I built a MkII Roadster in 2003 (I'm Cobra3657 on the other forum) and all of a sudden 11 years have gone by. I love the car, but I'm itching for a new project - something track-focused. Obviously the 818R could fit the bill and I've been lurking here for a while. I'm wondering if anybody else has already made this move and what your feedback is on the 818 from the perspective of a long-time roadster owner (I've autocrossed it 4 times and open-tracked it twice). Here are some things I want the 818 to do better than the roadster:
-Seating position. This is huge. I am 6'3", all my height is in my legs, and I never liked having my feet pushed to the left in the Roadster. It sounds like the inside dimensions of the 818 are about the same as the Roadster, but is there room for expansion? I have no problem moving frame tubes, re-welding some stuff and putting some money into a good seat. The semi-awkward seating position of the Roadster (for a tall guy) made it more difficult to drive on the track, I thought. Comfort will be the #1 goal if I build an 818R and I do not want to compromise it.
-Speed. The Roadster is a blast on the track, until you get above let's say 110 mph. Has anybody pushed an 818R to high speed and can give a detailed review of the handling? Does the wing and splitter work?
-Suspension. I fabricated NASCAR-style adjustable front and rear sway bars for the Roadster and it made a tremendous difference in autox. Another thing that made a huge driveability improvement was the SAI mod. Has anybody measured the SAI angle on the 818? It looks like it could be too steep. The original Roadster's angle was rather ludicrous in retrospect before the SAI mod. The SAI mod became almost a default on the Roadsters and I think sway bars became a necessity on the track. There was also an issue with bushing free-play in the rear spindles of IRS Roadsters that caused problems on cars running slicks. It looks like people are figuring out the bump steer on the 818R already. I guess what I'm getting at is: How far away are we from a suspension that works on the track with the 818R? By "works" I mean: no bump steer and predictable oversteer/understeer at all speeds.
Any other thoughts from former Roadster owners? I'll have to sell the Roadster to build the 818. That's going to be tough...
Thanks!