Saturday, May 10, 2008

Circuit Club/Exe Crew Track Day - Winton Raceway

The weather was perfect, the temperature was in the 20s and it was comfortable inside the car and out. My PB for Winton is 1:43.8 and my intention for this track day was to get consistent 1:43s. I am currently doing consistent 1:44s.

There were a few minor differences in my car's setup this time:

  • Neutral toe at the front as opposed to 4mm toe in previously
  • Project Mu Type HC+ brake pads at the front as opposed to OEM Ferodo pads

Here is the break down of my sessions:

Session 1
2:01.3400
2:00.6000
2:02.2900
1:56.2000
1:44.2500
1:47.9500
1:54.3100

Session 2
1:52.6600
1:52.7600
2:00.8800
1:56.2200
2:05.5000
1:47.6900

Session 3
2:25.3300
1:45.6900
1:47.9900
1:44.8700
1:52.9500
1:50.5300
1:47.8800
1:45.4400

Session 4
1:55.9700
1:45.5900
1:44.8900
1:44.4600
1:45.3800
1:44.9000
1:44.8700

In session 1, it was only me in the car. For the first half of the session, I was stuck behind a certain pewter grey S15 who appeared to be a first timer. It finally let me pass and I was able to get a clean lap in, netting my best time for the day.

Session 2 saw me taking Kam for a ride because he wanted to observe how I drive. Kam, my amateur driving skills should be taken with a grain of salt. Once again, I was stuck behind the S15, and this time he decided to not let anyone pass on the straights. Three cars were stuck behind him - 350Z (me), S2000 (TAAXED) and an E92 M3. All three of us tried backing off and giving the S15 half a lap leeway, but we all caught up to him within a lap! To make matters worse, when TAAXED tried to pass him, he swerved in front of TAAXED! Very ungentlemanly IMO. Session 2 was basically a write-off.

I promised Ying a ride in Session 3, so she came along for the sedate KTHL experience. She said she didn't feel like chucking up afterwards, which means I may be too conservative in my driving. Anyway, once again I caught up to the S15, and I backed off in the middle of the session to get a couple of clean laps. It still wasn't a consistent session though.

Session 4 - The S15 got moved to a slower group - YAY!!! This was a completely clean session. Brendan (Brenno) sat in with me and I was able to lap a few 1:44s.

Alas, my best time for the day was 1:44.2, so pretty much on par with my PB. As always, my technique can always be improved and I was a little disappointed that I couldn't improve a little. I have spoken to Shaun (SenK9) about my racing line and braking and acceleration and he has suggested a few things that I would like to try next time. Below is the line I take. The cyan marks my braking and the green marks when I get on to full throttle. During the corners, I am feathering the throttle to keep the car from understeering. Any suggestions you can make to help me would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Overall results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/05/2008.WIN.P4.Y