Right. That's what I was implying, too. *NM*

A buddy just bought one, and dropped by to show it off. he knows how to show it off effectively: "Hi Grant, want the keys?".
uh, no? How about yes?

So we went out for 20 minutes. Nothing spectacular - we were on public roads after all, and its not yet fully broken in.
A few deserted industrial area roads, a few of the parking lots.

This thing is fast. And solid. It seems unflappable. Turn hard and stand on it? No drama. Brake hard while turning into the parking lot? No drama. very precise, tight steering and (seemingly) handling.

For those unfamiliar, the new ((1s have a $4k option that has hydraulic rams that actively adjust camber. really. Its a game changer if it works as it could. I was not in a position to find out today.

Yes, the steering is a bit filtered, but its not too bad.

This was one of the few PDKs i've driven too, and i could get to like it. It is nearly unfair for the track i'd imagine. At first, going from 1st to 2nd is very awkward since i want to pull back to 2nd (just like an H pattern) but it wants to go forward ---- "up". I didn't do anything unfortunate.

There is *no* apparent access to the engine. Lift the lid and you see what really appears to be one of those dual-fan units you closed in your window in your college dorm. Only black and vertical.

Comfy. Nice interior. Civilized. Maybe too civilized, but certainly not soft or flabby. I expect it would run rings around my boxster (the 3-somethign / 30 tires would help there...). I do wonder if this is one of those cars that is unflappable right until it hits the tree.

Not much - i couldnt abuse the guy's car (yet) or really annoy the local constables. But wait until the first autoX he brings it too.

(I think he might be my student on the 22nd, hmmmmm)

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Active camber w/ hydraulic rams---my, my. Sounds like an interesting idea (and complicated); wonder what the range of adjustment might be?

I like the idea of being able to set max. camber on the car by the touch of a button if you want to do some track work--rather than having a dealer setup some compromise setting so you don't prematurely wear the street tires--and then switch back for a typical street setting,but @ $4k I would think it would only be of interest to serious track junkies --like a lot of the guys in your club.

See if he has any interest in going to Mid-OH to test it out..

I believe they operate automatically to control roll and aren't user adjustable, unless there's some connection to the PASM settings. The "camber" part comes in because for a given suspension geometry, the less roll; the less wheel camber change occurs... pretty sure about that.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2012 12:02PM by Laz. (view changes)

So, essentially you keep your steady state camber settings, via the less body roll produced by the system, rather than loose some portion of it as the car takes a hard corner and with corresponding typical body roll..right?

I think overall it's as much about keeping the car flat through turns, hard braking and acceleration (anti dive & anti squat) as it is about keeping the tire tread-to-road contact optimized. I guess there's no "hysteresis" from stored energy in the torsioned spring that a conventional bar is acting on the vehicle. Perhaps someone here with a better knowledge of suspension geometry and its optimization will chime in.

I was thinking about my statement about keeping nit to a constant -0.5 deg (for example). Is that what we want? Maybe not. Maybe, as we push harder, and tires roll under more, we want more camber - not to counter roll note (the usual reason), but to actually add more negative camber AFTER ROLL IS ZERO'd OUT, to deal with tire deformation etc. It would tart to approximate edging on a ski, or the amusing and improbably angles lightning's tires achieved in "cars" :-)

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

i woudl guess.

I cant get him to M-O. but he will be at the next coupel auto crosees,and ,likely Thunderbolt in June. Now, hwo to get out on the track in HIS car.....???? :-)

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com