Road racing (non-drifting) suspension questions

[Jaggorri]

I've been researching coilovers for a s13 hatchback for a few weeks now, and I'm trying to determine which ones would be the best for road racing. Going sideways is fun and all, but it's also the slowest way around a road course (unless you are in an old Porsche). Most of the setups I've seen seem to be for drifting and not grip racing, so I figured I'd ask you guys for your recommendations as well as experience.

One thing though- I absolutely refuse to purchase anything made by JIC, no matter how good their stuff supposedly is.

Thanks.

[sscguy]

Just curious, why the refusal for JIC? And what exactly are you looking for, just a spring/shock combo or fully adjustable coilovers? I'll be going with KYB AGX shocks with either Tein S-type springs or Whiteline springs. I don't need adjustment though, and won't be driving the car competitively, so that might not be the case for you. I found a Nismo setup, also nonadjustable, and I haven't read anything about it, but I'd assume that would be nice for roadracing.

[Dousan_PG]

might check out a few setups
Zeal is well known for racing.
Ground Control is EXTREMELY popular for grip and used by many many people.
also the Advance Design(?) setup is popular and seems to be of high quality.

http://www.advance-design.com/

[AKADriver]

Advance design dampers combined with ground control springs make a KILLER race setup.

It's all about budget and the use of the car... you say road racing, are you building a car for ITA/ITS? Or will this be a daily driver/track day car? You can spend $4000 on pimpy full on racing parts, or you can spend $1500 on a good solid street/race setup, or $700 on a street setup.

Just because they say they're for drift doesn't necessarily make it so. The demands of the spring and damper to the drifter are similar to those of the racer. They'll run different tires, wheels, and alignment, but spring and damper choice is more a function of vehicle weight and the track surface than driving style.

[Jaggorri]

Excellent! Thanks for the advice guys. The car is going to be mainly for open track events and street time will be very little. I would prefer coilovers as this car is mainly going to be a track only road racing whore. ;)

sscguy- My refusal to purchase JIC products stems from some very questionable business practices of theirs. I would just simply not support them at all.

Thanks again guys!

[sscguy]

Questionable business practices, eh? I was unaware, but ok. As for Zeal, yes, I forgot about them. Some ITR guys are running those and absolutely love them. Not real cheap, but really really nice from what I hear, and they're all about roadracing without ANY sort of drifting.

[TBreu007]

I have GC's Advance Design stuff and absolutely LOVE it. You could go with Koni 8611's (I think) too, but they don't have a DA setup...only single adjustable. The Advance Design struts are more money ($2400), but very well built and have excellent adjustability.

If you're not planning on ever running in ITA or ITS, I would say just go with some good Teins and save some money.
If I were you, I'd get Ground Control's Koni IT setup, or the Advance Design because after a while, driving schools will start to get old, and you'll want to race wheel to wheel. I wish I would have just slowly built a dedicated race car when I started driving schools instead of trying to make my WRX daily driver into a street/race car. Would have saved a lot of cash.

[sykikchimp]

Originally posted by TBreu007
If I were you, I'd get Ground Control's Koni IT setup, or the Advance Design because after a while, driving schools will start to get old, and you'll want to race wheel to wheel. I wish I would have just slowly built a dedicated race car when I started driving schools instead of trying to make my WRX daily driver into a street/race car. Would have saved a lot of cash.

I find myself falling into this exact situation.. I've decided to simply no longer buy anything for my car that isn't necessary for me to progress as a driver.

i.e. no more engine, or suspension mods.

All money is going to the schools

Don't buy anything for the car that isn't IT legal. Seriously. You'll cut your options down big time. As fun as HPDE's are, W2W is where it's at.

If I where you I'd go for the Koni GC setup.