The prices will be as follows and will run to the end of september.
Toe link kit = £275
Brace bar kit = £195 (Given how effective this is proving to be the price will be rising soon)
Those prices include UK shipping.
If you want to know how effective the kit is, there are quite a few people with the kit now, but MaxR has used his in anger on track quite a bit so should be able to tell you whether he thinks it's worth it
I had the first outing on the track with the new Spitfire Brace Bar & revised Toe links. To say it was better would be an understatement. The car was just so much better, it felt so much more planted & progressive on the limit than ever before.
Also the spitfire brace has further improved the amount of power I am able to put down mid corner & on exiting out of the bends by keeping the rear more planted.
The handling is now at the best that it has ever been with the Spitfire full setup on my car and I'm lapping faster than ever before, even the quicker Caterhams and being badgered by me on track as I can now take much more speed through the corners & noticeably put down more power out of them!
The details of the kits are as follows:
The standard VX220 toe links are a weak point of the suspension setup and really should be upgraded on a car which is running sticky tyres or is regularly tracked.
For the Elise which uses identical joints Lotus state in the Motorsport section of the service documentation that upgrade of these parts is essential forcars used on track with sticky tyres.
There are two problems with the standard joints.
- The joints can snap without warning, there are many documented cases of this on forums.
- Due to the proximity to the cat the inner joints can dry out and begin to seize.
A symptom of this is a knocking noise which sounds like snooker balls knocking together. This is particularly prevalent when the car is hot or the weather is warm. The only solution for this is replacement of the joints, however even new joints will suffer the same problems relatively soon.
The Spitfire Engineering kit solves all of these problems.
Double sheer inner mountings for extra strength
Motorsport spec aluminium rosejoints which are not filled with grease so do not require replacing
Adjustable for bump steer
Strength of the bar and joints far in excess of the standard joints
Joints are more precise for sharper handling
Contains:
2x aerospace grade aluminium hollow bars (hard annodised)
2x stainless steel brackets
4x inner bolts
2x hub carrier bolts
2x lock nuts
8x washers
4x neoprene dust covers
4x spherical joints
8x bracket nuts
16x bracket washers
8x bracket bolts
6x bumpsteer adjustment washers (1/2/3mm)
2x nyloc nuts
2x spanner flat inserts
4x custom machined collets (including the required grooved facing for indentation on subframe)
2x locating collets
Weighs 2.0kg - Lighter than the standard parts!
VX220 Subframe Brace Bar
The VX220 subframe suffers from flexing under hard cornering as the two lower legs of the subframe which connect to the lower wishbone and tie rod are not connected in the middle.
The consequence of this is the rear end feels less rigid and and flexing causes the suspension geometry to change under hard cornering, which is not good. When jacking up the rear of the car it is possible to see the subframe flex under the weight of a static car.
The S2 Elise which followed the VX had a similar type of subframe, which on some variants Lotus decided to bridge with a heavy piece of box section steel. Elise variant without this have the option of a Lotus Motorsport subframe brace which is not particularly well designed and costs £585.
Therefore following on from the Spitfire Engineering tie rod kit, a brace bar was developed using a similar hollow aerospace grade aluminum bar, which is capable of supporting over 4 tons.
The bracket height is adjustable to avoid various aftermarket exhausts and fit the VX220, VX220 Turbo and VXR. Nitrile spacers are also included which dampen any rattles from the rear undertray and prevent the main bolts from coming loose over time.
Kit contains:
Aerospace grade aluminium bar
2x Stainless steel brackets
2x Main bracket bolts
2x lock nuts
4x washers
6x spacer collets
2x motorsport grade rose joints with locknuts
2x neoprene dust covers
2x small bolts
2x small lock nuts
4x small washers
4x neoprene spacers
2x locating collets
Weighs only 1.24kg
Edited by CocoPops, 26 October 2008 - 02:06 PM.
Im interested but will have to see what funds are like at the end of the month
Drop us a PM when you know 
cheers
