Reply With QuoteMy last Baskerville day for some time
As I mention briefly at the end of my previous post I'll be moving to Melbourne at the beginning of next month, so hopefully I'll be able to catch some of you in person at a meet/track day sometime soon. I'm actually very keen to check out Winton Raceway. In the mean time, though a little risky if things were to go awry, I thought I'd squeeze in one more track day.
The two days prior to the track day saw me install my baffled sump and give the car a once over to make sure everything was sweet. After everything was checked over I decided to gather my things together so I could just pack the car after I got home from work the evening before. This final track day was a pretty limited window of opportunity as I would have to go to work the same evening so I really had to be on point packing my car so as not to forget to pack my misc. work stuff. I could easily see myself forgetting something vital for work in the hype of getting packed for the track day.
The more track days I attend the more I become 'laxed about preparing since all the stuff I need is still the same tub from last time.
Its steadily now has consisted of:
Engine Oil
Coolant
Brake fluid
Windex*
Paper towel*
Funnel for oil
Wheel spacers
Hose clamps
Chux
Nitrile gloves
Duct tape
Zip ties.
Tire pressure gauge*
*The most used of all these things, followed closely by the Chux. This is something I'm pretty happy about.
As far as tools go I've been keeping an eye on what I really use when I work on the car, and most frequently in other misc. fabrication stuff. This process sort of has been under way since I did began the engine swap. I have another small tool box which lives under my house that holds the tools I use less frequently( knuckle splitters, crank pulley tool, and the like), but below is a pic of the one I take with me to the track.
Again I really only use a couple of things but it makes me feel more comfortable having this stuff with me. Of the tool box I'd say that the most used item is the 19mm deep socket and torque wrench, to do my wheels up, and the Philips screw driver, for taking my number plates off.
An "early" start is what it consisted of.
Getting up at around 6am and goofing around for half an hour worrying about having all my work stuff I was underway. After looking at how far Winton is from Melbourne I will definitely miss the 30-40 minute drive from my house to the Baskerville, its a distance barely worth considering in the scheme of things.
I'm consistently the first guy to arrive as I like to chill out for a little bit and unload all my stuff as I drink my morning, and very much needed coffee.This time though I had fit my semi-slicks too. I was asked by someone about why I don't just run them on the day and drive out since the commute is so short. I figured if I am going to have spare wheels I may as well use them in that way, and take any opportunity to make the tires last. I was quite excited to see what they felt like to drive on, I had never before driven on a semi-slick tire.
Good! Excellent! Boss-tastic![Honda]Primo!
The car was really transformed! I mean I've always know that it would feel good but this was truly life changing as far as how the car felt. On the Bridgestone RE001's the car always felt a little like it was going to spin out, or understeer, unpredictably... not at all confidence inspiring.
With these tires I felt so much safer which was great! The scariest corner at Baskerville is a blind corner over the crest of the uphill section which I was always super nervous about with the street tires but even in the first sessions I was able to push so much harder as I could feel how the tire would dig in and grip. Part of me wonders if its the offset difference, total of 36mm track change, making the front softer...I dont know.
The first few sessions I tried to keep things cool and just go out, no camera, no phone timer, and just feel things out. It was really great to see how things were different. The biggest thing was that in sections I was able to gear-up earlier and get onto the power earlier without having to worry about bringing on any understeer.
After a few laps I decided to go in and have a bit to eat, this is generally my tactic as people are always mad keen to get out there in the morning are things can be a little frustrating when there is a lot of traffic...I tend to chill a bit and let people start breaking down, and/or tired. I kept running well through the day, pulling around 80 laps, and managed to dip into the 1:07's with the best being 1:07.84! Very happy!!!
I received a lot of exclamations regarding my wing addition, mostly ending in loose complements about the finish. It does have a couple of little funny bits I'd like to tidy up to make it perfect in my maker's eye but as far as where it was at on the day I was pretty happy.
Who knows if it does anything??! Car feels good either way.
At this point I should talk about the one thing that was a bit of a let down for the day. The brakes were something that I was a little concerned about, I am running a Bendix General pad after all. Through out the day I was leaning on them pretty hard, that said I really wanted to make sure I ran them out before I look at getting something more track oriented... I have been thinking that I will try out a Winmax W2, or a Project Mu NS400.
I'm looking forward to addressing this point of weakness which will bring some more confidence to my driving of the car.
My pads took a beating towards the end of the day as I started to settle into my rhythm with the car. My last set was signalled by a wild screeching coming from my front right hand side, I figured it was the clip/liner on the backing pad grinding so I decided to call it a day. At this point it was around 3pm so it was already a long day at the track.
...party's over, time to get to work.
Epilogue: Brake pad value?
Maybe took it a little too far! thankfully no serious damage to the rotors. The right hand pair[pictured] really copped it, I assume since there are more left hand turns at Baskerville...I don't know though, just and intuitive thought.
I've since replaced the brake pads and re-greased the slides.
