After a shakedown, the car is as good as it's going to be on it's present component setup. Full setup sheet attached. The car is very compliant with the tabletop and any curbing no problem whatsoever. Stiffening the front bar made an improvement to how the car behaves as well as increasing compression up front. Everyone that has driven the car wishes it could be stiffer, but I think it is limited by relatively soft spring rates! TC Kine is truly a master at the dual duty machine. But for strict tract duty on Toyo RRs, it needs more. But then again, TC's personal GTS has the same 600lbs springs in the rear with everything else stock GTS and he's running Hoosiers.
The RRs feel best between 36-38 hot. 34 they feel mushy, past 39 they feel slippery.
The toe in at the rear has made the rear the most solid it has ever been. No longer are we always trying to tune the rear to be stable. Maybe the toe arms helped as well there. The rear is so stable that now the front doesn't seem to match. Maybe a whisper of toe in up front would help but I think it just takes a bit of time to get used to the new setup. Matched personal best easily on back to back laps. A little bit of understeer is present that can be corrected a few different ways, all part of driver development and learning. Either 1) let of the gas and let the rear catch up, 2) open the wheel a bit and use the curbing if needed, or 3) give it more gas and get some weight off the front and let the diff do some of the work. The F80 feels easier to drive than my E36. Toss either car around, trail brake too much, go in too hot, completely miss the turn in, the car just does what you want it to. She is also actively trail braking and what fun to back it into a corner and a simple wheel correct, brake release, or throttle application gets you online (or offline) with no drama.
Getting a car to handle the way you want takes time and change. We are so so glad that we have people like TC Kline and Mitch Wright (GM at NCM and FIA racer) who took the time out of their busy lives to sit with us, drive the car, work through the setup changes, and give us advice and concur on the changes needed.
I told her that through better or worse, this car has never wronged you. And indeed, couldn't think of a better platform for her to track with, especially at a track like NCM.
f80 setup by
D S, on Flickr