In a earlier SCD article we detailed the in depth growth and testing programme of our Suspension Secrets and techniques Porsche Circuit Dealing with Pack. After being signed off, our kits have since been in service on quite a few 911 GT3s, GT3 RSs and Cayman GT4s throughout the UK and the remainder of the world.
Written by: Matthew Cowley
Inspired by this success, we once more enlisted the assistance of RMA Observe Days MD, Leyton Clarke in an try and push the equipment to its absolute limits and to see what it may well actually obtain. Beforehand, Leyton’s exceptional pace and consistency as a driver, alongside his technical suggestions, was invaluable within the growth of our Porsche Circuit Dealing with Pack, however this time our goal was pure pace.
With Leyton on the helm of his Suspension Secrets and techniques Porsche Circuit Dealing with Pack geared up Porsche 911 GT3 RS Weissach, we visited a few of the UK’s hardest circuits and set the automotive towards the stopwatch. Over the course of the final six months, Leyton claimed what have been on the time three outright highway automotive lap data at Donington Park GP, Manufacturers Hatch Indy, and Oulton Park Worldwide.
Throughout a go to to Fortress Combe, Leyton obtained a slightly sudden endorsement of the Porsche Circuit Dealing with Pack’s capabilities. In the midst of a session he was black-flagged, and after enquiring with the marshals as to the character of the black-flagging, he was instructed he was, “merely going too quick”.
Having tackled a few of the UK’s finest circuits with success, we appeared for the following challenger to beat and the reply was apparent — the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Dubbed ‘The Inexperienced Hell’ by Jackie Stewart, the Nürburgring is extensively thought of to be essentially the most technically difficult race monitor on the planet, and is the final word take a look at for each automobiles and drivers.
After some last-minute arrangemenets, the date was set and we made the journey to the Eifel Mountains to deal with the fabled 12.9 miles of undulating and terribly bumpy tarmac that makes up the Nordschleife.
Just lately, the Nürburgring has turn out to be a battleground, with automotive producers one- upping one another in an try to say the general highway automotive lap document. While the aim of our journey was to not try to set a scorching lap time, we couldn’t assist however strap some timing gear to Leyton’s GT3 RS for our personal curiosity.
When in Rome…
In truth, the principle goal of our go to to the Nürburgring was to assemble information on our Circuit Dealing with Pack and the way it carried out on the final word take a look at monitor.
One of many key upgrades of our Porsche Circuit Dealing with Pack is to put in a shorter and stiffer entrance spring. This offers the chassis some all-important rake angle which improves turn-in, reduces nose- diving on the brakes and makes path braking way more intuitive. This decrease entrance spring is mixed with a re-engineered damper cup that enables the entrance dampers to retain their customary vary of operation together with the decrease entrance spring.
Leyton’s automotive runs a decrease entrance spring than common which drops the entrance axle fairly significantly, and to a degree the place some have commented that maybe it’s too low for the Nürburgring. A few of the older fingers on the Nürburgring even declared operating such a low entrance journey top as ‘unattainable’. The consensus for the Nürburgring is to run a barely larger nostril with the intention to stop any entrance splitters from being broken over the bumpier sections.
So as to take a look at our equipment to the fullest, we selected to maintain the setup that was utilized to Leyton’s Porsche when he set the UK lap data. This meant operating a really quick entrance spring and having religion in our redesigned spring cup.
After we found that the entrance splitter, that was sat mere inches from the bottom, had barely even brushed the tarmac over the course of a whole day, that was a tremendous vindication of our design and our dedication to attain what was thought of an impossibility.
We then started our testing routine and have been thrilled when Leyton reported again to us that
the soundness of the automotive, even over the hardest bumps and jumps, was infallible. This extra stability, mixed with the power — because of the Circuit Dealing with Pack — to hold way more pace into the corners, allowed Leyton to rapidly settle into a quick and constant tempo, regardless of usually heavy site visitors.
Our Circuit Dealing with Pack is designed to be supple sufficient for the highway while additionally tremendously enhancing monitor efficiency. In setup phrases, the Nürburgring is taken into account to be extra of a ‘quick highway’ than a pure monitor setup because of the elevation modifications, various tarmac high quality and uneven surfacing. Our alternative to take care of this suppleness in comparison with a standard very stiff setup that emphasises wrought iron physique management, allowed Leyton to deal with even essentially the most treacherous sections of the Nordschleife with out experiencing any undesirable suspension deflections.
After two days of intensive testing we have been glad that we had pushed our Suspension Secrets and techniques Porsche Circuit Dealing with Pack to the restrict on the hardest monitor of all of them.
Leyton managed to document a Bridge to Gantry time of 6:52 on a vacationer lap, with site visitors and in 30+ levels climate, which was very encouraging and stands as a testomony to our Suspension Secrets and techniques Porsche Circuit Dealing with Pack.
We all the time attempt to push what is feasible with these automobiles and after two onerous days on the Nürburgring we thought there was no higher means of celebrating than heading to Europe’s second most well-known race monitor, Circuit de Spa- Francorchamps, the place Leyton once more put the equipment to the restrict. Once more, our equipment’s enhancements to the caster and camber settings of the GT3 RS allowed Leyton to essentially lean on the chassis through the larger pace corners, such because the quick left hander at Blanchimont.
The top of our go to to Spa was the scarcely plausible tempo at which Leyton was capable of assault the Eau Rouge/Radillion advanced on the prime of fifth gear solely to elevate for a slight second, downshift, after which bury the throttle on the way in which up the hill.
Fairly spectacular for only a highway automotive!
