A New Section and A Slight Redesign

[Eddie Hill]

David,
The first thing I can think of, is what a huge difference tires make. I love the traction and the response, the ultra light weight , of race slicks! The car just really does it's thing, with race tires. Any race tires, at least any I've tried.

But!! They don't hold their inflation pressure very well, have very little resistance to shrapnel or debris on the road, and they NIBBLE terribly.
I'm told nibbling is the term used to describe the tendency for the car to turn in, toward a high spot. Like going down a deserted two-lane, when the left tire touches the painted centerline, it turns left, and crosses the line, then when the inside of the tire gets to the farther(left) side of the slightly raised centerline, the car turns back right again, across the line, and then repeats. Of course, you can keep it from doing that, but I'm talking about tendency.

When I had street tires, Pirelli P-7's,(HEAVY), the Lola felt a WHOLE LOT more like a street car, like a Corvette. The good, and the bad. It felt kinda numb and sluggish, like going from a shifter-kart to a Corvette. But it never tried to turn, by itself, over raised painted lines in the road. It only did what you steered it to, no tendency to turn, on it's own. It felt sorta mushy in corners, but, the breakaway point was gradual and progressive.
SOME ,not all, of the race tires I've tried, were either stuck to the road, or sliding more-or-less freely, with not much of a window in between. God forbid you should come unexpectedly upon some water in the road, with slicks on the car!!


So, no surprise, street tires are probably better on the street, unless you're pretty familiar with the car and the particular race tires you might be trying on the street. But, again no surprise, it doesn't really feel like a Lola with street tires.

Your results may vary.

I rigged some Flowmaster mufflers, which were an improvement, for the street, over full open race pipes. Couldn't tell that they hurt performance.

Tried some air filters on the Weber 48 IDA's, and could never get happy with the way it ran with them, even after a LOT of fiddle-tuning!

Right now I can't think of anything else-

Take care.

Eddie

[David Pozzi]

Eddie,
thanks for the input.
I've found the Lola Tie rod ends can be worn but the internal spring will make them feel ok unless you really put pressure on them. I haven't found a better version as of yet. The way Lola uses them, they are swept from severe angle to severe angle, not the way they were designed to be used on a production vehicle.

The tire difference you discribe is typical of comparing radials and non radials. I race on Avon slicks and they are the only race tires I've used that hold air! Hoosiers work well on the track, but leak like crazy.

Kumho makes a V710 dot legal tire that is a slick but has two grooves like the old cheater slicks, but I doubt they make a wide enough rear tire for a Lola. We use the V710's on my wife's camaro for open track days, they are radials but more like a racing slick.

There isn't much selection in 15" rim super wide sizes for super high perf street use.

By the way, Happy Fathers day all.
David