Green EK4

[EFR9180]

hi rhys

[iwearmoccos]

Happy new year.
The past few weeks have been quite low key with the Civic.
I drove up to my parents via Mt Baw Baw for xmas. The road is as skinny and littered with debris as I remember, so it really wasn't the all out blast that I expected.
Brakes work very well, quite impressed.

I've had Honed rear camber arms on my bookshelf for a few months, so installed those on boxing day and then had Ray at Raceline align the car. It had been July since I last had an alignment, which Ray and I were both surprised about.
20181228_163552 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
20181229_104559 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
And my alignment settings, nothing out of the ordinary for me here.
20181229_111115 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
I've been spending time thinking about what I can do to improve my driving, which will hopefully reduce lap times and figured I can see my knees in my in-car video, but a foot cam would be quite valuable in gathering visual data for improvement, those little lifts, early/late brakes and modulation that can be better.
I bought another GoPro and a remote, so can link the two GoPros together.
Artist's impression below.
footcamexample by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
My camera setup, still need to remove that sound deadening, hopefully this weekend!
20181229_153548 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
On Saturday I changed engine and gearbox oil, then gave the car a quick clean. Looks good.
20190112_203355 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
Also made a shelf for some drive shafts I salvaged from a part out of a certain yellow EG.
20190112_170035 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
And my other little project, putting together this 29er as I regret selling my old Crave SL.
20190111_082131 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

Events for 2019.
All Bryant Park hill climbs.
All NN/EXE Wintons.
H Nationals.
Bathurst AHCC.

This will probably go to 'most' rather than 'all' as going to Bathurst for a few days is going to cost a little, as well as buying new tyres for event etc etc.
I just want a 1:35 at Winton, in all seriousness.
That is about it!!

[Toddxxx]

I will hopefully see you at the bathurst event! And exe double Winton day!

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

[iwearmoccos]

I've made no further progress on my MTB.
LB wrote her Getz off in January via a low speed bollard incident, so we had to buy a new car.
After test driving a GE Jazz then a new GK, it was decided to buy a new one. CVT is a little scary, but I sleep well at night with a 5 year warranty.
I've never bought a car from a dealer before.
I've also been told to put away the Mugen and Spoon catalogues.
20190207_170347 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

I went down to Bryant Park the weekend of the 9th for a working bee and hopefully run a few practice laps. It was nice until about 11am, then rained all day. The afternoon was spent with the old guys talking about RX3s and things I know nothing about.
I did get to drive a few local roads that I frequented quite a bit when I lived down there. It was nice to just drive the Civic around for a while, it seems to only get highway and track time lately.
20190210_105714 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

The past weekend was Round 2 of VHCC at Bryant Park, running the figure 8 layout.
2018 wasn't great for this layout, I believe we ran it twice and it was either wet and/or really cold. Not perfect PB weather.
I had run a couple practice laps on the Friday afternoon, so felt quite confident I was going to be able to put down quite an impressive time.
My previous PB on this layout was 64.93.

There were over 90 competitors, so we would only have four runs for the day.
My times.
63.50 63.44 62.75 62.70.

As you can see, I blew my previous PB out of the water with all runs!
The car handled perfectly. The rear didn't want to step out on me and these Hoosiers continue to impress, with their outright grip meaning the car never wanted to understeer mid corner.

The first couple of runs I was using my right foot to brake some corners, with the last two runs being left foot braking except where a gear change is required. This helped reduce the delay in moving my foot between pedals and also meant I could dab the brake if needed to help rotation, something I've been doing at the middle of the bewbs at Winton and also the last two corners at Bryant Park.

The Honed Porsche brakes work really well. I didn't have to put much thought into them throughout the day as there was complete confidence in the pedal feel and function. It is much easier to detail things that don't work correctly rather than being really positive about something.
20190215_190655 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

Side note, I also bought a pair of 15*8 6ULs to run on the front for driving around as clearance on a 15*8 RPF1 isn't perfect and I didn't want to shave the caliper. I'll put some 225 RS4s on these in the next couple of weeks. It'll be nice to have some street tyres to drive around on!
20190214_090342 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

This is my fastest run of the day, 62.70.
You can see I've also got my foot cam setup, which I think is semi interesting.

I ended up winning my class and taking the class lap record for Sports Sedans up to 1600cc. The previous record was held since 2012, so that felt quite good!
20190216_202426 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

Nug Nats is at Winton the end of March, so between now and then I'll just give the car a once over and get ready to chase a 1:35!!

[felixR]

Congrats on the class win! The Best16 sounds great in car.

[iwearmoccos]

Sunday was the first round of Nugget Nationals at Winton, and the first chance to be back there after my 1:36.2 and broken CV.
I've already completed one hill climb this year and nothing has changed on the car except installing a sweet OEM front grill, which you can see in this photo by Vijay Livefeed.
55798191_2161934727261188_3020417381336875008_o by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
It had rained over night, but the weather to be 17 and overcast. Jane Bunn got the forecast correct and that is what we were greeted with.
The first session, I went out with my tyres set to 28psi cold and looking to get a good feel for the surface and then focus on my 2nd session/2nd lap PB chase.
I ended up spinning on the out lap! I then was quite timid for the rest of the session, as the combination of cold tyres and track meant the rear would step out due to lack of grip. A few laps helped this, but it was quite unsettling.
I ran a 1:38.1 on the last lap of this session, which is a reasonable lap, just did not feel great.

Session 2 came around and instantly I could feel the extra grip in the surface thanks to the cars doing laps and a slight increase in ambient temperatures. On the out lap my footcam Go Pro beeped at me to indicate a full memory card, so we weren't going to get foot cam for this upcoming PB!
The 2nd lap was a 1:36.7, so I stayed on and went for another lap.
Watching my October 2018 PB, I believe a 1:35 was there if I didn't get loose through the esses, so knew that if I tidied up the lap and improved on a couple spots, it would all come together.
T2 - left foot brake to reduce brake to accelerator transfer time.
Sweeper - Left foot brake as above and also to influence more rotation in the middle of the corner.
T10 - Left foot brake as above.

I'm really leaning on this left foot brake thing, but it seems like a great weapon to reduce lap times.

On this 2nd session 3rd lap, I was up after T2, so lent on it and headed into the sweeper as fast as possible. It felt very smooth through there as I entered the bewbs. I am quite happy with my approach to this section of the track, so pushed through as per usual.
The dog leg I entered a little too fast and had to adjust via throttle mid to late corner.
9 and 10 were as expected, left foot worked well through 10.
Onto the straight and I could see I was over half a second up and only needed to put it through the esses to finish with a 1:35.
I was probably a little cautious on entry and then got straight back onto the accelerator to push it up to the finish line and a 1:35.60.
It was a 'finally!' rather than any ecstatic reaction, a lap that I should have put together at H Nats, or the very least October.

Here is that lap.

Compared to my 1:36.2, it is a HEAP smoother! I'm quite impressed in myself!!

After the 1:35.60, I decided not to chase a few more tenths and be happy with achieving my goal, so spent the rest of the day talking shop with my friends and motivating them to go faster. Seemed to work with a few of them!!

This was also my first time at Winton with the Honed Porsche setup.
The main benefit is the security that when you stand on the people it feels exactly the same and pulls up quite rapidly.
At the end of the straights previously and after the sweeper into the bewbs, and this is something I didn't realise till after installing the new brakes, I'd be applying so much pressure through the pedal and at times hoping that the car was going to pull up. It always did, but it meant I was focusing my energy on the brakes, rather than looking through the corner.
They worked the same every time I pressed the pedal, so I have no complaints at all.
I also was not running air guides, so would expect that nice pedal feel and braking to continue for more laps with air guides installed.

Hoosiers are still gripping with no evidence of heat cycling out. I have no complaints with these tyres, and if you follow any of my socials, know I make a point of hyping these things up. Absolutely no regrets in buying these tyres and will be buying again later in the year for AHCC.

20190331_161535 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
55604938_2162338127220848_3163449649243619328_o by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

There is a hill climb on this weekend at Bryant Park, so will be heading down for that.

Won't be back at Winton until early June for EXE double day. Plan is to have Honed aero installed and chase a 1:34!
When will it end? Who knows, I'm deeper than I ever thought I'd be!

[Toddxxx]

Who's the bigger hoosier advocate? You or will? Lol

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[iwearmoccos]

On the weekend there was a multiclub hill climb at Bryant Park.
I went down and ran the Saturday practice, it rained when I first opened the gate so we just sat around for 45 minutes talking shop with a few of the old guys.
Eventually it dried and I finally got my car ready to run a few laps.
We were running the clockwise layout, which was last run at AHCC in October.
I wanted to adapt my left foot braking on all corners without gear changes, which I've proven is quite fast and then also add an additional gear change in over Oh Shit and also down into the mine shaft.
I had tried these gear changes at AHCC, but I was struggling with getting my feet crossed. With my increased LFB (left foot braking) skills and also the better brake control via the Honed Porsche setup, I thought it'd be worth trying again. My foot work has improved over the last 6 months and it feels great.

So, I ran a couple of laps during practice and tested my theories, which even at 90% pace it definitely felt much easier than last year. It is nice to be able to quantify and put into place these improvements in driving.
I felt good after only a couple runs, so was happy to not do anything else.
I also took the opportunity for a photo on the start line.

LRM_EXPORT_547724612914917_20190408_142854366 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

Sunday, we were expecting 25degrees and no rain, which once the fog cleared was exactly what we got!! It was perfect weather and prime PB weather!!
My runs for the day.
56.48 56.19 56.35 58.63 56.37 56.81 56.53 56.03

Usually the track and ambient temps means that you need to take it semi easy on the first run, but this morning was absolute perfection!!
I ran all the LFBing and gear changes as previously discussed and came around to the start finish for a 56.48!! This was 6tenths faster than I ran at AHCC!!
I knew it would be faster, though did not expect by this much!!
I backed that up with a 56.19, which was all kinds of crazy!
As the day heated up, I got stuck in the mid 56s, except for a 58 where I missed a gear.
Being stuck in the 56s wasn't a problem the day before, so I wasn't too hard on myself.
The last run of the day, most people had packed up and I was pretty content with myself and I went out to finish the day.
I had been spinning the wheels off the line a little too much, though this time we got off pretty well and then put together a very smooth and trouble free run. 56.03!!!
The new surface is most definitely faster, but I'll take some credit with my driving skills!!
Feels good!! I didn't think a 55 was going to be achievable yet, but I think we can do it!!

The only negative is that my car is blowing a fair bit of smoke on start up. It seems to only be able I smash a run and then come back in, turn the car off and then turn it back on an hour later.
I'll keep an eye on it, I'm not too worried. Smokey B series life.

Next event is round 4 of VHCC at Bryant Park again, except run by PIARC rather than GCC. Should be fun!!

[iwearmoccos]

Grant from Honed has been developing aero on his turbo EK, which is conveniently the same chassis as what I have.
I asked nicely if I could borrow his setup and provide some feedback.
He popped around today to install the setup, which includes some new stands for the rear wing.
No issues with install, so here are some photos.
The first test will be next weekend at Bryant Park. The benefits of aero at these lower speeds can be debated, but from conversations with people at Bryant Park, I have a feeling it's going to have an impact.
20190421_150152 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

20190421_150236 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

20190421_152323 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

20190421_150218 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

I've only moved the car in the driveway, so I have no feedback as yet. I think it looks reasonably good though. Quite aggressive!!

[eskimo_firefighter]

Looks epic! I say you will definitely see some gains from this even at a lower speed course like Bryant Park. PI would be epic with this kit and the sweeper at Winton.

[iwearmoccos]

On the weekend was Round 4 of VHCC at Bryant Park. This was an event hosted by PIARC, it is always interesting to see how other groups run their events at Bryant Park.

On Saturday afternoon we had practice, which I ran for a couple hours until I could find someone else to keep an eye on things.
As above, I had the aero off Grant's car on mine, so was interesting to see what changes I could feel via the driving. The day was not timed and Racechrono can be unreliable at times even with external GPS.
It is funny the response from people when you throw a wing and splitter on your car, people were quite surprised and/or pretty hyped to see the difference. There were comments from the scrutineering team about the height of the wing, as it is currently above my roof. For Sports Sedans class, the wing cannot be above the roof. I could run the car in the semi-newly created Time Attack class, but no one ever runs in that and it annoys me that they created a hill climb class for 2 or so cars that didn't want to toe Sports Sedan class rules.
Anyway.
The weather was low to mid teens, cloudy and quite windy.
I only did 3 runs on the day, and probably should have filmed so I could have some type of data.
The main thing I noticed is that there was no imbalance in the car, which either means the splitter/wing are matched in increased downforce or they are making minimal impact.
There were a couple corners that I felt I was using less LFB, but overall there wasn't a sense of hugely increased grip, which isn't what I was expecting anyway.
The biggest test would be back to back to back testing with/without aero on a really nice day. Or timed running on a layout that I've got recent lap times on.
The car looked cool though, as below.
LRM_EXPORT_32083220516702_20190427_202637229 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

Sunday I was hoping to run the aero again, I did have the shorter stands on hand if the wing didn't make it through scrutineering, but it was VERY VERY VERY wet!!
I didn't even bother going out on Hoosiers and had RS4s on from the first run.
The day was spent hoping the rain was not heavy when it was my own run, which was hit and miss.
RS4s aren't that great in the wet, so there was nothing groundbreaking put down.
There were also a few incidents throughout the day, which continued to slow the event. The socialising for the day was great though!!

My runs for the day
94.23 93.43 90.31 87.39

The last run was drying, which put me 2nd in class. The top 3 in Sports Sedans up to 1600cc were all within a second, which is good to see. It is nice having some competition to battle with, and those in my class are great competitors. As it was drying, many cars were going out of order to try and gain a weather advantage, we had a discussion and made sure we would all go out together to ensure there was no advantage.

This was my fastest run. About 10 seconds off where I was expecting to be for the day.
I didn't bother syncing the foot cam, that can wait for a faster run.

Next event is Nug Nats at Bryant Park on the 18th. Hopefully we get some good weather so I can test the aero on the figure 8 layout, which I took the class lap record for earlier in the year!

[iwearmoccos]

I had noticed a creak from below my seat a while back and noticed my seat mount on the chassis had broken. I had dad weld it up on Friday and was surprised at how much it was moving once it was repaired!!
IMG_20190517_091611 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
"You don't realise how thin the metal is on this car until you blow a hole in the floor!" - Dad
IMG_20190517_101343 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr


Nugget Nationals held Round 2 at Bryant Park, so I headed down there to test some Honed aero and see how my times compare to when I last ran Figure 8 in February.
The weather was to be 19degrees and sunny, so perfect weather to chase some laps.
Saturday morning it was VERY foggy, which just meant there was going to be no cloud cover for the day.
Nugget Nationals is a great series, which I assume you all know about. If you don't, you should look into it.

Timed runs for the days.
67.15 62.80 61.54 61.64 61.66 61.63 61.30 61.73

First run was more a sighting lap and a chance to get heat into everything.
Second run I gave it a bit more of a push, though was lifting a couple of spots. Was surprised it was this quick. My PB from February was a 62.70 and this run confirmed that with some every effort, I was going to blow away my PB.
Third run I missed 2nd gear off the line, but then really got into it for the rest of the run. I was surprised at how stable the car was into turn 3, where I previously would dance a little under brakes. This was also evident exiting the cross over and heading up the hill before the left hander. I also found the car did not spin a wheel over the crest coming onto the straight.
As you can see, then next few runs were all very similar. I did go slightly deeper into one corner on my PB and wasn't sure if it would turn in, though obviously it did. Maybe I can go deeper in a few more corners next time to gain even more time.
And my fastest lap.

I wouldn't say I was ever an aero sceptic, but as I had no experience with it I couldn't exactly make an educated comment on it. I do always wonder about the people who bolt aero on very early in their driving development. Are they hampering their learning? Are they able to use it to its full capacity and is that money better spent on track days or further developing other parts of the car?

As mentioned above, there were a few places were it was clearly evident the car was more stable and able to carry more speed than without. The balance of the car did not change front to rear, so there was nothing new as such to learn, just extra grip that wasn't available previously.
From my single experience with aero, it can most definitely work and I can also see how it can go so wrong in some cases!!

The only negative from the day is I'm now down to canvas on my from A7s!! I was hoping I'd get to the end of EXE double day on these tyres, but that isn't going to happen. My track fund doesn't exactly have the money for new tyres in it just yet, so will have to see what I can work out reasonably quickly otherwise we'll be chasing 200tw RS4 laps in a few weeks!
A few photos.
Bolting on the splitter.
60541762_2744824022259349_9171807664521347072_o by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
Best16isbest.
60356819_2744827002259051_4340890280329740288_o by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

60346368_2744839185591166_4200359409966120960_o by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

And the first showing of canvas. Inner of both fronts is the same. Maybe a couple of laps left?!
IMG_20190518_173148 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

[iwearmoccos]

I also put together a comparison of aero v non aero figure 8 laps at Bryant Park.
You saw the non aero back in February in similar weather conditions.

[iwearmoccos]

A couple weeks back was the EXE Double Day at Winton.
Due to my lack of tyre, and thank you to TJB for the lend of some fronts, I was planning/hoping to put together a new PB over very few laps and then throw RS4s on for some fun laps.
Laps are here from day one.

2:08.5590 1:53.7470 - (Session interrupted by a car fire!)
1:53.4200 1:38.0750 1:35.9830 1:35.4290
2:01.6680 1:37.2030 1:36.0760 1:35.5280
1:52.7640 1:49.8360 1:44.0930 - (Running on RS4s)

This was my first time out with the stolen Honed aero from Grant's car, so I was very interested to see improvements like at Bryant Park.
First session was interrupted by a car catching alight.
Second session I was able to put together a 1:35.42, though I did not really feel that comfortable driving that lap. In review of footage and Racechrono data, I was quite hesitant with the throttle and the car was very stable. I should have reviewed Saturday night and then done another couple laps on Sunday, but that didn't happen.
A decrease in PB is always a positive, even if it wasn't by the amount expected.

Sunday was a heap of RS4 laps, which was quite fun and a bit of a learning experience, considering I haven't done laps on 200tw at Winton since 2016.
Before this, I was looking at going to a cheaper tyre (AR1 or similar) and run more laps, but after doing slower laps for a day, it confirmed that I'm just interested in going faster.
Less laps, more PBs so post this event, I've now bought new Hoosier A7s for the front.
I ended up running a 1:40.3250 which I was reasonably happy with.

The next event is a hill climb in two weeks running the clockwise layout. I ran a 56.0 on this layout earlier in the year, which I'm expecting to improve on.
I've entered the car in Time Attack class so I don't have to use the shorter wind stands to keep the wing Sports Sedans legal. I just want to go really fast. REALLY FAST!!

After that, I'm planning on going to a test and tune at Winton on the 23rd August to celebrate my birthday. Run a few laps, hopefully a couple friends will come up also.

Photos.
3A8A3613 by Kam Aghtan, on Flickr
3A8A3585 by Kam Aghtan, on Flickr
3A8A2736 by Kam Aghtan, on Flickr
3A8A1149 by Kam Aghtan, on Flickr

[iwearmoccos]

I've been really lazy with this thread since June.

I ran a 1:34.94 at H Nationals, which was the highlight of the second half of the year.

Improvements for 2019.
Winton - 1:34.94. (2018 - 1:36.27)
Bryant Park
Clockwise - 55.54. (2018 - 57.10)
Figure 8 - 61.30. (2018 - 64.93)

Goals for 2020
Winton - 1:33.x
Bryant Park
Clockwise - 54.6
Figure 8 - 59.x

I've returned the aero to Grant who has spent a lot of time CFDing a better solution.
I have pulled about 25kg out of the car over xmas and have a few more things to do to reduce the weight further.
The Test and Tune followed by H Nationals worked really well this year, so will do the same this year except with new Hoosiers.

Due to clashes with silly life events, the first hill climb won't be until April.

Less events this year than the past few years, a rather focused approach to PBs. Lets hope the weather, car and driver all unite as one for these future PBs.

3C3A3512 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
DSC01733 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
3A8A5433 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
000039200008 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
48869171282_293213e120_o by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr