I Love T&A...

[FB GT40]

T&A shocks… that is!

Saturday was our first track day with the new T&A (Penske) shocks. Wow! What an improvement. Installed the shocks and lowered the GT about 1". The ride quality, damping and compliance were all greatly improved. So was the left/right side to side attitude of the car. She ran more flat, resulting in much better and precise steering and feedback. Compression damping and rebound were improved. Quite deliberate in feel, with no surprises. I ran on Pirelli P Zero’s – with an undersized front tire. I would have run the Hoosier R6’s but imminent rain stopped us from putting them on. We (my son Rich and I) were fast all day – even on street tires. A 585 hp Z06 on Goodyear slicks with “Mega” brakes” was a bit quicker. An SCT chip “flash” added about 10 mph at the end of the ½ mile straight (significant) – which took us from 145 to 155 mph at brake marker five. The car ran much leaner as evidenced by a lighter burn residue in the Tubi exhaust. Flames were produced on the overrun and during shifts. Hope to cure this with the GT Guys. Strangely, the car ran about 10 degrees cooler than all previous track days. I can only attribute this to the chip. The stock brakes and pads did not like the extra speed. The weak link at this point is the brakes. An upgrade is on the list.

Anyone considering a shock upgrade would be well served by looking at Tom and Alex’s Penske shocks. Well worth the price of admission. (Contact: aszilagyi@comcast.net)

A very happy Gordo. :biggrin

 

[MAD IN NC]

Gordo, glad your back and even happier that the track day went well. What size PZero's did you place on her?

 

[B O N Y]

T&A shocks… that is!

Saturday was our first track day with the new T&A (Penske) shocks. Wow! What an improvement. Installed the shocks and lowered the GT about 1". The ride quality, damping and compliance were all greatly improved. So was the left/right side to side attitude of the car. She ran more flat, resulting in much better and precise steering and feedback. Compression damping and rebound were improved. Quite deliberate in feel, with no surprises. I ran on Pirelli P Zero’s – with an undersized front tire. I would have run the Hoosier R6’s but imminent rain stopped us from putting them on. We (my son Rich and I) were fast all day – even on street tires. A 585 hp Z06 on Goodyear slicks with “Mega” brakes” was a bit quicker. An SCT chip “flash” added about 10 mph at the end of the ½ mile straight (significant) – which took us from 145 to 155 mph at brake marker five. The car ran much leaner as evidenced by a lighter burn residue in the Tubi exhaust. Flames were produced on the overrun and during shifts. Hope to cure this with the GT Guys. Strangely, the car ran about 10 degrees cooler than all previous track days. I can only attribute this to the chip. The stock brakes and pads did not like the extra speed. The weak link at this point is the brakes. An upgrade is on the list.

Anyone considering a shock upgrade would be well served by looking at Tom and Alex’s Penske shocks. Well worth the price of admission. (Contact: aszilagyi@comcast.net)

A very happy Gordo. :biggrin

My next mod,.... thanks Gordo, nice avatar, is that the crack of Dawn that I am seeing?:lol :rofl :lol

 

[Ed Sims]

T&A Penske shocks

I love my T&A Penske shocks also. My wife complains about the stiffer ride on the road but I don't mind. Fast curves on the road & track are now unbelievable. It's amazing how it amplifies the best traits of the GT.

Ed

P.S. Why didn't Alex call it A&T instead of T&A? My wife freaked out when she saw the credit card statement for over $5000 for T&A!

 

[FB GT40]

Tire size

Mike - all that was available at the time was 345/35 ZR19 rear (very large!)
and 235/40 ZR18 - too small actually - but surprisingly good. Great in the wet.

Bony - the Avatar actually reads "What Gordo didn't realize, is that Wanda's Daddy was a cop...." :lol

G.

 

[BlackICE]

Mike - all that was available at the time was 345/35 ZR19 rear (very large!)
and 235/40 ZR18 - too small actually - but surprisingly good. Great in the wet.

Bony - the Avatar actually reads "What Gordo didn't realize, is that Wanda's Daddy was a cop...." :lol

G.

How is the fit of the 345/35 19 tires? Any clearance problems? How about a picture of what they look like on the car.

 

[xrayman396]

How was the alignment of the car after the install?

 

[Tungsten]

GT Guys

Gordo,
The GT guys are coming to Atlanta in June. If you decide to come to town and have them work on the car you can stay at my place and have the car in our garage. Let me know if you are coming up.

Also, I thought you were at Roebling this weekend is that correct? I am trying to get down there in two weeks for the NASA event.

Don:thumbsup

 

[FB GT40]

Fit

How is the fit of the 345/35 19 tires? Any clearance problems? How about a picture of what they look like on the car.

The fit is good with no clearance problems. The rear's look great, a very big tire. The fronts however, in that aspect ratio, look a bit skimpy. Maybe they will produce a larger front sometime. I'll do a photo this weekend. I'm in Washington this week.

I re-aligned the car to the Roush track specs. (Thanks to BaronW). A nice improvement.

G.

 

[FB GT40]

Gordo,
The GT guys are coming to Atlanta in June. If you decide to come to town and have them work on the car you can stay at my place and have the car in our garage. Let me know if you are coming up.

Also, I thought you were at Roebling this weekend is that correct? I am trying to get down there in two weeks for the NASA event.

Don:thumbsup

Thanks Don, I appreciate the offer. I'm trying to make it - but have to play my cards right. :wink We are moving into a new (to us) house which we have been renovating for 5 months (^%$#&*(&%@!!!!) and that looks like the time. I think I'm winning though. Please give me the firm dates again. I'd like to hear about the NASA event too.

Gordon.

 

[cobrar1339]

Gordo, Ed

Are you guys running the stock springs with the Penskes or what did you go with?.

I see Stillen is also offering a Penske, anyone know the difference in the Stillen specs vs. Alex's.

After some brief canyon runs this weekend I can see how the car would benefit from this mod.

Have you tried to adjust out some of the firmness for a more tamed street ride, or are you just leaving it alone. Everytime I have bought a good adjustable shock, I tend to dial it in and leave it ( lazy I guess ). I often tend to lean so far toward the track set up's that I kinda ruin the cars for weekend duty. I promised myself I would not go as nuts this time. There always seams to a compromise.

Where did you feel the most improvement?

Dive / Braking
Sway
Side to side transition
Attitude in drift

Any thoughts on a sway bar or does this do the trick?

 

[B O N Y]

I urge you to contact Alex, he did the suspension work on the FGT development cars, he has trick roll bars and other goodies, plus the right suspension settings. He did my alignment to his specs and the install on my lowering kit.
Alex is the man.:cheers :thumbsup :cheers

 

[FB GT40]

Springs

I urge you to contact Alex, he did the suspension work on the FGT development cars, he has trick roll bars and other goodies, plus the right suspension settings. He did my alignment to his specs and the install on my lowering kit.
Alex is the man.:cheers :thumbsup :cheers

Ed, I'm with Bony on this. Call Alex, he will steer you right. He and Tom did all the development. I forget the exact spring rate he used (purple? sporty/street 400 lb?) but the improvement was all the way round. Especially in the rebound. Although viewing some of the photos of the weekend - there was some body lean in the high speed (lean on it!) turns. I should have stiffened them up even more. Will do next time.

G.

 

[cobrar1339]

I will Alex a call....other goodies:banana

 

[Ed Sims]

T&A - Alex & Tom

Dear Cobra R 1339 - I posted peviously about my suspected differences between the T&A vs Stillen Penskes. They are valved different for sure. I am running the middle of the 3 Hypercoil springs offered by T&A. I can't remember the spring rate. I have it written down somewhere. The softest spring is similar to stock, the middle is "road & track" & the hardest is track only. Alex was the one who helped me with the set up & answered all my questions. He was great. I'm sure Stillen is good, but Alex actually was on the GT Team. He has tons of suspension & chassis set up experience.

Ed

 

[MR2Race]

Funny T&A story

Thanks for all the positive notes about the shocks (We did a tone of work to develop that package)
And Sorry about the T&A name Ed. We were looking for a simple name that would be easy to remember. The jokes about T&A / Tom and Alex just kept coming. We still could not decide on a name years later. Then one of our development Drivers (Andy McDermament of SCCA A.S. Mustang fame) went ahead and had stickers made for the side of his Racer. Pun intended - We were stuck