Castle Combe trackday 2011
k on sunday i drove over to stay at a b&b in wrexham
8.30 on monday i went into demontweak to buy some EBC redstuff pads, wheel off, old pads out but ohhhh i forgot my g-clamp to push the piston in, dammit.
enquired bout a caliper piston tool and it was £92 lol. asked their fitting garage bout borrowing a piston tool but nope they have their own special tools and can only use themselves.
fitting new pads was only £25, right ok go on.. clock was ticking away. twas 9am shoulda left by now cos takes 3hrs to get to the track. done 10mins later left by 9.30 and storm done to castle combe.
brakes were very grippy initially cos of the rough bedding in coating. few miles later it almost returns to normal grip levels. at this stage compared to the predator pads, redstuff brakes require slightly more effort when cold and only squealed quietly when braking gently to a stop.
after 170miles near the track i warm the brakes through the country roads and feels more responsive, not as grippy or wide temp range as the predator but close.
got there at 12.30 just before sign in & briefing
unloaded stuff into m8s micra as a sort of spare tools holding
set dampers to full hard 30 clicks front & rear, went for sighting lap, the track is soo much wider n smoother n grippier than in a game. car felt good at low speed, only limited by the fact it starts to lean out above 5k.
so took out the old FPR, fitted the spare one from the 200sx fuel rail
went out to test and once again it still leans out at 14afr above 6k so i had to short shift at 5k and miss out the high end.
i left the tyres at the same 3bar pressure so at race speed its at 3.18/3.05 front/rear and i believe thats the right pressure to retain sidewall stiffness and tyre patch cos they're only wearing within the tread area after few laps
so the laps, tis been such a blast, track is so grippy. the LSD was a stone groove
i found during the slow s-bends that if i only coast/low power round the bend the front is more likely to understeer wider. but if i plant it full power mid corner or sometimes just throughout the corner, steer in abit more, the diff locks and the front tucks in and pulls her tighter in so next time i could take the corner faster n faster
when braking hard before a corner i sense the abs engaging and i think the uneven method of modulation is causing the rear end to occasionally wiggle abit as its unloaded. through the fast double right hander at the old paddock bend, the could sense the rear would like to come out twitch outwards if i turn too tight, but taking a wider entry sweep for less exit steering angle solved that and i always found the locking lsd would just pull the front end back to where i'm steering whenever the rear end wriggles.
tried softening the rear to 20clicks and maybe abit stabler but hard to tell difference
eventually let me dad have a go and boy is it scary telling him where to brake n corner n change gear, screaming Keep ur hands at friggin 9-3 o'clock position!, use ur mirrors! signal n let the fast guy pass!
came in after generous 4laps cos felt any longer and he'll cause a crash :/
finished last 30mins with afew fast blast till i'm almost outa fuel
day finished, went over to m8s house to discuss bout the car n we figured the afr issue i'm having might well be a lack of fuel supply at peak load pointing to the fuel pump. i'm thinking it can't keep up at max load maybe cos its getting old? (tis a used gts-t pump eh) or cos i tend the run the tank till red and overheat the pump? or maybe cos of the octane booster that could contaminate the pump?
drove home i will need to to check her over tomorrow
just ordered a new walbro 255 fuel pump from rallynuts for £121 delivered asap
http://www.rallynuts.com/walbro/sytec-walbro-motorsport-fuel-pump-kit.html