Green EK4

[Grant@Honed]

Looking good!

[RC_dc2]

Nice

[iwearmoccos]

Thanks gents, it really is a great wheel/tyre combo!

And here is the other RPF1 combo, photo taken from Honed's coverage of VTA, which can be found below.
http://honeddevelopments.com/cr-x-vi...lip-island-gp/

[ievaq8]

looking good man...

[iwearmoccos]

Yesterday was the EXE x Nug Nats round at Haunted Hills.
Those that have read any of the last ten pages know that Haunted Hills is very close to my parents house and I've done MANY laps around there over the past couple years.
There have been no changes to the car since the last run at Winton.

Leading into the weekend, there was some concern regarding the weather, though luckily the rain held off to late in the afternoon.
After drivers briefing, I led the parade lap due to the number of 1st timers at HH. Even from the slow 40km parade lap, I knew the track was going to be really fast. The grip was incredible, I assume there was some action on the track throughout the week, and there was also a lack of fog in the valley which tends to have a negative impact on grip for the first round of runs.

Here is John Bryant and I at the start line waiting for the track to be cleaned before the parade lap. The track is actually named after this man (Bryant Park), and he is a hill climb legend. I find him hilarious, such dry humour!


The morning was to be spent on the clockwise course and then the figure 8 clockwise in the afternoon. Gippsland CC has run the clockwise exclusively in 2016 leading up to the Australian titles, so I am extremely familiar with that particular layout and (humble brag) held the class lap record for a few months!

The first run was just a slow 62.xx to feel out the track. I then took Oli the pom out as a passenger as he had hunted me out to take him out, though I don't think he quite knew what he was getting himself into! He had a heap of fun, and obviously I did to! I like showing people the greatness of the little Honda chassis!
The passenger run with Oli was a 60.xx.
Here we are on the line.

And then take note of Oli's face!!


After those two runs I was ready to get down to business!!
My concern with the drop to a 4.4fd was I'd lack some acceleration and not be able to keep pace with my previous 58.78 laps.
That concern went out the window when I round last corner to see a 58.80 on the timing board!! Felt great to confirm I was still on pace!
The change in FD did see some benefits over Oh Shit as I wasn't bouncing off the limiter the whole way, and the same with the straight.
Disadvantages are the car can drop out of VTEC going around the right hander up to the finish line.
I have been watching some old Japanese videos where they do a quick clutch kick to get the car back up in the revs. I did try it on this run and I think I was a bit slow on it. I can see hte advantage, and I can also see my clutch needing replacement quicker! Might keep that idea on the shelf for the moment.

Following the above 58.80, I was determined to go faster before we switched to the figure 8 clockwise in the afternoon.
I felt I did exactly the same thing the whole run except instead of clutch kicking, I ended up under steering slightly wide coming around the last right hander and got my hands a bit crossed up. This lap was actually a 58.73, beating my previous PB by .05 and putting me .05 away from taking the class lap record again!!
This was also the fastest run of the morning, which got a few people asking questions about the little EK4! I hope I inspired some people to K.I.S.S. and drive their car more. People also seemed to understand why I was so fast here when I told them where I grew up, which car club I was a member of and how many laps I've done there over the last couple years!

Here is my fastest lap of the day/ever.

The afternoon is a bit of a blur to be honest.
I know I took Christof out as a passenger, and that the quickest run I did was a 65.xx before the rain came in.
The figure 8 clockwise is really difficult, or maybe I'm just not too familiar with it. The class lap record on this course has stood since 2009 and is a 62.84, so I have a fair bit of work to do! I always thought the clockwise class lap record was out of reach, so I'll just have to work hard at it in the future. DONT LET YOUR DREAMS BE DREAMS!!
I will post my fastest lap from this layout when I confirm the exact lap time. I assume EXE will receive it via email from Gippsland CC eventually.

So it was great to be back at Haunted Hills, particularly with all my track day friends I'm at Winton with. I hope a few more come down to Gippsland CC events. I did try and do some promotion throughout the day.

The car comes out next for Haunted Hills again on the 28th for a Gippsland CC event on the clockwise circuit, so my only goal for the day is to take the class lap record again.
I think I can use less brake in between T1 and T2, while trying to straighten out the corner, and also T3 and T4 I could probably carry more speed. I do think I'm a bit too cautious at times, particularly on days like yesterday where the track is so grippy.
All we can hope for is good weather, and I plan to put in a few laps on the Saturday and take benefit of the track time made available.

Thanks for reading, here are a couple mroe photos. All photos from Y Bot.

[ievaq8]

well done man...
looks like heaps of fun...

[felixR]

Well done on the PB!

[Toddxxx]

Good stuff rhys!
You get your updates out quicker than your lap times!

[iwearmoccos]

Thanks gents, it was a great day out!

I mentioned previously I wasn't sure on my times for the figure 8, but now we've got them available.
I really am not too familiar with the figure 8 layout. I don't even think I've done it in this car, and maybe once in the XR5 previously.
From watching the video below, I can go quicker into the crossover both ways, I'm fairly happy with my exit speed though. The blind left hander after the first crossover is really difficult as it is blind (duh), I think I'll have to work out braking via a landmark/blade of grass on the side of the track.
I'm 3 seconds off the class lap record with this run, but I think I can make up a fair bit of time. My confidence is less than half it is on the clockwise layout.

Thanks.

[Shakeel]

Nice driving Rhys!

[iwearmoccos]

I've wanted to replace my suede Revolution steering wheel with a leather variant for a while and happened to have a friend looking to get rid of a Nardi deep corn/he owed me money for 6 Hour Relay entry also.
I went to pick it up on Saturday and unlike the perforated leather that I expected, it was a smooth leather with finger dimples on the back side, but it looked great so I installed it and off we went.


You're all probably thinking, this is probably a fake m8 you got ripped!
Which is what I was thinking overnight as well, so I removed it from the car and checked the serial number on the back against what was on the unscratched brochure in the box. Obviously I had to scratch the panel to match it all up.
All the numbers matched up on the Nardi website, says it is a 350mm Deep Corn in black but does not specify finish.
So it looks like someone has either ordered a smooth leather Deep Corn from the factory, hated the perforated leather and had it re-done or it is the most legit fake ever. I like to think it is the first option, but the second isn't too bad either.
Or did Nardi make a run of Deep Corns with the Classic finish?! I don't know, will continue to investigate the mystery anyway.


As this is 80mm dish instead of 90mm, I added a 20mm spacer to my boss kit. 10mm closer feels better than 10mm further away.


This Sunday is Haunted Hills with Gippsland CC.
Weather doesn't look that promising, but if the conditions are right, I'll do whatever it takes to get back the Improved Production >1600cc class lap record on the clockwise layout!



Will also change some oils, install my roof lining and maybe clean up a couple things.
Exciting stuff!

[RC_dc2]

How does the leather go for grip?

I know the stock vinyl one in mine was pretty slippery, I had rpm gloves with leather grip pads but they didn't work well together. Switching to silicon grip gloves helped a lot, as well as changing to the suede wheel. Pity suede doesn't hold up to sweaty hands long term, mines still pretty good but that's probably because it hardly gets driven!

[iwearmoccos]

This weekend was a round of Gippsland CC hill climb at Haunted Hills, running the classic Clockwise layout.
Friday afternoon I sat in traffic, saw a 4 car pile up and arrived at SCA in Moe to buy some spark plugs.
Good looking car in Moe. I like that I'm on RPF1s 24/7.

I had planned to change oil and plugs on Friday night, but it was way too cold, so did that on Saturday morning.
You all know what oil looks like.
As well as changing plugs, I also changed leads with some OEM ones. I hadn't changed them previously and I'm not sure when they were last done.
When I last pulled the plugs to compression test the engine, they were that orange colour they get when you use octane booster. They were darker this time.

Instead of fancy spark plugs, I figured I'll just change them more often with the cheaper variety.


Saturday's weather was GREAT for practice. Only 4 or 5 cars, and as per usual, a heap of talking instead of driving.

What I wanted to try was running the rear slightly 'harder' than previously to help turn in through the last corner, which is notoriously difficult and I suffer with understeer there a lot as it has very little grip.
I did a sighting lap and even just going 2 clicks harder than the MCA suggested, I could feel the turn in increase.
Also, a side note, I have worked out how to connect my external GPS and this is the first time using it on track. So we'll assume its as reliable as it'll ever get!
The 3rd lap out, I gave it a good push and ended up with a low 58. I had done 2 laps in a row, so the tyres and brakes etc were warmer than they would be during normal hill climb conditions, so I parked the car up for half an hour and went out for a run again. Only slightly slower, but still felt great.

The 58.22 lap can be found below.

These were the only four laps I did for the afternoon before heading down to my grandparents. I was happy with the results and looked forward to the rain going around the track and giving us great conditions on the Sunday!

Aaannnnddddd, it rained basically all Saturday night!!
I woke up on Sunday and made the decision to switch back to my RS3s instead of NT01s, as the weather looked like it was well set in.
I'm not really one for risking it in the wet, so dawdled around the first couple of runs.
On my third run, the weather had cleared and the track was almost dry. I was still on RS3s, but thought I could set a pretty quick lap to keep me in front of a father/son Corolla duo.
I took off and wasn't going full tilt, but was pushing it reasonably quick, when I went over Oh Shit and the back stepped out! I got crossed up and came down the hill pointing towards the ripple strip on the right hand side. The front lower control arm looks to have landed on top of the ripple strip and I then ended up in the sand on the other side of the track, thankful to not end up in the tyre wall!
Once I knew I was safe, I then got straight out of there so I wouldn't get bogged.
Driving the car back to the pits, everything seemed to be straight, but I jacked it up and removed the wheels to be sure.
Nothing was broken, though there was HEAPS of sand caught up in everything and my LCA had a couple marks on the bottom of it. It also looks like my tyre has had the guard, which I've never experienced previously.

And video of me getting sideways.
[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj6cIdorP28 - CAN SOMEONE ACTIVATE THE TWO VIDEOS IN ONE POST OPTION??!

Since I had the front wheels off, I put my NT01s on as I hadn't really set a quick lap and the weather was looking nice.
I really wanted to go out and just blow everyone away with a low 58 lap, but I was a pussy and backed off in a couple spots and ended up with a mid 60 lap.
The rain then moved in and I didn't bother running for the rest of the day. Driving in the wet sucks.


My laps for the day
69.06 63.90 93.27 60.55

Another photo of the car from the same angle, I was really adventurous with my photos this weekend!


This week I will bleed the brakes and give the car a once over while it is off the ground, before heading up to Winton on Saturday morning for EXE double day.The goal is obviously a 1:39.xx lap and the weather looks like it could be good for a fast lap.
I will run the rear a bit stiffer like I did this weekend, otherwise I'll just drive really well!

And the new steering wheel was nice, I didn't notice any major difference except a good looking cockpit!

[Alex_Walker]

Nice update!
Where did you get the progressive shift light from?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[iwearmoccos]

Nice update!
Where did you get the progressive shift light from?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It is the V1 of this shift light, worked quite well once set up.
https://ecliptech.com.au/product/shift-p2/