First impressions are important because it doesn't take long to get accustomed to a change you have made to the car and consequently it becomes difficult to evaluate later.

The starting point with my car was Suplex RS front end and 5 leaf rear springs. As was discovered during the installation of the Suplex 5L rear suspension the king pins and front bushes needed replacing. No doubt this has had an effect too. The replacement by the way was with hard chromed king pins. I will finish with that subject first by saying that as soon as I got in the car I noticed that the steering was significantly lighter.

After the installation of the 5 link suspension Borghi drove the car and was very impressed. He said that the car felt much better planted on the road and cornered much flatter. He particularly felt that the inside rear wheel was maintaining better grip. I had driven the car immediately after the installation of the 5L system and on a short drive in Milan, including a cobbled street, I concluded that it felt good in cornering and certainly stuck to the road and that the ride had improved but as the setup was not finalised and the kingpins remained to be done it was difficult to come to any real conclusion.

Well today I picked up the car from Milan and drove it the 75km home, taking a slight deviation on the way smile

As mentioned before the first things I noticed was less body roll and the lighter steering, that, due no doubt, to the new kingpins. What I was not expecting was that the steering had also become quicker. A minimum movement on the wheel had an immediate effect on the steering. Rather nice I thought. Just what was the cause of this I do not know whether due to a better setup of the steering or the near absence of body roll I can not say.

When I picked up the car I was told that the dampers had been set 8 clicks down (out of 24) from full hard. The recommendation is for 18 clicks down from full hard as a starting point but Borghi said he felt this was too soft. It was previously mentioned that the Williams car was also set a bit hard and had to be adjusted softer so perhaps dealers like a firm ride.

The ride over small bumps and ripples in the road is just amazing. It is certainly better than my Alfa. I did however feel that the ride over major bumps or holes in the road is a little harsh and I will probably back off a bit on the dampers.

One interesting effect of the flatter cornering is that low speed low gear corners taken with a good stamp on the gas become much different. Previously the inside wheel would get light and start to spin, the car would then do a sort of sideways lurch and then snap back again. Now both tyres stay firmly fixed on the road and if a lot of power is fed in the back end starts to to move out in a nicely controllable slide that can be held with a "dab of oppo" . Brings out the hooligan in me smile

All in all I really enjoyed the drive home. I found myself comfortably taking corners at 10 or 20 kph faster without even really noticing it. The ride has improved but not by perhaps as much as I expected, but then I am convinced that the dampers are set a bit hard and there is a compromise to be made between sporty ride and comfort: I have 16 more clicks to go down to full soft so I have quite a lot to play with. The real test will when we go on our next tour with a full load in a month's time.

Peter

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