pigment, piano, or marble

i had my first track event of the season; the "3 tracks in 3 days" event at the autobahn country club in joliet. i had recently installed new front control arm bushings and adjustable camber plates, in attempt to keep more rubber on the tarmac during hard cornering.

after having problems with the tires rubbing against the fenders at the last few events, and since the installation of the camber plates dropped the suspension another half inch, i tried my best to raise the coilovers back up to a suitable level before the event. unfortunately the passenger side front shock was not cooperating and i was not able to raise it as high as i wanted, even after trying a few times over a few days.

on the first day of the event on the north track, the car was doing well, but as i picked up speed in certain turns, the tires began to rub again. this continued on the second day on the south track and the third day on the combined, full track.

even worse was at some point on late saturday/early sunday when i noticed that there was a rather heavy clunking coming from the front-end with throttle input. the large subframe bolts that had been reinstalled with the new control arm bushings were backing out (all 4 of them) and causing the subframe to come loose. i tightened them all down as best i could, but after a few more sessions they had backed out again. driving, on a track no less, with a loose subframe is not fun at all. at the hotel i was able to dig through dozens of threads on vwvortex to finally find the right torque spec for the bolts and they have been ok since re-torquing them down properly.

at some point i went for a ride in davey's turbo r32 since he had just gotten it finished with a full roll cage, removed sunroof, plastic windows, and some other stuff. while riding in his car, aside from the awesome acceleration of the turbo, i immediately noticed that a large problem with my r32 was the lack of shock adjustability with my h&r coilovers. davey's kw v3's are stiff enough to not allow a lot of body roll, but soft enough to be smooth over bumps to keep the wheels on the ground (and obviously adjusted high enough not to rub the tires against the fenders). my h&r coilovers are so stiff that over bumpy sections of the track, the car would hop over them, causing a lack of traction and ultimately causing me to have to slow down or miss an apex.

on monday, however, i started to have another very troubling problem where full weight transfer to the passenger side of the car under a fast sweeping turn was causing what seemed to be the wheel rubbing on something and causing the whole car to jerk back and forth until i completely lifted off the throttle and slowed way down. davey was having a similar issue in his r32 last year and it turned out to be a bad wheel bearing. this forced me to end a number of sessions early and eventually frustrated me enough to leave for home early on monday.

and so, another weekend at the track, and more frustration with the car. while the added negative camber was a great benefit, the camber plates are annoying on the street. they pop and creak on low speed turns and the decreased ride height was causing clearance problems.

which brought me to a question; do i make the r32 a more dedicated track car, converting the roll bar to a full cage, gutting more of the interior, possibly spending up to $10k on a turbo or supercharger, and buy something else for a daily driver? or do i remove the roll bar and more track-oriented modifications and use the r32 as my daily driver and get something else for the track?

after having two previous "daily drivers", the mercedes benz 190e and bmw 318i, i know that nothing will be as fun on the street as the r32. it's comfortable (or at least, used to be) but handles great, and it's fast. i would probably not be able to find anything else for a street car that would satisfy me and still be able to handle winter duty without any trouble.

so i decided to give up tracking the r32. i pulled out the roll bar and removed the camber plates. the ride height went back up to something usable and i will eventually put the rear seats and interior back in when i get around to it.

so what to do about a track car?

buy a lotus exige, of course.

i had been considering buying an exige for quite some time but never looked into it seriously because i was content with the r32. i like the elise, but the added downforce of the front clip, rear wing, and rear diffuser of the exige won me over. i also prefer the fastback look of the rear of the exige, and i hate convertibles so i like the hardtop.

i found a phantom black exige with touring and track packs at fox valley motorcars that was "used" with only 1200 miles (the previous owner bought it, drove it to iowa, then drove it back and bought an exige s instead). they also had a brand new, white exige s in the showroom, but being new and having a supercharger, was quite a bit more than the black one. i wanted to drive both to see if the extra money for the blower was worth it, so i called them up and arranged for a test drive.

unfortunately the exige s had been sold the night before i got there, so my decision was sort of made up for me. the black one was at their other store, so we took out another exige and elise for testing. i was happy with the car, so i put down a deposit on the black one.

i picked it up on tuesday and have been driving it almost every day trying to get used to its contrasting handling before my first track event with it next weekend. eventually it will be just a weekend/track car but i'm just having too much fun with it now to keep it in the garage.

though as strange as it sounds, the r32 actually feels faster than the exige both in a straight line and in the turns. the exige has a 190hp 4 cylinder engine with no torque, while the r32 has a 250hp 6 cylinder engine that can leave a standing stop from 2nd gear and still throw your head back. i've regularly beat up on elises and exiges (both naturally aspirated and supercharged) in my r32 on the track, but so much of that is the driver so it's hard to say which one is really faster.

while it's hard to directly compare the two cars because they are worlds apart, with the r32 being a front-engine, all-wheel drive hatchback and the exige being a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive coupe, both have their ups and downs.

the r32 with its h&r coilovers and stock sway bars turns on a dime with absolutely no body roll, and is very neutral throughout. it's heavy, though, and feels like you're pushing a lot of weight around in higher speed turns and when tossing the car from one direction to the extreme opposite. as well, the stiffness of the coilovers is causing problems on rough tracks.

the exige requires more effort to turn (because it has no power steering) and currently has a bit of understeer, but i'm hoping that some alignment tweaks can dial that out so i don't have to mess with the adjustable swaybar. its cockpit and ride height provide almost no rear or side visibility, but safety aside, it provides the best environment for precise driving i've ever experienced. you are practically sitting on the floor, which itself is only a few inches off the ground, and your legs lay flat to reach the pedals, which are very small and close together, providing for easy heel-toe shifting. the steering wheel is very small and the shifter is up high and close to the steering wheel for quick transitions between the two. the gear shifter is very precise and has short throws. the r32 now feels like i'm driving a pickup truck with its high seat position and shifter so far away.

the stoptechs on the r32 with the hawk ht-10 track pads can practically stand the car on its nose. the brakes on the exige are small and have street pads on them, but because of the light weight of the car, stop it very quickly and in a controlled and balanced manner. i may need to upgrade the pads once i pick up speed in it if i find them to be lacking.

but even if i find the exige to be slower, i'm sure it will still be more fun to drive, and i won't have to do lots of modifications to it to get it to that point. it is an awesome driving experience and makes driving even my r32 feel awkward and boring.