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Track Day/Fast road Suspension set ups.



Jamie

ClioSport Club Member
Hi,

I was wondering if people can shed some light on this topic and post their findings.

I was talking to Mark Fish and from what I can understand his suspension set up for the Trophy incorporates some adjustable rears, lower stiffer springs (15mm lower, not sure on increase llbs) and 2.0 degrees of negative camber. The front on the Trophy is quite stiff as standard and with his set up he usually doesn't increase this, but does stiffen up the rears.

Can someone explain how each component affects the car overall? I'm having the Mark Fish set up and want to be able to understand matters and how it will effect the handaling characteristics, especially if I want to change it about.

What I have found with the Trophy, rather than the 172, is that it's the back which is more likely to let go than the front when pushing hard. It has alot more front end girp and thus understeers much less so on a sweeping corner or sharp bend the front will go round and it's the back can feel quite livley. You may have to put through some corrections. This matter is clearly visable when in the wet. This is something I'd like to try to reduce to give a more pleasurable driving experience especially when on track. That is, more rear end girp. I feel this would increase the overall confidence I have in the car and allow me to go quicker. Either this, or simply more experience of driving with the current set up.

How will lowering it and increasing the rears stiffness help to give more stability of the rear? What affects will it have overall bar less body roll?

I'm really stupid in this area so guidance and peoples findings would be good. Prehaps we can collect some data on what settings we find works well on what set ups. I.e. those that run koni's and eibach's. Those that run the MF set up and what front and rear adjustable settings to use....
 
  Lionel Richie
a car should be setup to how YOU want it which i'm sure Mark can provide

in simple terms oversteer = hard rear, soft front (understeer being the opposite)

an off the shelf setup (ie everycar is the same) won't suit everyones driving style
 

Gaz_

ClioSport Club Member
  Extreme mode
My Cup now pretty much runs about 10mm lower than o.e, but on the B14 Billsteins. Best thing i've ever done. Its a right weapon on a good B road. It was a good 15mm lower before last weekend, but imo the car was being upset/thrown about too much for my liking. Reading through the TUV blurb that came with them, the approval was for maximum 20mm lowering (even though they will go lower). Imo lower than that, they were working outside their optimum parameters. Is a Mark fish a track or B road set up, as the two will be different..............?

When Gibb told me his height settings on his MF Trophy they were pretty much how i started with the billies.
 

Jamie

ClioSport Club Member
Well. The revalved Koni's which go solid are exclusivley for track. The non revalved ones are more for fast road and the occasional track day. Reason being is the revalved ones will go much, much harder. So unless you're tracking it he said there is no point for the revalved ones. I have a track day booked in mine and will probably do more. It won't be like some peoples cars on here which lives on track. It'll go on say 2/3 per year. Therefore, what I'm looking for is a fast road set up which does well on track. For track I can go alot harder but I won't be wanting that for everyday. Tbh, the front is very stiff and Mark did say to me, that often he doesn't actually increase the fronts, only the rear.

The MF springs which he sells (only sells one type) take the car lower by about 15mm.

So what we're saying with the Trophy is, that as standard, the fronts are alot harder than the rears - too much so. He stiffens up the rears to make it slightly more neutral. The lower and stiffer springs reduce the roll. The camber enables better cornering under load.
 
  182
As fred said, for more rear grip you will need to soften the rear or harden the front.
Just for a reference, when i went to Sportlines the rear is alot calmer as the front is now stiffer.
 
Last edited:

Sir_Dave

ClioSport Trader
I do hope you're buying all this via the group buy i sorted out on the ClioTrophy forum lol ...

10% off!!

I'm actually not going for it anymore, as im going to see what its like on track before tinkering with it. Then as you say, if i want a bit more adjustability ill get the front de-pinned and bung some koni's on the back, along with the lower springs ...
 

ForceIndia

ClioSport Club Member
  Gentlemans spec 200
I personally think anyone going direct for this setup should seriously, seriously consider an adjustable arb 1st. If that's not sufficient go from there, but the arb makes such a massive difference. It's the 1st suspension mod to consider (imo, having gone round the block with springs, coilovers), I'm already looking at having a custom setup done for the 200.
 

Jamie

ClioSport Club Member
Dave, yes I'm getting it from the group buy.

Cheers for the input Brown but I've already committed to the MF set up. I appreciate the feedback though. With the adjustable ARB how does that affect the handaling from firmest to weakest setting. I note they're only £100 or so, therefore in the future I may consider fitting them also with the MF stuff. However as I'm such a noob I'm wary of fitting stuff and making the handlaing worse or snatchy.
 

Gaz_

ClioSport Club Member
  Extreme mode
I personally think anyone going direct for this setup should seriously, seriously consider an adjustable arb 1st. If that's not sufficient go from there, but the arb makes such a massive difference. It's the 1st suspension mod to consider (imo, having gone round the block with springs, coilovers), I'm already looking at having a custom setup done for the 200.



That'll never c**k a leg in Gentleman spec ;)
 
  MGP W02
I personally think anyone going direct for this setup should seriously, seriously consider an adjustable arb 1st. If that's not sufficient go from there, but the arb makes such a massive difference. It's the 1st suspension mod to consider (imo, having gone round the block with springs, coilovers), I'm already looking at having a custom setup done for the 200.

... and I thought the 200 was gonna be staying standard ;)
 


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