D1GP @ Fuji Speedway 26th Oct 2008

This was quite a surreal experience for me.  After having seen countless photos and videos of D1 on the internet, it was strange to actually be in Japan at an actual D1 event.  The atmosphere was buzzing as the crowd waited in anticipation for car after car to come screaming around the corner with tyres smoking.  It was just awesome and I would highly recommend going there and seeing it with your own eyes.

I also had a brush with fame.  Kazunori Yamauchi (creator of Gran Turismo) was present that day at Fuji Speedway.  I suppose it must be fairly common for him to be at these events considering the nature of his work.

Hot brakes & battle scar

The DBA rotors have three coloured stripes on the edge that change colour when they reach a certain temperature.

Temperature (degrees C)/Original colour/New colour:
* 458 / Green / White
* 550 / Orange / Yellow
* 630 / Red / White

Tonight I checked the rotors and found that the red stripe had turned white.

Left & Right:

I also found the source of the clunk sound when I slid off the right hand side of the turn 12. The concrete on the right edge of turn 12 is not level with the grass and it is probably a few centimetres higher than the grass. When the right side of my car slid off the concrete and the right wheels dropped on to the grass, the bottom edge of the part that connects to the lower control arm scraped on the concrete. Luckily it's only superficial damage.

MSCA Sprints - Sandown Motor Circuit

I had been eager to get back to Sandown after my first time there. So when JimJim told me about the MSCA sprints, I jumped at the opportunity. The weather was near perfect, with the temperature reaching the mid to high 20's. I would have liked if it was low 20s as it would have been less taxing on me whilst in the car.

The goal for today was to improve my technique (as always) and better my PB for this track. I also had Silas and DavidM's comments (from previous posts) in mind. Here is my speed vs distance graph for my best lap today (green) compared to my best lap the previous time I was at Sandown. Turn numbers are also marked.

Circuit map:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0aF_3UIe8HXBSplEbXWPdIROU3IBYtQHzdl7zDYEW3Rm24U2FRFFYSl_wtmPA-4M2DhO3Sf8xzCiVN72BREVd4J5ndK1khVlRCYbnYAAaOhWfHQ3ibMbJfhf6r4EE8p-MYxyX-ZDAcyz/s1600-h/SandownMap.jpg

Max speed: 192.7kph (previously 191.7kph)
Min speed: 51.3kph (previously 50.2kph)
Avg speed: 122.1kph (previously 120.5kph)

My focus for the day was maximising speed on both the front and back straights. So getting on the power as early as possible and braking as late as possible. From the graph, I can see that I improved my speed on the the two straights. However, I am still braking too much for turn 1 as that should be a 100kph corner. I am also exiting the sweeper at turn 6 faster. I should have gotten more laps in today but my second session was cut short after I partially went on to the grass at turn 12 and heard a clunk as my right wheels came off the concrete and landed on the grass a few centimetres lower. I pitted to check if the clunk had damaged anything and was not allowed back out as the session was almost over. Luckily everything seemed alright with the car. My third session was cut short again because of the car stuck off the track and requiring a tow, the whole group was red flagged. Jibbed. Towards the end of the day, it appears the heat took its toll on my concentration and I couldn't go any faster.

Session 1
1:39.8701
1:33.9590
1:32.4006 NEW PB
1:34.3772
1:37.0675
1:36.5503

Session 2
1:33.7101
1:34.0629
1:37.2817

Session 3
1:34.4238
1:34.5663
1:34.3383

Session 4
1:37.3238
1:36.2506
1:35.0118
1:35.5937
1:35.7425

Although the flow of the sessions was slow at times, overall it was a good track day. The MSCA staff were also great as they worked quickly to provide me with a timing device after they noticed my first few laps in the first session weren't recorded.

Full results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?18/01/2009.SDMO.Q1.I

Brake service

A brand new year and planning to jump straight back into track days. So, to prepare for Sandown next week:

1. Bled the front brake fluid and topped up RBF600.
2. Replaced the front brake pads with another set of Project Mu Type HC+.

Comparison of old pad to new. Old pad had worn down to 9.3mm (including the backing plate), which is below mininum thickness of 10mm. New pad is 15.7mm including backing plate. Therefore, the pad's life of 6.4mm was used up from daily driving and 6 track days (4 Winton, 1 Wakefield, 1 Sandown).

New pads fitted. I'll also be trying out some DBA 4000 series rotors (fitted a couple of months ago) for the first time at the track next week.