I just fitted some lovely Yokohama racing tyres. They're the R-spec tyres for a Lotus Elise. These things are light weight and super sticky. The were specifically designed for the font end of the light weight souped up Lotus.

I can't wait to try these on the track. They should be seconds quicker than my aging A008Rs tyres.

I just have to take the Pyro to the track and figure out the best pressures.

I can see 1:14s at Wakefield Park. Bring it on.

CYA, CT:tree:tree

all that and they look seriously cool too!!!

kai

Oh yeah, love those semi slicks. Look mad!
I have some yokohama Advan S'. What would be the difference between these and what you have, CT?

Cheers,
Cam

Advan is a brand name Yokohama doesn't promote in Australia but it is usually on the racing tyres. You may have A032R tyres which is our usual R-spec tyre. It's widely used among club cars and is the control tyre for Aussie Racing Cars. I couldn't find them in a suitable size. Then I stumbled across these Lotus tyres.

I wanted to keep the tyre width as narrow as possible so they get up to their operating temperature asap. I'll still have to go out hard on my first lap.

I've just got to get the front end working properly to do them justice.

Back to your question Cam. Have your tyres got any numbers on them like A032R, A008R, A005 etc.?

Let me know and I'll tell you a bit about them.

CYA, CT

P.S can you find out what your uncle thinks of the drop spindle concept with relation to suspension geometry.

Cool man, cheers. I'll check them out and get back to you. I don't know what the new Lotus' are running but in the mid to late 90's they were using 175's on the front. With the option of bigger tires if you wanted to go racing. I know my Advan's are 205's tho and came off a 924 turbo.

Okay... They're 032-R's in 205-60 all around.

I'll chase up the dropped spindles for you. I know he's in Germany at the moment. But he should have his work e-mail on.

CT, I got this reply from him:-

"Interesting, I am thinking of this in two parts....

First the easier part is the loading, by raising the spindle you will now have a lot more load during cornering on the top arm, this could lead to binding, premature wear of the bearing surfaces, some more deflection etc... It is unlikely to cause a breakage as the loads will still be less then what would be achieved in a kerb strike or similar.

Secondly as they are forging the spindle assy then machining it, they could be making some pretty big changes to the geometry, (camber and castor off set), it might be a good means of cranking in some negative camber for the track. As it has the two trailing arms from the beams I do think there will be any significant effects on geometry etc...again it comes down to how they have positioned the spindle relative to the standard one.

Obviously you will still need to do all of the normal clearance checks...

I hope this helps, it sounds like a good way to go."

- I've e-mailed him back a stack of questions too.

Thanks Cam,

That's a positive start to the front suspension change I'm considering.

I wish those CB spindles were forged not cast. Alternatively I wish the quality welded spindles didn't poke the rims out so much.

I will benefit from a wider track at the front and more suspension travel. Hopefully I'll get some more steering lock.

As your uncle says I'll have to check that the tyres don't foul anything at full lock with the suspension completely compressed.

It should be interesting.

The A032Rs are good but like all racing tyres they start to go down hill after a certain amount of heat cycles. What I'm getting at is that you can't really judge the performance of second-hand tyres because you don't know how old they are or how many heat cycles they've been through.

CYA, CT

oops, I thought they were forged. D'oh!

The other option I've been considering is (in an ideal world ;-p); getting some custom ones made up. I know a mate of mine (hows on this forum occasionally) got some suspension parts made for his buggy out of some wicked aerospace materials through a mate of his.
However I'm assuming this would be expensive, since they're hand machined, so I doubt even with multiple orders the costs would go down much.

Cool, thanks man. They're still soft to touch and the grooves are still good, but, I'm thinking of getting some new ones for the new car anyway. Speaking of which... I get my floorpan delivered on monday...
:o Sheesh, what am I getting myself into again?!?!?!

eeeeh they look exy :o