[Max Banks]

I'm sure many of you have read my comments on suspension before, but since Gary has asked Iwill just cover a few points.

Rear sway bars are 100% unnecessary for all cars except race cars running lowered rear rollcentres (lower rollcentre = more effective roll) AND slick racing tyres. By not running a rear swaybar and optimising spring rates to control rear roll, you end up with a car that is much more stable in high speed corners and far more predicable on the limit - hence why 'even Gary' can slide his car nicely!

The 'old fashioned' way of setting a car up with massive spring poundages and standard front sway bar are way outdated - Control roll with roll (sway) bars and control pitch, ride comfort and balance with spring rates. Stiffer springs are proven not to automatically reduce roll (although naturally they do up to a certain percentage increase from standard - try photographing a race car with a set lb spring and then increase 50% - you will see little difference in roll - it can often even be worse as the inside wheel unloads much faster as the shock absorber can no longer control the massive spring poundage). Roll bars operate in a complex way and don't only increase wheel spring rate on the outside front tyre - their other modes of operation dramatically reduce roll in a way springs can't. The great thing is that softer springs = much better ride quality, much more predictable handling and are far safer in wet conditions.

Ride attitude is crucial, rear higher simply is a non-starter.

Suspension bush material is crucial, get the combo wrong and it doesn't matter how clever your suspension is, the car will not work well!

So these are basically some of a few of the theories involved in our suspension kits, the bottom line is there is also no strict formula to punch data into to get perfect suspension - otherwise all cars would handle perfectly - Its only by masses of development and testing that you can perfect setup, fortunately by driving 105s all the time on the road, trackday and full race, development time is time we have in abundance.

I see someone talking earlier about my Youtube video at the Nurburgring - to get this straight - that is my street GTA rep, not my race car - as a result all the suspension is stock locations - still using the OE T-bar (but in aluminium) - it is even running on pure street Toyos. As you can see you really can make stock geometry work very efficiently, if the setup of the car is right!!! Out and out race cars benefit from watts links but its not necessary for street cars and transmits far more vibrations. The end which for me is more important is the front end - geometry with rollcentre below the ground and inherent bumpsteer makes life much harder than it should be behind the wheel - we are just finishing a superb new front geometry package that corrects all problems whilst retaining standard wishbones - this makes it perfect for fast street and track and also complies with many race regs. Think of it as a combination of my tubular wishbones and heiom jointed trackrod kit in a very simple and affordable package. Its going straight on my GTA rep when finished in a few weeks!

I hope this helps to clarify some points.

Max