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Lauren

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  3. Posted · Report reply

    Blyton Eastern Circuit Round 7 29th September 2019

     

    Round 7 and much discussion was had about the weather forecast. The excitement for me became palpable in the week leading up to this sprint as it was looking like it would be chucking it down all weekend. Whilst I prefer sunshine when I’m not racing, I love it to be wet when I do. The problem with sprinting is that it’s got to rain all day to make it count. One dry run and your wet runs become worthless. It is only around once every five years that we end up with a fully wet day it seems.

     

    But what is all the fuss about, you may ask? Put simply it give me an opportunity to punch well above my class and give the far more powerful cars a run for their money. Having 500-900bhp, is all very well and good, but when the track is wet, you can’t get all that power down and so it become a great leveller, being more about how fast you can get round a corner rather than blasting away on the straights. Sticky semi-slick tyres are of course useless on a wet track if there’s a puddle in sight, so it becomes a bit of a skill test and, oh how I love beating cars that are ten seconds ahead of me in the dry. :)

     

    The morning started with our new 2019 Champion Roger, coming over to me in the cafe with mutterings of how how much he hates the wet despite having 4WD and asking me not to beat him. This only made me more determined. Thanks, Roger! By the time we got to do our sighting laps i was worried at the amount of standing water in key places through corners, on the exits, but not that much on the straights. The thing is, you can drive round big puddles on the straights, but it’s a lot more difficult when you have no option but to hit a bit puddle mid corner. The problem is if your tyres can’t clear the water it ends up lifting the wheel off the tarmac which means aquaplaning. This means that the car will not respond and is a horrible feeling if it happens at 80mph.

     

    Those that know me will know I like to set a fast first run and get one in the bag. Sprinting has taught me that it’s a waste of time building up your speed, far better to go Banzai straight off the line put in a flier, then spend the rest of the day honing that from what you learnt from the first run. This approach, always then involves over driving the car and pushing it a little bit over the limit. Off I go then. The first corner, Chapmans is a hairpin. I can get up to about 80mph or so in my car before braking, but that’s in the dry. Remember the track was wet, so I drew a deep breath when I hit the brakes. When I say hit, I mean ease them on firmly, hoping my car would slow enough and try hard to get the weight over the front wheels enough so that it would bite as I turn into the corner. For a moment I thought I was going straight onto Birmingham feeling the understeer come, but just as I thought was off, the car found some initial bite. So far so good, this could be my flier I thought. Just the exit to manage now and I knew I’d purposefully got a little early on the throttle. I can neutralise oversteer, that’s easy, just turn into it, but the car was understeering, oh dear this feels awful. There’s nothing you can but back off which is like committing a cardinal sin for a racer! A momentary lift, brought it back in line, but all I’m thinking is that’s half a second gone there.

     

    Through the next section towards the interestingly named K7 chicane, I could see a huge puddle right on the exit. Trouble is you want to steer as little and I had to go through this massive puddle, well into third gear somewhere around 70mph. The car hates this and as I hit it I could feel the car being pulled left, then right. It’s always at that point you don’t feel in control. It does of course slow you down and then it’s straight into Curve Grande, a 180 degree long right hander this is best described as absolutely horrible! It would be less horrible if it didn’t have a hairpin going the other way at the end. This makes it incredibly hard as ploughing through a load of standing water whilst turning right then having to brake which you struggle to do in a straight line, change down to second then turn sharp left! Tricky! Then it’s a fast run up to around 100mph before braking for the tricky Bishops corner.

     

    So far so good, as I change down to third, whilst braking, I feel the front end squirm, but it’s holding it’s line. There is painted concrete on the exit here which you always use, but this time it’s underwater. Oh dear, hitting the water in the middle of a slide around 70mph, can only mean one thing it seems. Yes, I’m aquaplaning. Now I pride myself on hardly ever spinning, but this took the car so quick no amount of opposite lock was going to help here. Now I’m going backwards toward the infield, foot through the floor on the brakes as the car pirouettes across the dirty concrete, mud flying everywhere. I notice the car is going to go round so lift off the brakes to help it, clutch is down, second selected and I’m pointing the right way. Shaken, though not stirred I hoof it off again to Bunga, Bunga. Blimey, not much grip on the turn in there, initial understeer is followed by oversteer as I curse myself for running onto the yellow painted concrete on the exit, causing the rear of the car to slither wide once more, costing me valuable exit speed. Now it’s the run down to Porte Vite, a right hander with a slight left kink after onto the finish line. Trouble is the turning point is underwater, which makes me run a bit wide, but makes it a tighter line. The car is sliding again, I have to back out of it. Over the line and a time that turns out to be a 1.26 which madly still has me in 8th place overall!

     

    I get back to the Paddock to find that my main rivals, Graeme and Rob spun at exactly the same place and it now seems to be a thing. That submerged painted concrete is  deadly!

     

    As ever on a day like this a lot of time is spent pondering the weather. My best guess was the second run would improve but there’d still be standing water, but if the rain held off till lunchtime the third run would be merely wet, with no paddles required. This was it seemed going to be my best chance. I’m dying to get out again as I know my first time isn’t representative, so I want to get myself up there as soon as I can. On the second run, it goes better, I take a more progressive attitude with the throttle to quell oversteer on the exit of the first two tight corners. This pays off so I see there is now no standing water on the exit of the K7 chicane and opt to try it flat in third. This starts off well, but my drive out of the previous corner was so good, as I try to guide the car left on the exit I can feel the rear of the car starting to want to overtake the front. My brain says don’t lift, but I’m not going to make it without going off track so I have to. Then it’s a lift into Curve Grande which sees the weight balance shift quite heavily from left to right and this really unsettles the car, leaving me trying to sort it out all the way through till the hairpin at the Wiggler. Not too bad, I manage it just, then it’s time for Bishops again. I say to myself (and the car) that I’m going to have to use that submerged yellow concrete on the exit. Again, great speed in, car is balanced, I’m careful on the exit to keep things tidy and initially it feels good, then bam, as soon as I hit the water I’ve got an armful of opposite lock on, I’m a bit more prepared this time, but it still feels like a shock as it happens. I hold it, frustrated at the speed I’m losing going sideways. Still, at least I’m not going backwards. Bunga, Bunga is tricky, not much grip on turn in, then grip, no grip in the middle and a tricky exit, but better than last time. I crack Port Vide, not so bad, less standing water a straighter line so I can take it flat in fourth. 1:20.95. Much better, this puts me first overall in the Toyota Sprint Series and shoots me up the leaderboard.

     

    Graeme is a great driver when he gets it all together but that’s the trouble with sprinting, you cannot make mistakes and get away with it. Another off for him means he’s two seconds off my pace, but Rob is closer and more consistent, being less than three tenths of a second off my time.

     

    The third run looms and this is the one, the track is not close to being dry, but the standing water has gone apart from at the deadly Bishops exit.  At best it’s merely damp in places. Someone else takes the timing gear out which gives those in the line up ahead of me a re-run. It’s always an advantage to have a re-run as your tyres are warm and you’ve had a recce. Old friend and sprint veteran, Phil made the most out of this in his MK1 MR2 turbo and put in stocking time of 1:18.72. That was going to be hard to beat. I went out for my third run and kept it very tidy, this time keeping the back end in check, no crazy oversteer and cut my line a bit tighter to avoid running on the slippery yellow concrete. 1:20.31. Better, though Rob went quicker too with a 1:20.71, but Graeme pulled a great lap out of the bag and didn’t fall off to set a 1:20.48. Good, I’m still in the lead, but the top three in my class is separated by 4/10ths of a second! That is close!

     

    Lunchtime comes and a downpour with it. Whilst it clears up, rain never feels far away. I go out after lunch for run four just to check it’s no quicker. I end up with a Civic Type-R ahead who runs out of talent at the first corner and goes straight on, so I catch him half way round ruining my run. I get a re-run but I’m two seconds slower as is everyone else. Then it really rains. It becomes obvious that it’s set in for the day and Rob and Graeme decide to out because it’s fun. I take the approach that driving fast through standing water is not fun and I’m gaining nothing by doing so, so sit it out in the cafe. They’re nearly ten seconds off the pace now. The last run is abandoned as the standing water is making it too dangerous.

     

    With that it was all over. My best result ever, 2nd overall. I was slightly disappointed that Phil got ahead and I couldn’t get first overall, but I was relying on the weather to help me slow the faster cars down! I’ve had a number of 4th overall finishes but never on the podium. Graeme got third overall which is mega and also a fantastic result for Rob with 4th. It was just so close and that’s what its about, there was nothing easy about it and all day we’re hanging on every hundredth of a second as it really counts. I only beat Graeme by 17/100ths of a second. That is not a lot! Rob was only 4/10ths of a second off, it’s a blink of an eye when you think about it. For me I just wanted to really enjoy driving in the wet. It’s a test of skill and also highlights just how good the chassis is and highlights that with a bit of guile and commitment you can beat cars with three times the power. Okay they can’t get that power down, but that says a lot in itself and okay the high power cars were on wet tyres but they build their cars for the dry as 99% of the time you’ll get a dry run at some point in the day. But no matter, it was a fabulous 7th round giving me six wins out of 7 with one more round to go and with my worst two dropped I’m going to be a Triple Champion for my class and have a few extras in the bag such as fastest car on road tyres overall, fastest naturally aspirated and a class champion for the Japanese Sprint Series. This will also gain me my highest ever overall finish of 4th overall for the Toyotas. The difference for me this year is I’ve wanted it more, my focus has been there. When I’ve needed it, I’ve had to feel the force and dig deep as that is what it takes. It’s when you’re at that point that don’t think you can go any faster, but you have to find a way and just push yourself beyond what you think is possible. That’s when the magic happens, total focus, belief in yourself, being as one with your car is what it takes to be a champion. A huge thanks to Team RRG Macclesfield for their unwavering support and encouragement and of course the beers in the bar the day before. :)

     

     

     

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    GraemeI reacted to this

  5. Posted · Report reply

    2 minutes ago, MartinT said:

    I already have the TD UEL catless header installed, as well as their full catback exhaust with super-resonator.  I did try the standard resonator at first but it was too loud.  With the super-resonator and a bit of coking up through use, the car is just right in the noise department now.

    It'll get a bit louder with the supercharger. 

  7. Posted · Report reply

    I just do the tax by the month now with direct debit, avoids all that. 👍

    I get what you mean though, absolutely hate cheques. Got a tax refund of £6.11 from the HMRC, just chucked it in the bin, not worth the effort. If they'd just taken it off my tax then that would have been a whole lot easier, like they do if you've underpaid. 😡

    Angelina reacted to this

  12. Posted · Report reply

    5 hours ago, BRZ-123 said:

    I you and Kev are experts in TSS and opinions are valued. Just not worth generalizing as people like me do 2 track days / year and to better myself , not compete , so can live with 15 min track times then cool off brakes. So a BBK is really not worth for most GT86 owners.

    Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
     

    I totally get that you are right and this is I guess the point that @Deacon is making they are not necessary if you are doing a few trackdays a year and as Jeff pointed out track orientated pads with matching discs will be up for the job if you are. So yes, not worth it for the majority of owners who go and have a play. Even in the sprint series the stock calipers with different pads will do the job and won't hold you back from being competitive. Look at Rob Dowsett competing in my class in a stock car bar PS4's. He's not far off. 

    I would concur with @Ade for the reason for going BBK as I do at lot of miles on the road. 

    BRZ-123, Shippers and Ade reacted to this

  13. Posted · Report reply

    16 hours ago, Church said:

    My 65Ah one lasts allready it's 3rd year. And even with stock 45Ah one .. UK forums are ones i saw issues with batteries running flat most often. I speculate, that it might be issue of high stationary current draw of alarms commonly fitted to UK twins, that may cause such often issues with batteries, no?

    It's lack of use which is certainly the issue. I had my first 45Ah battery fail at 70K miles and three years. Replaced under warranty with 65Ah and is still fine at 137K miles and three and a half years later. Recently went on holiday for a week, no problems. Whilst the alarm will draw current, I think is more the case that a lot of owners simply don't use their cars that much which is what seems to cause the problems. Maybe there are other cars out there that don't suffer this issue. The UK alarm system is installed at Portbury Docks and the way to define whether this is the issue is to see if the problem still occurs in other markets which don't have an alarm fitted. 

  15. Posted · Report reply

    7 minutes ago, Church said:

    Not changing pads when going to track may even be amplified on BBK regarding some dailying issues with track capable pads. As due better cooling temps can be even less, thus even harder to keep rotors properly bedded when just daily driving with track capable pads, and have loud squeals at every stop. So not that sure on bit that with BBK one won't need to switch pads. BBK may allow get by with step down in how much track oriented pad compound for same braking, but for optimum braking at track and least NVH issues when DD, two specialized pad sets switched according use will still be best choice. Truth be told, on several BBKs pad change might be even simpler, with taking out/inserting pads from above caliper.

    When i hear something like to ease bedding to close off brake cooling ducts .. BBK vs stock brakes - probably same thing. One needs to brake harder and from higher speeds to get same temps for bedding/not wear off that layer during generic daily driving.

     I run DS2500s. Great for road and track and because my brakes have the thermal capacity for track. We did tried this with measuring caliper temperatures at Blyton Park with Will's car and he never got them that hot. Mine are quieter than stock pads or the incredibly noisy Project Mu's I ran historically. I CBA to dick around changing pads when I simply don't need to. 

  16. Posted · Report reply

    Just now, Deacon said:

    Look forward to seeing the evidence you have to back this up 👍

    It's obvious, they can take more heat. My setup will outperform yours all day long. You don't push as hard as I do on track, I've been out on track the same time as you before, so I've seen the evidence for that and  we had the same pads I believe. So it may be fine for you, but I compete in my car, I don't just cruise round the track. Even on a sprint the extra thermal capacity is useful as you have to be the last of the late brakers as every hundredth of a second counts. 

     

  17. Posted · Report reply

    5 hours ago, Deacon said:

    It's a shame you hadn't tried something better than a hybrid, road biased pad then to be able to give an accurate comparison.

    Certainly road pads and stock calipers overheat quite quickly when used on track. 

    But the reality is I'm not going to mess about changing pads just to go on track. I just want something that does both very well. My setup does that and will out perform whatever pad/disc combination you have on the stock calipers. It's also just as good on the road. I've had over 30K miles out of them now. 

    Burtie178 reacted to this

  18. Posted · Report reply

    11 minutes ago, Deacon said:

    You never ran any properly capable pads on the stock calipers though did you? Thought Project Mu Hc800+'s were the best you'd run? 

    They were, yes. I'm not convinced properly capable pads would have given me the confidence in consistency of braking that I have now though. 

  19. Posted · Report reply

    3 minutes ago, Deacon said:

    A good, well done BBK shouldn't have these issues but unless paired with decent tyres will be a little pointless other than for looks and bragging over your extensive and expensive mods. 

    Depends upon what you mean by 'decent' tyres. Even with decent road tyres you will over come what the stock brakes are capable of after a few laps. It's about sustaining feel and keeping the consistency of it lap after lap. Even in a sprint which is only one lap I get the advantage of a BBK. It inspires confidence and the brakes simply consistent and don't fade. On a sprint I struggle with stock calipers. Uprated pads offer only a slight improvement. 

    The other point you and most are missing is that if you trail brake the modulation of pressure and consistency of feel is key to being able to adjust the angle of the car when turning into a corner. I admit these are advanced techniques that I don't expect your average driver to thoroughly grasp, but having  a BBK even using road tyres has possibly been one of the best modifications I've done to my car. 

    Burtie178 reacted to this

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Yesterdays sprint at Croft was a tough one, a bit of a nemesis for me as I’ve never won there before. It has been resurfaced but many of the bumps remain, which is definitely a good thing. What made yesterday’s sprint interesting (depending upon how you look at it) was the weather.

     

    The first timed run saw a slightly damp track particularly out on the back section from Tower to Barcroft which is the fastest and scariest part of the circuit. On my first time timed run, I could see it was damp under the trees on the exit of Tower, but getting power down there isn’t a real issue. It was a bit of a leap of faith through the Jim Clark Esses that the car would hold on the exit. This is a very fast part of the circuit, slightly over 100mph in my car and by the time I’m turning into Barcroft I’m in fifth gear going past 110mph or so. The problem is once you commit to it, you’re in for the ride, so trying to read the track ahead, is it dry is it wet, will it grip requires a good bloody guess as otherwise it’s crash or die! :o

     

    My first timed run, I managed to hold my nerve and set a good first time of 1.42.17, giving me a two second advantage over my nearest rival, Graeme. Now, I know people will say I always set a fast first time, get a banker I say and whilst this is true, I had to have the confidence to do it.

     

    On the second timed run, it started raining before I got on the start line. But when I got to Clervaux and Hawthorn it was still dry, so I went for it. Coming down the back straight at high speed towards Tower, there was a sudden deluge of rain and it went from being clear to being blinded by the rain. I could see the rain bouncing off the track by the time I got there, which was obviously going to ruin the run. I lost three seconds on that part but it was almost dry again by the time I got to Sunny In. Weather eh? it was so hard to read with some of the track remaining dry but the ballsy, fast far end of the circuit getting a load of rain dumped on it.

     

    After lunch we went out, it looked dry but again, some rain during lunch had made Tower through the Esses wet again, making a fast run impossible, seeing me lose around three seconds again, though it was fine through the ironically named Sunny!

     

    The only thing I could be thankful for is that it was consistently the same when my class ran. I felt sorry for the Yaris drivers where it was dry for half their class and wet for the other half, ruining the runs of the later drivers.

     

    Come the time of the last run and Graeme is, I know dying to beat me. I’m doing a rain dance which kind of worked with a load of rain on the far side of the circuit again, all the way from Tower to Barcroft. The top classes went out and their times were suffering. Both Adrian and Tim told me it was wet out there and there was no grip. Not very confidence inspiring!

     

    So there was I wondering whether to bother going out, but I could see Graeme was so I duly got in the queue wondering if it would be the death of me when I happened upon Barcroft and saw the big oak tree! I had set a faster time on run four of 141.11 which still had me ahead and I thought it might be enough.

     

    As I got to the gate. Mike kindly told me that Rob had done a 141.5 taking a big chunk out of his earlier time. That gave me some confidence that there was time out there and maybe it wouldn’t be wet out on the far end of the circuit. He also told Graeme too which was only fair and well I went for it. I had to really hold my nerve as I passed through the Esses, foot to the floor and changing up to fifth gear on the exit. I knew I couldn’t lift for Barcroft, but let me tell you my heart was in my mouth. Thankfully though it was wet off line through the Esses it didn’t seem to be the case through Barcroft and the car kept it’s balance on the way in. I nailed a great bit of trail braking on the way through Sunny In which gave me the perfect amount of oversteer in the middle of Sunny setting me up beautifully for Sunny Out, I hardly hat to steer it was all on the throttle. I gave the steering a slight kick to straighten up on the exit and launched the car down the straight to the Complex.

     

    I admit at this point I was patting the steering wheel thanking my car as I knew I had absolutely nailed it through Barcroft and Sunny. Just the Complex to go then. I kept it nice and tidy, not too much oversteer on the way in and keeping tidy on the brakes. I told myself approaching the hairpin, ‘do not slide it on the way out’. i didn’t and didn’t compromise my time. 1.39.44, wow! I knew that was a stonking time and a new class record.

     

    I got into the paddock, jumped out of my car and legged it to the pit wall to see what Graeme would do. When I saw him come round to the hairpin, I could see it was going to be very close. One eye on him and one on the timing board as I wait full of anxiety to see where the timing board would stop, it was going to be so close. 1.40.35, yes another win! Poor Graeme, obviously I couldn’t help myself but jump up and down punching the air as he came in, which he may have noticed!

     

    What a day, this is what sprinting is about. A mega thanks to all the lovely people at Javelin and my fabulous friends I get to race with. Also a huge thanks to Team RRG Macclesfield for their support. Is there really anything better than a race weekend. I just love it!

     

    That’s five wins out of six rounds. Two round to go and the worst two get dropped. There’s still a way to go, but I’ve just wanted to win so badly this year after feeling a bit in the doldrums last year. :)

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    Mike@TD.co.uk, GraemeI, Andyroo104 and 3 others reacted to this

  22. Posted · Report reply

    8 hours ago, Deacon said:

    To be honest I would never do this for a couple of reasons; 1. Being aggressive on a trackday is a bit of a dick thing to do imho - they're for fun, they're not races. 2. I have no idea of that drivers skill and getting 'much closer' could increase the chances of an accident which is not what I want from my trackday 🤷‍♂️

    It's a bit of a dick thing to do to hold people up and not move out of the way if another car has caught up. I wouldn't  be a fag paper from their bumper because it's not racing. But I would go a fair bit closer than you did. It's just experience really. The driver was a billy, so not much skill by the looks of it, but if you hang back too much they often don't move over, thinking mistakenly they are running at the same pace as you. 

  24. Posted · Report reply

    7 hours ago, Deacon said:

    Yeah it was rather annoying as he wouldn't let me by when I was certainly quicker until we got to the straights then he shot off. The Caterfield on the other video was similar - I kept catching him then he'd just shoot off on the straights again. 

    Almost surprised you didn't report the guy in the Elise who was clearly holding you up. I would have been a lot more aggressive in my driving going much closer to the Elise in the corners so they get the message. If someone is blatantly holding me up I will report them. This is what I don't like about trackdays, though sometimes it's easier just to back off so you can have a bit of clear track. 

  25. Posted · Report reply

    On my drive to work without really trying I saw 67.4mpg. That's a mix of rush hour traffic, smart motorway limits for half a 20 mile journey. I reckon I could have easily got more than that. I noticed that with cruise control on the motorway in a 50mph smart motorway limit it actually cruised on electric which was quite impressive. I average around 40mpg in my GT86 on the same trip. I'm sure I could push it over 70mpg if I tried. 

    Test Drives Unlimited, Subota Boy, GT86-Ian and 1 other reacted to this
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