Absolutely first class write up.
Do you think the WALK kit has enhanced your diff any more, the poly bushes alone will give more control, but I'm interested to hear how the two compliment each other?
....Unfortunately, because it made sense to fit the WALK in the same workshop session, it's too difficult for me to assess in a meaningful way.
However, the steering does feel a bit firmer and she turns in extremely well. But my Quaife also plays an important (major) role in my car's handling. Mark and I still plan to go up to Bruntingthorpe and I think he will be able to judge it better than I can.
There's no doubt in my mind that the combination of the new suspension with the WALK and Quaife, all expertly setup by Mark, deliver excellent handling. But the trade-off is feeling every manhole cover etc - Not harshly but merely that it's there! I love that feeling of being firm and flatly planted, but not everybody does.
Friend Dan wrote this about the VWR/RL demo car : -
"We had a full tank and no time constraints so we just headed out with only one thing on our minds - to see how good this car was! First impressions were how civilised it was, even with a heavy duty clutch in there. I haven't driven a FWD car fast for a long time so thought I'd have to be wary of that much power going thru the front wheels. How wrong I was. The Quaife allied to a well sorted chassis had the power contained and although it was possible to spin the tyres in 3rd gear, it was all collected up before getting out of hand and you still made very rapid forward progress. Just ask the TT-S driver who we encountered (and subsequently left behind)!
In fact the Quaife for me was the most incredible part of the car. You could turn in to a corner, plant the throttle and the car just tightened its line and slingshot you down the road, giggling like a school kid. Personally speaking, this is the sort of car that would tempt me out of the MKIV R32. Its got the same rawness and feeling of connection with the road, yet its quieter cruising along, probably better mpg, and with the bodykit it has that stand out from the crowd look without being a Halfrauds special. The only complaint for me is still the noise. Whilst sounding awesome under load thanks to the uprated engine mounts, it still doesn't have that V6 warble I love so much, so fingers crossed VW get to use the 2.3 5cyl that Audi are putting in the TT-RS in the MKVI Golf.
In all we did quite a bit of a mixture of roads and both Robin and I were positively gushing about the car when we got back, so much so, I don't think Mark could take it all in so he got us to write down our thoughts to further help them focus this car for future customers. BIALI Stig - pah! Robin and Dan are Racingline test drivers! I said at the time I felt like a bit of a fraud - I mean what do I know about setting up a car but as Mark pointed out, we're real world drivers on real roads. The race track can only tell them so much about how to setup a car but this car is about being a fast road car and trackday weapon, and in this instance, Robin and I have valued input as to how it could be better. The answer for me was it couldn't get much better!"This is from his thread on BIALI about our day : -
http://biali.ritey.com/forum/index.php?topic=373.0I did laugh with the string alignment job, I've seen something similar before and when it was stuck on a laser job at a later stage... it was bang on! You can't beat old school methods.
....I should have added in my OP that the 'string' is high-tech, hi-vis, elastic string!
I have a firm belief (like you) thet you get what you pay for, sure VWR might charge £xx amount more, but they know what they're doing and you pay extra for the confidence. Some other tuners it just gets farmed out to the monkeys they have in the back on minimum wage and you just have to hope it was done right, a quick search on forums can provide plenty of examples of when they haven't.
In short, I love your car and I love your ethos to modding it. It sets a good example!
....Cheers, buddy!
Trust, confidence, and shared enthusiasm is so important. Good aftersales service then naturally follows as simply a matter of course.
I'm not sure you'll like my 'modding ethos' when I put RACINGLINE graphics on my car!!
My next mod is definitely VWR's 'Fast Road' engine mounts!
