Lauren

I used to work on the pitlane at Donington and there was no flexibility if a car went over the noise limits, so they are strict. 98Db driveby is not high, it's indicative of tracks that are on the lower side of noise limits. High would be 105Db.

There doesn't seem to be. But pick a track like Donington which is notoriously strict on it's noise limits. The way I see it, as I passed that, I don't particularly have to worry about anywhere else. Bedford might be an issue, but I'm none too worried about that one really. So it really seems there is only one way to find out really. The laughable thing is, I was told at Angers that they just do driveby now. I asked the marshall what the limit was, he said he didn't know, but said I wouldn't have a problem.

Speak to Richard (Riceburner on here) at Toyota RRG Macclesfield. He's a TEIN distributor. Can do install as well.

It seems that a lot of circuits are doing away with the largely pointless static tests and just doing driveway. This makes more sense. Bedford is pretty low though. I'd base on the 98Db of Donington which is more realistic. I passed that with a TD EL manifold, resonated exhaust and no cats.

I've had the TEINs in the older Streetflex version which would translate to Flex A's now with EDFC Active Pro for the last 3.5 years and done over 70K miles on them. I've been very happy with them and they have stood the mileage test very well. I've used the car for track days since I got it and have sprinted it for four years now. My car is obviously my daily given the mileage I've done and I've been very happy for them. Speedhumps are always a pain, but actually the ride is generally pretty good and much better damped than stock. You can go for more upmarket stuff like Ohlins which will be better and very good. The rebuild interval will be shorter though, so you need to think about stuff like that I would say.

Welceom aboard! There's a lot you can do modification wise, but it is better to plan and get it right first time. Most go for an exhaust manifold, decat and system and a remap. This is where the most gains are. Then there's wheels and suspension. Lots of stuff has been tried and tested over the years so we are well aware of what works well. Any questions, ask away.

It's more like 10:1. You have to remember the difference in size between Toyota and Subaru. Yes, much nicer clocks for the GT and also that lovely frameless wing mirror and slightly better looking passenger fascia panel My GT86 dash: 100K miles on the odometer GT86 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr

Hi Charlie, your car may have heated seats, it simply depends whether the previous owner ticked them on the options box when they ordered the car. A lot of people did to be fair though it was a £1600 option. If your car was bought through the dealer you are getting it from, they really ought to know what options it had.

Fortunately not many spec the red 'boudoir' option! But I would say over 50% of GT86's have the leather/alcantara heated seats option. The arm rest is around £100, so not hard to do if you want it. There are a lot more GT86's around of course and you do get the benefit of a nicer dash

When you see me at a meet, I can show you, it's a bit odd at first, but a few months of practicing it and it will come.

Hi Charlie, welcome aboard. As your car is a 2013 model it will have the spoiler. There wasn't a 'pro' model as such then, the leather/alcantara or full leather was simply an option on a list at that time. It sounds like this car as is coming in as a part ex? I am a little surprised the dealer doesn't know the spec of the car you have a deposit on, but it must have been a good price! Changing the exhaust with a supplied remap will help the torque dip, but nowhere near as much as a manifold will. Much is made of the whole torque dip thing and there are big improvements that can be made, but you can still enjoy it as is of course, so see how you get on.

I've been heel and toeing for around 15 years. I just roll my foot, so the right side of my foot, the protrusion just below your little toe blips the throttle. Having tried doing this in a lot of cars over the years, I reckon the GT is one of the easiest to heel and toe in. I am a size 6, so I don't have big feet. Try some decent driving shoes, that will help. Though I admit, I drive barefoot through the summer and have no problem heel and toeing that way either. It's better if anything. You can use your heel but there will be a lot less finesse.

Looks really good I think. Big brakes and at last properly decent forged wheels on it too. Only thing I'm not struck on is the front lip kit and sideskirts. I say this only because the likelihood off knocking it off on a kerb is extremely high.

Consider Focal 3's. I've had them in my car for 3.5 years now. Also an Audison Bit10 makes a lovely difference.

Wow, very impressed!

Ah yes, but why oh why do you make it so difficult? I see you've added some details of the head unit, but I cannot find the pic and you don't mention what model it is.

You mention a 'swanky' head unit in your title, but it's not listed in your thread? Half your for sale items are not in the pictures. For the last time, sort this out! I've even clicked to the off site links, nothing there, honestly I'm not sure I've seen such a mess of a post, it's simply appalling.

Welcome aboard, don't worry about not going for ginger, good decision I reckon. Well there is certainly a lot of tuning options out there and we are a friendly bunch, so do feel free to check out the events and social meets section and come along. You'll find a good variety of cars, as over the years we have tried and tested a good number of mods from turbos to SC's to bodykits, suspension, exhaust manifolds both UEL and EL and all the rest inbetween. Whilst things have quitened down a bit on the events front as we settle into autumn there is always quite a lot going on the midlands, thinks there's a breakfast meet on the 23rd if you can make it!

I guess what I did, was really focus on what was a wickedly good daily commute in places, trying lots of different settings over a period of about four months. I did play with the car a lot on the road and found that ramping up the increase of the damper rates more than what what it comes from with Tein seemed to help. Maybe it's more that if it stiffens up to a great extent when it reacts, you notice that difference more. I got it to a point where I found the car really easily controllable on the road, both in medium and high speed corners and a certain 'drift' roundabout at J18 on the M6! All this I then tranposed to the track, finding that I didn't use the speed settings but just used lateral G instead starting it off around 40 on the stiffness settings which gave a working range of 32 (IIRC), so it'd allow for that initial weight transfer on track whilst keeping it nice and constant when you sit the car down. For me anyway, it feels like my car is very easily controllable as I like to move the car around and will frequently use four wheel drifts often with a tendency to oversteer. It could of course be that I get used to it, but I've tended to find my car more progressive in how it handles. Whilst one trackday is all well and good, you may want to experiment a bit more, Kev and play with the amount of increase, especially so for the lateral G. It could also well be that having always had static setups that the different feel of an active (or reactive) setups takes some getting used to. That could also be a factor.

Yes, it is reactive as that's how it works. Maybe I'm just well used to it. Though I guess the conversation here has just focused about how it is on track for some reason, whereas the benefits on the road are more obvious in that there is some compliancy in the ride, but when you push the car into a corner it firms up, which is what you want and also the variance in stiffness dependent upon speed. 99% of my driving is on the road and a lot of it is just day to day trundling around, so that is a factor for me. I don't use the speed settings on track, just the lateral and longitudinal G force settings which means I can have it going stiffer in the corners depending upon lateral load, though I have found from driving a few other cars, remembering Keith's on his old HSD setup being the worst where the car really bit when you got it sideways at high speed. The other thing which I haven't talked about with you, is how much you have deviated from the standard settings in regard to how much the dampers stiffen per 0.5g increase. Stuff like that can make a difference. I spent a good four months playing around with mine till I found a balance I was happy with. I haven't changed it since then.

Consider yourself well and truly flamed. The response time isn't slow at all, not sure why you think that. In effect I think it really helps the handling be more progressive which is exactly what you want. Weight transfer doensn't happen instantly, so I do think there is enough time for it to respond.

Interesting. How does it compare to TEIN EDFC Active Pro? Just had a quick look, it seems you can adjust from inside the car, but it doesn't appear to be active.

This can happen. Take it off, pack it with a little cardboard or paper and re-tighten. Getting it straight is the pain. I have an aftermarket knob and it always does this.

My once was in 2002.

You really want 8.5" if you are going to run a 225/40/18. 8" will do, 7.5" is a bit on the thin side.