Saturday, April 19, 2014

Saturday, April 5, 2014

AROCA Sprints - Phillip Island

Almost one year since I was last at Phillip Island, I was back determined to have a proper run without the hindrance of rain as was the case last year. Luckily, the rain held off and it turned out to be a sunny, mildly cool day.

The only thing different in the car set up from last year were the tyres. This time the front were new Hankook Z221 soft 265/35R18 and the rear were Hankook Z221 soft 285/30R18, which had done three track days.

With the weather being favourable, I was able to get the feel for the track again and drive with much more confidence compared to last year's wet conditions. By session 2, I had already bettered my personal best (set back in September 2012). Session 3 was just before 1pm and it saw the biggest gain - almost three seconds faster than my personal best. By session 4 the track was already cooling down and I could no longer push as hard. Session 5 was just for fun and practice as the group was combined with some slower cars and there was too much traffic on the track.

Session 1: Practice - Not timed
Session 2: 2:12.7648 1:54.9371 1:54.4560 1:55.3011 1:55.2154 1:56.5899 1:57.9512 1:54.2569
Session 3: 2:12.9146 1:54.2369 1:55.8751 1:53.1393 1:57.7032 1:52.8028 1:51.7633 1:52.4508
Session 4: 2:15.5999 1:58.2297 1:58.1459 1:56.9567 1:53.6962 1:53.3893 1:54.8491 1:55.9287
Session 5: 2:14.1687 9:16.3568 2:13.4531 1:58.7033 5:22.7493 2:04.7040 1:59.3946 1:56.3093

Looking at the speed graph and comparing the new and old PB laps, we see that in my new best lap I:
  • slowed down too much at turn 2
  • didn't complete turn 4 (Honda) as nicely as previously.
  • was faster through turns 8 and 9.
  • lifted off at turn 12



Looking at the sector times for the best lap, we also see that each individual sector time was not the fastest out of all times for that sector. The theoretical best is also a massive 4.8 seconds quicker than my PB, which is promising because now I know there's so much more left in the car's abilities.


A very big thanks must go to JimJim who gave his time to help me work on the car and also attending the sprint as a driver.