Phase 3 of the transformation is about to commence. All of the components that are going onto the car have been selected, and the installer has pretty much picked himself. But how does one go about deciding on the best setup?

One of the unique attributes of Chris at Centre Gravity is his holistic approach to the job at hand. A lot of tuning places will bolt on a coilover kit and then leave the customer to their own devices to get the kit dialled in to what they think they want. Often that involves a third-party chassis tuner putting their flourish on what they think the customer wants. This inevitably means that more often than not, no-one really gets what they want.

Where Chris differs is that up front, the first question he asks you before he turns a spanner or orders a part is, “What are you going to do with this car, and what do you expect it to do while you're doing it?” He doesn’t just dial in some generic settings that their tame racing driver uses on their track-spec RSR and trust that you'll like it. He knows enough about each component of that complex system we lump together as “suspension” to be able to tailor the feeling and handling of the car to your exact requirements. However, finding those exact requirements turns out to be the real crux of the problem.

In my situation, the first part of the question is easy to answer. I’m going to be using it on the road and on the track. I know that is the worst combination possible and that there are bound to be some compromises, but I’ve hopefully limited that as much as possible by the selection of the Bilstein PSS9s. I can alter the damping rates on these quickly and easily when I arrive and leave the track. However, when it comes to things like cambers and caster, then it's a completely different story.

It’s a very, very fine balance to get a car that works well both on track, and on the road.

Choose aggressive camber settings and the car will be a bitch on the road. You'll trash a set of tyres in double-quick time, destroying the inside edge since the car is never pushed hard enough in the corners to get the tyre onto its full contact patch as it would be on the track. Go the other way and keep the camber road-sensible, and on the track you run the risk of ripping up the outside shoulder of the tyre as the cornering forces roll the tyres over and place huge load on that outside edge.

But, that is my directive to Chris, and if I’m going to be 100% happy the Cayman not only needs to work in both situations, but needs to excel.

Then comes the hard bit. How do I want it to go about its business? Well, I know I want less understeer. Everyone wants less understeer. Everyone wants more oversteer. Well, every bloke who watches Messrs Meaden and Harris performing in their daily duties wants more oversteer, right? Well, yes and no for me, thanks. I certainly don’t want as much understeer as Porsche's nannying standard setup produces, but at the same time I will happily confess that I’m no racing driver and that huge armfuls of oversteer give my arse the same kind of workout as half an hour on a Stairmaster!

I want to try and maintain as much of the deliciously neutral balance that the Cayman is known for, and that the car had to start with. I’m not racing here, I’m not chasing tenths on a lap time, I don’t want a car that wants to kill me and I most certainly want to be able to drive it home in one piece at the end of every trackday. So again, after shunning the More Power option I’m now going to pussy out for the second time and ask for something fast and safe, if that combination is even possible!

So, with all that in mind my trusty old Cayman was deposited at Centre Gravity and Chris set about performing his magic. And first things first, he starts by dismantling the dilapidated old suspension that had seen the best part of 60,000 miles and 4 years of abuse that I had thrown at it. What came off the car was a surprise to me, and goes some way to prove my point that the standard system had indeed well and truly seen better days...

Some very tired-looking bumpstops and a heavily corroded shaft on display

The old (4 years old!) top mounts were completely shot and starting to de-laminate

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