Quote:
Originally Posted by bfrank1972
All 100% true - I think, however, the moderate front weight bias also contributes to the overall excellent and approachable handling characteristics of 86. Not optimized for ideal performance under braking or putting power down, but you can really explore the limits of these cars without a sphincter workout.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k
My Cayman felt considerably more twitchy than my S2000 (to me at least).
But that's not a straight F/R weight distribution comparison. The Cayman has a very low polar moment of inertia since the mass is centralized.
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Thinking about this a bit more, and "twitchiness" vs. "responsiveness"...
For sure if you just move the rear wheels forward 10" with no other changes, the car will be more responsive and less understeery. Shorter wheelbase, lower polar moment, more turn rate for given steering angle, front tires less overloaded. I don't think that would make the car unstable, but for sure it would make it more *responsive*, which could be perceived as twitchiness. This could be mitigated with a slower steering rack to give same rate of turn per steering wheel input. The AP1 S2000 has plenty quick steering with a 13.9:1 rack, vs. FT86 13:1. If you ratio by wheelbase they should have the same turn rate per steering wheel input.
Leaving spring rates and sway bar rates the same (front-stiffness biased for 55/45) for the 50/50 2-seater would "correct" to some degree the change in under/oversteer balance at the limit from the improved weight distribution.
Could also go with some tire stagger. Keeping the same average 215 tire width they could go with AP1 stagger at 205F/225R. IMO not necessary but it's another knob to tweak if desired.
Anyway, I've never found *responsiveness* to be an issue with lightweight/low-polar-moment cars as long as the suspension geometry is good (AP1 shortcoming). The best-handling car I've ever driven was a tiny 600-lb. Formula 440 at Road Atlanta years ago. I had only a few track events in my 240Z under my belt at the time, and I found the F440 to be *sweet* to drive. Very pointable, but also very easy to recover.
Starting to think maybe I buy a 2nd-gen in a couple of years and do some cutting and welding on the '17 PP...