Track Day at Sandown

Timmzy · Post by **Timmzy** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 10:14 pm

Hello,

I did my first track day in 4 years the other day. Monday before cup -> It was a great day. The car worked very well, everything held together and didn't give me too many problems.

A mate from work in his EVO9 was there too. I went through approx 75 litres of fuel. As you can imagine we had serious amounts of track time, given the way the day was structured. Thus leading to most people using all of their fuel, tyres and brakes. By the end of the day there was only a couple of cars left, due to attrition, breakages, stacks, etc.

Anyway I managed to keep it off the armco and not blow anything up, so I was extremely happy. Car needs a service now though

Here are some pics:

Darren.

Panda_ET · Post by **Panda_ET** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 10:22 pm

awesome...wish i was there to take shots

Timmzy · Post by **Timmzy** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 10:24 pm

Sorry, I didn't realise some of those photo's were so blurry. Anyway, we were not allowed to time our laps, as this was classed as a 'driver training day', but I think a mate may have been monitoring the time for me. Ill have to see how we went there.

Only damage to report was the 17inch wheels on the front tried to munch my guards, and a small oil leak developed from the front seal (minor). Both are relativley easy to fix.

The Magna brakes worked extremely well, but toward the end of the day they must have developed some air in them or something, because they were not as good. Having said that my mates 4-pot brembo's on his EVO9 were doing exactly the same thing, so I wasn't too concerned.

Track time was ridiculous. At one stage there we were on the track for 50mins straight. I actually drove myself into a headache (!) I only came in when the fuel light was 'ON' and it started to cough and splutter through the 'essess' up near Dandenong rd. THought I'd better get a drink and also put 20litres more fuel in. (after already using a whole tank)

After that I put another 20L in 1 hour later

We eventually got kicked off the track at 4:00PM - the cut off time - feeling very satisfied and completely stuffed. We did over 240KM of racing for the day, which is a lot when you are not used to it. Its more draining than you think. But worth every cent.

Another pic - pics taken by a mate with an Olympus digital SLR. He took about 150 odd photo's some real good ones too.

Darren.

Callumgw · Post by **Callumgw** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:17 am

ooohhh shit, Darren, I wanted to come down, but forgot which day it was....

Certainly seems to be better value than a standard sprint day.

C

Timmzy · Post by **Timmzy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 12:07 pm

Hi Callum,

Ah no probs I am sure I will be out more frequently now. But not before CHristmas, this was my only chance. You know new house purchase, Christmas and all.

It definatly was better value than a clubsprint, but no timing was allowed. Having said that, I got a couple of comments from some regular driveday people stating that they will only do these driver training days because they are such better value than clubsprints.

Darren.

Post by **The Renegade** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:59 pm

That's some cool stuff Darren!
The ET looks to be sitting quite nicely judging by the pic of you coming out of the last turn, how did it feel in the pilots seat?

Timmzy · Post by **Timmzy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:36 pm

Hey Renegade,

The car sat quite well through the corners. Excellent braking performance/balance coming into corners - Although I think the upgraded brakes have pulled my front end out of alignment cos it started pulling to the right slightly toward the end of the day. Brake bias seemed about right, maybe just a little too much on the front, but that could have had something to do with the different sized wheels.

Nice balance mid corner and progressive/predictable oversteer if induced - I did some late night mods on the rear which obviously made a difference. I installed a set of Koni reds on the back, King Spring lows and Hose clamped a second rear stabilizer bar on. (DOdgy - but it will do for now.)

Exiting corners the car was reasonably balanced unless it broke traction, and that happened a lot. When it broke traction, the car would just understeer out of the corner. So that was tricky, but throttle control seemed to be the key there. And the VL throttle body has the control of a pea. It was either on or off, which made throttle control interesting. A couple of times I just nailed it, and completely covered the guy behind me in tyre smoke. Interestingly enough I don't think an LSD or locked diff would help me here, as when it broke traction, the whole front would drift out. THen it was just a matter of steering back out of the corner to re-gain traction and then floor it. Meanwhile you loose a shiteload of corner speed.

Other than that, the car was flawless. AND QUICK. I didn't have too many problems keeping up with a brand new EVO9. The only cars that were quicker in a straight line were 2 S15's that were running boostaricdular, a GTR, R34, and a 250at-the-wheel KW EVO6. I had a great drag with him down the back straight a couple of times.

I had bigger coconuts, but he had more power!

Checked out the ET tonight, and its consumed 500ml of engine oil, and has not much gearbox oil left, used maybe 20ml brake fluid. Looks like it consumed about 50% of my front brake pads (from new) and 25% of rear. A couple of stone chips in the front too

Can I suggest that everyone gives this sort of thing a go? Its a real buzz. And you learn how shite you really are at driving on the limit. Makes me drive safer and slower on the road.

Darren.

Post by **The Renegade** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:32 pm

Sound like a bunch of fun, and also sounds like the car was pretty well sorted for a 1st run! You've done yourself proud!!!

I plan on some track time in the Exa, but it's gonna be hard - there's no track within 4.5 hours of me, and that's if they still do trach days at eastern creek ......

BQ-05-TY · Post by **BQ-05-TY** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 5:25 am

i still havent heard of a track day at eastern creek yet

i wish

the onlly one i know of is wakefield

(Hell of a trip)

Post by **The Renegade** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 11:36 am

Wakefield is a long way, but I'm often in Canberra for work..........

Post by **thepurplepulsar** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 4:59 pm

Bring your exa up to Queensland Raceway.

BQ-05-TY · Post by **BQ-05-TY** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 5:31 pm

not really far for renegade

but a long freakin way for me

especially with a trailer

Timmzy · Post by **Timmzy** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:58 am

^^ Its worth it. Trust me its worth it

Sad thing is now I have to pack it all up cos we are moving house, so there is another delay.

So now the ET is full of toolboxes wheels and shit. No more tinkering till after christmas.

GOt another track day/sprint planned for Feb08. Can't wait.

And yes i will be reassembling the front end so it looks somewhat like a car.

Darren.

Callumgw · Post by **Callumgw** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:10 am

Eastern Creek will have them, you just need to ask the right people or join a CAMS car club (or AASA)

C

Post by **The Renegade** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:31 pm

Thanx Cam, I'll do some snooping re the CAMS club, although I'm pretty sure locally all we have is the rally car club. I'll see how I go.