Your workmanship is amazing. The technology and know-how going into the frame and components is incredible but what I'm really blown away by is the sheer beauty and aesthetics of the body. It's going to be breathtaking when complete, can't wait to see the final product! Yuliya
Fantastic project and great thread, thanks much for taking the time to share! I have a 308 with QA1 shocks and 200lb QA1 springs, and this quote caught my eye: I've only done about 15 laps of Road America with my car, but plan on doing much more next year. The 200lbs springs feel great to me - slightly firmer than stock but still quite livable with the 90% street driving I do. What spring rate did you have on your 308, and what did you go to? My father (old school car guy, used to race SCCA and restore Jags) lives near Trenton NJ, and I'm sure would love to visit your shop sometime to check out the Mazzer. Any plans to sell rides? cheers Kurt
Nurburgringer, thanks for bumping this... I had neglected to put it in my favorites and had lost track of it! Wil, any updates?
Well, what works on one car doesn't necessarily work on another but my 308 has bigger wheels and tires, bigger brakes, bigger sway bars, better shocks and much more power than stock. You may also find that 15 laps at Road America is not enough time to bring your lap times down to their potential. The car handles much better and more neutral with the heavier springs because I was constantly down on the bump stops while cornering with the 200 pound rear springs. I've forgotten exactly what the spring rates are right now. I'll take a look tomorrow and will let you know. Yeah, anyone interested in taking a look at the Mazzer is very welcome. Wil
Thanks for the interest. Not much to report except for some progress with surface prep on the nose/bonnet and the molds for the headlight covers. Until recently I was still working on the 308. Not to bum anyone out but my mother is dying of cancer right now and I've been trying to keep my father's spirits up and dealing with all the related family obligations. I was going to work on the Mazzer tonight but I'm exhausted. The car will get done and I'll be back on it soon. It just won't be as soon as I'd hoped. Wil
BTW: If you want to see how the heavier springs work, take a look at my Youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0QmjBYds8Y. The blow-off valve malfunctioned that day and the boost dropped from 8PSI down to about 5PSI, so I was down on power but if you watch and listen closely you can hear lots of tire squealing in the turns without a lot of steering corrections so you can tell the car is handling pretty well.
Of course, it's like a regular guy following Arnold's Mr. Universe era diet haha. Thanks, I had seen that excellent video but didn't realize it was yours. Serious machine, very smoothly driven. My 308 would get eaten up and spit out vs yours, but it's nice to know the chassis can handle this kind of driving! Is it reinforced with cage+? Where do you shift? Stock gearbox? Superimposed speed/revs/gear/brake/gs etc would complete that video. Very good watch as it is. if you have a link(s) handy for more info on your 308 I'd love to check them out. I do not want any softer than 200#ers, and know many here love the 300+. But like you I find her handling at 10/10th (<100 for me) to be neutral, fun, and hopefully even more predictable than I think. I'm just going slower slower, rollier, and squealier Hardest suspension I've ever felt was in a well driven Radical on the Nordschleife. Second a Manthey 996 GT3 with 440hp. But I also like being able to go over speed bumps, take enjoyable 3 hour cruises, plus all the cars I drove on the Ring were sooooooft. Here's a silly little video I made up mostly of the rental Opel Speedster I did over 100 laps with. This was the first trip for Elise guy (Psycho), and after leading him around a few times at a modest paste he got cocky and spun 720 degrees at ~120mph over Schwedenkruez, didn't hit anything. With the Opel I was around 8:45 BTG given a clearish track. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2221257423351405110&ei=fcg6S5yHNonCrAKlkrBz&q=edelbach+nurburging# salud
I have been following this thread and am so impressed with the quality work! I will be praying for your mother - so sorry. Mike.
No, there is no roll-cage or roll-bar in the car and it has street tires. I am planning to install "strut tower braces" in the car to help stiffen it but since it's a GTB it's actually, and surprisingly, not too bad in the rigidity department. That could change radically with slick racing tires of course. I looked at the springs on the car today and they don't have visible rate markings. I'm pretty sure their 300 pound springs in the back though. I looked at my old springs and found out that I lied. I actually had 175 pound springs in the rear and 170 pound in the front. They were OK on the street although the car would occasionally bottom on big bumps but they were lousy on the track. I kept spinning the car in the middle of a turn as it settled on the rear bump stops and the suspension would suddenly get very stiff and go into over-steer with little warning. I believe in soft springs too but too soft is no good. Below are two threads about my 308. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101045 http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=202588
I was mostly shifting at about 6500 RPM to save the engine but naturally, sometimes I shifted at 7000. Yeah, the gear box is stock. You'll notice I was shifting slowly to save the synchros. The box had Agip Rotra gear oil in it at the time and it didn't like quick shifts. Since then I've switched to Red-Line gear oil and it shifts much better. This year, 2009, was the first track driving I had done in a very long time so in the beginning I was mostly concentrating on my driving. Later in the season we began paying more attention to the car itself (ie: springs, sway-bar settings, various tire pressures, gear oi, etc). Your video link didn't work for me. I'll try it again.
OK, it worked this time. Funny to see bikes out there with the cars and even funnier to see the Range Rover leaning over through the turn!
Wil, So sorry to hear about your mother... My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Mike in Kuwait
thanks for the links, good reading! 175# are softer than stock! I think I was most impressed with how solid your car looks: very little steering wheel corrections, smooth transisitions, etc. Yeah Nurburgring public days are a circus. There is everything from RVs to turbocharged Vipers. I had a front row seat for one nasty accident at Adenau forest between an 18yr old swiss kid in a Celica and a british biker. He eventaully recovered, but just as easily could have been killed or worse. Still love the place though.
I bought the spring set with aluminum Vari-shocks and heavier sway (anti-roll) bars from a guy on F-chat a few years ago. It was supposed to be the hot set-up. The sway bars work well although I would have preferred hollow bars (they're pretty heavy) and the Vari-shocks work pretty well (one failed internally, under duress, but was easy to replace an O-ring on and it was back in business). The QA1 springs were too light and of poor quality. They kept sagging and I was constantly re-adjusting ride height. The Hyper-coils on the car now are race-car springs and top quality. Yeah, the car handles pretty well. The next thing is some more sticky tires but then broken stub-axles become a factor. The ring looks like fun. The best I've done in Germany was a few trips down the autobahn with the pedal to the metal on a rental car. Throwing a rental car around the French Alps was a blast too.
Hi Will Magic Stuff congratulations!!! I am a late comer to the thread and sadly at a difficult time with you family. You are part of a special group of people who have spent a measurable percentage of their life with exotic specials. Here is a List of cars I know off. Rebodied 365 Ferrari -20 years work, A maser 3500 having a 4.9 Khamsin engine and new body sections to be a 4900 GT proto-8 years work so far. 308 with a V12 and 288 body (not in the US)-8 years work so far, and a Cira 60s mid engine Montreal V8 powered special -5 years work so far. There needs to be a special thread for these amazing people and their cars but a couple of people want them left as mysteries for various reasons. Regards Graeme
