Repost for the week crowd: Stasis Tracksport Coilover Suspension Review (500f/600r/sport valving)

[36valves]

Hi folks,

As you may have read already, I attended an 1-day Audi driving school last Monday. That was the first time I got to try out my Tracksport c/o on the track, so here's my review of it.

Before the review starts, here's my setup:
- 500 lb front
- 600 lb rear
- sport valving
- ~25.5” front
- ~25.625” rear
- street alignment, tuned more for straight line driving (don't have specs)

And here's a pic of my car's stance:



Firstly, I could have used more springs, as the car still had some roll in corners as well as dive during braking, but it's nothing alarming like the stock setup. Plus it's intended for a daily setup, I can deal with the minor trade-offs.

I usually leave the damping in "normal street" setting (+1/2 turn front, +4 sweeps rear). For the morning session (drills and exercises) I turned it up an notch to "aggressive street" setting (+1 turn front, +5 sweeps rear). I could tell it being marginally firmer, but nothing dramatic.

For afternoon full course lapping sessions, I cranked the damping all the way up to "track" setting (+2 turn front, +7 sweeps rear), and that made more difference than the "aggressive street" did. And I could now feel all the small bumps on the track that weren't as noticeable before. But still I was pretty comfortable in terms of ride, I didn't feel any bump-steer as a result of it, and the car definitely feels marginally sharper. Mind you that particular track wasn't that smooth, I bet it'd feel much better on a smoother track. Btw, all damping settings were provided to me by RyanS4 a year ago.

As for handling, it was very good. The only problem is that I am still running on stock Blotenza RE-040, so the tires were the limiting factor on grip. I could feel the suspension working hard trying to keep the car neutral, and it did a great job, but there's still a hint of understeer. And when the tires started to slip first, there's not a whole lot you can do. However, it's almost impossible to unsettle our cars. You can lift abruptly during a turn to quell the slight understeer, and it just tightens the line and go, no drama whatsoever. Quattro definitely plays a part, but I honestly couldn't "feel it work", perhaps I'm just so used to it by now.

One thing I realized, is that while my Tracksport c/o made the car much more nimble in turns, it's still far from tossable. What it has is tons of raw grip, which is different than handling in absolute terms. It can hang on in hard corners, but it can't dance around it. I know it sounds cliché, but that's my observation.

Overall I'm still very satisfied with my setup, especially for a street driven car, where you likely won't probe into the upper portion of its handling/grip limit, at least in the dry.

If you remember I inquired about the group's opinion on the Mini Cooper S a while ago. I'm still not sure whether I should sell the S and get the MCS, but that car is an example of nimble handling, it tip-toes around corners, able to change direction according to driver's input, and still possess a very high level of grip. Having choices are good, but I've put too much thoughts into it already and still haven't figured out!!

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[(R)S4 SmokedU /-///]

[LI-S4]

a writeup is coming soon.

I can tell you I think I hit it dead nuts on with the 600/700's for aggressive street. I run +1 & +5.25 on the rebound settings.

I haven't tracked yet, although I amhoping to before the end of the summer...

[LI-S4]

[36valves]

aka the agressive street setup and I think I like it better than the normal setting. The seems to feel more settled, but the ride isn't stiffer at all.

[LI-S4]