Interior
What: Sparco Corsa seat, Simpson six-point cam lock harness
Why: They're lightweight, FIA and SFI-certified solutions for keeping the driver firmly planted during hard cornering and braking and are safe for the occasional jaunt off-track. A comfortable seat goes a long way toward allowing the driver to focus on driving.
What: Fire extinguisher
Why: To put out fires-something race cars have a propensity to develop when pushed hard. They are required for competition by nearly every sanctioning body.
What: Kirk four-point rollcage
Why: Properly built cages protect drivers in the event of a rollover, comply with racing sanctions, and further stiffen a car's chassis. This cage added about 60 pounds to the weight of the car, but the improvements it brought to chassis rigidity offset its added bulk, Tage told us.
What: Weight reduction
Why: Tage went so far as to replace the stock dash with a lightweight aluminum unit and gutted the doors of everything except brackets that hold the factory glass when rules require it be retained. About 300 pounds of deadweight have been removed from the car-and mostly from the interior; Tage's Seibon carbon-fiber hood is the only lightweight body panel added so far.
What: Sparco steering wheel, Auto Meter gauges, Razo racing pedals
Why: Airbag deployments can actually be fatal to drivers wearing helmets; many sanctioning bodies require they be disabled. Racing steering wheels eliminate the deadweight and provide more positive steering feel. Quality aftermarket gauges provide far more accurate readings of engine vitals than OE equipment, and the pedals allow for better grip and easier throttle modulation while braking.
What: Accusump
Why: Delivers extra oil to the engine on command, providing oil pressure at start-up and maintaining pressure under hard cornering load at high rpm, when the baffled oil pan and OE pump just can't cut it.
Suspension
What: Ground Control coilovers, 800 lb/in front, 900 lb/in rear
Why: Stiffer springs limit body roll and subsequent weight transfer opposite the direction of acceleration. Ride height adjustability allows a vehicle's center of gravity to be lowered and fine-tuned. 800 lb/in fronts keep the car from bottoming out, while stiffer, 900 lb/in rears eliminate understeer.
What: Koni SPSS-valved, rebound-adjustable shocks
Why: Springs require dampening to tame oscillation. The stiffer the spring, the more aggressive the dampening needs to be. Custom SPSS valving is designed to handle spring rates of up to 1,000 lb/in.
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