Due to 2nd child child, work, study and life I have been away from driving the car fro over 4 years. During that time I have done a few things to it
but nothing major.
Finding space on a track day was a right pain. Covid had meant that people were booking up for months in advance, but I managed to find a guy on
facebook wanting to sell a day as he could not make it. So on Tuesday I did my first track day in over 4 years. Open pit at Brands, perfect for
ironing out teething issues and only 10 mins home if it all goes that bad.
Weather leading up was massively hit or miss but I was going regardless. So with enough spares to fill the A4 tow car I was off on my own for the day
of testing really. I would have been very happy to see the chequered flag and use up the fuel.
My first worry was noise. One of the few things that can end your day prematurely and really are out of your hands. I have mentioned a few times on
here about getting kicked off for noise at brands 5 years ago. Since then I have changed my inlet to keep that side of the engine down, but done
little with the exhaust. I had with me a little dB killer and a plan to fit that in my silencer if needed or a big bolt on secondary silencer with a
very tight 180deg bend (already discussed on here). With the original set up I static tested 97dB (102 limit) and to my surprise I was not black
flagged for drive by (92 limit). This made me very happy, although I was gentle for most of the day, I thought I would be loud. This is a good point
to note about noise. My car probably tripped the drive by noise because of induction noise, something to consider if others are having issues.
In my worry of exhaust noise I removed, checked and refitted my exhaust. I probably over tightened the bolts when refitting which meant I spotted an
issue after my 1st outing, a big crack on a weld where the exhaust manifold joins one of the headers. It didn't seem to affect the power or noise
but certainly something I now need to fix.
With lots of coming in and out of the pits to check things and tweak my DD2 lite settings I found myself more and more comfortable. Oil temps were
quite high at around 110 peak, but it was a hot day on track. Water temps were 80deg constant.
I did have a massive spin which started at the top of paddock Hill after hitting a bit of oil (Clio in front also lost it and they then red flagged it
clean the track). I also had a little (unrelated) oil leak which should be an easy fix from the oil rad feed. Annoyingly a clean up and new Jubilee
clip didn't solve it.
By the end of the day I was peddling as fast as comfortable. Noticeably not as fast as 4 years ago when I was doing 5 track days during the summer. I
ended up about 0.5sec off my fastest, which with the mods I would have liked to have improved on.
Overall, a great day and result. The car run really well with some areas of improvement. Mainly the bits mentioned above, some oil rad cowling and a
front ARB. I must have covered around 150 laps and drank 50 litres of fuel.
Final point to mention. It was a BUSY day. There must have been 60 cars there and there was never any queue. Some times there were only 5-10 cars on
track! 3 red flags IIRC, one of which was due to a guy who collapsed in the pits.
I want to book up my next day now!! Who is doing what and when, it was a little lonely at times with not friends or family allowed to spectate.
If you find any more days available at BH then let me know, I need to get my backside in gear (and the car) and do something with it this year. After
the C19 shut down stopped the planned sprint season I have found it difficult to find any enthusiasm to do anything with the car
Would you fancy anywhere else like Snetterton for example?
I quite fancy Cadwell / Oulton / Mallory.
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
Would you fancy anywhere else like Snetterton for example?
I quite fancy Cadwell / Oulton / Mallory.
"With lots of coming in and out of the pits to check things and tweak my DD2 lite settings I found myself more and more comfortable. Oil temps
were quite high at around 110 peak, but it was a hot day on track. Water temps were 80deg constant."
That doesn't seem right. 80 Deg water temp is too low and 110 oil is on the high side.
quote:
Originally posted by jeffw
"With lots of coming in and out of the pits to check things and tweak my DD2 lite settings I found myself more and more comfortable. Oil temps were quite high at around 110 peak, but it was a hot day on track. Water temps were 80deg constant."
That doesn't seem right. 80 Deg water temp is too low and 110 oil is on the high side.
quote:
Originally posted by peter030371
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
Would you fancy anywhere else like Snetterton for example?
I quite fancy Cadwell / Oulton / Mallory.
If I had the time. Brands is just a day out, the rest are a 2 day trip and time is tight.
I'm tempted with the Javelin Sprint at Caldwell in October (I was planning 6 or 7 sprints in the series this year but that never happened) but I do need to bed my brakes in and then adjust the balance first which I can't do at a sprint
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
Would you fancy anywhere else like Snetterton for example?
I quite fancy Cadwell / Oulton / Mallory.
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
Snetterton is a day. The others you can drive up after work and stay in a cheap local hotel, drive back afterwards fueled on red bull! That what I do with the more distant ones.
Snett is less than 2 for me.
I would kip in the tow car or tent at the track for further ones. I have also stayed in hotels but also called before a discussed secure parking.