Like so many people that were kids in the late 1980's I've always wanted a 3dr Cosworth, and now I've finally taken the plunge and purchased one. Its a Moonstone Blue with only 29k miles on it, so in really nice condition .

The car isn't my daily driver, and most of the miles I'll do it will either be driving to and from a race track, or around the track. The car is more or less standard now (3" exhaust, stage 1 tune, Bilstein coilovers), but I want to take it a fair way down the race car path, but not so far that I spoil a classic car. For example I will put in a race seat and harness, but the rest of the interior will stay standard.

So anyway, to the point of this thread... I fitted up some Toyo R888 tyres and took it for its first competition outing yesterday to see how it would go. It was OK, but as expected for a fairly standard car was not very satisfying on the circuit. It felt too soft and not really precise, but on the plus side it was quite well balanced. My 'usual' race car is an early shape WRX RA with quite a few improvements, so thats what I'm comparing to. I was about 10 seconds a lap slower (1:45 vs 1:55), so I have some work to do!

Given that I have quite a bit of experience with Subaru, but none with Sierras, can anyone give some advice on the best track setup to get the car handling nice. I'm looking for some high quality advice from someone that has been there and done it, knows what works and what doesn't. Also I want specifics - for example what front and rear spring rates, camber, caster, toe, roll bar types and settings? What adjustability is worth building into the suspension? How bad are the stock bushes? There must be lots of people that have this expertise, but its hard to find on the net. Mostly it seems people are only focused on getting more BHP, for which there is plenty of advice.

Also is there anyone out there with experience with factory brake setups on the race circuit? I'd like to stick with the standard brakes under 15" wheels for as long as I can. I've done this with my WRX RA and get quite a lot of satisfaction by beating cars with 17" wheels and huge brake setups! With the Subaru I use DBA motorsport rotors and Ferrodo DS2500 pads, plus a water sprayer to suck some heat out of the rotors. I'd love to hear from anyone thats pushed the Cosworth brakes to the limit and found what the best setup is.