Alex's 95 DC2

[Alex_Walker]

Last track day I found even with a light grip on the steering wheel my hands started to sweat after a few laps and found I was losing a bit of grip on the wheel. So I picked these up from Autosport today.

Sparco RG-3



Changing the oil today as well


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[Alex_Walker]

Fresh oil and filter



Spanner check + general inspection and car is all ready to go in a few weeks for the next track day


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[Alex_Walker]

Mallala Track Day - 27/07/2017

Great day out today and learnt a lot! Sun was out in the morning but the rain came around lunch time. So we ended up with the morning sessions being dry and the afternoon sessions being wet.

Came into today hoping to crack into the high minute 20s.

Changes
Only change to the car this time round was removing the rear strut bar which I found to "soften" up the rear a bit making it a heap more predictable (might be just me...). Much easier to throw into a corner and let the back end follow around.

Tyre Pressures
25 cold front and rear (same as previous track day)
~30 hot front
~29 hot rear

Seemed to work well for me but I should experiment a bit more.

Session 2:
Session 1 was more of a re-familiarisation with the track/lines again.
PB: 1:29.59
Was stoked to get that but new there was more in it.

Session 3:
This session was a passenger run so I took my mate with me and he showed me I didn't need 4th on the front straight and to just leave it in 3rd. Worked much better as I could focus a lot more on corner entry into turn 1 and had a much quicker exit speed. In turn, this helped with a better entry into turn 2. So that was a handy hint!

Session 4:
New PB!!
1:28.31 (with all of my lap times around the 1:28-1:29 mark. So super happy with the consistency).

Lunch Break:
This was actually really helpful cause we all broke for lunch (which was supplied!) in the same room. Was great to have a chat with a few other drivers to discuss their lines and what they do differently.

Session 5:
My last session of the day (I think we ended up with 6 sessions but one was pretty uneventful cause it was so wet. Was chasing a new BMW M3. Smashed me on the straights but I could get real close in the corners. We had a great little "battle". Unfortunately no fast lap times cause it was still pretty wet on the track.
Between turn 2 and 3 I was changing into 4th but decided for the last few laps to leave it in 3rd and rev it out and change back to second for turn 3 (which I was usually in 3rd for). This seemed much faster... So I'll definitely do that next time and hopefully I can sneak into the 27s!

Car Problems
Leaked a little coolant out of the overflow bottle after I parked at the end of the final session. I was pushing the car super hard to stay with the M3 so probably got a little hot. Still running the factory water temperature gauge, but I do have an aftermarket one in the shed. So I should probably chuck that in for the next day and can monitor temperatures a little better.

Developed an annoying clutch thrust bearing noise... Hasn't effected anything else.

Brakes were stopping really well but I get a little vibration in the pedal under heavy braking (doesn't seem to effect braking performance...). I'm not sure whether this is ABS kicking in or what (doesn't really feel like it). I think the rotors are a little cooked so I'll have to have a closer inspection at some stage. No fade even after consistently heaving braking laps. Might look at getting some better rotors but I'll have to have a proper look at the brakes before I do anything too drastic...

Tyres are holding up well (2 track days in).


All in all was a tops day and learnt a hell of a lot more. Only one spin this time haha.
Videos and some photos to come when I get around to editing them and chucking it on YouTube.

Things for next time
Might look into a tow bar for my other car so I can tow the bloody thing up to the track. Sick of driving it on the road and packing all my stuff in haha.

[Alex_Walker]

My car did a wee... haha




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[Alex_Walker]

Video of my fastest lap.

[iwearmoccos]

Use the 'Insert Video' button, it is second from the right in the options above the text box.

[Alex_Walker]

Small update:







Finally got around to start installing this water temperature gauge I've had sitting in the shed for a long while. Just drilled a couple of holes in that top bit of plastic above the steering wheel and ran some bolts to hold it securely. So far so good. Just need to run the wiring and done.

Also removed the radiator and gave that a good flush out and installed my gauge adaptor on the top coolant pipe.


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[Alex_Walker]

Gauge in. Every time I go to do something electrical related with this car there is always something wrong. This time, I found the head unit wires were only wrapped around each other with tape holding them together... Re-soldered all the wires properly. Found the reason why the rear speakers weren't working haha



Replaced coolant with Penrite race coolant inhibitor. One of my mates has had really good use out of this so thought I'd give it a go.




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