at the limit. So much so that I definitely had to consider it and modulate my throttle more carefully to get the desired result. Previously it would have just understeered in the same corner and now at a higher speed it will hang it's back end out a bit and carry through. The instructor I that rode with me commented " wow, this is a really fun car and more lively than expected but still benign..." I think these are the bars that should be on the car stock. Very well balanced; no tendency to make the car "snappy" at the back. I think Audi erred on the side of caution in the stock set up to always default to understeer. This changes that quite a bit. My brother did not keep up in his M3. Maybe someone else could have?
Perhaps the best part of the whole setup - In a week of driving I can't detect ANY difference in ride quality on the street. None. I can hardly believe it myself so I am really pleased. I know Hotchkis says this setup is "primarity for autocross and track use" but I think that is just legal self defence. This is a really nice street package. I have it set up to + 305% (260% being the alternate) over stock in the rear and the default + 60% front and I think it's just right!

Anybody else with any tips on how to make the car handle better?

Has anyone tried adding more negative camber to the front? Is it possible to add -2 or -3 degrees?

benonj

Where did you track it? Did it rain? I hear that you may notice the negative side of the new setup in the wet.