On Sunday was another round of hill climb at Haunted Hills, running the clockwise circuit as they have for most of this year, in anticipation for the Australian titles at the end of October.
I was unable to run the practice on the Saturday due to being down at Phillip Island, which was a bit disappointing as I wanted to try a 4th gear change under brakes into turn three, so I wasn’t banging limiter over oh sh*t.
Not related, but this is the house I stayed at in Phillip Island. A lake in the back yard!?
A quick stop by the track, though no events were running.
I woke at my parents to overnight rain and a heap of cloud looming. The night before I had got my NT01s ready to swap over if the weather was nice, or stay on RS3s if it was terrible. I took the safe option and stayed on RS3s, as my NT01s are currently very low on any tread for water dispersion.
I was able to do two practice runs before timed runs started at 10am. The circuit was SUPER slippery and cold. I was barely able to get any heat in the rear, so it wanted to walk all over the place even running a good 5 seconds off pace.
My runs for the day are as follows.
61.32 00.00 62.68 60.62 60.67 60.79 61.79
After the first timed run, I softened there by one click to try and reduce some of the over steer/lack of grip characteristics I was experiencing, which as my can see by my 2nd run with no time, didn’t work out too well.
As I had not been able to try my 4th gear change at turn three option the day before, I wanted to lay down a really solid time and then work on some improvements. The aiming was to do a high 59.xx, which would be a pretty good time on street tyres, though still 1 second off my class lap record.
On the second run, I took off from the start with a heap of wheel spin and a missed 2nd gear, carried a heap of speed as I went into 3rd gear and into turn three, only for the rear to step out as soon as I turned in. At this stage I was basically a passenger, my only goal was to keep the car pointed as straight as I could, as I didn’t want to end up backwards or in a position that I may roll.
I ended up in the grass with the wheels pointed where I wanted them and the front left of the bumper took most of the impact, ripping off my lip as I bounced out into the long grass. At this stage I thought I was bogged, and watching the video, I felt like I was stuck out there for longer than the 10-15 seconds it was.
I limped back to the pits, surprised that the car felt good and alignment was straight.
Video for reference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDKmkm8n0rA (You will have to click the link, only 1 video per post it seems)
I cleaned up the mess and extra grass I was carrying, made sure there was nothing falling off and answered the usual smart alec questions from other competitors you get when you come off the track!
Not my lip!
The 3rd run was obviously the slowest for the day, a bit more timid to get back into the swing of things.
I then had a run of consecutive 60.xx runs, which was pretty reasonable considering how slick the track still was. All other competitors were at least a second off their usual pace, so I wasn’t an outlier with my slower than usual runs.
I did get to try going into 4th down the hill at turn three, though it didn’t seem to be any quick and was quite awkward to be honest.
My idea was to brake and slip the car into 4th on braking, while still keeping the car above 5500rpm as I turned left into turn four and then over oh sh*t. This gear change under braking felt very unnatural and I think any time saved by being able to accelerate all the way down oh sh*t was wasted on extra time under braking. I think it could work when the track is running as fast as it can and I’m able to then fly down the hill without having to worry about grip. Will keep it in mind for the future. Not a failed experiment just yet.
I wasn’t as focused on my hands this time, and did get crossed up a little. The 9 and 3 hand position worked well at the last hill climb, so will continue to get comfortable with it. Haunted Hills has too many direction changes for my usual shuffle style, which works on circuits quite well though.
Quickest run from the day.
And a nice view looking down the hill, I'm pretty sure this guy won the Australian championship in the last few years. There were 3 of the 5 most recent Australian hill climb champions there yesterday. So very quick.
I’m off to Wakefield with EXE in a few weeks. Before then I’ll get in for another alignment, increase the camber in the front slightly, fit a second hand set of NT01s to my RPF1s which I pick up this week. Supposedly they’ve done a few laps, but they look much better than my fronts did after one day at Winton.
As my car isn’t log booked and I’ve kind of left that a bit late, I’ll go down and volunteer for the Australian hill climb championships at Haunted Hills. I hope my class lap record isn’t beaten, but also on the other hand if the car that wins the class is slower than me, it puts me in the ‘could/woulda/shoulda’ category.
That’s about it for the next month. Definitely looking forward to Wakefield
I was unable to run the practice on the Saturday due to being down at Phillip Island, which was a bit disappointing as I wanted to try a 4th gear change under brakes into turn three, so I wasn’t banging limiter over oh sh*t.
Not related, but this is the house I stayed at in Phillip Island. A lake in the back yard!?
A quick stop by the track, though no events were running.
I woke at my parents to overnight rain and a heap of cloud looming. The night before I had got my NT01s ready to swap over if the weather was nice, or stay on RS3s if it was terrible. I took the safe option and stayed on RS3s, as my NT01s are currently very low on any tread for water dispersion.
I was able to do two practice runs before timed runs started at 10am. The circuit was SUPER slippery and cold. I was barely able to get any heat in the rear, so it wanted to walk all over the place even running a good 5 seconds off pace.
My runs for the day are as follows.
61.32 00.00 62.68 60.62 60.67 60.79 61.79
After the first timed run, I softened there by one click to try and reduce some of the over steer/lack of grip characteristics I was experiencing, which as my can see by my 2nd run with no time, didn’t work out too well.
As I had not been able to try my 4th gear change at turn three option the day before, I wanted to lay down a really solid time and then work on some improvements. The aiming was to do a high 59.xx, which would be a pretty good time on street tyres, though still 1 second off my class lap record.
On the second run, I took off from the start with a heap of wheel spin and a missed 2nd gear, carried a heap of speed as I went into 3rd gear and into turn three, only for the rear to step out as soon as I turned in. At this stage I was basically a passenger, my only goal was to keep the car pointed as straight as I could, as I didn’t want to end up backwards or in a position that I may roll.
I ended up in the grass with the wheels pointed where I wanted them and the front left of the bumper took most of the impact, ripping off my lip as I bounced out into the long grass. At this stage I thought I was bogged, and watching the video, I felt like I was stuck out there for longer than the 10-15 seconds it was.
I limped back to the pits, surprised that the car felt good and alignment was straight.
Video for reference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDKmkm8n0rA (You will have to click the link, only 1 video per post it seems)
I cleaned up the mess and extra grass I was carrying, made sure there was nothing falling off and answered the usual smart alec questions from other competitors you get when you come off the track!
Not my lip!
The 3rd run was obviously the slowest for the day, a bit more timid to get back into the swing of things.
I then had a run of consecutive 60.xx runs, which was pretty reasonable considering how slick the track still was. All other competitors were at least a second off their usual pace, so I wasn’t an outlier with my slower than usual runs.
I did get to try going into 4th down the hill at turn three, though it didn’t seem to be any quick and was quite awkward to be honest.
My idea was to brake and slip the car into 4th on braking, while still keeping the car above 5500rpm as I turned left into turn four and then over oh sh*t. This gear change under braking felt very unnatural and I think any time saved by being able to accelerate all the way down oh sh*t was wasted on extra time under braking. I think it could work when the track is running as fast as it can and I’m able to then fly down the hill without having to worry about grip. Will keep it in mind for the future. Not a failed experiment just yet.
I wasn’t as focused on my hands this time, and did get crossed up a little. The 9 and 3 hand position worked well at the last hill climb, so will continue to get comfortable with it. Haunted Hills has too many direction changes for my usual shuffle style, which works on circuits quite well though.
Quickest run from the day.
And a nice view looking down the hill, I'm pretty sure this guy won the Australian championship in the last few years. There were 3 of the 5 most recent Australian hill climb champions there yesterday. So very quick.
I’m off to Wakefield with EXE in a few weeks. Before then I’ll get in for another alignment, increase the camber in the front slightly, fit a second hand set of NT01s to my RPF1s which I pick up this week. Supposedly they’ve done a few laps, but they look much better than my fronts did after one day at Winton.
As my car isn’t log booked and I’ve kind of left that a bit late, I’ll go down and volunteer for the Australian hill climb championships at Haunted Hills. I hope my class lap record isn’t beaten, but also on the other hand if the car that wins the class is slower than me, it puts me in the ‘could/woulda/shoulda’ category.
That’s about it for the next month. Definitely looking forward to Wakefield
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