Monday, March 10, 2008

EXE Track Day - Winton Raceway


This was a scorcher of a day - 37 degrees. I was extra paranoid and kept an eye on my water temperature while out on the track. I also kept checking that none of the other fluids were boiling or overflowing after each session.

My car's setup was the same as its previous track outing in November 2007, so my aim was to break into 1:43s because I knew I was still holding the car back last time.



Here's a break down of the sessions:



Practice
1:49.1000
1:45.7000
1:45.0100
1:43.8200
1:48.6400



Session 1
1:45.4300
1:45.8200
1:45.5200
1:47.8200
1:48.4500
1:45.6800
1:46.1500



Session 2
1:44.2300
1:44.1500
1:44.6800
1:45.0500
1:46.0100



Session 3
1:45.9100
1:45.7300
1:45.6700
2:09.7100



Session 4
1:45.4700
1:45.7600
1:46.7000
2:32.0400



In session 1, I was alone in the car but couldn't match my PB of 1:44.1. I guess I was still getting into the rythm and all I could manage was my usual consistent 1:45s... -_- Then, in session 2, I took Jorge with me as passenger. It was getting quite hot as it was past midday and I pushed harder and managed to match my PB with a 1:44.15. I was just annoyed that I was only 0.05 seconds off beating my PB and still didn't manage to get into 1:43s. As the afternoon continued to get hotter, I decided that the remaining sessions would be just for fun and I took Sheepo and Jeremy out in sessions 3 and 4 respectively. I was happy that I did consistent 1:45s in the heat. I'll be back next time with more negative camber at the rear to try for 1:43s.



EDIT: The practice session times were uploaded and I found out that I managed to break into 1:43s - 1:43.8.



On a side note, the Brembo logo on my front calipers changed from red to a very dark brown from the heat. I asked another Z owner (DavidM) and the same thing happened to him. It's happened to other drivers too:
http://www.iwsti.com/forums/braking/57336-brembo-logo-turned-black.html
I just found it quite fascinating. Razz


Specs for the day:
  • K&N panel air filter
  • 17" Nismo LMGT4 with 225/45/17 Bridgestone RE55S
  • Cusco front upper A arms with -1.5 degrees camber
  • Motul RBF600 brake fluid

Overall results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/03/2008.WIN.P1
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/03/2008.WIN.P2


Individual results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/03/2008.WIN.P1.I
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/03/2008.WIN.P2.I


Saturday, March 8, 2008

Weigh Bridge

Went to weigh the car together with SenK9, Flameboy and ES. I had a full tank of petrol, spare tyre and interior trim.


The things that were different from stock were:

  • Rays forged wheels (8.45 kg per wheel) vs Stock (11.07 kg front / 11.7 kg rear)
  • Carbon fibre side skirts (lighter than stock?)
  • Spoiler (heavier than stock)
  • Cusco front upper A Arms (heavier than stock?)
  • Plastic boot lid liner removed

Nissan quote the 2006 350Z Track model's weights as follows:
Curb: 1542 kg
Tare: 1485 kg

My car's reported curb weight was 1540 kg, so it's still on par even though some changes have been made to it.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Rays Engineering Wheels

A few weeks ago, I bought these rims from Silas. Thanks man!
They are the factory option rims for the Z and are forged by Rays Engineering. Normally, the front rims are 8 inches wide and the rears are 8.5 inches. However, the set that I have are all rears, so that's 8.5 inches all around. I could still use my stock tyres though, so that's 225/45/18 fronts and 245/45/18 rears. The front tyres are now more stretched as the stock front rims are 8 inches wide.

The specs for these rims are 18 x 8.5 +33 and they weigh 8.45 kg each.
The specs for the rims meant for the front (which I don't have) are 18 x 8 +30 and weigh 8.25 kg each.


It's track day time again, so I have also set my front wheels to maximum negative camber as usual. Demon camber for me too!