On a visit I noticed that he was making ZF type differential units for Cooper Cars and I asked if he would look at the ones we had made. An alteration to the cam size cured the original problem so we had a viable ZF unit to fit to the Steyr ‘Sports Car’. The two black lines left on the road was ample proof that these ageing differential units were now working.
The steering heaviness of the Palm Beach Mk2 continued to be a problem, but while Sydney seemed reasonably happy with the GT version, the steering was too heavy for normal road use. The only real solution was to alter the basic design, however there was the ever-pressing need to start producing chassis. In order that there was an independent assessment of the car there was an urgent need was to get the G.T road tested by either ‘Autocar’ or ‘Motor’. However, it was pointless to get it tested until the steering loads could be reduced
From time to time I went with Sydney to a general practice day at Brands Hatch where he spent most of the afternoon lapping the Kent circuit. His times were comparable to like cars, however because it was a general practice day there was a wide variety of cars, from standard saloons to Formula Ford and Formula 2 cars. From a development point of view this testing proved that the G.T handling was mechanically sound and the only failure was to the studs holding the top radius rod. This was resolved with a simple outrigger bracket. There was probably inadequate flexibility in the Silentbloc bushes to allow for the amount of body roll produced in hard cornering.