recommended suspension for hill climbs

[mnrvortxf20c]

next season im hoping to have my supersport ready for a few hilclimbs and sprints. i have just converted from 1.4k to a 2007 suzuki hayabusa,and aquired a 3.14 ratio for my current lsd. im running a de dion rear axle at the moment and narrow track front with adjustable bilsteins.
am possibly looking at altering the suspension as because im a novice to hillclimbs and sprints i wont be competative with current setup.
first of all would you recommend i went to a wide track front?
and secondly, what alternatives are there to the standard bilsteins? that would make enough of an improvement to consider swapping? cheers

[mickrick]

Have a chat with Simon at meteor motorsport

http://www.meteormotorsport.com/

[mnrvortxf20c]

already done that mate, bought my engine mounts from him! any other options

[Red Seven]

mnrvortxf20c said:

am possibly looking at altering the suspension as because im a novice to hillclimbs and sprints i wont be competative with current setup.

Standard suspension works pretty well. You'll find that there is much more to come from learning where the courses go, and how to drive the car around them.

mnrvortxf20c said:

first of all would you recommend i went to a wide track front?

Wide track is nice, but won't find you more than a tenth or two on a typical hillclimb or sprint.

mnrvortxf20c said:

and secondly, what alternatives are there to the standard bilsteins?

There are lots of alternatives, but it's important to select components that are suited to your intended use. What suits a circuit/track day car is less likely to suit a hillclimb, sprint or road car. Traction is very important on the hills in particular, so soft works quite well, but good dampers cost good money, and expensive dampers with the wrong springs or valving will be worse than cheap dampers, both of which may well be worse than standard Bilsteins.......

[mnrvortxf20c]

thanks, the kits ive been looking at seem real expensive. so i may see how i go with standard setup,cheers

[pikeyboy]

As others have said there is much to be gained from circuit knowledge, seat time and tuition before making expensive changes to the car.

[Tango7]

Yep, I think Red Seven has certainly shown that a car with standard Bilsteins is very competitive and that driver knowledge and ability ranks very high for most people rather than the car's specification.

[mnrvortxf20c]

well thats my chances gone then! lol
i will hopefully get the chance to do both barbon events this year, and a few at harewood but i have never done it before.
i wnt to the l7c event at harewood this year and really enjoyed looking at the various cars. cheers

[Incorrigible]

When you say "adjustable Bilsteins" I assume you mean adjustable platforms ??

Get the geo and weights set up properly and leave it at that. That will get you through a few years I reckon

[SimonRogers]

And that's exactly what I explained to Dan.

In the first year I would be looking at standard billies.

Then when he is comfortable a step up to something adjustable. I have been running 3 Way Nitron By Metero Pro this year but with soft progressive twin spring set up.

But the dampers a firm themselves.

Once you get up the power scale adjust ability really does come into its own.

[mnrvortxf20c]

simon. how do the one way adjustable nitrons compare? and do they come up for sale second hand often? id imagine the tripple adjustables are very rare?

[SimonRogers]

Standard Nitrons to come up now and again and sell very quickly @ £750. New they are £995 + vat from Nitron.

I do not sell this specification as I do not feel the damping is optimized for the 7. Nitron by Meteor are £1195.00 Nitron tell me they have only built one set to the standard spec in the last 2 years.

I am selling more and more of the Twin Spring combi set ups which are really very very good for a comfortable ride. Excellent traction and grip. This sort of reflects RedSeven's comments also as the Standard Caterham set up is progressive on the rear anyway.

Progressive gives less roll in the chassis as one side loads up and gets stronger the other unloads and gets weaker.

Old type can be upgraded to our spec.

[grenpayne]

Simon, are they £1195 total or £1195 + VAT?

[SimonRogers]

The NTR1 by Meteor are £1195 + VAT

[mnrvortxf20c]

thanks simon. i was refering to the nitron by metero rather than standard nitron spec @ £1,195
just as to how good they were compared to your more expensive ones. cheers for the help

[SimonRogers]

Ah sorry Dan - miss understood. The majority of the dampers sold have been the NTR1's. I have sold a number of sets to customers who already had standard Nitron's.

The main reason for the NTR1 is that most of the sprint hill climb classes in the L7C champs restrict dampers to one way adjustment only. The benefit of the 3 way is that you can run the damper harder/softer in compression and leave the rebound to control the relevant spring rate being used.

With one way you are forced to alter both together and hence matching the spring to the car and damper valving is essential.

I have not seen or been told of any of them being sold on. I regularly get emails from owners just saing how chuffed with them they are and providing updates. Most of the 3 ways have gone abroad.