My Puma.. Maximum Track Attack!!

[PumaJay]

30th may at cadwell park..... 2 weeks today!

 

[PumaJay]

painted the new wheels matt black at the weekend, not the best paint job but im not that bothered!

 

[madhillbilly17]

well they look pretty good in the pic k:

 

[Flying Scotsman]

OOOOOH...... I like very much!! :thumbs:

 

[PumaJay]

cheers dude... will be fitting them this weekend, just need to get some new center caps

 

[moondustka]

Went to see DTM at brands on the weekend. They love their canards, so must do something!

I really like how your puma looks. How much are those front splitters?

 

[PumaJay]

splitter or canards?

splitter is a CF racing puma jobby, £220 and the canards were an ebay find at £30

i noticed my bumper is being slightly pulled down with the canards on, need to secure abit better

 

[PumaJay]

Fitted the OZ's today, took it out for a spin and it feels very different to drive, doesnt feel as stable but im guessing that might be down to the larger tyre walls having abit more flex than my old 40 profile tyres on the 17's maybe?? I probably just need to get used to the way it now drives and feels need to get on top of it asap though as im off to cadwell park on wednesday.

anyway i took a before and after picture, i do like the look of the OZ's makes the front brakes look even bigger and it does sit much better on 15's than it did on the 17's

Before..

After..

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Yeah they look good...... I reckon, im my opinion it needs a few more touches... mud flaps, rear wing.... and maybe some canards on the rear perhaps?

 

[PumaJay]

yeh i reckon a couple of little touches...no mudlfaps though, ive got some little carbon ones on the front but i do want a rear spoiler/wing and maybe a rear difffuser

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I'll second the diffuser shout... I want to find someone who can make a FFRS mk2 rear bumper fit my puma.

 

[Chappers]

Yeah they look good...... I reckon, im my opinion it needs a few more touches... mud flaps, rear wing.... and maybe some canards on the rear perhaps?

Sounds like extra weight for no gain to me. I think it needs a proper welded roll cage

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Yeah they look good...... I reckon, im my opinion it needs a few more touches... mud flaps, rear wing.... and maybe some canards on the rear perhaps?

Sounds like extra weight for no gain to me. I think it needs a proper welded roll cage

Hahahahaha.... seems like extra weight for no gain to me.... think it needs a trailer....

 

[ScubaSteve]

cage makes quite a big improvement to the cars handling, stiffens it up a lot

 

[PumaJay]

yeh i would like a roll cage but as ive already said, im not putting much more money into this car, ive just bought a house and im saving for a mk1 focus RS

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I wonder actually how true that is.... there must be some merit in it but a roll cage is there for saftey rather than handling properties... I wonder how much a shell actually flexes in a quick chicane between a roll caged shell and an uncaged shell....

 

[ScubaSteve]

oh yeah cage is far more about safety but it does have some handling benefits

 

[Flying Scotsman]

But do the handling benefits out weigh the extra 50-60kg....


and will you keep the Puma after you get the FFRS1?

 

[ScubaSteve]

id say the benefits of not dying in a crash outweigh the 50-60kgs lol

saying that my 6 point only weighs about 30kgs

 

[Chappers]

I wonder actually how true that is.... there must be some merit in it but a roll cage is there for saftey rather than handling properties... I wonder how much a shell actually flexes in a quick chicane between a roll caged shell and an uncaged shell....

It's not so much the cage, it's general chassis stiffness and the fact that a cage would accomplish that very well on a Puma. The Puma is 14 years old now, and chassis design has come on in leaps and bounds since then. I'd imagine you wouldn't see as much of a benefit in a newer car.
Chassis stiffness is really helpful when you're tuning suspension for track work because it makes it easier to predict what the wheels will do. If you're 100% relying on the suspension rather than 90% suspension and 10% chassis flex (OK probably not quite that much), it'll be a lot harder to keep the tyres where you want them to be.

On British roads, however, I think it's that little bit of flex that makes the Puma so good. Our roads aren't flat like tracks are, so the whole package works very well for the minimal overall production cost.

I'd love to see how Jay's goes round a track. Mine felt like I was killing it, it rolled quite a lot and tended to cock a wheel round the tighter bends. I think I overheated the dampers on the day because it felt a bit shoddy for a couple of days after but then seemed to come back. once i'd done a few more miles of standard road driving.