Triumph TR's
| The Triumph TR's are excellent driving classic cars, and
highly successfull in historic racing. From a handling perspective, they are very
good in either performance road or race set up. We have done more than anybody else, we believe, to determine what makes a TR handle well, and develop the products to do the job. Both of us (Neville and Dale) have extensive experience in manufacturing, repairing, preparing and racing British sports cars. I (Dale) am a BMC factory trained automotive engineer. In later years we have developed leading edge suspension and handling technology. A list of the items we have for Triumph suspension is listed at the bottom of this page.All our set ups are tested initially in the "Weight Transfer Worksheet". Then we can go to the track with a good basline set up, and the parts we need to final tune the set up to suit the driver and the track. Our road car set up uses similar understeer/oversteer numbers, with ride height, spring frequencies and roll resistance adjusted to suit the road. The road car generates less grip on it's tyres, as compared to a racing TR on "Dot" racing rubber. If you run a limited slip, or locker differential, the the suspension does require different settings.
Even with this good motion ratio of the anti-roll bar, the car needs the big diameter bar you see here, because of the relatively narrow track. Front Anti-Roll Bar Front Coil Springs The TR 2 - 6 always had a front coil spring around 300 lb/inch giving a spring frequency around 105 cycles per minute. This does give a firm ride. We have a softer 250lb/inch spring which is unique to us in the TR world and now fitted to quite a number of the cars. With the 22mm front anti-roll bar roll is very well controlled and the handling is great. We supply 420 lbs/inch front springs for fast road and club motorsport applications. We recommend they only be used with shocks having a high internal gas pressure, such as the Pedders gas shocks we offer below. This gives very acceptable ride characteristics. The handling improvement is in response and stability. For racing, the rate is as per your set up requirements, up to around 500 - 700 lbs per inch. The heaviest racing spring is needed for roll resistance on a car that generates a lot of grip. All our coil springs are hot coiled and made by recognised automotive spring makers. They are warranted against loss of free length (sagging). Some coil springs on the market are not made to the specification required of an automotive spring. Springs rates could be inconsistent and they might sag. Rear Leaf Springs We have a number of single leaf spring configurations, including a relatively stiff set up for racing, where you are not allowed to run a rear anti-roll bar under the rules. Our preference would be, softer, more suspension compliance, and to run a rear anti-roll bar (where you are running an LSD). See leafspring.html for our thinking on leaf spring technology. To improve the standard Triumph TR rear leaf spring pack, we supply an 8mm top leaf, with revised spring eye bushes, that can be re-built into the existing spring pack, to give just the right spring frequency. This is just the thing for a good road set up. You get a very effective rear end, with standard look. The standard metalistic spring eye twists the front half of the leaf spring in roll. To minimise this twisting, (see leafspring.html), we have two types of front spring eyes. Telescopic Front Shock Absorbers and Rear Shocks TR5, TR6 The standard front shocks do not perform well. For road applications we recommend latest style gas shocks, which we supply with modified bushings, so they will mount straight in your car. For racing we have QA1 Motorsport shocks. We re-valve the QA1's to suit your application. They are fully rebuildable, and if you have a development program for shocks, they can be re-valved to new settings at any time. For TR5 and TR6 IRS cars, we supply rear telescopic shocks and bolt in mounting bracket. It is also possible to fit a similar arrangement on the TR4, where there is enough room between the tyre and the inner guard. Rear Lever Shock Absorbers We are pleased to offer you new breakthrough technolgy we have developed for Armstrong lever shock absorbers - lever shockies that work. In fact, we can generate the latest style slow speed control with digressive high speed valving that is normally only available in quality telescopic racing shocks. For two years we have been working on these improvements. For 40 years, the accepted wisdom is that lever shocks are not very good and thus should be replaced with telescopic shocks where ever possible. Use of heavier oils and adjusting existing valving make no difference to their performance. We have been able to over come the inherent problems. The lever shock has the advantage of a 1:1 motion ratio at the wheel, and bushings and mounts with very little compliance.
Performance Parts for Triumph TR2 to TR6 Coil Springs $A285 per pair. Leaf Springs New rear single leaf springs, precision heat treated and shot peened:- New 8mm main leaves, suitable for building into the standard spring pack, $A265 per
pair Urethane front spring eye bushes, $A75 per pair (only fit our leaf springs) Anti-roll Bars Front anti-roll bar, including links and fittings (any diameter), $A395 Front Shock Absorbers Gas front shocks, $200 per pair
Handling "Kit" Prices.. From the above, a road kit might include front coils, front shocks, anti-roll bar, rear change over main leaf and front spring eye bushes, $1150. This set up transforms the car. It'll be great fun to drive. There are instructions for installation of all components. Or, if you prefer, we can install components and overhaul the chassis and suspension for you, in our Batemans Bay workshop. We do a final set up on the weight scales, and wheel align to our preferred settings. Other Items.. Rear Shocks. You can send us your shocks in the post and we can overhaul and modify them and return them in 2-3 days. See notes on our lever shocks above. These provide twice the control of new lever shocks. Price is $345 per pair. (less for TR Register members.) Steering Box, Drag Link, Rack and Pinion Conversion. We have some improvements for the steering box. For racing you need the greatest precision possible. We have some pins and bushes for the drag link which have proved successfull. If you have a steering rack conversion, we can set it up for you. We swap the steering arms side to side, which allows longer steering arms, and reduces the anti-ackerman somewhat. The short steering arms can create bump steer. So the adjustment of the rack has to done very precisely - within a few millimetres. The result is a bump steer curve pretty good, with toe in at extremes of bump and rebound. Pictures of some modifications and the cars..... |
