Teesside Autodrome - Evening Trackday 10-04-2017
Planned to goto teesside autodrome for an evening trackday on my bday to shakedown & test the cars settings with the recent new mods ready for the silverstone track run at Japfest on 30th april.
it was suppose to be my day off work but my collegue hurt his back so I had to come in during the day to cover for him, so drive kasandra in her trackday form over to work.
Arrived at 4pm, it started off very quiet, there was only afew ppl there. me getting the few odd looks from ppl prob cos of the wheels or that it's a micra, decided to just proceed as normal and goto signing-in.
on the way back to the car, few ppl were curious bout the car and I met Frankie in his blue facelift, Neil & Noel in his elise & Martin in his mx5 arrived before we went to briefing.
after briefing it was all a rush as ppl were getting ready for the warm up and I had to quickly unpack, setup all the cameras, setup the dampers, helmet up and rush behind the queue. I really should've done all this before briefing.
17:00 Sighting Warmup Lap
Went out for a 3 laps to warm up the tyres & brakes
back at the pits I checked the tyre pressures and they're still at the cold 1.85/2.5bar front/rear so need afew more laps to heat the brakes and tyres up.
17:11 Run 1
15/30 front/rear damper
50/50 brake bias
80% fuel
1.95/2.5bar front/rear warm pressure
2:20 overtaking green bmw
3:30 overtake blue puma
5:11 lock rears
Lap times:
57s
61s traffic bmw, rh brake
55s overtake blue puma
57s
56s brakes heated up
57s
Remark:
-understeer during long fast corner and up the tight steep chicane hills.
-brake pedal bite point is still firm & slightly above throttle while system is cold.
-the locked seat beat works great at keeping me anchored to the seat during braking & cornering.
-notice I only reach fast laps when the brake discs are red hot at their optimum temp
The first run certainly attracted some attention
After parking up on a level floor to let brakes cool and check oil level, Kevin Ellis who has a grey pickup K11 popped over and we had a good chat, real nice bloke.
Later on he asked if his daughter Chloe (quite nice looking
) could have a ride? I was surprisingly shocked by this cos I've never had such a request before, especially with a nice lady, but I was more than happy to give anyone a ride. Said are you sure Chloe? yup.
The track stopped hiring helmets so they went off to register as passenger and to borrow a helmet from someone.
More young lads and their gf arrived to check out kasandra and asking bout it.
Chloe & Kevin arrived back with helmet ready so I strapped her in, tightly locking the seat belt with the plastic clip trick I recently discovered so we don't get throw around the seat.
17:50 Run 2
15/30 front/rear damper
50/50 brake bias
75% fuel
2.00/2.6bar front/rear hot pressure
4:02 oversteer exiting the first corner
5:30 overtake blue puma down the straights
Lap times:
58s
57s
56s brakes heated up
55s
57s overtake blue puma
56s
55s
Remark:
-understeer during long fast corner and up the tight steep chicane hills.
-brake pedal bite point has dropped flush with the throttle once system is hot.
-slightly less body roll with Chloe counter-balancing my weight.
She is one brave lady, especially cos it's her first time on such a track in a very fast car. Even being thrown around the seat by g-force and heavy braking, she was perfectly calm & quiet and got a buzz off it
We exchanged facebook & mobile numbers and kept in touch
18:29 Run 3
15/30 front/rear damper
50/50 brake bias
65% fuel
2.00/2.6bar front/rear hot pressure
3:30 overtake silver fiat with green skoda
4:30 overtake green skoda
5:50 ALMOST ROLLED OVER after clipping the high inside kerbs!
8:45 first corner oversteer
Lap times:
57s
57s traffic behind green skoda
60s traffic behind green skoda
57s traffic overtake green skoda
55s almost rolled
56s traffic undertake green bmw
54s brakes heated up
57s traffic blue fiesta
55s
Remark:
-the stiffer lighter X-braced chassis and old soft spring-rate and bad front roll-center geometry make the car feel very rolly-polly.
-almost rolled over after hitting the high inside kerb but some fast reaction sorted it out.
-oversteer when thrown into a fast bend
-understeer during long corners
-pumped up the rear tyres to 2.7bar to try reduce understeer.
19:12 Run 4
15/30 front/rear damper
50/50 brake bias
50% fuel
2.00/2.7bar front/rear hot pressure
5:10 overtake silver fiat
6:10 destroyed 3rd gear
Lap times:
56s
56s traffic black skoda
55s
55s brakes heated up
56s traffic overtake silver fiat
On the last run while accelerating down the straight in 3rd, when I reached peak torque about 5k rpm it made a horrible crunch noise and snapped out of gear
Went into 5th to continue drive around the corner, tried selecting 3rd but was crunching badly. selected a barely working 2nd to try make it back to the pits.
Ohh **** this ain't good, especially with japfest coming up I really didn't need this to happen
It's such a horrible noise nursing her back, me and other spectators were like this:
The noise stops spinning when I disengage the clutch and most of the gears still work so it ain't the final drive or clutch or engine.
Me, Neil, Martin, an organisor and frankie all tried to figure out what could be broken. Was thinking maybe the clutch disc springs has come out or the input shaft bearings collapsed or the 3rd gear cog selection teeth has shattered?
Tried to remove the starter to see if the clutch assembly is still intact but it was getting close to shutting the gates so decided to reassemble.
Without breakdown cover and a very broken gearbox, I had to decide whether to nurse her home (guys went Noo no no) or keep her parked overnight to collect tomorrow? (I'd still be in same situation and don't fancy leaving her out alone).
So I decided to risk nursing her home in her barely drivable state with Martin following behind with a tow strap.
Jesus christ!! this was the single most mechanically painful drive home as I try to maintain speed on the back roads while she obliterates the cogs. It's so loud, I could hear it echo off the street.
When stationary, it goes quiet when I disengage the clutch.
At speed, it only goes quiet when coasting in neutral and clutch engaged (input shaft made to spin slowly with the idling engine). If a disengage clutch at speed, the noise speeds up cos the diff & layshaft is spinning up the input shaft due to the viscous oil.
Made it back home, thanking Martin and back to bed, dreading what I'll find the next day.
)
