Regarding fixed kick-up, it's easy solved when stuff mounted to chassis. If the chassis is bent to the minimum kick-up anyone would want, so say 10 degrees for this example - you could use pivot pin mounting blocks angled to increase this from neutral.
I think a smaller belt as suggested above would do the trick nicely at reducing belt drag. I felt the rear belt made the car easier to drive, and more consistent- not the other way around.
As for the chassis, I can't comment on tweaking. I can only say my Cougar 2 chassis certainly looks like it has been through the wars - and it has. 14 years on original chassis - can't be all that bad?
I certainly prefer the handling of my Cougar and Cougar 2 compared to my Fireblade etc - and I think maybe the chassis has part to play in this. Either way, I certainly hope it's not some twin deck carbon fibre thing even if it's not a shallow pan.
This topic is kicking up good debate already
