New SPF owner, questions!

[Mikek]

Congratulations on your new SPF!

I am also a fairly new SPF owner and just recently got my car out on a track for the first time to play with it.

I do have the 17" wheels on the car and yes they do look just like the 15"'s that come with it - just bigger and shinier... I'll echo the others advice here and say that it is definitely a good idea to move up to them...

First off - let me tell you I do love my car - and overall I am extremely happy with it.

But since my recent little jaunt around Willow Springs this past week has resulted in about $2500 worth of damage to my car - I think I just qualified to pass on a few warnings.

Let me also add - I have been to driving school - more than one actually and I recently got my SCCA competition license.

I should also mention that other than that I am a total novice and have a very bad habit of driving way past my meager abilities. (how else am I going to learn though - right?)

So as to my warnings - and maybe some of these are just specific to my car (SPF 1526) - but maybe they will help.

The first one is that no matter what you may think about your SPF - it is not a race car and does not handle like one. It is a grossly overpowered street car. Respect it for what it is.

As to some specifics - my car understeers quite a bit and if you are on the throttle - the effect will be much more pronounced. So watch your throttle use in turns cause if you are on it - you may not have as much room as you think.

Next thing - IMHO - the pedal setup sucks. The car is a real ***** to heel-toe downshift - especially at the higher RPMS.
When you miss your downshift - you will chirp/lock the rear tires and you will spin out - going from 4th to 3rd on the back straight at Willow is how I managed to damage my car. Ended up in the dirt pretty hard - but the damage was mostly through my own stupidity in that I forgot to re-latch the hood between sessions and in the spin, my hood came up and tore off. Screwed the fiberglass up by the nose pretty well too.

Next thing - yours is probably newer than mine and hopefully has the new drive shaft-locking parking brake. Find out becuase if it doesn't - don't ever depend on the parking brake - they don't work.

Next thing I will tell you is that if you can afford it - upgrade to the 13" wilwood brakes. One of my other little adventures in the dirt that day came about as I overheated my brakes. (Stock 10"& 12" wilwoods) Since my car was under-steering I was trailbraking a bit as well and for the first time I found out what happens when your brakes overheat. Again - IMHO - the car needs more brakes.

Next - with the 17" I was rubbing the fenders against the rear tires a bit as well and we had to raise the rear a bit (which by the way also helped with some of the understeer)

My biggest headache though is the suspension. To me the car is unstable and I learned a new term this week (more so what it actually meant) "Bump-Steer" - my car (at speed) with the 17's does not sit well at all and probaly requires more work to drive than any other car I have ever been in.

Granted - some of my issues with my car may only apply to being on the track - but let's face it at 24 yrs old - we all know damn well what we were like at that age. So please be careful and be around to enjoy your car for a long time to come.

I'll also repeat what everyone else has said - take a few days and spend the money on a good driving school.


Other than that - Enjoy!!!

Mike

PS - SierraMadre - you mentioned that you are on your second SPF build - any suggestions for a different pedal box or alterations and I could also use some suggestions for some changes to the suspension.