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You can check the wheel for eccentricity and wobble by jacking it up and rotating it. The studs should centre it. Have you checked the ET? Also when you were using grease to check suspension travel were you cornering on smooth roads - as bumpy roads will give a totally flase reading. It could be...

Cold air is what it is all about. There is an equation which will show the increase in density and hence oxygen and the improvement is quite significant. Interestingly enough when checking the pressure drops down a standard intake system, the smallest drop is across the panel filter (even paper...

It could be that the tracking is OK, but that it has been incorrectly adjusted so that the track rods are different lengths. Quick check is to make sure that you have exactly the same number of turns for left and right lock. Are you on standard offset wheels - if less than standard ET this could...

It is not just a case of the RON and MON ratings, but also the additives used to achieve these figures (it is more than just the way it is refined) as they influence the even-ness of the burning. Also there is the question of the sulphur content, which apparently can affect piston and valve life...

My Trophy has been delivered with front 30' negative camber, 10' toe out and rear 1.30' negative and 20' toe in The Challenge cars run 3.40' negative front and zero toe +/- 10' and rear 3.30 negative and 20' toe in. As I shall be sprinting and hill climbing it next year (my wife's MX5 this...

The normal ways to find out if the car is rolling onto the bump stops are - put grease on the bump stops and see if it is squashed - put a tywrap round the damper shaft and see how far it moves - probably a bit difficult with dust covers.

Good point about damaged valving. The idea about the length of thread showing was a crude way of corner weighting - I would prefer it to wheel arch measurements which are never very precise side to side and can hide a diagonal weight bias. The correct way to corner weight is to disconnect the...

Two ideas: if you have lowered it and now it has settled you may be rolling onto the bump stops which will create a sudden increase in roll stiffness and snap oversteer. The other thing is that if the spring platforms are of the threaded type you may find that the corner weights are out; a quick...

All road cars have bump steer at the front, so changing the ride height will change the toe settings. Also you need someone who can check that the rear wheels are not only at the correct setting, but that they do point along the centre line of the car (the thrust angle) - this is what proper...

Ben R - years ago in F3 I was involved in a project where we used a flexible diaphragm at the opposite end of the plenum to the air intake as a means of damping pulses - I think it helped a bit, but the scrutineers were convinced it was a fudge to get round the restrictor regulations - might...

Ben will your custom inlet manifold change the length of the runners up to the plenum chamber and also the volume of the plenum chamber, as presumably these are the key factors if not going to individual throtle bodies?

Thanks very much - most of my runs are between 55 and 65 seconds so there is not a lot of time for heat build up. Do you think it is worth buffing the V70A to reduce heat build up?

So what pressures do you recommend for the V70A?

As far as I can discover the only genuine track tyres in 205/45x216 are Kumho Ecsta V70A and Hankook RS2. The latter are quite hard and so should be good for long runs, but do not warm up quickly enough for sprints. I shall be up at Autosport International and shall visit all likely contenders...

Ben has been very clever and by using new billets has been able to obtain a big increase in lift by increasing the diameter of the base circle, but without going to extreme timing, which is ideal for a saloon.

Omar, As a new comer to the Clio world my comments are based on theory and practical experience with other cars. If as Ben R says the Clio has a negative scrub radius, which despite my comments, I would expect, then reducing the ET from 45 to 37 will reduce the scrub radius, which in turn will...

Ben R; If a car has a negative scrub radius then reducing the ET (offset) will actually reduce the offset and thus the self aligning torque. What is worse is that with modern wide flat treads and the average lumpy English road the actual centre of contact can move laterally so on one side you...

Ben R, thank you for such a kind and helpful post - how do I keep up to date with your evolutions? Although mid-week I work near Newbury, I live in Devon, so regular visits to the Cambridge area would be quite difficult (without being rumbled!)

Car could go to Ben/Andy at the end of next season, if they would still wish to do it, provided my wife does not remind me that this is the umpteenth car that I have promised not to modify (after all I did sell her MX5 to buy the Trophy!! and she does point out quite validly that we have an old...

Ben , thanks very much - now appreciate the significance of your working from billets - as increasing the base circle is obviously the clue. Many years ago I had the privilege of working with one of the world's leading F1 cam designers, whose speciality is the mathematical modelling of the...

Ben and Andy, congratulations on what looks like the perfect high performance saloon package, with the ideal usable shape power curve. No doubt a lot of this is down to the cams, and from the brief specs that you mentioned above you have gone for the holy grail of moderate period and high lift...

For the Trophy 5W/40 is specified - is that correct if using a 'top' grade synthetic. BTW where does Mobil One stand in your league?

The serious racing world would assure you that it is a science and very complex one at that. For instance unless you know all the tyre stiffnesses, frequencies and slip angle progression, it is hard to model the car's behaviour correctly. But in the real world of saloons, which do their best to...

Looks like an Impreza, as it spools up quite slowly?

The power curve in the RR post suggests that you need to go to max rpm. What gives you acceleration is in fact the excess of power available over power required, so in fact the power curve dominates (diesels have massive torque, but in general are not as quick as a petrol car with less torque...

Before buying my Trophy I used to borrow my wife's MX5 (mildly modified in the suspension department) for the odd hillclimb and sprint - the MX5 fraternity mainly recommend the Goodyear F1, which seemed quite good, albeit the edges of the tread wore very quickly, even in a 70 second run. I...

Ben/Andy. Would this package work with the standard throttle body and a remap or piggy back ECU on a 182. My main interest is the mid range torque. How much difference does the viper make, and what about the small actuator on the air intake just behind the headlamp?

Re put the seat forward; Knees hit the steering column!! Not nice!

Compared with the other cars that I drive, the gear lever is about 2" further forward. This is fine for road use, but I have visions of missing the gear lever when competing. Other than an extension has anyone come across a neat solution which does not affect the working of the reverse gear...

I have lost count of how many times I have promised my wife not to modify a new car, and 2 years later - well there is always a good reason!! Oddly enough a small amount of sanity arrived when I decided that our MX5 (fun as it has been for doing hillclimbs and sprints rather slowly, although I...