Yesterday was a track day (VSSC R5) at Sandown, and in tune with the rest of year it had it's up's and down's. Leading up the day, I tried to get on top of the noise issue I have constantly been having. So Friday we made up a new exhaust with a long center muffler and the ability to run the rear muffler too. In my testing, the results were good. The center muffler worked as well as the rear one and noise was down.
As usual for the Ford / Holden car clubs, the organisation at the start of the day was pretty bad. After waiting in line for 45min to get signed up, once again, they didn't get my registration. So get that all sorted out and quickly through scrutineering. By then they were running about 1hr late.
First session, car was feeling good, concentrated on warming things up and getting the car right for the rest of the day. Had some decent laps in heavy traffic. A 1.33 which I was happy with as a warm-up. Pulled in after the session and an official came up saying that my car once again, was too loud. Couldn't be exhaust anymore, so has to be intake...and the cost / effort of re-doing all that is too much, so looks like no more Sandown for me (well maybe sneak in a few sessions for the last round of the VSSC).
So with a warning for noise already, and knowing this will be my last session before I get kicked off, I got tyre pressures right and got myself ready to attack this next session. Payed off in the end with a new PB of 1.28.8, knocking .3 off my previous PB. Defiantly felt like there was more to go too, with a mid to low 28's feeling possible that day. Down the straight this time I tried pulling to the other side of the track away from the DB reader, and after pulling back into the pits, no one came and talked to me...I think the wind might have slightly changed direction too.
Third session and I was hopeful to break the PB again, but unfortunately it was not to be. First lap I went to overtake someone on the inside, just cut it too tight, got a little loose, and ran onto the grass. This wasn't too bad and not my first time on the grass that day, but unfortunately as I was running on the grass waiting for the guy to get out of the way I hit a massive ditch, which after pulling back into the pits saw it ripped off my splitter, the brackets holding it on and put a dent into my sump. Need to get the car onto a hoist to get a better look and make sure all the arms are ok.
And that was the end of my track day!! So now I need to make a new splitter and brackets, my brakes weren't giving me much confidence that day too, so time for new pads, rotors and fluid I think as well as changing up the rears to some Wilwoods too to loose some more weight. So with one more Sandown day planned this year, I might give it another shot, but then after that I doubt I will be back. Stick to Phillip Island and Winton, as I hardly ever get to Winton it is somewhere I would like to concentrate on for a while.
New PB 1.28.8
Sunday 31 August 2014
Monday 18 August 2014
So we are now mid 2014...Not much luck and not many posts
So, hasn't been a great year for the old ED...It's only had a handful of outings, non of which I would say have been terribly successful. So after I got everything back together again, with the new suspension and changes to the car I was ready for my first track day.
Phillip Island: Well this was a bad start to the racing year...First lap had a fair bit of smoke coming out of the back of the car, pulled into the pits and was trying to find where it was coming from, while I was doing this a gust of wind came and smashed my bonnet into the windscreen and shattered it...so that was my day done, not even a full lap done.
Sandown: With a new windscreen installed and the cause of the oil leak found and fixed I headed to Sandown to try to get in a good day. Once again on this first session there was a fair bit of smoke, after pulling back into the pits we found the issue, last time the oil leak had leaked onto the heat wrap for the exhaust, so was just burning up. So we cut that away and were ready to head back out. Next session the car was majorly down on power, pulled back in and water had gotten into the plugs, emptied that out and went out for the next session, car was majorly misfiring...we determined it could be old fuel and / or bad leads. So with some octane booster added to the fuel went out for the final session and was still misfiring at high rpm...So that was my day done, so good runs, no real chances to get anything warmed up, so a few seconds slower than my PB
Sandown: A new set of leads chucked on and I was ready for Sandown, car felt great straight up, plenty of grip and considering the day (a bit wet) I was pretty happy with the car. On the warm-up lap I was actually running at PB time!! So got a bit excited and with everything too cold ended up running off the track into the kitty litter...no big deal, just meant for a lot of cleaning off the front diffuser. Managed to get a few more sessions in that day, and walked away with a new PB 1.29.2, about .3 quicker than before...but the track wasn't at its best and neither was my driving...so defiantly a lot more to loose off that time. 1.28's should be easy with potential for 1.27's.
Phillip Island: After driving half way to Phillip Island in the pouring rain a few weeks previously and then turning around and going home because of the conditions I was eager to get the car out at PI. But unfortunately got in 2 sessions in wet condition's and then got done for noise. Was pretty happy with how the car was feeling though, was running about 20sec slower due to the weather and cold car, but was still comparatively going decently compared to others (mates GTR is about 10sec quicker than mine in the dry but I was running a few seconds quicker in the wet that day with worse tyres)
So that's been my racing experience this year...really not much to shout about and hence why I haven't been on here much!! Hopefully all is sorted now and I can start to get used to the car again and start pushing it a bit more. I finish up my studies this month which will allow me to get back to racing more often and more seat time.
The aim for the car in the next few months is: New seats, retune to E85, and new exhaust system that will allow for my splitter & diffuser system to work. Have another track day coming up in a few weeks at Sandown so will post up results after that.
No pics in a while, so here they are!!
Phillip Island: Well this was a bad start to the racing year...First lap had a fair bit of smoke coming out of the back of the car, pulled into the pits and was trying to find where it was coming from, while I was doing this a gust of wind came and smashed my bonnet into the windscreen and shattered it...so that was my day done, not even a full lap done.
Sandown: With a new windscreen installed and the cause of the oil leak found and fixed I headed to Sandown to try to get in a good day. Once again on this first session there was a fair bit of smoke, after pulling back into the pits we found the issue, last time the oil leak had leaked onto the heat wrap for the exhaust, so was just burning up. So we cut that away and were ready to head back out. Next session the car was majorly down on power, pulled back in and water had gotten into the plugs, emptied that out and went out for the next session, car was majorly misfiring...we determined it could be old fuel and / or bad leads. So with some octane booster added to the fuel went out for the final session and was still misfiring at high rpm...So that was my day done, so good runs, no real chances to get anything warmed up, so a few seconds slower than my PB
Sandown: A new set of leads chucked on and I was ready for Sandown, car felt great straight up, plenty of grip and considering the day (a bit wet) I was pretty happy with the car. On the warm-up lap I was actually running at PB time!! So got a bit excited and with everything too cold ended up running off the track into the kitty litter...no big deal, just meant for a lot of cleaning off the front diffuser. Managed to get a few more sessions in that day, and walked away with a new PB 1.29.2, about .3 quicker than before...but the track wasn't at its best and neither was my driving...so defiantly a lot more to loose off that time. 1.28's should be easy with potential for 1.27's.
Phillip Island: After driving half way to Phillip Island in the pouring rain a few weeks previously and then turning around and going home because of the conditions I was eager to get the car out at PI. But unfortunately got in 2 sessions in wet condition's and then got done for noise. Was pretty happy with how the car was feeling though, was running about 20sec slower due to the weather and cold car, but was still comparatively going decently compared to others (mates GTR is about 10sec quicker than mine in the dry but I was running a few seconds quicker in the wet that day with worse tyres)
So that's been my racing experience this year...really not much to shout about and hence why I haven't been on here much!! Hopefully all is sorted now and I can start to get used to the car again and start pushing it a bit more. I finish up my studies this month which will allow me to get back to racing more often and more seat time.
The aim for the car in the next few months is: New seats, retune to E85, and new exhaust system that will allow for my splitter & diffuser system to work. Have another track day coming up in a few weeks at Sandown so will post up results after that.
No pics in a while, so here they are!!
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