Alex's CW DC5R

[dfdc2r]

I'm doing a track day with AROCA (Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia) at Winton. A highly experienced friend who is attending the event in his Alfa is kindly taking me under his wing for my first track day to accelerate the learning process of track driving. It's probably going to be really weird since its mainly Alfas though, should still be good fun though haha.

[dfdc2r]

Got a set of EP3R wheels, looks so much better than the stock ones in my opinion.

[knobosaurus]

Dudeeeee I've been on the fence about ep3r rims. Now I'm sold. Getting a set of them as soon as my tyres are gone. Looking good

[felixR]

Hey that looks good!

[iVTEC_R]

Good alternative to DC5S rims =]

[dfdc2r]

Wow long time no update... So I got rid of the EP3R rims and went back to stock DC5R rims in preparation for my first track day at Winton. I wanted to leave the car completely stock to see how far I could get it before modifying anything. In short, the car was prepared by putting on some decent pads, racing brake fluid and my used set of Toyo Proxes T1 Sport and away we went.

So I went to the AROCA (Alfa) track day today which was held at Winton. There were lots of MX5's too as they are associated with the Alfa club. Since it was my first ever track day, the first 2 sessions were pretty much for me to learn my line and braking points with my friend/driving instructor, as well as getting a feel of what the car is capable of. It didn't take long for me to realise a couple of things. 1. tracking your car is the best thing ever, and 2. the car is simply amazing in terms of its handling capabilities and it's engine and transmission. So on the 3rd session and onwards I was left on my own and it was time for me to see how well I could drive the car. There were several accidents/breakdowns during the day causing delays, but overall it was a really awesome day which went smoothly.

My results:
Session 1 - 1:59.0806
Session 2 - 1:58.2394
Session 3 - 1:52.4712
Session 4 - 1:51.8378
Session 5 - 1:49.6274
Session 6 - 1:48.8895

My goal for the day was set at achieving under 2:00, so I was extremely happy with the cars performance and my performance for the day. The car, despite having crazy mileage (276xxxkm now) held up perfectly fine, no issues whatsoever, even on the continuous 40 min session (final). Absolutely love the car and I look forward to tracking it more to improve my driving skills.

Here are some quick snaps of it in the pits...





Thanks for reading, there shall be more updates shortly as I do have plans.

[PENUT]

Hey Alex, it's Peter that bought your wheels.

Good to hear you had fun out there man, 1:48 first time on street tyres is fast! How do you find the Project Mu pads? Assuming it held up pretty good on the track for those times, but is it too noisy or dusty on the street?

[ChargeR]

Well done mate, that's an impressive time! Great to see that even with a fair few km on it the car still performs.

There were several accidents/breakdowns during the day causing delays

It wouldn't be an AROCA day without broken Italian cars .

[Flippit]

276k kms and still going hard! Thats bloody brilliant!

[dfdc2r]

Hey Alex, it's Peter that bought your wheels.

Good to hear you had fun out there man, 1:48 first time on street tyres is fast! How do you find the Project Mu pads? Assuming it held up pretty good on the track for those times, but is it too noisy or dusty on the street?

Hey man, the Project Mu B-Spec pads are very good, they held up very well on the track and at no point did I have any problems with braking. I used them with Project Mu G-Four 335 brake fluid, also very good stuff that I can highly recommend. They weren't noisy at all and they weren't too dusty for daily use.

Well done mate, that's an impressive time! Great to see that even with a fair few km on it the car still performs.

It wouldn't be an AROCA day without broken Italian cars .

Thanks mate, yeah the car just keeps on going I just love it. I guess I'll keep on maintaining it until it dies, then I'll put in a new motor.

Haha there were a couple of Alfas that broke down, but there were also a few MX5's that lost it and required towing. An NC MX5 hit the wall and it was pretty f**ked afterwards, luckily the driver was ok.

276k kms and still going hard! Thats bloody brilliant!

It sure is mate! The engine still feels very healthy, if anything is to go next I reckon it will be the gearbox or clutch.

Some pics of it on the track, thanks to Stuart Thompson.


WintonAug4-10.jpg by ratalfa, on Flickr


WintonAug4-59.jpg by ratalfa, on Flickr


WintonAug4-33.jpg by ratalfa, on Flickr


WintonAug4-32.jpg by ratalfa, on Flickr


WintonAug4-13.jpg by ratalfa, on Flickr

[dfdc2r]

Small update, I decided that I wanted to do the Hondata airbox mod to my car. I did a bit of searching and I found an old thread on here by mini_s2000, and I decided to copy his airbox mod (sort of). Pics are below, I plan to make a little metal shield to sit under the mesh to stop water from entering. First impressions, it feels as if the engine revs up a lot more smoothly with bit of throttle response improvement, it also feels a little quicker. The sound is amazing, 4000rpm onwards and it starts to hum and once it jumps onto the higher cam profile it sounds awesome. Pretty happy considering it cost me next to nothing.

I also got some goodridge braided brake lines from Nick on the forums (thanks heaps mate), they will be going on the car this week when I have time to fit them.

[Beatz]

What filter are you using? I've heard the spoon filter is great with the Hondata airbox mod!

[dfdc2r]

What filter are you using? I've heard the spoon filter is great with the Hondata airbox mod!

I'm using the standard Honda OEM air filter right now, I will be swapping it out for another one soon. Spoon looks good and I am considering it, but I'm also considering the Cosworth air filter. Anybody else have any suggestions?

[knobosaurus]

K&N have a drop in filter for the dc5. I'm using it now.

[dfdc2r]

Finally got new wheels thanks to Nick on here! They are Work Emotion Forged wheels painted in CW with red H centre caps, they are seriously light! Specs are 17x8.5 +33 with 235 wide KU36's. It really needs to be lowered with some camber at the front to look right, and that will come eventually. It feels great with these wider wheels/tyres now, grips a lot better than the 6.5' stock rims with 205's. Some quick snaps of it at the carwash

Also, again thanks to Nick, the goodridge braided brake lines are on the car now, they feel awesome!