A.R.S.E.

Well, I was back at Wakefield with the Renault guys yesterday and had a ball. Now I'm starting to really get a feel for the car on the limit. It actually means I was over driving a far bit, not unwinding the steering wheel when I should have and being a bit messy with lines. On the plus side, I had a shit load of fun with the car squirming all over the place. And squirming it was; tyres have done three track days now and are feeling like it and they're only road tyres to begin with. However, despite all that, I lopped 2.5 seconds off my previous PB to do a 1:16.5. I did a bunch of other laps in the 16s too and heaps in the 17s. VMax was about 155km/h. Brake fluid boiled once again but watchya gonna do? I had my first off track excursion too! All of about 20km/h... pretty lame. I thought the brakes have given up but I just overcooked it by a few metres into that corner. Next time round I managed to grab 4th instead of 2nd at the same corner (better than botching a gear change the other way around!).

Oh man that looks like fun.

That looks like so much fun!!!

Come up with your own lines Vil!!

Vilante wrote:That looks like so much fun!!!

You've got the right car for it - come on down for the day. $120 (plus $50 for annual license) is an absolute bargain for a day on track.

Exar Kun wrote:

Vilante wrote:That looks like so much fun!!!

You've got the right car for it - come on down for the day. $120 (plus $50 for annual license) is an absolute bargain for a day on track.

Not sure if work's insurance would be up to it

I did drive through northern NSW and over the great dividing range a few weeks back and the car totally transformed on the switchbacks. In race mode it just pounced on the next corner with only a few hundred metres between each turn. Such a great little car.

Vilante wrote:

Exar Kun wrote:

Vilante wrote:That looks like so much fun!!!

You've got the right car for it - come on down for the day. $120 (plus $50 for annual license) is an absolute bargain for a day on track.

Not sure if work's insurance would be up to it

I did drive through northern NSW and over the great dividing range a few weeks back and the car totally transformed on the switchbacks. In race mode it just pounced on the next corner with only a few hundred metres between each turn. Such a great little car.

Hehe - no insurance is up to it in this country. But then, who has to know? Lots of people remove / cover their plates for the day but I can see why you'd be reluctant to chance it.

Following brake temp dramas at the track days I've been to I decided to do something (cheap) about it - ghetto brake ducts!

First step is to remove fog lights to use the holes for the ducts.



Wheel arch liners obviously have to come out too...



Which shows the next problem as driver's side has carbon catch can...



And passenger's side has the horns...



So, no elegant solutions here - just bent them out of the way (needed to remove a bolt at front of carbon catch but horns are fine):





Next step was to remove the fog lights surrounds and duct tape (how apt!) some brake ducting to them around the fog light hole.



Into place they go:





Need to cut a hole in the wheel arch liners. Unfortunately I didn't get quite enough length of ducting so cable ties to the rescue! (far from the first thing to be held together with cable ties on this car )



And all back together.



I don't know how much effect it'll actually have, but who cares? Race car!

Awesome im sure the effect will be big enough to warrant the job done.

Because racecar

Love the Tricolore in your grill Mick, that's a classy touch.

You may wish to put a small grill in front of the opening... Even if you take them out when you get to the track...

C'mon Mick, who do you know with a 3D printer?
Maybe ARSE vents... so wish I hadn't said that....
Maybe a fleur-de-lis

Another track day under my belt at Wakefield and another PB yay. The lap below is a 1:15.89 and I followed that up with a 1:16.1 which as you'll see should have been the quicker if it weren't for running way wide at T2 and then again at the Fishhook. And for some reason I kept forgetting where 3rd gear was on the way into T2.



The day started out pretty slippery so I got a nice feel for lift off oversteer! The brakes are pretty much done now so I'll chuck on some new ones before my next day in September. Tyres are also on the way out. I might actually start playing with tyre pressures now that I'm pretty comfortable with how the car handles. I don't know if I'll be able to go much quicker but it's been good to chip away each time so far. In three days I've gone from a high 19 to high 16 to high 15. I've had a professional driver jump in the passenger seat each time and it's amazing how much confidence they bring. I had Racechrono hooked up to a bluetooth GPS receiver so got some good data. Still wildly inconsisten - fastest on the straight was 160km/h and the 1:15 I only hit 147km/h. Then again, there's probably still a reasonable margin of error in the GPS. Overall huge fun!

We had a JDM crowd this time to prop up numbers - result: one S2000 in the wall and lots of big moments from big turbo Supras. A few out there for their first time too so I caught a GT-R and a WRX without too much trouble! They weren't the kind of people to be nice and let me past on the straights. however...

I dare say pride was why they didn't want to let you pass haha. The only part they can beat you is on the straight haha. Looks good man I'm pretty jealous haha

Looking good.

Another Wakefield Day! I grabbed some spare wheels with a plan to put track tyres on them. Unfortunately I ran out of time and funds to make that happen so ran the crappy tyres that were still on the rims. That's going to be my excuse for this happening anyway...

You may wish to think up a better excuse...

Surely you're not suggesting it was anything to do with a lack of talent?!!

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THE BACK IS COMING AROUND!

So much dirt!

Exar Kun wrote:Surely you're not suggesting it was anything to do with a lack of talent?!!

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If you're gunna play with the big boys, you may as well quote from the standard list in the excuses book...

Clearly you were giving the girl in the other Clio on the inside at turn 1 enough racing room, then staying wide you finally got ahead through 3 then the bitch punted you on turn 4 entry...

Definitely got nudged haha. Never managed to push hard enough around the track to spin out, the walls looked way to daunting at mallala lol

Checked out the GPS data. 113km/h I lost it at. Which is about 10km/h faster than I went through there on my fastest lap. One of the other guys rolled his car doing the same thing a couple of years back so that was pretty much the only thing on my mind as the car was sliding sideways.

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Did it ever go through your mind that it might dig in and tip over?


Not sure I could take my daily driver to a track day. I'd still manage to mangle it even if I never left pit lane.

Thoughts on an 02 Clio for a first car? Would it be to expensive to maintain or is it much like any other car? Daughter is looking at one. 125k on the clock.

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