Life110 Geometry. Experience, Advice and where to get done
Discussion
bcr5784 said:
Is there a way to keep the steering unlocked when doing the Geo (without running the engine)? Unfortunately on my car when the steering locks the steering wheel moves and it's quite easy to finish up with the TDS marker on the steering wheel not at TDS - which is very annoying.
I think if you turn the ignition on (press the start button /without/ your foot on the brake) it will unlock the steering lock. There's a similar fiddle to allow you to leave it in Neutral without the engine running which they may need to roll the car slightly while it's on the ramp - that's covered in the owners manual, I can't remember off the top of my head.Just been to my local alignment place and the price went up from £90 to £150 as they didn't realise I wanted everything done on both axles. The other issue was that there was some confusion about how much toe was supposed to be put on the front wheels, and the operator wasn't 100% certain.
So I'm going to go and see the guys at Merrow to get it done (although having spoken to him he said it was a pain in the backside to work on!)
So I'm going to go and see the guys at Merrow to get it done (although having spoken to him he said it was a pain in the backside to work on!)
ThisInJapanese said:
Just been to my local alignment place and the price went up from £90 to £150 as they didn't realise I wanted everything done on both axles.
Your average alignment place is there to fix Steve's Astra driving like a banana after hitting a pothole, so I wouldn't be letting them loose on accurately setting camber/toe/caster on an A110.ThisInJapanese said:
Just been to my local alignment place and the price went up from £90 to £150 as they didn't realise I wanted everything done on both axles. The other issue was that there was some confusion about how much toe was supposed to be put on the front wheels, and the operator wasn't 100% certain.
So I'm going to go and see the guys at Merrow to get it done (although having spoken to him he said it was a pain in the backside to work on!)
He also said it was a learning experience so next time it'll be quicker. I suggest getting there on the dot of 8.30. So I'm going to go and see the guys at Merrow to get it done (although having spoken to him he said it was a pain in the backside to work on!)
Hi, I’m not much of a Forum writer as I’m a left handed dyslexic, however I’d like to share my Alpine experiences as they maybe useful to other enthusiasts .
My Alpine experience started with a call from my Porsche tuner while I was enjoying a great track day at Thruxton in my trusty Porsche 968CS, the call went something like “Tim I don’t know how to tell you this but one of out technicians has just had an accident in your Cayman GT4”. The upshot of this was that my highly developed GT4 had been destroyed, when I say highly developed , it was I believe the only GT4 in Europe to have ditched its strut rear suspension for a Multi Link System like a GT3. It was a great car and the tuner was mid way through building a 4.2 litre motor for it. Anyway this left a hole in my track day artillery, having read a great deal about the new A110 I took myself down to Winchester and purchased a ‘19 plate just under 2000 mile car for a huge amount off new price. Loved it on the journey home and had arranged a Thruxton track day for a couple of days later. I don’t know about Thruxton and Alpine’s , but I had an insight when the Alpine was launched that their might be a problem because I’d met famous journalist and all round good bloke Andrew Frankel at a Thruxton track day when he was in an early example and I was in my late wife’s lightly modified Lotus Elan M100 ( Nitron suspension and AP front brakes ), and had found the Alpine fairly easy to outrun . So to Thruxton with my new purchase, in a world utterly diabolical, probably the worst track car I’d ever driven, strange diagonal pitching over Thruxton circuits odd surface, I was immediately on the phone to Alpine Winchester to see if they would take the car back from me, no interest at all came the response. I went home a very unhappy man .
I remembered that I’d read some comparisons in the press of a UK “improved” A110, did some research and found David Pook. Talked to David and explained what I’d experienced , he told me doubted that there was a worse circuit than Thruxton in the UK that you could drive an Alpine !
Then started a pleasurable relationship with David, slowly adding more and more of his parts, starting with geometry, springs and anti roll bars ( which I think are S components ? With just these the transformation on track was huge, the car feeling much more stable and controllable. I added David’s aero kit , the small spoiler, the front splitter and the side skirts , the motorway/windy day stability was transformed, and again the car seemed more Porsche-like on track, which for me is good ! I’m old and retired, I’m lucky enough to be able to enjoy a lot of days on track , probably one or two a week through the summer season ( the GT4 had done well over a hundred days before it met its demise ). I’ve been a member of Gold Track for decades and still take instruction from time to time , and always entrust my cars to Calum Lockie from Gold Track to try and suggest improvements, Calum is an extremely winning driver over many years in everything from a nineteen thirties Maserati single seater to a McLaren F1 and winning the British GT Championship in a Marcos , so he’s pretty good ! He instantly adored the Alpine claiming weight over horsepower every time ! around the middle of last year a Gold Track Hethal was coming up and I’d ordered some of David’s wheels with Pilot Cup 2 tyres, heavens the grip !!! I couldn’t believe the transformation , I suggested Calum gave it a try and as he returned beaming “ the grip is unbelievable” and indeed it is ! This has to be the biggest single improvement I’ve ever seen in a modified car ! Despite running David’s brake pads, flexible hoses and fluid, I’ve found the car a bit marginal on brakes, particularly at Anglesea and also at Silverstone , I’ve never had trouble but the feeling that the brakes had reached their peak performance and were falling off was ever present, also at Goodwood particularly under really big brakes at the end of the Lavant Straight slowing for Woodcote corner the Alpine felt a little unstable with just a hint of an alternate left/right fishtale from the rear, a little uncomfortable feeling for the driver ! All of my findings were reported back to David , and amazingly he was always one step ahead , so the car was fitted with the Life full large rear wing and the larger front AP disk conversion, now Goodwood is a breeze, the stability with the big wing is outstanding and the brakes are now tireless. During this period I also convinced David to allow me to purchase a prototype set of R53 dampers for the car and a step up in spring rates, these dampers were another transformation added to the stiffer springs, it now feels just like a track Porsche, not a problem for me, I’ve enjoyed track Porsche’s for years , but for you boys and girls who love the standard car’s “soft cloud cruising” give these mods a miss ! I’ve done probably twenty five days on track with the car to date, and now absolutely love it. I was at Thruxton a couple of weeks ago and met up with a young chap who currently races and has a standard A110, as I came up behind him on track a watched his car heaving and wallowing around the circuit I was taken back to that first day on track with my car, the journey with David Pook Life 110 has been fantastic, a real engineer, producing engineered parts that simply work, absoluitely no BS . I hope this story is of interest and modestly coherent, I’ve read it through and can’t see any terrible mistakes ( that’s the great thing with dyslexia ! ). all the Best , Tim.
My Alpine experience started with a call from my Porsche tuner while I was enjoying a great track day at Thruxton in my trusty Porsche 968CS, the call went something like “Tim I don’t know how to tell you this but one of out technicians has just had an accident in your Cayman GT4”. The upshot of this was that my highly developed GT4 had been destroyed, when I say highly developed , it was I believe the only GT4 in Europe to have ditched its strut rear suspension for a Multi Link System like a GT3. It was a great car and the tuner was mid way through building a 4.2 litre motor for it. Anyway this left a hole in my track day artillery, having read a great deal about the new A110 I took myself down to Winchester and purchased a ‘19 plate just under 2000 mile car for a huge amount off new price. Loved it on the journey home and had arranged a Thruxton track day for a couple of days later. I don’t know about Thruxton and Alpine’s , but I had an insight when the Alpine was launched that their might be a problem because I’d met famous journalist and all round good bloke Andrew Frankel at a Thruxton track day when he was in an early example and I was in my late wife’s lightly modified Lotus Elan M100 ( Nitron suspension and AP front brakes ), and had found the Alpine fairly easy to outrun . So to Thruxton with my new purchase, in a world utterly diabolical, probably the worst track car I’d ever driven, strange diagonal pitching over Thruxton circuits odd surface, I was immediately on the phone to Alpine Winchester to see if they would take the car back from me, no interest at all came the response. I went home a very unhappy man .
I remembered that I’d read some comparisons in the press of a UK “improved” A110, did some research and found David Pook. Talked to David and explained what I’d experienced , he told me doubted that there was a worse circuit than Thruxton in the UK that you could drive an Alpine !
Then started a pleasurable relationship with David, slowly adding more and more of his parts, starting with geometry, springs and anti roll bars ( which I think are S components ? With just these the transformation on track was huge, the car feeling much more stable and controllable. I added David’s aero kit , the small spoiler, the front splitter and the side skirts , the motorway/windy day stability was transformed, and again the car seemed more Porsche-like on track, which for me is good ! I’m old and retired, I’m lucky enough to be able to enjoy a lot of days on track , probably one or two a week through the summer season ( the GT4 had done well over a hundred days before it met its demise ). I’ve been a member of Gold Track for decades and still take instruction from time to time , and always entrust my cars to Calum Lockie from Gold Track to try and suggest improvements, Calum is an extremely winning driver over many years in everything from a nineteen thirties Maserati single seater to a McLaren F1 and winning the British GT Championship in a Marcos , so he’s pretty good ! He instantly adored the Alpine claiming weight over horsepower every time ! around the middle of last year a Gold Track Hethal was coming up and I’d ordered some of David’s wheels with Pilot Cup 2 tyres, heavens the grip !!! I couldn’t believe the transformation , I suggested Calum gave it a try and as he returned beaming “ the grip is unbelievable” and indeed it is ! This has to be the biggest single improvement I’ve ever seen in a modified car ! Despite running David’s brake pads, flexible hoses and fluid, I’ve found the car a bit marginal on brakes, particularly at Anglesea and also at Silverstone , I’ve never had trouble but the feeling that the brakes had reached their peak performance and were falling off was ever present, also at Goodwood particularly under really big brakes at the end of the Lavant Straight slowing for Woodcote corner the Alpine felt a little unstable with just a hint of an alternate left/right fishtale from the rear, a little uncomfortable feeling for the driver ! All of my findings were reported back to David , and amazingly he was always one step ahead , so the car was fitted with the Life full large rear wing and the larger front AP disk conversion, now Goodwood is a breeze, the stability with the big wing is outstanding and the brakes are now tireless. During this period I also convinced David to allow me to purchase a prototype set of R53 dampers for the car and a step up in spring rates, these dampers were another transformation added to the stiffer springs, it now feels just like a track Porsche, not a problem for me, I’ve enjoyed track Porsche’s for years , but for you boys and girls who love the standard car’s “soft cloud cruising” give these mods a miss ! I’ve done probably twenty five days on track with the car to date, and now absolutely love it. I was at Thruxton a couple of weeks ago and met up with a young chap who currently races and has a standard A110, as I came up behind him on track a watched his car heaving and wallowing around the circuit I was taken back to that first day on track with my car, the journey with David Pook Life 110 has been fantastic, a real engineer, producing engineered parts that simply work, absoluitely no BS . I hope this story is of interest and modestly coherent, I’ve read it through and can’t see any terrible mistakes ( that’s the great thing with dyslexia ! ). all the Best , Tim.
Hi Andy did a LoT day at Silverstone GP in November prior to the big wing and the AP Brakes being fitted. I was a little nervous because there appeared to be a large number of youngish ( compared to me at nearly seventy ) drivers and a lot of quick looking Exige V6’s. As things turned out and this is absolute truth, the Alpine was never overtaken on the circuit and overtook every Lotus it came across the entire day ! I felt remarkably elated . Silverstone GP really suits the car . I should probably add that I had a bit of a Nurburgring addiction in my fifties which led to a kind friend inviting me to race his Porsche Cup Car in the VLN series for several years , whilst we never did very well in racing we usually finished in the top thirty, and that sort of experience really sharpens ones driving up for track days. I also strongly believe in driver tuition, even now and at this age I still get help from time to time, it’s worth more than almost any form of car improvement .
I can believe it, Tim. I'm currently running just the springs, ARBs, geo, brake hoses/fluid, XP8 pads and Tarox discs (better and cheaper than standard but not as good as the AP-derived options) and standard 252bhp. In this form it's still remarkably quick and at a recent LoT day around Oulton really held it's own, so much so that a GT4 driver came over to see what tyres I was on as I was quicker than him around the corners - just the normal PS4 against his Cup2 but I think that was probably more down to confidence than anything if I'm honest.
I'm a bit torn with what to do with the car now. On the one hand it makes a great weekend blast car and on my local roads the compliant suspension is a revelation. On the other hand it's my trackday car in which I do about 10-15 days a year and I would like a 'bit extra' at times. I think I'll probably put the track-biased AST coilovers on when they're released later this month and then take a deep breath before deciding whether to get the full carbon aero (lip spoiler though, not wing). A remap might happen but as mine is a 2022 car the torque can only be lifted to the level of the S - not to be sniffed at but nowhere near the levels you have on your car.
Anyway, I'm off to Spa in a couple of hours to do another day with LoT on Monday. Shame you're not coming as I would have loved to be shown what these cars are really capable of
I'm a bit torn with what to do with the car now. On the one hand it makes a great weekend blast car and on my local roads the compliant suspension is a revelation. On the other hand it's my trackday car in which I do about 10-15 days a year and I would like a 'bit extra' at times. I think I'll probably put the track-biased AST coilovers on when they're released later this month and then take a deep breath before deciding whether to get the full carbon aero (lip spoiler though, not wing). A remap might happen but as mine is a 2022 car the torque can only be lifted to the level of the S - not to be sniffed at but nowhere near the levels you have on your car.
Anyway, I'm off to Spa in a couple of hours to do another day with LoT on Monday. Shame you're not coming as I would have loved to be shown what these cars are really capable of
Olivera said:
Worldwidewebs, have you looked at any of the MP Rezeau A110 tuning options? These guys are really pushing the boundaries of A110 performance, with Nurburgring BTG times in the low 7 minutes.
I haven’t really, no, although I think Life110 have everything my modest talent requires!Gassing Station | Alpine | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff