Looking for an expert Porsche suspension shop in Georgia. I want to hear a recommendation from those rare few of you with serious track time who have invested a lot of goodies(Suspension) in your Porsches and are very particular about how your cars are setup for the track. Those few who have worked for a long time with their tech to set up just the right toe/camber angles.

With all due respect, often times such a request is answered by many who honestly have no idea if a shop/tech qualifies to be called an "Expert track/suspension setup shop". Just because a tech/shop installed a Pss10 and GT2 sways with adjustable drop links does not make them an expert.

Again, I mean no disrespect. I am only trying to get a QUALIFIED referral from a QUALIFIED source.

 

Hey bud it's Sunir from the MBworld forums...

I hear you on wanting a serious track setup...my quals: been racing competatively in NASA GT3, BMW CCA, and PBOC since 2004. Been instructing on track for PCA, BMW CCA, NASA, MBCA, and Ferrari Club since 2005.

A couple of starter questions - how much experience on track do you currently have? What are your goals for yourself and for the car? These factors both have a LOT to do with setup. When you pick a shop in GA you may want to look at which shops are winning races, how long have they been competative, what classes do they run...I know if you had a Porshce here in MD either TPC Racing with Mike Levitas or At Speed with Bob Miller would be good options. Both have racing history. TPC has the winningest 996 to compete in North America, the Agilon #36 car that won in Daytona in '04. These are the kind of places you may like to find...and with Road Atlanta there you should have several places to chose from.

As for suspension, in the race car it was rule determined, however I can tell you that dampers such as JRZ and Moton were what many competitors used. Again it depended on rules of the sanctioning body. For an effective track day only car, I would suggest a good set of bars for starters then checking all the bushings and suspension joints to see if any need replaced, going with spherical joints and rod ends helps here. With the actual suspension setup is more important than anything, you need to get seat time and start logging data, this is if you have an adjustable suspension with high and low speed compression adjustment and rebound, as the JRZ, moton, Ohlins and other high end dampers will allow. I would say spend some time with a race team/shop to go out there with you on a test day to help dial it in...it's a process, perfection off the start or quickly is tough. This is why it's called chassis development. Another part of this is the steer angles and front and rear alignments. We generally send with a good deal of neg camber up from with 1/16th toe out and max equal caster on FL/FR...with the rear cambered neg 2 deg at leas and 1/32nd toe in. That's just for starters.

the number one thing that will improve you out there is seat time and logging laps, becoming a better driver....the second important thing is the car and the setup...horsepower is way down on the list of what's important in the development of driver and car as a unified system.

 

Hello Sunir,
I appreciate the feedback and details. I was actually looking for a referral to a qualified shop in the Atlanta area or within 50 miles of it.

 

Whatever you do, install JRZ suspension....

 

There are a few race shops in Atlanta that do some pro racing around and have some good suspension guys. However what I've found is that some of them don't deal with track Turbo's enough to know that you don't just set the car up like you would a GT3 because it's not the same. Secondly, you get the backup or noob mechanic who might mess up your stuff (especially if you haven't spent a LOT of money there).

I know of some guys that work at the dealers who've worked for pro teams and I actually take my car to a shop right by Road Atlanta. There are some guys from Farnbacher Loles who started their own business but I have not been to them. PM me and I'll give you more info on the other shops. There are several nicely modded Turbo's that take to the track quite often here, I can fill you in.

 

Thx for the offer. Parts are not an issue (The cars has all it needs... parts wise).
I still need a GEORGIA based Porsche ONLY shop that is very experienced with race/track set up that I can count on now for the future.

I am surprised that its turned out to be such a "tall order" for Atlanta.

 

J3 Racing - Buford
Goldcrest Motorsports - Kennesaw (??)
Motorwerks Racing - Cumming
Graham Everett Motorsports - Braselton
Kinetic Motorsports - Buford


Disclaimer: I only have direct experience with one (Graham Everett) and he's set my car up exactly the way I asked him too every time. Sounds like you are looking for someone to lead you in the setup department. The rest I have friends who've been to except Goldcrest who are former Farnbacher Loles mechanics and very knowledgeable about setup. I've heard some good and not so great things about Motorwerks and J3 and a few really bad things about Kinetic. J3 does track support for some of my track buddies and they seem to be happy with it. Kinetic, J3 and Goldcrest have professional racing resume's. I've also heard good things about Chris Smith Motorsports (Braselton), he used to be a head mechanic for one of the aforementioned shops and went out on his own. I think he's a one man show though.

 

The order is not tall at all. When Farnbacher Loles was in business, I used their shop at Road Atlanta for my corner balancing and alignment.

After F/L closed, the crew chiefs of the 86 and 87 Porsches set up a shop in Kennesaw called Goldcrest. You can Google it. I believe they know what they are doing. They have the "steel wheels" that bolt onto the hubs so that when they make a spring perch change or whatever they might be changing, they can set it directly down on the shop floor again without the usual mal-alignment of rubber. This also eliminates the problem with the conventional clip on assemblies used by Hunter and others. Their measurements are only spot on if your wheel has no runout which is usually not the case. This is the same setup they used on their race cars at the shop and track and I do believe they know what they are doing. that's where I'm going as soon as I get my car ready for next season.

 

Heavychevy & Al Norton...thx...Just what I wanted.

 

Al and I are both at the track a lot, will we see the car in your avatar there soon?

 

If I get all the bugs out by the next event I'll be at the next event. My last event at midohio was not pleasant. I had just added gt2 sways front and rear with adj/links, corner bal & a fresh align only to end up leaving midohio early because the handling was just flat out odd (as in terrible). The car has been parked since then.

U would have seen it earlier this year a few times at the pca events, except in Oct (I was at the Texas Mile with the benz).

Sounds like goldcrest is a worth a try. Kinetic seemed a little impersonal and I dont like dealing with "service writers". I want to speak directly with the person fixing the car.

 

Just call and ask for Bob Sanderson.

 

Everytime the setup changes the handling charecterisitics change sometime for the better and many times for the worse, and if you are not an experienced driver it can be difficult to tell between the two. What may seem slower in the car may show faster times on the cicuit and vice versa.

My advice would be to keep the car as close to stock as possible if you are starting out doing track events. As you log more events and laps, maybe go to R compound tires and then later upgrade sway bars and/or add coilovers. The more adjustability you have in a car the more range you have but that also means a wider envelope to negatively effect the car's handling charecteristics. Dialing in a car requires lots of seat time, effective comunication to the techs, or an expert shop to help drive and dial in the car with you. The key is logging laps and seat time. I've seen tons of students throw a bunch of parts onto their cars and wonder why a stock car gets by them on track. Chassis setup is not a black art but it is only secondary to the driver who has the single biggest impact on how to set the chassis up.

just some thoughs

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

I would like to know exactly what the handling characteristics were.

 

I narrowed it down to these 2 shops. Both seem top notch. Motorwerks has in-house awd dyno but Goldcrest uses one down the street from them.

Your input specifically on these guys would be much appreciated.