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My Track Review:
I had a track day that started out dry and then got enough rain to close the course, and I drove in each step between. Track was Blackhawk Farms in South Beloit, IL. Short, technical and almost entirely flat (no elevation to speak of).
I started the first session with the adjustment set right in the middle - I found that to be quite comfortable on the street and plenty aggressive for fun street driving.
On track, after a warm up lap, I found this setting to be a bit too soft for my liking - the car was a bit wallowy. It had PLENTY of grip, and didn't feel BAD, but I wasn't crazy about it. Good, but not great.
For the next sesison, I cranked it up a few notches, basically splitting the difference between middle and full stiff. IT DEFINITELY felt better, but I still wanted to keep going, I felt a bit stiffer would be even better. Still though, this was totally good and I had a great session with TONS of newfound grip.
Before I got to try it out on full stiff (or something close), it started to rain. I moved it back a bit towards the middle setting again just to ease the brakeaway and get a bit more grip in the wet since I wouldn't be pushing the g's as much, and it felt great for that pace and traction level.
The 4th session was POURING, and I went full-soft and the car just had WAY more grip than expected. It still slid around, but again the softening matched the lower g-forces and it felt really composed and didn't do anything dramatic. The 5th got cancelled because the track had standing water all over it, and my day was done.
SO, all in all, i had a good day. I can vouch for a few things:
1: The adjustability had DEFINITE noticable changes and isn't just spinning for show.
2: The ability to gain grip in wet going softer was a very positive experience and I was impressed.
3: My only downside is that immediately I am already looking at running these things full stiff a lot of the time, showing me that the ceiling on them (for my driving ability) is a bit lower than I had anticipated. I FULLY understand that these being a reasonably priced coilover that is street biased with JUST enough headroom to be fine on track - but I was hoping that I wouldn't need ALL of their capability the first time out.
That said, my car is half road car, half autoX/track, and not a trailer queen time attack car, so this is still a pretty great matchup for my use. The top hats are terrific and quiet, the ride is superb and handling ceiling is FAR beyond stock or any spring/shock setup. I DO like them a lot, and would recommend them but just know that for a track-toy I'd bump up to something a bit more aggressive.
Still, great product and still kicks ass for what they cost. I love RCE products and their support of their products, and am happy to give them my business.
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