Laurie's First Track Day Car

[RallyMarshal]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Sorry to interject ...

.... harvey and paul have put a fly in the ointment though, having coilovers really gives you some diversity with spring poundages which the sticky tyres need, not sure i want to spend that much though (compared to £free, thats in the garage)

Mine is only on front coilovers albeit trick "upside down" ones. Would be fairly easy to convert a std set of legs to coilover tubes using the off the shelf kits to take a standard style cartridge. Id recommend the Avo adjustable rear dampers @ £65 odd each and the Eibach Mk3 GSI rear springs to sort the rear out - works well on mine.

Paul..

[easytrans]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Well a small bland update ... Bought a set of 4 part worn Yokahama AO48's (Medium compound) a week ago and mounted 2 onto my tear-drop wheels so I now have good rubber on all four corners ready for next weekend (Donnington Park).

Today I made a pair of jumper links for the brake pad warning sensors as they got eaten last trackday so now the links have extinguished the check light.

I then had a quick test drive and was really impressed with the brakes since bleeding the system with the vacuum pump/bleeder and I can imagine it will allow me more confidence into the corners now I have a firm pedal.

I also managed to squeeze in a couple of jobs on the Omega (Tow car) yesterday, fitted 3 new glow plugs (the forth has its hex nut broken off so I've ordered an extraction kit to drill it out in situ so I can fit a new one),
Also I whipped off the rear disks and cleaned out the handbrake drums and freed up the adjusters (similar setup to the GTE with disk and drum in one piece) but as the inner side of the disk is really rusted and pitted I have not fitted the new rear pads until I get a new pair of disks, I just ran the power-file over the face meanwhile and pleased to have a good handbrake now.

Cars up on the trailer and the plan is to load up tools and parts next Saturday and head to the hotel near Donnington for Sat evening.

Getting quite excited about this one and looking forward to building a bit of speed downhill into Craner Curves

.

Just hope that white stuff they mention on the forecast keeps away :}

Laurie.

[BenH]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Just a note on drilling glow plugs if you have to, I had to do some on a zafira and I ended up using a carbide tipped production drill. They are very hard indeed and was burning a normal drill bit, then I had to helicoil the holes after using a slide hammer to pull the remains out after tapping the inside to m6.



16122011406.jpg16122011407.jpg

They were all seized in place and pulled the threads out on the other's, the car had only done 90k from new and was almost like they had just be wound in at the factory rather than tapped first!

[easytrans]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Well as some may have seen from Harvey's posting Donnington Park had the pleasure of two MK2 Astras this last weekend

I think this has to be the most fun I've had in years !! (or maybe I live a boring life the rest of the time) ?

Anyway, I had a good trip to Derby with car on trailer and woke up in the Travel Lodge at 06:00 to a cool but bright morning .....

A 5 minute drive to the circuit and and into a pre booked garage .....

With the briefing over and wristbands on headed back to the car to remember I'd not checked the tyre pressures since inflating after fitting a new valve Saturday morning to the O/S/F that was loosing air since I fitted the tyres. So a quick whiz around with the tyre gauge (26 front and 22 rear) and it was out for the sighting lap ....

Well it was half way around before we (a 7 series and me) caught the tail end of the leading cars so it was quite a quick 1/2 lap and from the onset I was in ore of the place,

The track is undulating but with no really steep climbs (well not any that bogged my gal down).

The brakes felt nice and firm and the new[ish] tyres warmed up quite quickly I had to drop the fronts as they rose to 32psi after the first session. I probably got 6 or 7 sessions in during the morning though a couple were short ones as the circuit was Red Flagged.

As I got faster and faster the only issue I had was a bit of brake fade .... By dinner time the fade had become worse and as I rolled into the garage after the chequer flag I could tell the pads were down to metal !! Yeah I know new pads (cheap but reasonable quality) only fitted last week As Harvey said "it just shows how hard a car works on track!"

So here's a bit of rear facing camera on the last few laps before the dinner time chequer flag .....

Sorry but I was just too lazy to change the date/time file for the camera so just ignore that ....

BTW: she's running up to 7500+ rpm in third before I drop into forth and she is pulling about 98 mph as I start braking for the chicane .....

A change of pads (I had a spare set with me) during the 30 minute dinner break and I was ready to roll again ....

Still uploading in-car footage and will update this post when loaded ..

I also have some stills from the circuit photographer and will need to upload them to flicker

As I say this is a fantastic track even for my little gal and I'll not have to think twice about going back again next year ... maybe with some better brakes next time (as I ate the second set of pads by the end of the afternoon session too).

Enjoy
Laurie.

[dazz150]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Donnington park, my favourite and most enjoyable track day I have ever done! You have inspired me to head up there again one day!

[DarrenH]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

ditto ditto ditto, they call cadwell park "britains nordschleife" but i think it does donnington a disservice, just as much variation and its allot bigger/faster

[BlackBox]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Love reading your posts Laurie, you seem to be having so much fun
Noticed your tire changer a couple of posts back. Is it easy enough to use without damaging alloys?

[easytrans]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Love reading your posts Laurie, you seem to be having so much fun
Noticed your tire changer a couple of posts back. Is it easy enough to use without damaging alloys?

Cheers BB, well I bought an extra tyre bar that has nylon bush and rollers cost as much as the changer to be honest but would be easy to make one the one that came with the changer can be brutal used on alloy.

I'll get a shot of it for you when I get a minute ..…but its probably simple to make the whole thing just getting the materials together for a one off would cost more than the changer .....

And you're right I'm having great fun with the car and as its on a budget I can enjoy it without too much stress.

Laurie

[DarrenH]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

only just watched your in car footage, i did chuckle at the number 10 lotus-cater-seven-er-field passenger waving at you. had the legs on that mx5 later on which was cool

might find going up to harder/high temp brake pad would help? last longer, wont fade. initial price is downside of course. think my M1144 were knocking on for 100 quid

[easytrans]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

So again for what its worth some in-car footage ....

Sound is as bad as ever but to be honest its not much better inside the car

Out on cold tyres first lap or so then getting a little braver ....

Youtube should be cleaning it up a bit so I hope some of that flare will go once it finishes with it.

Meanwhile ..

I must slip a GoPro on my Santa list

L.

[steven]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Id like to say good driving but cant see it,it says (This video is private) on the screen.

[easytrans]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Id like to say good driving but cant see it,it says (This video is private) on the screen.

Opps! sorry I hit the private button by accident

Sorted now.

L.

[easytrans]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

So having sent out a wanted for some ATE callipers a kind member on here sorted out a set for me and they arrived along with a spare set of pads (thanks 'himselfunknown').

Before I go any further I must respond in agreement with DarrenH on his last comment on my (callipers wanted) posting... Yes I agree that the existing 8V Delco callipers are very good and the ATS differs little if any in piston size and performance but as you say the ATE's have a much wider choice of pads and in fact I had bought in advance some competition pads (while they were at a bargain price) and that's exactly my reasoning (and the need to keep to a set-up that will still fit under my 'Tear-drops' until I can find some cheap period rally rims).

I also ordered a new set of vented disks which arrived this week along with some more engine, a couple of cans of Wynns and a tube of copper-slip grease (its been 2 or three track days since I changed the oil and with the thrashing she gets new oil & a splash of wynns is a must).

So this morning I set about cleaning up the callipers and checking them out, and though they look fine I've decided to fit a new set of seals while they are stripped. So a quick order on GPS and I have seals and spigot bushes ordered.. (01-02-90510227 & 01-02-90297767).

So I'll probably use that kit of calliper paint that I bought some time back (8 yrs !!) for Denise's MK4 Sri but never got to using it .. but I think it's RED !!

Anyway, here's the usual assorted pictures .....













Oh and I do have the retainer springs but they are in a WD40 soak for now

TBC ....
Thanks for looking

Ah! EDIT: A question: is there any point in a pair of braided front hoses if I don;t also replace the hoses on the rear too?
Having a drum beam on the back means that most hose sets come as 16V front and rears ... ?
/EDIT

[Vinci]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

I've used electrolytic derusting on mine, which remove more than 90% of the rust overnight. Then some wire wheeling or brushing and cleaning up and you're good to paint. It's really easy to set that up if you have a bucket, some washing soda, a battery charger and some old chunks of scrap iron.... Lot's on the subject can be found online....

As for the braided hoses, all the little bits that remove elasticity from the brake system help.

[gte 16v]

Re: Laurie's First Track Day Car

Hi Laurie, great job on the calipers, i've,ve done the same for my rears but i have struggled to get replacement seals and pistons.

Btw great to see you posting again, i know you have been really busy, take it easy.

Paul.