Oh dear,
I think Fran and i are going to have to nail this one down well and truly and Lynne has also answered clearly the straight fact regarding the set up of the 917 and probably most other non large production cars as well.
Every car will have to be set up to suit itself and the driver. It will take a great deal of time to set the car up and YOU WILL have to play with ride heights, spring rates, shock absorber settings, roll bar setting, etc, etc, etc, and neither i or Fran or anyone else can give you a definitive ultimate setting. Frans chassis will come with the right parts to start playing with so the base will be there for all customers to work from, and i will be able to advise, alter,etc, as UK/Europe agent, any customer cars over this side of the pond.
I have had sleepless night over setting the 917 up. When i took mine to Spa for its very FIRST race it had never turned a wheel in anger before. I had given it a couple of shakedown tests at Snetterton to make sure she was holding together and that all systems were functioning correctly. I was determined to do a "world first" and actually race a replica 917K with full backing from Gulf Oil UK so everything was in the air regarding ideal settings.
Virtually all our previously held thoughts regarding set ups were to be thrown over the nearest hedge because she handled diabolically in the bends, but went like a guided missile in a straight line. In one official practice lap though when i managed to keep basically to a sensible line i managed 17th fastest out of 80 starters but a pile of problems were still there and could not be sorted out there and then, so the race was not a good one..
but we finished the race and i achieved my dream with this 917. It does get better each time its been out but it all takes time and money.
Now before the race Willi Kausen and Harald Deutcher both came over and spent some time with me and told me i must be mad to even race it so fresh.
Willi was a major figure in the 917s development testing and racing and he made it clear that it would take months of hard work to get it right but that i would get there eventually. Even David Piper, whos friendship and help i am so grateful for, has been cagy to give me his set up knowledge.
Taking one around town will be no different to taking it round a race track.
It will shake your fillings out, it will go under articulated lorries and car park barriers, it will keep you very alert, it will certainly deafen you if you have a open race exhaust, it will require a lot of money but it will do everything a 917K should. Be awe inspiringly fantastic and probably for most people so very different in driving experience to anything else they may have driven.
Just don,t drive head on into a wall !!!!!!!
I,ve a country mile to go still before i get it anywhere near right but i still have to adjust things for each circuit and weather change.
So please give Fran a break so that his team can build them. Once you have purchased one you can put what you want in it and alter it to your hearts content and even paint it pink with yellow dots if you like.
Graham @ GTA/Gulf Oil UK Racing
