355- 360 handeling ??

I'd start with tires & pressures ...
To me, the most dramatic change between 355 and 360 in handling is the 360's much more direct steering.
The 360 may seem more tail-happy because it has significantly more torque at low rpms.

 

i had both and the 360 is far superior in the handling department.

must be a problem in the set-up

 

The F355 has longer a-arms, and this gives it the edge in mechanical grip and a slightly more benign handling at the limit, and less sensitivity to ride height adjustments.

The 360 has shorter a-arms and a lot more aerodynamic grip, which makes it much more sensitive to ride height (including air pressure), and makes it slightly more on edge at the limit as aero gets disrupted when the tail is hung out, lossing downforce.

I suggest getting and using a probe tip pyrometer to see what is happening at the contact patch, and adjust the air pressure and suspension to suit the tires you have on the cars.

 

whether in a corner or going straight at high track speeds, the 360 feels far more planted than the 355. the 355 also feels light at high speed braking whereas the 360 once again feels planted with no rear end wiggles.

 

I also have both a 355 and a 360. Agree the 355 "feels" better. Believe the 360 in fact does handle better. However, it is much quicker and more powerful rendering it more difficult to manage and control. Because the 355 is more manageable and easier to control, it may feel like it handles better.

 

355 F1 (1997): 1 min 33 sec. (ave. 116 km/h) 380 hp - 292 km/h - 3.9
kg/hp
360 Modena (1999): 1 min.30 sec. (ave. 120 km/h) 400 hp - 297 km/h - 3.5
kg/hp

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

 

chaa, i can't give you exact lap times but i was about 2-4 seconds quicker at mosport, which is a high speed track. the more i drove the 360 the greater the spread.

i got my 355 after coming from a modified 993 turbo and i really didn't think the 355 felt that good on the high speed corners. when i started to track the 360 it felt sooo much better. in retrospect, even though my times were ok, i think maybe my 355 wasn't set up properly.

 

Owning one (355), and having driven the other quite a bit, I agree with your comments, especially with the one relating to the 355 feeling light at high speed braking.

Regards.

 

I've thought the same. My 355 used to feel much more planted, especially so at slower speeds.

Mitch's explanation makes a LOT of sense, as the 360 improved dramatically on a track as speeds increased, it become less tail happy.

Also, again as mentioned before, bare in mind that the 355 is less torquey.

The steering is certainly more direct on the 360, but it is mostly initially, it seems to turn quite quickly into understeer, and then snaps into oversteer.

Personally I think the 355 was a better sorted car, although I'm sure the 360 is faster, but I put that down mainly to better grunt and most important far superior brakes. The 355's were bloody awful!

355 quite unstable at med high speeds (circa 130MPH) but curiously seemed to settle down again at 165MPH? Maybe I just got used to the instability! lol

 

Iffy high speed cornering can be adjuted with the rear ride height (lower 2-3 turns). Jittery transitions from power to brakes at high speed can be adjusted with front ride heigth (raise 2 turns). These adjustments move the car less than 3mm (0.1") and make a difference once you find the sweet spot.

In addition, due to a chassis that is stiff enough not to "take a set" adjustments smaller than 20 pounds of cornerweighting change are recognized in the steering wheel. Few road cars are this sensitive.

 

I get the feeling that the 360 was intensionally designed to make the steering and acceleration appear very direct INITIALLY, but only very initially (i.e. cornering and accelerating to a medium degree). However when you push both cars hard, they are much more equal in capability.

This really works in a 'test drive' situation. I loved the 360 handling during my first two test drives - and thought it was amazingly better than my 355. However upon reflection now, I realise this is not the entire picture, you just have to work a lot harder to get the same response from the 355!!!