First track day impressions

[Breville]

Hi there,
This is may have been discussed before but I thought I'd give you my first impressions post track day at Eastern Creek.

I've never been to EC before and had a great day, organised by Driving Solutions. They were first rate, from the initial briefing to the track drive/walk-through to lunch and drinks provided all day.

I took them up on the offer of a driver with me for half of the first session which really helped me learn the circuit. I'd do this again next time too.

The first two sessions were more about learning how far I could push things and keep in my comfort zone; I even dared half turning off the DTC by the end of the second session - I assumed I'd be spinning every where without it!!

I switched off the DTC altogether for the last 4 sessions which made me a hell of a lot quicker coming out of corners; with the DTC off I could get the power down at the appex. The last session I was using 2nd gear at the hair pins to play with oversteer, but that was me just being a silly bugger!

At the beginning of each session I made sure I was 1st/2nd out of the pits so as not to have people in my way. I am happy to say I only got overtaken twice all day - once by an Elise which was breaking 50m later than me and by 2 HSV's who were all over the place; 2 corners later coming onto the main straight the 2nd HSV tipped in too early and went straight off the track at the exit of the corner!! I'll be sending him the bill for the respray as he brought shed loads of dirt back onto the circuit..

When I got the last corner right(ish) I was getting up to 215km/h on the main straight and was exiting the first corner around 160.

My car is completely standard and these are my thoughts:
Tyres - RFT's gave an amazing amount of grip at the rears but fronts suffered from under steer. As Jeff suggested I dropped to 38psi after the first session and that did help. Not sure which way I'll go when the RFT's run out.
Brakes Totally happy with the std brake package. I might put stickier pads/performance rotars on when the OEM's wear out.
Suspension Needs changing for sure. Too much roll in the corners and waaaayyy too much travel under heavy breaking. I ended up sideways into turn two on a couple of occasions (I know braking in a straight line helps!!). I think the BMW Perf set up may suit me as the car is a daily driver.
Transmission Def needs the SSK, too much travel and I missed 4th gear a couple of times. This will be my next mod.
Seats Not enough lateral support for me, especially around the thighs. I'd change to the BMW Perf seats if it wasn't for the cost..
Steering wheel Just feels too big IMO, not sure the BMW Perf wheel is smaller, but I'd like the change lights and timer for the track (I didn't time myself yesterday as I wanted to have fun without pushing too hard).
Bluetooth Got to remember to turn my phone completely off as I kept getting calls all morning which is inconvenient to say the least!!















Sorry if this was a bit long..

Happy Days

[spdrcr]

Nice one Breville!

[Zuzu]

Well done Duncan.. Enjoyed your summary..

[oneill3]

Sounds like you had a ball. nice write up.

[ozzy]

Hi

thanks for the update , hear an Audi went off as well , who was the other 135 same colour and all , a friend of mine was in an elise said his best lap was a 1.59 , do you know what your best time was

cheers

[professor]

thanks for posting those impressions. interesting read. looks like you had a good day. and those are nice pictures too, or at least, they would be if they were not copyrighted!

[Breville]

Originally Posted by ozzy

Hi

thanks for the update , hear an Audi went off as well , who was the other 135 same colour and all , a friend of mine was in an elise said his best lap was a 1.59 , do you know what your best time was

cheers

I think a Golf hit a wall too, didn't see an Audi go off. If you're mate was driving a red MkII Elise then I would have been doing around the same lap times. He was way later on the brakes but I actually had to back off by 10-20k's on the main straight as to not get too close coming up to the first corner.

TWIN, yes that's TWO turbos :thumbup:

The other 135 was a guy called Morgan. He'd not heard of 1Addicts before, so I directed him here..

[Breville]

Originally Posted by professor

thanks for posting those impressions. interesting read. looks like you had a good day. and those are nice pictures too, or at least, they would be if they were not copyrighted!

Don't worry, I've ordered the pics, but am getting them delivered on CD as they may be too big for my mailbox. I just couldn't wait to write up the post. I'm still buzzing as it's my first track day in Oz.

[professor]

righty ho. wouldn't mind the last one for the 1er screensaver i am making if you don't mind...

[Breville]

NP, I should have the CD in a day or two. I especially like the MB ML in the background!! His brakes were fooked after the 2nd session!

[professor]

aha! is that what that is? i just drove one recently. wife likes it, i don't. its like a ferrari in a straight line and like a rickshaw in the corners. i must admit though, it is an amazing freak!

[Breville]

The ML owner was on his first ever track day, talk about a baptism by fire!! He had especially replaced all four tyres (at $700 a pop) and they were knackered at the end of the day!! He didn't do the last few sessions as the constant beeping from his brake warning was driving him mad

[professor]

interesting. and it is bloody impossible to tinker with the traction control on it too. secret codes need to be typed in apparently they MB don't trust the owner with!

[Breville]

You know what MB owners are like; they're always tinkering with something..

[smarm]

Originally Posted by Breville

The ML owner was on his first ever track day, talk about a baptism by fire!! He had especially replaced all four tyres (at $700 a pop) and they were knackered at the end of the day!! He didn't do the last few sessions as the constant beeping from his brake warning was driving him mad

One of the readers here (not sure if he's a poster) was peddaling a cayenne S around Bathurst as the medical car. I was in the car after 2 laps, the brakes were absolutely toast and smoking heavier then half the lung cancer patients in the ward at work.

Amazing the way it handled some of the corners, in particular up at reed park, but geez, the braking forces required to slow down cars of such mass is significant. Doing it repeatedly out on a track is even more so.

[oneill3]

Originally Posted by professor

interesting. and it is bloody impossible to tinker with the traction control on it too. secret codes need to be typed in apparently they MB don't trust the owner with!

You can find the codes if you look hard enough, thanks to google.
I've got an SLK and I found the codes. They completely disable, dyno mode they call it, all of the electronics, no ABS, ESP, etc.

[2bob]

Great writeup Duncan--Will look foward to joining you next year.

[Yep 135]

well done mate glad to here you had lots of fun.
Im with you as for what tyres to get when these need changing.

[Breville]

Updated pics for your approval Prof!

[Carlos]

Breville, congratulations, that was a nice read and sounds like you had a ball at the track. Post pictures

[MikeVictor]

Nice write up mate, was good to read. Love the pics too

[Breville]

Thanks for the comments guys. There's another track day on Wednesday...