Going Wide

[Colin Cooper]

Hi guys,

I am thinking of going for wide front suspension. Are there any pitfalls? With the extra levarage, will the springs / dampers need upgrading (I am going to replace them anyway) ?

Is it worth it?

I only intend the car for road use.

Cheers,

Col

 

C.J.Cooper

[Grubbster]

I'd be interested to hear thoughts on this too as I am considering converting to wide track in preparation for a change to Freestyle trackday dampers later on. The widetrack kit is only £400. It is one of those things that I think should be standard on every car if it is 'better' (at least the cycle wings wouldn't hit the indicators!) - I can't see why the narrow track still exists (of course it could be just to retain a sell-on opportunity I suppose), and the cost for production must be near as dammit the same.

[Richard Price]

If I were specifying another new car for myself, I'd have wide track, but as an upgrade, I think your money could be better spent elsewhere!

If I thought wide track would shave half a second from my sprint and hillclimb times, I would have had it four or five years ago. I think there is more to be gained from having your narrow track car set to suit your needs.

Personally, I also find that standard springs and dampers work quite well.

I'm sure I'd feel gutted if I'd spent over £1200 on a set of Nitron dampers and didn't go any faster!

[Grubbster]

When I bought my car I asked CC what difference widetrack would make I was told 'about a second a lap' and at £1000 for the option decided not to bother. I'm planning a gradual upgrade process over the next few years (I know this isn't cost effective compared to buying a car with everything I want but thats the journey I'm on) and part of this is to go for the trackday damper set and maybe adjustable roll bars - therefore I now need to decide whether to go wide track beforehand or stay narrow for ever . . .

[Grubbster]

Sorry Colin, looks like I hijacked your thread and now nobody else wants to advise

 

BTTT

[SLR No.77]

I wide-tracked my old car IIRC I only paid around £340 for the kit from Demon Tweeks. I'm not sure if it's the same now, but at the time the DT price was quite a bit lower than Caterham's own price!

 

Definately improved turn-in .......... but ........ the positioning of the spacer washers was different for the wide track than the standard. This in itself would probably improve turn-in. As would softening the front ARB which I did at the same time. The damping/spring rates also becomes less because of the increased leverage - around 9% I think, but somebody may wish to correct me.

However, and this was the key point, with the wide-track, standard springs & Bilsteins and a careful setup with particular attention to ride height front & rear, the car handled really sweetly, and looked pukka. The last bit probably doesn't apply to narrow track so definately recommended. Just call me shallow 😬

 

Stu.

 

---

Joint Area Representative MAD Sevens (Merseyside And District)

www.superse7ens.co.uk..........the rebuild 😬

 

 

[Drumster]

When I rebuilt my 7, I decided that I would invest in widetrack. The kit from Caterham includes absolutely everything you'll need. As I needed to replace my 15 year old dampers anyway it seemed a natural thing to do.

 

Although the cost is not cheap, I did manage to offset the cost by selling the 'narrow track' wishbones and front ARB for £125.

 

Maybe, becuase I hadn't driven the car for 7 months, but the new version of the 7 does seem to handle a lot better than its predecessor.I'm sure it's a combination of new dampers/springs all round, new rear suspension bushes and wide track that makes the 7 turn in a lot more solidly, so I can't really comment on the effect of wide track alone.

 

Was it worth the extra cost? Well, I guess that comes down to personnal opinion really. Some will say yes, other will say no. For me though, I'm happy with my decision to upgrade.

 

Chris Alston

C7CAT 1800 Supersprint

R248 ....and then I jumped in