Jap Show 2011
hey everyone. finally have the energy back to write bout the japshow.
was hard to sleep and had to set off at 5am. packed the essentials n headed straight down to santapod for 9am.
almost there on the last stretch of road and i was amongst a string of cars racing n weaving through the country towards the gates, twas intimidating
joined the multiple queues of very expensive skylines, civics, evos, supras etc. threw £15 at the entrance lady to receive an event booklet & entrance ticket. followed the row of cars, the marshall directing ppl then made some hand gesture, dunno what the heck he's on about so pointed me into the public car park on the left.
got out, dunno where to go or meet ashley sw so i headed up to find the track office to apply for rwyb, place was a complete maze. eventually got there and ashley was behind me
he went off to join the strip while i applied with the last applic forms, got the wrist band, erm now what? didn't seem to be any means to gather n meetup or see a rwyb pit area. saw ash on the strip, place is surreal with activity n there's some real loud cars
met up with ash n decided to go straight to the track. i was originally hoping that there's was some patch for members to gather up, store their stuff before running but nope i'd have to carry ALL the heavy tools with me onboard, gr8.
walked all the way back to the car, lowered tyre pressure to 2bars, harden shocks and headed to the strip with ash. this is my first drag race and boy my tummy was turning while making sure i was gonna be in line beside ash.
Drag Run 1
cars ahead gone, ok here we go. headed for the wet black marked strip. i'm gonna try a burnout, lift revs drop clutch wheel spins and she veers abit to the left whoa, pulled her back and now line up the the start. ash is already set and i crawl up seeing one light, two light. i stop and was gonna pull the handbrake to load up the turbo but i had no time, the four amber immediately went on earlier than i hoped so i reved to 3k, green i dropped the clutch and OH FFS! i saw the battery light come on i friggin stalled, quickly restarted and away we go. god that was embarrasing:doh: caught up with ash 1/2 way and sailed past. woops
did a 17.73 at 88.56mph
Drag Run 2
went for a 2nd run. ok this time i better not muck it up, use more revs. lined up, do burnout holding the steering tight and its abit straighter but still veers to the slightest twitch. right, past the two lights, handbrake on, 4 ambers on, rev above 3k, drag the clutch 1/2way as the turbo spools, green light, foot to the floor while smoothly lifting the clutch. she takes off nicely with minimal wheelspin, track feels like velvet. 7k shift to 2nd then 3rd and past the finish reaching the rev limit. twas a nice run.
did 15.22 at 89.61mph
Handling Track
was 11.30 and fancied doin the handling track as it just opened. popped over and they were just setting up the cones. i went for the first run, looked pretty simple with afew slaloms, hairpin and slalom back before reversing into the start finish. first run i started on the wrong side of the slalom cones, first one was placed more to the left for a reason. anyway the next few runs were much better doin 28s then 27s then 26s getting faster n faster
it was soooo much fun. dampers n preload were prob too soft as she pitches up n down and sways abit on the hard hairpins as i struggle to control the throttle when keepin in 1st gear cos it was like total on/off throttling. found that brancing my right leg against the door helps. guy says my rear right wheel on the last hard turn was perched high up by like this much.
did my 4 runs but wanted another go so i queued up lol
managed to record my run now. i hardened the shocks to lessen the sway.
bit more aggressive n faster with controls now, one point it was too hard and almost touched the cone. turning hard till she squeels and pushing throttle just spins tyres so would have to be smooth n progressive with throttle. managed to get a 26.16s and had loadsa fun. still found it hard to believe later on how greg did a 23s in his N/A stripped micra with chopped springs although i was carrying afew kg of tools n rear seats.
Drag Run 3
went back to the strip and saw frank
he had to go wait till 1pm for the office to reprint summore applic forms so me n ash went over the do our runs. ash went to the line and i was gonna go to my right lane till i saw this sweeper machine coming backwards to clean the lane turning around and almost hitting me :/ figured that side was closed and went to the left as signalled. 3rd run felt abit quicker at the launch and so was gonna hit the limiter in 3rd before the finish so shifted to 4th, she kinda goes but then momentarily dips abit in power before finishing. dunno what happened but would've been a fast time.
Drag Run 4
ash had used up his runs but eventually frank got his wrist band and i headed up to the strip with him. it shut for a 30min break. on resume the car had cooled abit so had to heat it up to prevent WOT on a cold engine.
here's the run
this time i made a complete mess of it. too much wheel spin at the start, had to feather throttle to regain grip losing time and then i shifted to 2nd to quickly. still WOT the revs slowly dropping as the clutch barely struggles to match the speed then again into 3rd, sounding like an automatic until eventually it rapidly overheats and packs in, just revving away. shifted into 4th and had to abort the run. frank just zooming away as i cruise towards the finish. bargh damnit oh well
on the way back parking next to ash i noticed greg, we had a long chat, throat was killin from it lol. frank came back to the gather with 2 more runs, gave to greg, lucky fella:grinning:
anyway twas a grand day out, proceeded back home at 4pm running on vapour but just bout reached the nearest shell station and drove a long 4hrs back home till my bum was numb:laugh:
