M7wrote: Front wheel lift? In my Golfs, I got the inside rear tire off the ground all the time. I've never seen a car get a front tire off the ground on a racetrack, except for an old 911 or the like. Of course, no power goes through those wheels.

Are you possibly confusing the words "front" and "rear"? I'd be happy to show you pics of a fwd car with one REAR wheel in the air. Please show me pics of a fwd car with one FRONT wheel in the air.
_________________
SHOW ME THE NUMBERS!

...How Fast is Your MINI?...My Mods...

 

I too have never seen a FWD car with the front inside wheel off the ground, and I have been at more than a few autocrosses, where such cornering forces would exist. Plenty of VWs, Hondas, and Nissan Spec-Vs with a rear wheel high in the air, but no fronts.

So far I have yet to experience a traction loss situation with my Quaife due to a wheel losing total grip with the track.

 

Here's a pic of my friend's Rabbit doing the typical dog-peeing thing:

 

in one of the old videos that randybmc posted up, he has the inside rear tire off the ground.. my mini did it at the auto-x with swaybar and stock suspension. Its the best when the tire completely stops spinning.. mid air!

 

>>No...... you should go to a road race (pick a track) and sit in one of the corners, wheel lift in a frontwheel drive car
>>is very common, the worst case would be a VW Golf...
>>peter



Here's a pic of front wheel lift but I wouldn't expect to see it except in a rear drive car.

 

<crocodile dundee voice>Naw, that's not a front wheel lift. Now THAT'S a front wheel lift!</crocodile>



_________________
SHOW ME THE NUMBERS!

...How Fast is Your MINI?...My Mods...

 

LOL...

but back on subject mates (and sheilas) Phantom...what's the verdict? Good for low hp cars like the Mini, bad if you are building a 420whp naturaly aspirated Mini Cooper One?
I just ordered the Phantom, so will be able to talk about 1st hand soon, but other than in a SUV (Lexus Land Cruiser) I've never seen a Diff and never felt it, only been explained what it does.

If all goes well, it'll be imediately (2 days later) tested on a track and so I can compare on certain corners that I know well...

Nuzzo's testimonial on the phantom site is good:
well the other car has the Quaife in it.

Anyway, I spoke to PG and asked them what kind of changes they made to the device (based on the testimonial) and she said that Nuzzo has a custom built device...not the off the shelf ones that we can get, so I guess that results can and will vary...more info to come.

L

 

A few things...

1. That Grassroots Motorsports article is pretty good stuff. Plop down 10 bucks and get subscription to that magazine. They are great guys, and if you care enough to be reading the performance modifications forum, then you should definitely get the magazine. (I am no way affiliated with GRM, just an advocate

 

>>2. Peter is definitely correct about front wheel standing on road courses.

Totally cool. Please post the pictures. That would be really neat to see.

 

So, anyone actually get a chance to put the Phantom Grip through its paces? I keep finding threads where everyone gets amped up about a product, someone says they're going to test it, and nothing ever happens. BUMP!

 

I have it and it works great so far........... even with Nitrous... a new vette felt the wrath of it yesterday.....

 

Hahahah, nice.

What are your thoughts on it in terms of on-power corner exits?

 

it seems to pull really well out of the corners...

 

I ran a Phantom Grip in a Honda CRX SCCA road race car. It came on progressively, did not suddenly lock up and was very reliable in several seasons of racing. But please note: this Honda was somewhere south of 200 hp - about where many MINI owners will end up with the usual mods. If you have pumped up your MINI more than that, it may not stand the strain, but Phantom Grip has applications for a lot of cars that make big power. For the difference in price between a Phantom Grip and a Quaife ($260 vs. $1100), I'd take the Phantom Grip and keep an eye on the tranny oil (though I never found any metal in the Honda box).

Someone else in these various LSD threads has said it, but it bears repeating: if you install any type of LSD, learn how to drive well or you may learn some fascinating (and scary) things about the laws of physics! With LSD in a FWD car, you nail the throttle, turn the steering wheel to your target and hang on. It goes where it is pointed (thanks to BMWCCA Roundel editor, Satch Carlson, for that lesson).

Is the Phantom Grip real? Yes. Is it reliable? I found it to be so. Worth the price? Oh yeah!

 

As posted in this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=38018

Coincidentally, you're the one that asked for it there as well

Realistically, this is only going to consistently happen when you're jumping the curbing - as many (most?) people frequently do. That said, I've never felt that it upset the car as I'm typically not completely back on the throttle until the car settles anyway.

Regarding the Phantom, it's a love it or hate it type of thing. The "love it" crowd typically drives low-powered FWD cars. The OPM differential is a better designed piece functioning in the same way and is highly respected in SCCA IT circles.

I would not install one in my car period, but certainly not in anything approaching 200HP. I know two people personally who have lost their entire transmissions when Phantom Grips broke. Comparatively, try to find a single Quaife failure, much less one that took the whole tranny with it. I'm also a big fan of clutch-pack differentials and removed my quaife (non mini) to install one, just so I could have the firsthand experience.

More than anything, I suppose I just tend to avoid the cheapest of anything. Given the personal time, or heaven forbid the labor cost, of installing such an item, it just doesn't make sense to me to try to cut corners.

Some of the honda crowd has learned this after installing the OBX rip-off of the Quaife. The failure rates seem relatively low, but they are happening. Again, fairly low risk vs no risk doesn't make the $400 you saved seem like such a bargain.