You really want—no—need, a race car to counter the sensible touring sedan you so responsibly bought to handle the commuting and grocery-getting chores. But the spouse, yes, once again the freaking spouse, said no, the exact words being, “Why do you have to be such a slave to that racetrack, as if anyone cares that you shaved two-tenths off your lap time! Maybe you should have married a racetrack instead of me!”
You think to yourself, “Maybe I should have.” But you don’t say this; no, that would mean lawyers and asset managers and a big fight over who gets the schnauzer. So instead you say, “Oh dear, you’re much better than a racetrack, even Nelson Ledges or Waterford Hills!” But you’re thinking, “But not Laguna Seca, man, you ain’t that good.” And just when you’re about to go nuts and buy a Go Kart, strap it to the roof of the car and go follow the continentaltouringinternationalnonsedan tour you spot the Praxis brochure.
“Hmmm, Praxis, eh?”
Praxis, the brochure says, is an aftermarket airbag-suspension system that retrofits into 1999-2004 BMW 3 Series (including ’02-’04 M3s) and 2002-2005 Subaru WRXs (including ’02-’04 STIs), to allow three different modes of performance.
In Touring mode, things are still pretty much as they are stock—same ride height, same balance, same basic jounce and rebound characteristics.
Sport mode lowers the car 25 mm, increases the spring rates from 250 to 325 pounds per inch front, and 440 to 680 rear and gives better responsiveness.
Track mode drops your ride a full 37 mm, ups spring rates all the way to 460 pounds per inch front and 770 rear—80 percent over stock—and suddenly you have a car that is competitive for all but your most insane track-day needs.
Adjustments are made by twisting a knob under each damper. There are 18 clicks per damper on the BMW, 21 on the Subaru. Praxis supplies three suggested settings so the springs match the dampers and you don’t get things like wheel hop and other nastiness. Unless you’re the next Adrian Newey, you’ll want to stick with the settings that Praxis suggests.
A compressor mounts easily into the spare tire well inside the spare wheel. Installing the airbags is no more difficult than replacing a regular strut.
A computer, trademarked Intelliride, adjusts ride height and spring rates continuously.
We drove a Praxis M3 convertible at the Streets of Willow and could easily feel the difference. The first thing we noticed was ride height; 37 mm doesn’t seem like an awful lot on a ruler, but it stands out on a car.
The reduction in body roll was next most noticeable, followed by dive and squat. Everything cornered flatter, and the car seemed to hold on much stronger. We went faster.
It’s a good, serious setup, probably the best approach short of just ripping out the existing suspension, stuffing in a full race ride and suffering through a crash-and-bang commute during the week.
Praxis is part of Bridgestone, which realized at some point that it already made all the components necessary for this anyway, so decided to put everything together in a nice suspension-improvement kit.
The kit, available through www.praxissystems.com, costs about $4,000 for a BMW and about $3,700 for a Subaru.
Small price to save your marriage and your racing career.
Autoweek.com
