After a stress-free install, my first impression as I pulled out of TF was… did they put my stock diff back in? I had heard plenty about the annoyance of the constant chattering from aftermarket differentials, but all I could hear as I struggled through typical Chicagoland traffic was my own rattling exhaust. In other words, it was business as usual on the street.

The following weekend, we headed out to Gingerman Raceway for Gridlife Midwest. Here, I got my first taste of the ATS Carbon’s magic at work. Taking corners at speeds that would’ve upset the rear before, the car now stayed stable, and continued to hold on to the line that I had intended. If I wanted rotation on entry, the car would still give it to me, but now I had more control of the slip angle. Instead of 70% throttle trying to recover the rear from excessive angle, I could now go on 100% throttle and just hang on as the car sorts itself out and accelerate earlier. The data from my AIM solo showed about 0.05-0.1 second difference every corner, compared to when I was there a couple weeks prior without the diff. The PB dropped, too, from a 1:41.7 to a 1:40.054, a new 200tw NA S2000 record around Gingerman.

And on Sunday morning, the rain came and soaked the track, and I was eager to see just how big of a difference the ATS carbon would make, under these tricky and low grip situations. With the same suspension and tire set up as Mid-Ohio, the car immediately felt more stable and easy to drive. I could attack the braking zone if I really wanted to, but I preferred to carry the momentum through with smooth inputs, and I was shocked as to how easy the car had become to tame. The throttle pedal was no longer a knife’s edge, and I could actually use most of that 210 horses on corner exits.

Even when I had dropped the ball and caught in a full-oppo-lock slide at 70 mph going through 7-8-9, I knew exactly when to pick up the throttle, drop the clutch, straighten the wheel and continue onwards. A full 20-minute session with the wipers on full speed and barely any visibility, I didn’t have a single off-track excursion (for me, someone with the nickname of “Bumper Destroyer”, that is a real achievement). The amount of confidence it generated was simply unreal, and, much to my surprise, I had set the fastest time of all 4 classes in the wet sessions, about a second faster than a Corvette C7 with all its “rain mode” TC and stability controls.

Make no mistake, this ATS Carbon was a serious financial investment that I had to think more than twice about before pulling the trigger. But, as someone who had genuinely struggled and hated driving in the rain before, this simple bolt-in part made me change my whole attitude towards it. In fact, if it happens to rain all weekend long at Road Atlanta for Gridlife South, I think I might have more than a chance of pulling out a win. Not saying you MUST have an ATS Carbon diff, I’m just saying you should… ”