HANDLINGWITH CARE

Words: Steve Bennett Photography: Antony Fraser Bennett heads to Center Gravity for the ultimate in chassis setup and to get the best from his Ohlins coilovers from suspension guru Chris Franklin. Has he achieved handlingnirv ana at last?

With Ohlins coilovers fitted, it’s time to get project 996 C2 handling and set up properly at Center Gravity

First up I would just like to thank all 911&PW readers for your patience. I realise that my never ending quest for suspension Nirvana has been something of a trial and that yes, maybe I'm trying to achieve the impossible. But at least nobody can question my diligence and willingness to explore all possibilities, a quest that has seen me transition from factory M030 sport suspension to a standard Bilstein B4/eibach set to Ohlins coilovers. Look at it this way: Perhaps I'm doing this so that you don't have to!

And what exactly is it that I'm looking for? Well, put simply, a suspension setup for my 996 Carrera 2 that will work on typically ragged British B and A roads, but with the emphasis on the former. Maybe that's because I live out in the sticks and so spend a lot of my time on such terrain, but let’s face it, most UK blacktop is pretty awful and awful enough to justify specific suspension settings. It should be possible but, to achieve it, something bordering on bespoke seems to be required and certainly not something that comes straight out of a box and largely developed for smooth – think German – Tarmac. A suspension setup that doesn't work well on UK B roads is – in my not so humble opinion – not fit for purpose.

Bespoke is the key, and with coilovers comes that bespoke option to fine tune the bump and rebound characteristics of the damper, albeit within the confines/parameters of the springs. A coilover setup also allows for bespoke ride height options, too. The Ohlins kit, then, seemed to be the way to go not least because of Ohlins’ huge success on track, road and rallying and as suspension choice for the likes of Singer. If it’s good enough for them, then it’s certainly good enough for me. Oh, and Ohlins were keen to help in my quest too with factory support, but I'm getting ahead of myself a little here.

You will recall that the Ohlins POZM100 kit was fitted speedily by UK distributors Design 911 at its Essex base. The task was made all the easier thanks to suspension components that were largely new and so were easy to remove, with none of the typical 996 seized fixings. Setup was as per

Ohlins’ out of the box recommendations in terms of front and rear ride height and damper adjustment and the car was given a basic geometry alignment, so that the wheels were pointing in the right direction. Basically the suspension was on, but what to do with it beyond that was open to question. Or to put it another way, this was just the start.

To leave it like that would have been an absolute travesty, but I do wonder how many people actually do? I had some vague notion of fiddling around with damper settings etc, but soon realised that this would be futile and a waste of the infinite options in adjustability offered – not just from the Ohlins kit, but also from the huge adjustability offered by the 996’s complex suspension, combined also with the camber adjustable Rpm/eibach front and rear coffin arms that I've been running for some time. In short I needed help, but fortunately I knew exactly where to go: Center Gravity.

This family run business is spoken of in near reverential terms by suspension setup fetishists and junkies and its list of Porsche clients reads like a who's who. Spookily, head honcho, Chris Franklin – the suspension whisperer himself – had been following my haphazard progress in these pages and had clearly been expecting my call! Aided and abetted by son Pete, daughter Holly and wife Jayne, I knew that I was going to be in safe hands and that surely handling/suspension Nirvana was but a day away. “Unlikely,” was Chris and Holly's blunt but realistic assessment on my 8.30am arrival at their near Nuneaton premises, but at the end of the day we would be a lot closer.

But surely, I reasoned, I now had all my ducks in a row? New suspension arms where required? Tick. New coffin arms all round? Tick. New Ohlins coilovers? Tick. Blimey, I'd even gone and fitted a brand

new set of N-rated Michelin Pilot Sport 2s (at Chris's recommendation), and those don't grow on trees in 17in sizes. Ah, yes, my 17in wheels. If that isn't commitment to the pursuit of hardcore ride and handling and a two-finger salute to the shallowness of style over function 18in wheels and beyond, then I don't know what is. In short I was questioning the expertise of Chris and crew before they'd even started, albeit in my head in a 'how hard can it be’ sort of way.

If suspension and geometry setup were a religion, then Chris Franklin would qualify for the dictionary definition of an evangelist. Never before have I met someone in this business with quite the same level of passion and zeal. And in order to achieve his aims, he doesn't start with the car, but the owner. “What was it that I wanted from my suspension setup and ultimately my car?” Well, I trotted out my B road mantra but under further questioning I came up with an analogy that summed up exactly what I wanted: a 996 that would stick to the tail of a well driven Subaru Impreza on a typical B road. In other words something that's perhaps more akin to a Tarmac rally car. This seemed to please Chris no end. He was also happy to be tackling a 996 C2, a model that he rates as being the best starting point to achieve the ultimate in modern Porsche handling. A basic Carrera 2 – the enthusiasts’ choice as ever. And so to start...

Handling is as much about feel as it is geometry and figures. Or – as Chris puts it – “feel is real.” Therefore the process starts on Center Gravity's well worn test route, which encompasses varying roads, cambers and surfaces, with Chris at the wheel. Almost immediately we're hard at it on a mini roundabout on which the nose refuses to connect with. Town centre cobbles test the efficiency of the dampers and allow for the 'snooker ball' test which is effectively the characteristic clonking of worn suspension components. It's a double pass on that front, as it should be in view of the recent programme of suspension renewal.

Onto a stretch of dual carriageway and the 996 is showing a tendency to self steer under acceleration. It's not massive, but explains why it needs a constant guiding hand. Likewise it's troubled by cambers, too, drifting to the left or right. Chris can clearly pedal and on to some B roads he's pushing hard. Direction changes are not what they should be and the steering feels light or lighter given that the 911's rear engine location is partly responsible for its characteristic feel. There is also a slight wayward swing from the rear. Again, this is a 911 rear-engined characteristic but this feels more pronounced. And there's something else that Chris has picked up on from the very get go: It's stiff, particularly at the rear, which is what I've been banging on about for ever.

Back to the workshop and it’s time to work through the various findings and see if they can be explained by the initial geometry check and then corrected. There is a sequence to be worked through here and Chris starts with the dampers by placing the car on four pads in the workshop floor, which jiggle the suspension

Handlingis as much about feel as it is geometry and figures

as if on a washboard and test the dampers over different frequencies. It's no surprise I guess that the Ohlins pass the test, but you never know and a rogue damper is not unheardof.

Tyres next. Again no surprises, they're new, manufacturedweek 33, 2017, so very new in fact. Chris really rates the Michelins above any other Porsche N-ratedtyre and they certainly have a certain 'chewy' compliance to them. It's reassuring to think that whatever work we do with the suspension will be transmittedto the Tarmac via new rubber. However, the tyres do throw up signs that the camber and caster are slightly out at the front, which account for vagueness and wandering tendencies.

Time to get the car on to Center Gravity's chassis rig to check over the suspension components. My confidence in the myriad of suspension arms is largely borne out but Chris's eagle eye spots a couple of worn suspension arms at the rear. It's not a massive deal but it's better to replace them andthey're in stock in Chris's suspension cupboard. Interestingly, while the shelves for the modern generation Porsches are positively groaning with stock, those for the earlier air-cooled 911s – andin particular pre '89 cars – are decidedly sparse, thanks to the relative simplicity of those early machines.

Of more concern, Chris spots that the engine mounts are completely shot. This couldwell account for the slight swing from the tail combinedwith the above worn suspension arms. A new pair are sourced from Euro Car Parts and delivered within the hour andfittedup with a modicum of brute force to get the oldones off. They're fluid filled, or at least they were. The date stamp on them reads 1999, so they're undoubtedly the originals. My wallet is taking an unexpectedhit...

Right, so now we really do have a clean bill of health for the suspension in all areas, so everything done from this point can only enhance andimprove. It's time to start tweaking and adjusting, but not before the car is pre-loaded with weight at the front to replicate a full tank of fuel. This is how the factory set up is achievedandforms a starting point. Following this Chris carries out an initial geometry setup to “square the car up” andget the wheels generally pointing in the right direction.

Chris describes what we're looking for as the alignment of 'the three cherries', which is to say correct ride height, corner weights and geometry. Ride height is the starting point with everything else following. For the record, before we started the car was sitting lower at the rear than the front, which would also account for some of the steering variation and wandering. Chris suggested that we go with a known Porsche ride height and we pondered between M030, GT3 andx74, settling on the latter, which features a 30mm drop. In Porsche parlance this is a fairly hardcore setup in terms of springs and dampers, but of course we were only interested in the ride height side andthe subsequent geometry as a result of. Spring rates and damper settings are exclusive to the Ohlins kit.

In this guise the car doesn't sit as low as it did with Ohlins’ own 'out of the box' recommendation. Now we have a front axle ride height of 128mm and a rear axle ride height of 138mm. A bit of rake is no bad thing with a 911 andhelps shift a bit of weight forwardfor better turn in.

Within the ride height process, the corner

weights are also attended to. Unlike some coilover systems the ride heights and corner weights are adjusted via the damper body on the Ohlins, not the spring preload. The trick is to balance the car diagonally from corner to corner. Chris describes it rather like balancing a wonky stool and adding a beer mat here and a beer mat there until it’s level. Achieving an absolutely perfect balance is near impossible with any sort of car, so it's a case of getting as close as possible. Another point worthy of mention is that all of the above is achieved with the anti-roll bars disconnected, so the suspension is effectively in a passive state. If connected they would, of course, exert their own forces.

Adjusting the ride heights and corner weights of course affects geometry, too, so Chris is back into the myriad of adjustments which will then have their own effect on the ride height and corner weights. This may sound like a never ending game of chasing one's tail, but Chris reckons on one to two iterations of geometry and corner weight adjustment before “the cherries click into place” – not on a fruit machine, obviously, but on Center Gravity's Hunter 'Hawkeye' chassis rig, which works not with the usual lasers, but cameras.

If all this sounds kind of complicated and time consuming, that's because it kind of is. There is much to be adjusted on a Porsche, but then it’s a precision tool and it's worthy of precision set up, too. And if you ever find yourself at Center Gravity having your own Porsche set up by Chris or Pete, then it's well worth watching them in action as they move around your car with choreographed precision. You will also learn a lot, too.

And so finally we get there. Chris is happy, the car is set up to Porsche's X74 spec. The dampers have been set to fully hard and then wound back 15 clicks at the rear and 15 (from a possible 30) clicks at the front. So it’s time for a test drive as the light starts to fade.

The mini roundabout is dispatched first. Chris throws the nose in and it sticks resolutely. On the dual carriageway there is no drift under acceleration and cambers refuse to throw it off course. At my behest we wind the dampers back another couple of clicks because there is still a sting in the tail, and then It's my turn to see if I'm happy with the outcome. So am I? Just a bit.

On some fast and varied roads Chris calls the corners and encourages me to press on, like I need any encouragement. My 996 has taken on the precision of a heat seeking Excocet missile. There is a balance to it that starts at the rear and works its way forward in true 911 style. The steering requires just a minimum of guidance to keep it on the straight and narrow and direction changes come with that lovely rear end pivot unique to the 911. The car has never felt so alive and it makes a current 991 feel inert. Oh, and the steering feel and feedback is to die for. That hypothetical Impreza wouldn’t stand a chance!

So, mission accomplished? Oh, we're so nearly there, but as Chris so rightly called right at the start of the day, the spring rates are more than a tad too stiff, particularly at the rear. It's not so much that they throw the car offline, but the crash when it comes is not pleasant and you're always waiting for it to spoil the drive. So right now Chris is working with Ohlins on an alternative, softer spring rate.

What was that I said about patience at the beginning? Hang in there. It's going to be worth it. PW