Exe Track Day - Winton Motor Raceway

This track day, I tried harder damping on my suspension. This resulted in a one second improvement over my previous PB. The new Project μ rotors held up nicely along with the brake pads, providing consistent braking throughout each session.

Session 1
2:12.3780
1:50.5440
1:44.8470
1:43.6310
1:43.8320
1:43.4940
1:45.1910

Session 2
2:12.4060
1:43.4460
1:41.6660 NEW PB
1:47.5170
1:42.1540
1:44.0260

Session 3
2:03.5330
1:46.1580
1:42.7290
1:42.8530
1:58.5580
1:51.0210

Session 4 - Red flagged due to oil spoil
2:08.0720
1:50.3870
1:45.4260
1:49.6720

Session 5 - Accompanied by Silas for pointers
1:57.3250
1:44.9480
1:45.5340
1:45.4770
1:45.2690
1:45.3210
1:45.3180


New PB versus previous PB:

IIS7 configuration for hosting WCF services

I have recently been learning about Windows Communication Foundation Services and when I first tried to host a service in IIS7, I encountered the following error when attempting to navigate to the service URL:

HTTP Error 404.3 – Not Found

The page you are requesting cannot be served because of the extension configuration. If the page is a script, add a handler. If the file should be downloaded, add a MIME map. Detailed Error InformationModule StaticFileModule.

This error is caused by enabling IIS after Visual Studio 2008/2010 and the .NET 3.5/4.0 Framework were installed.  To rectify this:

1. Open the Visual Studio command prompt as "Administrator".
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation.
3. Run the following command: servicemodelreg –i.

After performing the above steps, navigating to the service URL returned the following error:

HTTP Error 500.21 - Internal Server Error

Handler "svc-Integrated" has a bad module "ManagedPipelineHandler" in its module list

As I had enabled IIS after installing Visual Studio and the .NET Framework, ASP.NET had to be registered in IIS:

1. Open the Visual Studio command prompt as "Administrator".
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319.
3. Run the following command: aspnet_regiis -i

I was then able to successfully load the WCF service URL.

Titanium Shims

Thanks goes to JimJim for recommending and helping me get these, and now I recommend them to you. I have used these on my front brakes for a few track days now and have found them effective in keeping some heat from transferring from the brake pads to the calipers. They have also prevented the dust boots surrounding the caliper pistons from cracking prematurely. The dust boots were replaced last year and are all still in great condition. Jim got them through TiSpeed, but there are plenty of vendors for these shims. They are not bang for buck but I think in the long term they will save you some money from not having to replace piston dust boots so often.

Boxer

Cool animation, click the image.

Brake Cooling

Warning: Viewers are advised that this post is ghettolicious and contains images that may offend people's sensibilities.

First of all, hat tip to MacGillaz for this idea. To help in cooling the front brakes, I set about fashioning up some air diversion guides that would direct air to the inside of the brakes.

Firstly, I built a template out of cardboard and attached it to the lower control arm to test the fit.

Here you see the wheel being turned to ensure that the air diversion plate will not foul against anything.

Then galvanised steel was cut to size from the template. Strips of steel were also cut to act the brackets.

A 12 mm hole was drilled in the bracket and attached to the lower control arm where the sway bar end link attaches. The bracket was then bent into shape by hand using judgement by sight only, which should suffice.

5 mm holes were then drilled in the bracket and in the plate.

The plate was attached to the bracket with high tensile nuts and bolts. Then the plate was bent to shape.

Some bending and further cutting results in the finished product...

I am yet to do a road test and some additional cable ties may be required to prevent possible annoying rattles from this plate.

Project μ SCR-Pro Front Rotors

Since my last set of DBA 4000 rotors had cracked, I decided to try something different to test their durability during track use. I compared prices for the DBA 5000 series, Project μ SCR-Pro and Endless Curving Slit - all two piece rotors. I decided upon the Project μ because they were roughly the same price (delivered) as the DBA's, and the Endless were just prohibitively (stupidly) expensive. The SCR-Pro are also marketed as now having better crack-resistance and some fancy heat treatment. So I asked a certain Mr Streeter to get the Project μ sent out to me.

Here's a weight comparison:

DBA 4000: ~8 kg
DBA 5000: ~7.5 kg
Project μ SCR-Pro: ~7 kg

And here they are fitted:

Random Snap

Photo by my friend Kam, nice burn effects.

Noisy Ninja: Team Black

Credit goes to my friend the Noisy Ninja for this awesome photo!

[Video] silas-photo.com

I'd just like to highlight the awesome photography and post production of my friend Silas.  Here's his latest pre-wedding photo shoot creation...

Check out Silas' other work:
silas-photo.com
YouTube channel
Facebook

A very performance car wedding

I had the pleasure of attending my friend's wedding last Saturday. All the friends that attended are into cars in some way or another and the wedding cars were evidence of this.

Koryo 15 Sep 2010

Video from my black belt grading - Poomsae Koryo. Thanks to Tuan for the video.

Board Breaking 15 Sep 2010

Video from my black belt grading.  Thanks to Tuan for recording it.

Who is this Ray who opened an engineering business anyway?

So I picked up a set of these TE37 Super Laps which seem to be all the rage these days. The specs are:

Front: 18 x 9.5 +22 with 245/45 tyres
Rear: 18 x 10.5 +22 with 275/40 tyres

Still hellafunctional:

A very BIG thanks to Dan (c2888) for helping me with wheel transport and tetris. Also thanks to Kam for detailing the rimz with his Poorboy.

Crack Whores

So, a day after MGCC Sandown sprints, I felt this shuddering when I was braking from 60 KPH or more. I then discovered that my front rotors had cracked. The left one has two small cracks and the right rotor has one crack that is more prominent. These are almost 2 years old and have been used and abused for roughly 25,000 KM of road and track days.

VW Advanced Driver Training

I had the opportunity to attend an advanced driver training session organised by Volkswagen Australia.

This event was held at Sandown Motor Raceway and consisted of two main types of activity - track driving and skid pan. On the track, we were treated to a drive in either a Mark VI Golf GTD or GTI, accompanied by a professional driver for about three laps. This was a very worthwhile experience as I picked up a few pointers about braking and steering the car. The pro drivers also then drove us around the track in the new Golf R.

On the skid pan, we were allowed to drive either a Tiguan, Passat CC or Jetta over a wet surface through a slalom of cones and then followed by a swerve and brake exercise. The intention was to demonstrate the safety technology built into the cars like ABS and stability control. We were also shown how Passat CC's can park themselves in a parallel parking space. I've seen self parking systems on the internet before but it was very impressive to see it first hand.

Overall, this training session was great and I commend VW for organising such an event and offering it free of charge. Hopefully they do it again.

More photos are in the album below.

Volkswagen Advanced Driver Training 2010-09-01

MG Car Club Sprints - Sandown Motor Circuit

So, I just did Sandown again. It's been almost a year since I was last there. The results... no PB, just almost exactly the same best time as last time.

Session 1 
1:39.0800 1:40.0000 1:33.6700 1:33.1700

Session 2 
1:34.4800 1:31.7000 1:35.2200 1:34.6400

Session 3
1:34.2900 1:33.6300 1:33.7200 1:32.4300

Session 4
1:32.5900 1:31.9900 1:31.6400 1:33.4800

Here is the speed comparison of my best lap (green) versus my PB lap (blue) from last year.

Speeds - I finally passed 200 KPH this time.