Europa TC Competition Manual

[cazman]

I am new to the forum and have been reading through many of the "race" set up threads. I found the Europa TC Competition Manual http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/misc/jensen.pdf, which seems very useful. Specifically, the spring and shock set up. I think this (along with the other specs mentioned) might be a god place to start to set up my TC for the track (not X cross).

However, my car has modern adjustable coil overs for stock ride as most of the restored Europa's seem to. My question is if I was to follow the recommendations in the manual and use Konis and race springs, how do I find Konis with fixed perches in the correct position. Or does anyone use Konis in their Europa?

[SwiftDB4]

I wouldn't be constrained to Konis. That TC manual is almost 50 years old. There are many good alternatives to Konis now with adjustable spring perches. I did track days with my S1 for many years first with Spax and later with Protech shocks. I run 250 # front and 175# rear springs. They are a little stiff for street use, but fine on the track.

[BDA]

Why do you want fixed perches? I’m not familiar with the Koni shocks they used but they are described as fully adjustable so I assume that means for ride height as well as damping.

They don’t describe how they chose their spring rates but they seem curious to me. Most of us have much stiffer springs in the front and no rear roll bar while they went the opposite. Just a thought. I am not in any way criticizing their choice.

[jbcollier]

+1 on 50 year old recommendations being an interesting read but not exactly current best practice.   So, are you building a fun track day car?  Or, for actual racing?

PS: Welcome to the list!

[BDA]

  cazman!!

Sorry I didn’t notice you were new.

I echo JB. Please tell us more about your plans! Oh, and we like pictures!

[TurboFource]

I put generic aluminum adjustable perches on my front Koni's, there are more details on my build thread " Europa TCST"

[cazman]

Thanks for the input all.  I have gotten the bug to Vintage race, so I am getting rid of my track MR2 Spyder and I purchased an Europa. It is Europa73's. I was looking for a race car/track car, but found his and really liked it (it is a finished car, so I may be ahead of the game for once) It might be too nice to dog up for the track. I am not sure yet what I am going to do yet. In any case I have access to a local private track and I can have fun with it as it is. If I go full vintage race, I like the idea to follow the build of the Competition Manual. I know how long it can take to find the correct set up and they already figured it out (on their tires of the time). I think they went the way they did to allow adjustments in setup per track via the rear sway bar. That is what I do too.

With the MR2 crowd, half seem to go with higher spring rates up front and the other half do the opposite. The autocross people seem to prefer the former, so the Comp Manual set up appealed to me. In my opinion, most advances in the amateur race world are in safety, tires, and yes access to adjustable perch coil overs. Not so sure that valving to so different.

I am not sure yet if the vintage race group I will be courting has an opinion on adjustable perch coilovers. There rules say they do not allow coilovers, if the car did not originally come with them. I will have to talk to them about the Europa - is it a grey area?

Anyway I am a big Koni fan, so if I could I would go that way anyway. However, it may be hard to duplicate without an old set to start with. 

TurboFource - thanks for the thread. You have done much work.

[TurboFource]

I forgot to say…

[jbcollier]

Get the rule book and read it carefully.

[cazman]

Well, that's the rub. The rules say no coilovers if not speced that way originally.

Will the "inspector" say that a Europa came with coilovers and allow modern adjustable perch? There is always interpretation. Especially in vintage.

[jbcollier]

Have a look at what other racers in the same class are doing.  Talk to the inspectors and get an idea of how strict they are.  Now ask yourself, are you in it to win?  Or just for the enjoyment and personal challenge?

Favourite racing quote, "They had taken cheating to a whole new level."

[Clifton]

With the MR2 crowd, half seem to go with higher spring rates up front and the other half do the opposite. The autocross people seem to prefer the former, so the Comp Manual set up appealed to me.

You can't compare other car spring rates. Different suspension motion ratio's, sway/roll bars, and weight.

Hopefully this doesn't come across rude or condescending and I may be wrong but if you are asking about spring rates and coil overs to build a track car, you are way ahead of yourself.  I've seen a few people dump a lot of money at cars and never even get them on the track. If your Europa isn't caged yet, I would think hard on this. I know there are other guys on here that have gone down the dedicated track car build on Europa's and other cars. It's expensive, extremely time consuming and a loosing one when you are done. Cut the value in half plus a loss on all the parts. I loved road racing a 240Z and still autocross my Europa but the prep to make one safe for a road coarse is another level and the abuse everything takes is far greater, especially the on the paint and windshield.

[cazman]

They don’t describe how they chose their spring rates but they seem curious to me. Most of us have much stiffer springs in the front and no rear roll bar while they went the opposite. Just a thought. I am not in any way criticizing their choice.

I was just replying to BDA's comment on stiffer springs in the front being the opposite strategy than in the Comp manual. It can go either way, just like the MR2s go.

Here was my question, if you missed it:
My question is if I was to follow the recommendations in the manual and use Konis and race springs, how do I find Konis with fixed perches in the correct position. Or does anyone use Konis in their Europa?

[BDA]

Koni used to make replacement shocks for the Europa with fixed perches. I doubt they are still in production but they show up occasionally on cars being restored - Turbo’s most recently IIRC. If you find a set of them, I believe Koni will rebuild them for you, probably at a cost. After that, getting the proper ride height is a matter of getting springs with the correct rates and free length. Fine tuning the ride height might be accomplished using shims.

[cazman]

Thanks.  That is exactly what I would like to do. Fortunately, the Comp Manual has the specs for the rate and length.