Teesside Autodrome - Evening Trackday 22-06-17
4pm after work, I set off down to the track. another dry sunny warm evening
parked up, unpacked my stuff, setup the dampers & tyres, turned on the cameras and signed up at the office.
was chatting to a cool guy with an awesome rat looking hotrod. William in the pink 200sx arrived, was having boost leak issues and helped out but soon had to goto briefing. Corey in the green micra later turned up. there was another green micra similar to Corey's who I've never seen before? it was starting to get unusually busy.
did the briefing and immediately ready for the sight laps.
17.00 Warmup laps
10/30 dampers
60/40 brake bias
80% fuel
2.2/2.2bars cold
setup same as it was last time. 3 laps to warm up the brakes & tyres.
the tyres & brakes barely upto temps after 3 light laps.
throughout the whole evening it was absolutely jam packed full of cars & ppl, more then I remember, dunno what's going on.
17.11 Session 1
10/30 dampers
60/40 brake bias
75% fuel
2.5/2.5bars warm
now lets see how she feels with a softer front swaybar.
Lap times:
1.01 traffic
1.00 traffic
1.01 traffic
1.01 traffic
0.57 traffic
0.56
Remark:
- good turn in and slightly less understeer but rear end is abit sketchy over the bumpy & fast 1st left turn.
2:40 - overtake a silver celica
3:00 - held up by grey bmw
4:40 - allow black civic to pass
17.37 Session 2
20/30 dampers
60/40 brake bias
75% fuel
2.5/2.5bars hot
stiffened the front dampers abit to reduce the twitchy oversteer at the first corner.
Lap times:
0.55
0.58 traffic
0.58 traffic
0.55
0.55
0.59 traffic
0.57 traffic
0.58 traffic
0.59 traffic
Remark:
3:25 - grey bmw initially blocking and then I overtake him down straights
6:30 - held up by several clios
- less twitchy at the first corner but over smooth corners she naturally understeers bit, which holds me up, especially at the exits & at the 180deg bend.
- doing a consistant 55sec clear laps.
- noticing more of an odd boost whistle. dunno if it was noise from the stripped cabin or there's a boost leak or exhaust leak? it still boosts 10-12psi. noticed a little white dusting near the rear left turbo flange bolt getting worse through the day so it's probably cracking again.
18.30 Session 3 with Billy
10/30 dampers
60/40 brake bias
70% fuel
2.7/2.7bars hot
The brakes & tyres are now upto temp but only reaching 2.5bars cos it's a cooler day than the previous heat waves so pumped the tyres upto 2.7bars and reduced the dampers back to 10/30 exactly same as last trackday so I can feel what the softer swaybar does.
Billy who was in the other green micra came over, had a nice chat, he wasn't in MSC nor FB. he asked if he could have a ride, sure. once again waiting in a massive queue till we can go on track. Corey joined the track.
Lap times:
0.57
1.00 traffic
1.00 traffic
0.57 traffic
0.59 traffic
1.04 traffic
0.59 traffic
0.56
0.57 traffic
1.03 traffic
0.57 traffic
0.58 traffic
Remarks:
3:30 - overtake grey bmw
4:00 - allow red civic pass
4:30 - civic taking a wide line
5:00 - civic going through chicane too hot
6:50 - held up by vauxhall
7:40 - overtake vauxhall
9:40 - caught up to Corey in green micra
10:20 - passing cautious silver ford focus
10:50 - caught up to Corey in green micra
11:30 - overtake Corey in green micra
- feels quite balanced over the 1st corner but still understeers during the exits and the 180deg bend.
- doing 56sec laps with a passenger onboard.
- tyres have heated upto 2.75/2.7bars
- noticed the outer shoulders of the front tyres are wearing very quickly down to canvas similar to what happened to the rears :/ think the sidewalls are flexing under too much and needs more camber & caster.
19.20 Session 4
10/30 dampers
60/40 brake bias
60% fuel
2.6/2.7bars hot
softened the front pressure down to 2.6bars to see if that'll help it bite during the exits & 180deg long bend.
a massive queue and time was running close to 8pm.
Lap times:
0.56
0.55
0.55
0.54
0.58 traffic
0.58 traffic
0.59 traffic
Remark:
- it was a nice clear track for afew laps, felt better & got faster towards 54sec as the brakes heated up before I hit traffic.
1:30 - overtake blue focus
3:30 - overtake silver focus
5:00 - held up by orange caterham
even for a very busy day it's been a good few runs