Lauren

The stock settings have a lower spring rate at the front than the rear. I did it to ensure I could get a good amount of weight transfer under braking as I like to trail brake. I have driven cars with the 6/6kg setup and felt them to have a touch more understeer. It's a 'safe' setup if that's what you want. 

I'd say it's a bit too stiff. Most run 6/6kg. I run 5/6kg. You can get different springs. If it was me I'd change them before installation as it's a lot easier that way. 
 
I've driven Keith's car with his 9/7kg rate and though it wasn't incredibly stiff, it felt like it lost some of the ride comfort compared to mine. 
 
From what I recall different springs are around £120 a pair from Tein so it will add to your cost. 

I've never had to explain it to my fiancé. He knew what I was like when I met him. That's enough.

I've never had to explain it to my fiancé. He knew what I was like when I met him. That's enough.

No Keith :oSocks & Sandals

haha yeah you were all right about the wine We've got it under control now though (not at all)

Last Sunday we had a fantastic day in Gozo! roaming around the island in the 86, we then went for another lovely lunch at Ta' Tmun restaurant (obviously with a nice bottle of wine to compliment the meal), carried on sight seeing, stopped at the beautiful Azure window for an ice-cream and at about 6PM caught the ferry back to Malta.

Below is a picture of us at the Azure Window (YES! i managed to finally get a pic of Keith on the forum SUCCESS! )

@Nigelr32 oh we had that discussion alright! hahaha

Few updates! Now HKS supercharged and some sexy titanium dressup.

Tyres don't get that worn on a sprint. You do far less miles than a trackday. I compete on Primacy tyres (slightly stretched on wider rims), they last forever no matter how much abuse you give them I find.

Guys

Briefly Stepping out of the shadows to say hello and acknowledge the wealth of experience and welcoming attitudes on this forum. Thanks.

I'll continue to quietly enjoy my 86 and maybe see you at a get together one day

Cheers

Great stuff, remember the excitement when I ordered mine, it was almost too much to bear!

Hi everyone.
 
I've already introduced myself by way of a few posts elsewhere, but figured I should officially say hi here also.
 
I'm Ross. I'm 24 and live in a small town around 20 miles away from Cardiff in South Wales. 
 
I recently picked up my red '62' plate GT86 after a few months of searching and deliberating, and so far couldn't be happier.
 
My car history started with a Peugeot 106 1.1 (for about a month), and then a typical Vauxhall Corsa.
 
With the "young driver" phase out of the way, I went into a Skoda Fabia VRS at 19, which I had running at stage 2, at around 190bhp and 300lb/ft of torque. While it was a monster, I had some serious bad luck with turbos. I blew the original turbo around 3 months after it was mapped, and then blew the upgraded turbo 3 weeks after it was fitted (due to it NOT being a brand new part, as specified). All these events put me off the car completely, so I sold it on and bought a 2010 Seat Ibiza Cupra.
 
As with the Fabia, the Ibiza was immediately mapped and taken to a safer version of stage 2 (with a full turbo back exhaust with sports cat and remap). The Ibiza dyno'd at 220hp and 240lb/ft of torque, and was a bit of an animal (it was nearly 100kg lighter than stock, and ran low 5's for 0-60 at GTI International).
 
Alas, after nearly 4 years of ownership and still loving the car, the time had come for a change. I test drove an E90 M3, a C63 AMG and a Lexus ISF before realising that I can't afford to run a 15mpg V8, so I started looking at the 370Z/G37S, and then even started looking at modern hot hatches (new Astra VXR and Megane 265) before realising that the answer was in front of me the whole time.
 
I originally saw a GT86 at Wilton House Supercar day in 2012. I sat in the driver's seat and loved it. I said from that day, "if they made one with 250hp, I'd buy one tomorrow". That attitude is what forced me to look elsewhere. After coming full circle and realising that the GT86 was a possibility, I test drove one. Despite being down on power to my Ibiza, and way down on power to what I'd been looking at previously, I loved it.
 
I loved the character of the engine, I loved the interior, I loved how it went around corners, and most of all, I loved that it was the most fun per £ of any car I had tried. With a few weeks of grinding and looking for the right car, a 300 mile round trip and some money later, brings me to today.
 
In terms of plans for the car, I've already got it booked in for a secondary decat next Saturday (£110 fitted at Prospeed exhausts in Cardiff, the only place I will ever go for an exhaust), and will be looking at options when there regarding a cat back system a few weeks down the line. I'm in the market for some initial, "sensible" upgrades (new gear knob, front splitter, armrest options and a few others) and when all that is out of the way, I'll start looking at some more expensive and significant changes.
 
The end game plan, is that in around 2 years time, the car will be supercharged (I just want to find a good twin-screw system before taking the plunge), on 18" wheels, slightly lower, bigger brakes and perhaps wrapped. The wrap is the only real unknown yet, as I'm not sure if I want to change the colour, but everything else is certainly in the plan. 
 
I look forward to hopefully meeting a load of you at various shows as the year goes on, and look forward to sharing my progress, as well as following a lot of yours as I have been already.

So I ordered my first ever new car on Friday, a GT86 in red. I got a pretty special deal it seems, and a very short wait since I've actually bought a pre-built but not registered car so in theory it arrives a week tomorrow. I literally couldn't be happier because I've wanted one since the original FT86 concept was announced, but was never in a position to actually buy until now - I decided to launch a business instead!
My friends are getting a bit sick of me rambling on about GT86s now so thought I'd sign up to the forum and join in the conversation where it might be more appreciated
 
Got my registration number this morning, and signed all paperwork too so all I have to do is wait...

Watch him when he hits the wine. 

Hey Guys,
 
Dropping in to update everyone on what's going on at the moment! (I know i've gone a bit silent on my build thread but don't you worry, lots of info coming soon. spoiler alert: it's going well )

Anyway, So i picked up this mad old man up from the airport on Friday night that goes by the name of "Keith"! I thought it would be funny to wait for him in the Arrivals area holding up a Special K cereal sign! He walked right passed me though ;( I spotted him from his Custom Fensport/Toyota embroidered jacket (really jealous about that one!) so i chased him and eventually met up with him.

After loading up the luggage into the back of the very spacious GT86 we headed off to his hotel. Not too shabby i must admit! spitting (literally) distance from the sea!
A couple of beers + 2 hours later we were still at it, talking, laughing having a good time in general, before we called it a night.
 
This morning i picked Keith up from the hotel, we went to sort out his rent-a-car, got it back to the hotel, and made our way to a lovely restaurant (which Keith seems to have fallen in love with) for what i must say was a SPECTACULAR lunch! Beer, Wine, oysters, cigarettes the LOT! We were there from around 12 till 6PM! Awesome time we had exchanging stories!

We have plans to catch the ferry tomorrow and spend the day on the small but lovely island of Gozo! 

This guy is a total and utter nutter! True petrol head! Love him!
 
More to come

 

Finally got the dent in the roof fixed, also had the front end sprayed, not 100% happy with the colour match though.

650 miles.... Nearly there...

Beer should always be in the correct glass. They seem to be able to do it quite well in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Italy I find. Why is it so hard here?

Just a quick update on the flex a's. I met up with Will300 and Keithos last night. Keith gave me a ride in his car with hsd coilovers on dropped about 30mm which are very, very firm and let you feel every imperfection on the road but pretty much eliminate body roll so give quite a nice track biased ride. Will's car is still on standard suspension and his thoughts agreed with what I'd thought may be the case; the flex a's actually ride better than oem and that's with it dropped 50mm.

I really can't fault the flex a's at all - riding better than oem, dropped 50mm and set half way from full stiff. I'm on track next month so I'll add some thoughts on how they cope there and whether the excellent street ride is at the cost of on track performance or not.

The carbon effect surround is a MY2015 thing. They all have it. 
 
Sounds like you're enjoying the car Mr Biscuit. Get those 1000 miles done!

For the TSS I would say budget £250 for the weekend. This includes the Premier Inn where all the social stuff happens. Plenty of beer and a meal together in the evening. 
 
Fuel costs on the track are fairly minimal. You won't use much more than a quarter of a tank. Entry for TSS is £139 or so, Premier Inn varies, but got Croft at £54 for August, then it's just fuel costs for getting there and obviously food and beer. It's a great weekend away and we have a right good social with lots of banter included.

My local dealer (RRG Macclesfield) has fitted all my aftermarket parts. In fact I bought the car with a Milltek exhaust and induction kit as my dealer offered it as an option! Since then a number of other parts have gone on including suspension etc. The only thing I've really had an issue with is the Milltek cracking which my dealer sorted for me, no problem. 
 
To give you an idea of this forward thinking, the next demo car at RRG is going to have a remap! 
 
I've also had a coilpack and a heated seat switch replaced under warranty in the last 64K miles. 

Hi All.

I bought these wheels from Masaya recently. Had them refurbished and fitted them today.

Before


And now...






Fill the arches a lot better.

Keith's passed though, but I know Keith's cost him a good £600. Probably a case of you get what you pay for

It may be worth noting, that a number of us have modified our cars and kept our warranty. The cars are reliable anyway, not a lot seems go wrong. Enjoy.