Quote:
Originally Posted by Buzz
Absolutely beautiful Absolute Pace, Guye! Now that you've gotten a few street and track miles under the keel, can you tell us a bit about how the chassis and suspension feels and works? Steering and brakes, ride quality, etc? If I do another Cobra in the near future, I'm seriously thinking it would be a Pace.
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Thanks Buzz.
The more I drive it, the more I enjoy it. And I'm not just 'Cobra-struck'! Sometimes I forget to reset the ride adjustment on the shocks (which is so easy with the in-board suspension setup) after the track, and it is of course very firm. Wind it back to only click 2 or 3 and the car feels to me like a good euro car. Firm, responsive, with feeling, but not unforgiving nor jarring.
The steering is quite light as long as your moving. Even at very low, sub-walking speeds. No power hook, so it is naturally tough at a standstill, but surprisingly not as hard as I recall my first few cars where in my youth! The turning circle is amazingly tight, which is great considering you really want to do the minimum steering turns when your parking, turning around, etc.
In terms of cornering, I've pretty well used the recommended settings and it was very neutral - no under steer nor oversteer to speak of. (I learnt what that is at ShelbyFest
).
I've adjusted the tracking on the car a few times for various reason, and settled to where I have it now. I like the ride height I've got now, but that does mean the rear tracking is arguably a little narrow in some people's eyes. If I move it out even 2-3mm further, the tyres rub the arches under suspension compression on bouncy roads. I think they are ok, and those nice looking flared rear arches especially just tend to make the wheels
seem they could go a bit further out, that's all.
In terms of the chassis, it all feels very firm and confident to me. Now, I'm no racing driver (I know, I know,
despite my huge win at ShelbyFest!
) so I haven't driven 20 different vehicles on the same track to compare. I've certainly been a passenger in the Pace427 also with someone who CAN really drive (at the Nationals - thanks John!) and the same chassis didn't feel the slightest bit spongy to me in THAT outing I can tell you!
Buzz - do it! I think I get a referral fee for the first O/S sale!