Hi there! I was happy to find this mod because I have an '87 AW11 and I found that the NA mod to be pretty unrealistic. I think this suspension tweak does a really good job adding more body roll but I still feel like the car loses grip a bit too easily. Might be an issue with how I drive in AC vs real life though. Either way, I think it's a big improvement so thanks for making this!
You are very welcome, dear fellow AW11 fan,
We are a dying breed, .. aren't we? There are so few aw11 around and many are driven by young and care-free owners who easily molests and wrecks the precious few surviving samples. And I am guilty of neglecting my 86 show car. Anyway, we are all young once.
Thank you for your complement in this "mod". It is really just a tweak. Initially I thought I can really make it better, like significantly. Now I am not sure. Today I ran both the original SC from ToyoB and my most recent tune at a similar setting on EK Tsubuka Fruit-Line and .. yeah, there is a difference. The original car has this spring or rubber-band feel on the wheel, like if I went too far, it would snap back. And the car did snap back in a hurry, once it started snapping there is little I could do to recover that. Mine, with a slightly different rear suspension geometry, and about 1.6 Hz ride frequency front and back seems to tame that a little. On the ToyoB SC the rear spring rate was way high, plus there is a rear arb. What most people do not know is that high rear spring or wheel rate and rear arb both shifts more weight toward the front during weight transfer, such as braking or trail-braking. And adding cornering lateral load demand as the weight is shifting away, takes away rear grip, and the rear end gives out.
Anyway, this is what I learned, like really understand lately, from the tweaking I am doing now. (I just did ACCR's Lancia Stratos, it is now fun.) Lesson ONE, keep the rear arb away from AW11. It is not needed in our car. Toyota took r arb away for a reason, now I believe them.
Oh, you meant SC mode not NA mod right? The starting point of my tweak is ToyoBart's aw11 SC mod.
"loses grip a bit too easily" Do try to describe how it loses grip. During trail braking? Downhill entry to a turn? Exiting with throttle?
The ultimate limit on grip is about tire. If you want more outright grip and lower lap time, I suggest that you add a semi-slick tire from CM. And maybe tweak the setup.ini to allow you to change it.
I am currently raising the ride height to about 170 mm from about mid 150mm, and reducing the negative camber in the rear to 2 degree. I did this to get close to what my car, which was an ES AutoX car, with stock height, and -2 degree was the most I was able to get out of it. And then to balance that I added f arb to 10K and reduced the front negative camber. Certainly this does not increase the overall grip of the aw11, but perhaps add a hair of realism or a bit more forgiving.
There is something addictive about driving this aw11, with na engine. Yes, it is slower than the SC but the tracking out, corner exit, is so .. satisfying. (I did one corner on Thunderhill.) On the SC I could not simply mash the throttle. Trail-braking or throttle can help rotate the car, and it challenges you to get close to the limit but also bites you if you cross the edge, thankfully not too bad, if you have the road. With my tweak, I felt that I could sense the edge approaching and not getting surprised. On the track when it spins, it simply scrubs off speed and recovers. In comparison, the NA mx-5 felt boring. Even Elise felt less responsive. An AutoX buddy of mine is a mx5 guy. When he visited and drove in AC on Laguna Seca, he crashed and spinned every single cars except MX5 and Lancia Fulvia. AW11 trains us well, MX5 in comparison is the EASY button.
Sorry about the lengthy reply. I do love the AW11. Do share your thoughts, I welcome them.
Cheers, "Mr. Lee MR2" search words on Google for my 86 on 2 magazines.