Lets not forget that when the Elan went for sale one of the slogans were that was a car to be driven by 90% of the people at 90% of its capabilities on 90% of the time. I believe that now what people that own an Elan M100 are looking for as nothing to do with that.
Nige wrote:
“What I want for my car is to move the superb road use suspension setup a little way towards something that is more suited to occasional track use, but without wholly compromising my enjoyment of driving the car on the road. I am greatly interested in anything that will assist in achieving that objective.”
That’s also what I’m looking for.
I’m not going to enter in technical discussions, I’ve learned more from reading the LEC forum in the last days that in all my live, so be please to correct me if I write something that is not correct (you can also correct my English) .
I have no doubts that fitting a stiffer rear ARB would make an improvement on the driving, I’ve had a Peugeot 106 Rallye with a stiffer rear torsion bar ( + 1mm than the standard) that made a lot of difference in cornering after that I’ve fitted Koni Sport with racing track specifications, and for me its in the top 5 on the best FWD that I’ve driven
One thing that I call to attention is “how much?” . In the Pug 1 mm makes a big difference in the handling that I felt.
When lotus made the car I’m sure that they have tested and tested different set of ARB but don’t forget my first sentence.
I believe that a small increase in the stiffness, with the suspension available on the market would make a difference, but will turn a car that was made to be driven by 90% of the people at 90% of its capabilities on 90% of the time in to a car that can be driven 90% of the people at 75% of its capabilities( = 90% of the old setup) on 90% of the time.
I’m sure that that would made the rear more a little slippery but the front would be able to deal with more power providing better powerful corner exits(I don’t find a better way to say it )
I hope that the work that Bob is making on the suspension with Eibach and Bilstein will make some results, my opinion is that he is in the right and correct way and that the understanding that we has on this issue is the right one.
If that suspension upgrade from Eibach/Bilstein comes I believe the next step will be also Eibach making a stiffer ARB.
Bob instead of 2 in 1(springs/shock upgrade from Eibach/Bilstein) why not 3 in 1 (springs/shock/ARB upgrade from Eibach/Bilstein/Eibach)
A big sunshine from Portugal
Luís