Calm and fast on winding roads
The impression is the same on winding roads, where the well-moving suspension captures the road surface in a moist manner. The gentle contact between the tires and the road surface makes you feel very secure. If you turn the handlebars slowly and smoothly, the car turns naturally. It turns like crazy.
It’s so stable that it’s hard to tell the limit of your cornering speed, so much so that if you’re not careful you can enter a corner at a ridiculous speed. Even so, it is so stable that you can turn without a trace of worry.
Because the car responds so gently, the driver also naturally becomes more relaxed in his driving. The steering wheel responds without effort, allowing us to operate the car in a calm and relaxed manner. Before you know it, you’ll be steering as smoothly as Mr. Kinoshita. It is also a training gear for smooth driving.
It sounds like a joke, but if you drive a suspension with this finish, you will naturally become a better driver. That’s how it’s finished.
The damping force can be driven firmly both on the soft and hard side
Another key point is the wide range of damping force available. The spring rate of this demo car is 5kgf/mm front and 6.5kgf/mm rear, and up until now, the car was ridden with the damping force set at 12 out of 30 levels. When the damping force is reduced to 27-level, the car becomes softer. However, it does not feel fluffy, and the movement is well-controlled. It seems to be a good idea to adjust the damping force to match the tires.
Then I tried increasing the damping force: I set it to 3-level return. This makes the ride a little harder, but it does not make the ride less comfortable. Even with the damping force increased to this level, it is far more comfortable than ordinary dampers.
As you turn the steering wheel, the response increases from 0° to about 90°. As you turn the steering wheel, the feelings are a bit heavier and you can feel the grip of the tires as you turn. The damping force is just where “that’s what I wanted”, and the response is different from the damping force increase that makes the ride harder.
The response to steering wheel operation becomes more direct, so it would be good to tighten it up a bit when you want to feel the grip.
Extremely easy to ride and handle GR86
To be honest, there are not many suspensions that have been refined to this level, and it’s a shame that it can only be purchased through HKS GATE.
The car itself is equipped with a CUSCO LSD MZ combined with this suspension. The engine is combined with an HKS exhaust manifold and HKS LEGAMAX muffler, while the ECU is put together with A PIT Autobacs Shinonome’s original factory rewrite service, Delta Box. The brakes are an ENDLESS 6POT Light & S4R combination.
The engine blows with a good response and has more punch. The brakes feel secure and sink in on all four wheels to stop without hesitation, short and strong, with excellent maneuverability in town driving, and don’t squeal. The GR86 is made to be extremely easy to ride and handle.
The GATE SPEC suspension is currently being expanded to more models. After experiencing such a great finish, I would love to drive other models. I can’t stop being excited.
translated by DeepL
