Whoo! It's warming up in here!!!

Unless they've changed it in the past year I know Berry's secret shock recipe! But you know how the saying goes - "If I tell you then I'll have to you. . . " And it's pretty hard to get those stains out of the nice suede fabric on my seats . . . so I can't tell you because I hate to clean

Seriously, though. All of the Showcase Mitsubishi Evos have run *similar* spring and dampning packages since they switched to Ohlins in late '04. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I recall the stories correctly the Showcase Ohlins suspension package was developed by John Tak and Andy in conjuction with Mark Daddio. There have been a few tweeks over the past few years but no drastic changes. I'm sure some of the new owners of the cars have made a few tweeks also, but as far as I know, no major changes. Until someone comes along and beats this Ohlins setup then I have to say that it is currently the benchmark of EVO autocross suspension (at least on R-comps).

EVOlutionary

 

As for the 675# springs in the front - do you know if he is using the 29mm GroupN Tarmac front sway bar??

 

stock bar...

 

By "successful" I meant, simply, as fast as the national champions. Autocross is a non-paying, completely amateur sport, so it seems not quite fair to require that someone pay thousands of dollars to go to the national championships, with no hope of financial reward, in order to be considered successful.

But the "person of interest" himself has posted a message below, including his front spring rate, so 'nuff said.

 

Wait, do you have suede seats in your race Evo?!? 'Cause I was thinking of covering my Recaros with sort of a ****-carpet type of treatment. Do you think that would be a little much?

 

Ha - you got me! That's the secret to my speed!! The roughness of the suede acts like a vortex generator and creates more downforce for higher cornering speeds.

 

Any modifiations done to the front bar???

What about the rear bar???

 

Both stock.

This stuff is no secret. It's basically the old Vishnu setup of 700/900 w/stock bars, although I have my own ride heights and alignment.

Personally it (it being the spring package, I have been on Tein dampers up until now, not ohlins) has worked well for me, although I don't think it is optimised for autox and I'm leaving time in certain places.

Mike,
The Showcase guys never discuss their suspension setups online. AFAIK, if you want their specs you gotta try and buy a set from them.


griceiv,
"but how do you know where the speed comes from? I've seen good drivers go really fast in crappy cars. It doesn't mean they couldn't go faster if the car was better."

I get your point. But in order to catch a good driver in a good car requires both a good driver and a good car. Out of curiosity, do you guys consider your IX optimized? I know you been surfing a bit and asking Q's (diff thread for example).


John

 

I was talking people going fast on a local level. It's now obvious that you're the one they were talking about. I wasn't trying to say you have to go to nationals to be accepted as fast, tours and pro's work also. And I completely agree about catching good drivers in good cars.

I'm not sure it is 100% optimized, but the to do list is damn short. Maybe 99.8%. We're done with what we're going to do for this year, now it's just practice and tuning until nationals. hopefully we can beat those damn CSP cars!

 

I remember seeing your car in Plainfield. Your car seemed pretty low for ride height (like Mark's car). Due to my coilovers, I cannot get as low as I would like due to the diameter of the coil which was rubbing the tires. You were pretty fast as I remember .

 

If you're stepping up to triples, Penske is more shock for the money than Motons. And there's no question as to which are better supported by vendors you can find at Solo Nationals...

 

I thought Penskes are way more expensive than Motons. So wouldn't they have to be a whole lot better to be more shock for the money?

I do understand that Penske has better support at Nationals, though.

 

I had the same problem in front with my Stance coilovers, when I switched out springs that were less than 6" for springs that were more than 7". My 285-width Hoosiers rubbed slightly on the coils, unless I used a 3mm spacer, which I would rather not do until I switch to longer wheel studs and open lug nuts. 1.25 G's exerted on lug nuts that only have about 8 full turns (vs. stock 13 turns) is not a recipe for a long lasting connection between wheel and hub! :-)

The other thing I could do to get the clearance was to move the bottom strut bolt to the minimum camber position, but even with a camber plate, that dropped me from -3.5 to -2.5 maximum camber, which is not nearly enough, in BSP.

Anyway, you should look into shorter springs, if you can get them.

Mike

 

Off the shelf Moton 3ways are about $8k. Penke 8000s are about the same from what i remember. zzyzx makes a fitment, but I'm not sure who else does.

Why triples I wonder? Do you have a shock potentiometer to collect velocities?

d

 

Got the bolt to max camber. I am using an 11mm spacer with the ARP studs. I am thinking of changing my coilovers to the bonejarring spring rates that we all want for fast turns.