YR523M EK sedan

[Austro]

ISR200 went home early

Natsoft seems to be broken for clubman config so I can't post all the times like I was planning to, but basically I still managed to PB (somehow) despite flipping the the front RS3s and still having them feel greasy. The car was much more prone to understeer and the tyres made a lot more noise at the limit than they used to. 135 at the apex for T1 was fairly comfortable, I think on my PB lap for sprint I held 140 but the rear end stepped a bit on exit and it overall felt a bit sketchy. I didn't really check my T2 speeds because I was focusing on preventing any mishaps, haha. Through the slower corners the lack of predictability and deficiency in grip was quite obvious as well, so I feel like time was cut down with better lines, slightly reduced braking zones and more confidence to accelerate earlier in T2 and T4. I ran a 70.1057 on clubman and a 66.2741 on sprint which is ~0.9/0.7s faster respectively. IIRC I ran the clubman PB in the third session but with a sense of urgency to PB I overdrove the car pretty hard and locked up under brakes at least once per lap on most of the hotlaps. Someone went off at T1 and into the wall in their first session directly after mine, and then I only got two hot laps in the second before being red lighted due to the S15 popping a silicone joiner so I wonder if I would have scraped through with a 69 if the tyres didn't go cold between the sessions. I PB'ed on sprint with the second lap of the last session but I was doing pretty good with running fairly consistent times that were close to my old PB. That being said, this was probably due to the limits of the tyres being very apparent and hence my conscious decision to not take any big risks by pushing too hard too quickly.

I'm quite tempted to put some fresh RS4s on and try for the times that I feel are within reach, but I really should just be saving for the B swap instead. One of my mates suggested I just run a pair of my 8j RPF1s with 205 AD08Rs at the front, but I don't know if they're in a similar state to my RS3s and it feels like a bit of a gamble as I'd only be running QR again for the sake of PBs rather than seat time in general. Will have to see how it goes and how I feel about it when events roll around. I'm contemplating running Lakeside at the end of October, and still waiting to hear back about public entries into the DTC event on the 16th of this month. Watch this space for B swap part acquisition updates :P

[Devcon]

WoooO! niceeee... haha im so jelly!

[Austro]

DTC was sick, it was nice to run a gymkhana course that was basically second gear speeds and not first gear with lots of lock to lock action (see earlier post about power steering woes). Unfortunately, we didn't run what is considered to be the 'standard' config as shown in the Lotus club outline above. Puddles of water on the roundabout meant it was run with an earlier entry onto the roundabout to only do half of it in an anticlockwise direction, so hooking right after T4 and continuing to T5. For what it's worth, the guy who placed first overall mentioned that his PB on this layout was around four seconds faster than the other one. Obviously this won't necessarily translate to everyone else's 'ideal' times, but a sub 50 on the usual layout is pretty quick. I was pretty happy with how my 46.58 run felt, and didn't think I would PB on the 46.51 run due to feeling like I braked way too hard before T3 and didn't carry enough speed through 3 and 4. I'm fairly aware of what didn't go as well in the final two runs where I came close but failed to PB, and reviewing the video footage has confirmed what I can do to hopefully run closer to a 46 flat if I get out again before the B swap. I managed to place 17th in a field of 36 people which I was fairly content with considering the number of track oriented setup cars running semi and full slicks that were out there.

I trialled running the 205 AD08Rs on the 8j RPF1 up front on street for a week beforehand, and they felt better than the current pair of 225 RS3s that I have so I kept them on for the event. I'm starting to think that I would like to continue to run a staggered setup but I will definitely give the RPF1 square set a go provided I don't have to pull the rear guards much to make them fit and not scrub. I wouldn't mind trying to nab a pair of 7j +35/38 wheels in whatever model to use for cheap as a pair of RPF1 brand new in comparable size are $680 delivered, and 7j 6ULs are only sold as sets on MX5Mania. I had heaps of fun and learned a lot today, so I think I will definitely sign up to do six or seven DTC events next year. It felt good to have a track day where I didn't have to hope I wouldn't kill myself or my car, even if there was a severe lack of shade out in the open!

[Devcon]

Austro did you get that EG for sale? LOL

[Austro]

Austro did you get that EG for sale? LOL

No I didn't haha



Bled my brakes, put the full set of RPF1s on and went to Lakeside on Saturday. Rear fitment is passable but still a little too pokey for my liking. Not much can be done without pulling the guards more or adding negative camber unfortunately. I'd rather not do either of those things to be honest, but I think I might try and hammer the lip a little flatter to help with scrubbing. On certain bumps taken at speed of which there were a few I encountered when driving hills, they do seem to contact the guard although I wonder if it's possibly just the sound of the PCI RTA bushes screaming in protest. They're creaking again and them getting to that stage was probably accelerated by the large bout of rain that we received in SEQLD recently.



The infamous kink.



Just past the bridge, heading down the hill towards hungry. You can see part of the eastern loop and the downhill run to the final corner from here, and I think even the main straight as well.

It was my first time at Lakeside despite having been meaning to drive there last year. I went in telling myself I would be content with a 69 and fairly happy with a mid 68 based on my QR sprint PB of 66.2 and noticing the trend of a two, sometimes two and a half second slower Lakeside PB for other people. I was able to do a chill group follow run to start the day off, where the intended purpose was to illustrate the lines. The lead guy did mention in the briefing that he runs an unorthodox line out of hungry and through the eastern loop but maintained that it was faster than the 'standard' one when executed correctly. Tldr it seemed like his line went to the full width of the track on the right hand side exiting hungry which was held along the eastern loop (becoming the inside edge) for an earlier late apex. I figured it would be more detrimental to times try his line due to the power/gearing disadvantage of the D16 favouring carrying more speed through to the exit, and being my first time out there I wanted to keep it simple with the experimentation.

I did run into minor traffic issues here and there in the first two sessions, but it was the usual writing off a hotlap to point someone by and leaving space to not catch up to them again kinda thing. I was running 71s in the first session playing it very safe, before realising that I probably only needed the brakes for the carousel, hungry and eastern loop. This gave me a 70.1 on the last hotlap. I dropped this again to a 69.1 in the next session by working some more on staying WOT through the back section. In the third, I wasn't able to better that time as I was still being conservative with the braking zones for the carousel and hungry and also cornering through the latter with heaps of grip in reserve. I was still struggling with getting a better exit from the carousel and also what line to take through eastern. Knowing at this point that a 68.9 should be quite doable and that it was the fourth and last session, I went out with the aim of shortening the braking zones for those two corners and holding my foot flat through the final turn. Despite making mistakes here and there, I managed to run the 68.9 and was fairly happy with it even though I knew there was still speed to be found. When they announced a bonus session with only four hot laps, I planned to not overdo it trying to PB again. This was quickly forgotten when I realised that I started to exit carousel at 4.8-9k RPM instead of 4.5k. I didn't repeat this on the second outlap, but when I checked my speedo and saw that I did 115 coming out of hungry I decided to try to piece it together for a solid lap. IIRC, I only did 110 exiting hungry on my final PB lap of 68.6 so it really could have been slightly lower! I still had room to brake later for carousel and hungry but I had already gotten to the point where the car was squirming a bit pulling up from ~160 and the AD08Rs felt like they were on the edge of locking up on some laps.

Overall, the car performed great and the track was super fun. With the ability to go WOT through all the high speed corners due to the slow single cam life, it really felt like the closest thing to piloting your own rollercoaster. I wish the AD08Rs were on my 6ULs and in the same sizes as the RS3s so I could more objectively compare the two, but the main thing I took away from the day was their progressiveness in providing feedback when approaching the limit as well as the breakaway characteristics when exceeding it. I ran them at 32 psi hot and they seemed quite responsive and controllable when making mid-corner adjustments. I feel like running the square set has slightly blunted the car's response to powering on/off during a corner to modulate rotation, but I'll be giving it more time to pass further judgement anyway. I'm now very curious about how these perform when fresh and during their lifespan, plus running the 205/50 aids with my fitment woes over a 225/45, so maybe I'll fork out the premium and get new ones when the time comes.

I'm currently waiting on a delivery that will provide the last of what I need for the B swap save for a water pump and timing belt, and I have just booked in for a full day at Morgan Park next month. Getting keen!

[Devcon]

[Touge-time]

Great thread mate. Any more progress on the car???