Exe Crew Track Weekend - Winton Motor Raceway

14th May 2016

Tyre comparison
16 Nov 2013 - 265/35R18 Z221 soft compound front and rear

14 Nov 2016 - 265/35R18 Z221 soft compound front (new), 295/30R18 Z221 soft compound rear

Brakes

Trying Dixcel Type Z front brake pads.

Fresh Dixcel DAV slotted front discs.

New Project Mu HC+ rear brake pads.

Track

Winton has been newly resurfaced = smoother and more consistent surface.

Lap times

Session 1 - 2:02.6410 1:45.4600 1:42.9950 1:47.4640 1:41.1600

Session 2 - 1:49.1760 1:41.1580 1:41.1690 1:39.2920 1:38.7010 1:42.2110

Session 3 - 1:48.4500 1:38.7350 1:40.0760 1:40.1030 1:39.0870 1:39.3330

Session 4 - 1:45.3140 1:40.7000 1:40.1980 1:38.8280 1:39.3290 1:38.9540 1:40.2110

Comparison of my speed graph to the previous personal best lap way back in 2013. It appears that the new track surface has aided in speed gains throughout pretty much every corner. However, there is more to gain through more aggressive driving (after I have compared my best lap video with other Z drivers).

Video of the 1:38.70 lap.

Exe Crew Track Weekend - Winton Motor Raceway

13th September 2015

Tyres
16 Nov 2013 - 265/35R18 soft compound front and rear
13 Sep 2015 - 285/30R18 soft compound front, 295/30R18 soft compound rear

Lap Times

Session 1 - 2:03.6250 1:46.5164 1:41.8287 1:41.2527 1:41.0750 1:40.7558 

Session 2 - 1:52.5244 1:40.2061 1:39.7192 1:39.8056 1:39.3367 1:39.9099 1:40.4675 

Session 3 - 1:51.7730 1:41.4177 5:05.6592 1:49.0832 1:40.6979 1:39.5129 1:39.8428 1:40.2188

Session 4 - 1:54.4926 1:40.3771 1:48.3954

For some reason my final session wasn't recorded. I matched my personal best time from almost 2 years ago. The wider tyres appear to help with corner speeds significantly. I just need to keep working on top speeds on the long sections. However, it was good to see some consistent sub-1:40 laps, which was not something I managed to do 2 years ago.

A corner speed comparison reveals higher speeds on most corners.

16 Nov 2013

13 Sep 2015

Video of the 1:39.34 lap.

Exe Crew Track Day - Winton Motor Raceway

12th October 2014

Yet another Exe Crew track day rolls around and we make our way back to Winton to attack those times. This time the car doesn't have a broken wheel bearing anymore but it did have some bits of road kill (fox or kangaroo?) under the car courtesy of the Hume Freeway.

Unfortunately, a combination of factors conspired against my attempt for a faster lap time...

Session 1

I had a short session because I didn't check my tyre pressures before starting, leading to my ABS malfunctioning. I locked up the tyres a couple of times and end the session early, lesson learnt.
2:04.2530 1:46.6890 2:14.0940

Session 2

Getting back into the groove of driving at Winton.

1:58.4920 1:45.7440 1:42.6360 1:42.3630 1:52.3290

Session 3

The temperatures (both ambient and track) were rising by this point.

1:53.3980 1:42.2200 1:41.3670 1:42.5950 1:43.1260 1:42.1100

Session 4

At this stage, it was really quite hot and I pushed hard, but obviously not hard enough. I would get my best time of the day here.

2:00.1560 1:41.6860 1:40.9280 1:40.6320 1:41.0570

Session 5

I decided this would be my last session and confirmed that I was tired and it was too hot.

1:49.6670 1:43.7320 1:41.0670 1:43.3590 1:41.2550

Looking at the speed comparison to my personal best lap, I would say that my slowness this time was due to me not pushing as hard as before, especially before turn 10. I can't say how much the heat contributed to this, but I can say that I definitely need to remember how to drive at Winton.

Left: 1:39.33   Right: 1:40.63

I also managed to kill my two front tyres when I locked up the brakes in the first session. #notmaxvalue

I'll get you next time Winton!

Exe Crew Track Weekend - 3rd/4th May 2014

The Exe Crew track weekend has become somewhat of an annual event at Winton Raceway. Our last one was in November last year and I was signed up again for the track weekend this month - two days of sprints!

Leading up to the weekend, I monitored the weather report and initially rain was forecast in the region for both days. It didn't look good but despite this, I had one goal for the weekend - to drive as hard as I can without destroying the front tyres through plow understeer. To me this meant that I had to focus on smoother entry into the low speed tight corners with a slow-in/fast-out approach.

Photo courtesy of Andy Szeto

Saturday
The day started off wet, the rain had stopped but the track was very damp. In the first session I forgot to turn off the stability control and the system did not like the combination of wet track, semi slicks and aggressively locking diff. The system decide to give up and my dash warning lights lit up indicating that I had not stability control and no ABS. I drove around cautiously and pushed to about 70-80% of how I normally drove. I clearly need more practice driving with no ABS as I locked up the brakes twice, flat spotting one of the front tyres. In the second session, there was a dry line forming but the track wasn't completely dry yet. Although, I turned off the stability control, the ABS malfunctioned again leading me to drive around tentatively. Fortunately in later sessions, the ABS behaved normally with stability control off and I was able to start pushing the car harder as the track dried up. I ended the day with a 1:41.6, still a whole two seconds away from my PB lap time. My front tyre management approach did work and I managed not to make the car understeer at the hairpins.

Lap times

Session 1 - 2:20.2440 1:55.0890 1:50.0080 1:53.4550 1:51.9970 1:58.2900
Session 2 - 2:07.2980 1:53.2420 1:49.2170 1:47.2280 1:44.9140 1:44.6280
Session 3 - 2:06.1380 1:52.1900 1:45.4130 1:45.1110 1:43.8290
Session 4 - 1:53.6270 1:42.7330 1:41.9970 1:45.0540 1:41.7000 1:41.6100
Session 5 - 1:59.9630 1:43.9200 1:42.6270 1:43.5950 1:42.2070 1:42.4310

During the day I also installed my harness using eye bolts obtained at the last minute. Thanks for the help and sourcing eye bolts, Jim.

Exercising too much restraint...

Sunday
The weather was much better on Sunday as it was completely dry from the beginning. There was a bit of sunshine too. I went straight out in session 1 and attacked, keeping the tyre management and corner entry in mind. I managed a 1:40.6 in the first session, which I was happy with for a start. Session 2 was red flagged and by the time session 3 rolled around it was past midday. 1:40.5 was the best I could do for the day and I felt the track was going off by session 4. There were at least two more sessions to go but I decided to call it quits as I was a little bit worried about the noise coming from the rear of the car while cornering to the right at high speed after the sweeper. I think the rear left wheel bearing has died so the car needs a bearing and hub refresh before the next event.

Lap times

Session 1 - 1:52.0950 1:41.0370 1:42.2750 1:43.9980 1:40.6060
Session 2 - 1:57.8720 1:43.2640 1:42.2120
Session 3 - 1:54.6040 1:43.0260 1:42.0500 1:42.4270 1:41.0060 1:40.5110
Session 4 - 1:57.5730 1:43.9760 1:40.7350 1:42.7050 1:41.7480 1:46.8330

A comparison of the best lap for the day versus my PB lap shows that I was of course slightly slower through most corners. However, it looks like trying to drive smoother resulted in getting on the throttle earlier out of turns 6 and 7.

Finally, thanks must go to Andy Szeto for these brilliant photos, and there are more in his photostream.

Exe Crew Track Weekend - Some more photos

A big thanks to Patrick Silveira for making the trip up to Winton to take these photos. More of Patrick's photos can be found here.

Exe Crew Track Weekend - Winton Motor Raceway

Another Winton track day (or track weekend in this case) rolls around and I join the Exe Crew in this double header. The Z was going into this event in the same state as previously. My intention was to dip into the 1:38.xx lap time range as this was my theoretical best from the previous outing. However, this was not to be, I ended the weekend having improved my PB by 0.2 of a second.

From the graph we can see my new PB in green and the previous PB in blue. The red line was the best time for Sunday the 17th November. The green graph shows that I found time by braking later into turns 1 and 7, and was overall faster through turns 2, 3 and 8. I was let down by my entry into turn 10 and that probably cost me the opportunity to get into the 38's.

Lap times

Saturday

A good start to the morning with a 40 lap. Track temperatures seemed quite good. After the session I lowered the tyre pressures to 32 PSI hot.

1:53.7140 1:43.5740 1:40.6820 1:42.5600 1:41.7830 1:41.3060

This session returned promising times.

1:49.4730 1:40.9400 1:40.1730 1:40.4870 1:40.4090

After looking over the times and speed graphs in the first couple of sessions, I focused on braking deeper on all long straights. This seemed to work and I gained a new PB.

1:49.3030 1:40.2650 1:39.6620 1:39.3360 1:39.8760

The track had heated up past optimal temperature and I called it a day after this session.

1:46.6950 1:40.2880 1:49.9330 1:40.3200 1:51.3460

Sunday
A good start to the morning with another 39 lap, but this would be the best time of the day.
2:13.7170 1:45.9830 1:42.0240 1:41.5790 1:42.1430 1:39.6800

Could not better my 1.39 from session one, suspected that the track temperature was already past optimal.

1:57.6310 1:41.9520 1:41.9350 1:45.1770 1:44.6760 1:40.3770

No improvement again this session and tyres overheated within 3 laps.

1:54.1300 1:41.7190 1:40.3750 1:56.0590 1:40.5340

Took Dan out for a ride this session, driving was a little sloppy and the front tyres had given up gripping.

1:50.2680 1:42.7770 1:42.5700 1:42.8480 

Went out for one last solo run and confirmed that the front tyres were now trash.
1:56.2090 1:48.6980 2:02.1370 1:42.3540 1:45.5350

Took Adam for a ride so he could give me some tips on driving in general.

1:47.9330 1:44.4420 1:43.0350 1:43.2080 1:46.2700 1:44.7360

Looking at the front tyres at the end of the day, I observed that the tread level is now down past the indicator. Time for a new pair. I ended the day knowing that there is so much time left to be gained with the car's current setup. I'm looking forward to trying again when I have new tyres.

To finish, here are a couple of photos from Andy Szeto, his photos are always very impressive.

Exe Crew Track Day - Winton Motor Raceway

It's Exe Crew track day time again at Winton, another chance to attempt to break into the 1:3x zone. The last time I came close with a 1:40.7. This time the GorillaZ and I was back armed with the Nismo LSD and Hankook Z221 soft semi slicks (265 front, 285 rear). The weather was kind, with temperatures around 16 degrees Celcius accompanied by sunny skies all day.

Session 1
Went out with a passenger and pushed to about 80% to break in the new tyres. I ran the tyres from 35 PSI cold, resulting in a hot pressure of around 42 PSI. I lowered the pressure to 35 PSI hot, ready for the next session.
2:09.5810 1:47.1640 1:44.5800 1:43.8690 1:45.0900 1:42.6920 1:43.4420 1:43.0740

Session 2
First solo session and it was promising, finishing with a new PB and so close to the 30's.
1:52.6250 1:42.1340 1:42.9420 1:42.7170 1:40.6860 1:40.0670

Session 3
Another solo session and finally cracked the 1:3x barrier!
1:46.3080 1:40.0770 1:40.0530 1:39.9840 1:39.7610 1:51.5070

Session 4
A passenger session again.
1:56.0560 1:41.7650 1:41.3740 1:40.7610 1:46.9860

Session 5
Back to a solo session and I gave it one last try to better my PB and I did it on the final lap.
1:57.2670 1:40.9930 1:39.7720 1:40.4660 1:40.1820 1:39.5530 *NEW PB*

I decided not to go out in the final session as I was getting tired. What I found from looking at the lap times was that the new tyres produced a progressively better lap time during the session up until the fourth or fifth lap, at which point they would start sliding and going slower.

Looking at the speed comparison between the previous and new PB laps, we see that:

• turns 1, 3, 8, 9 and 10 were faster.
• the new tyres allowed for later braking at turns 4, 8 and 10.
• I managed a vMax of 173 kph on the main straight, up from around 165 previously.
• I can go faster before turns 1, 4, 6 and 7, this is backed up by the fact that my theoretical PB is 1:38.1.

Overall, I'm very happy with the result but know that there is so much more time in the new found grip and can't wait to get back to Winton. A big thanks to Exe Crew for running such a fine track day.

Here are a few photos by Ben Johnson, thanks Ben!

Also thanks to Andy Szeto for these great shots!

[Video] 2 Laps @ Sentul

While I was in Indonesia last month, I had the opportunity to drive my friend Silas' BMW E30 race car - Shirosame. Silas booked Sentul Internation Circuit just outside Jakarta for a day to let us all try driving his race car. Thank you Silas!

The day was wet, the rain poured down just after midday and it was an awesome experience taking to a soaked track in a race car I had never driven before, let alone a car without ABS. We each had enough time for 2 laps, but it was one of the best 2 laps of my on track driving experiences.

Here's a video of my friend Desmond driving.

[Video] Exe Crew Track Day - 21st Oct 2012

Thank you to Hann Ong for this great video.

Exe Crew Track Day - Winton Motor Raceway

21st October 2012

It was time to return to Winton again, the track where I have cut the most laps out of all the tracks that I have visited. The goal for this track day was to catch that elusive 1:40.xx lap and join Silas in doing a 40 with an NA 350Z.

The day looked like it was setting up to be perfect for a track day, with a relatively clear sky. So, down to business...

Session 1
My friend Robbie came for a ride for the first session. The track felt good, grip was coming up and confidence was building in the car.
2:02.7470 1:56.7810 1:46.3990 1:41.6130 1:42.2510 1:41.9210 1:42.2410

Session 2
I went out alone, time to get to work. After stringing together a couple of 41s I finally broke into the 40s, a new PB.
1:56.5690 1:46.1970 1:43.7630 1:41.0140 1:41.5700 1:40.9530 1:41.6020 1:40.7430

Session 3
I attempted again to beat my new PB, but wasn't successful. I felt that the track had gone "off" by this stage. It was slippery probably because it was getting too hot and dirt was being brought on by cars going off.
1:56.8090 1:41.7050 1:46.1610 1:41.6920 1:45.2070 1:44.2370 1:43.4040

Session 4
By this stage, it was well into the afternoon and I could only manage 41s. The track was just too slippery.
1:54.1490 1:45.6660 1:42.9060 1:43.0560 1:42.4160 1:41.5110

Session 5
1:54.4100 1:43.3840 1:43.4690 1:43.8130 1:41.6650

Session 6
Dan 1337 was passenger, so this session was just a few happy laps before ending the day.
1:52.9430 1:41.8410 2:02.8710 1:43.0430

Compared to my previous best lap it looks like overall, I found time by getting higher speeds before braking for corners. Some were achieved by braking later and some by getting on to the throttle earlier on exit of the previous corner.

Looking at the theoretical best lap (1:40.08 - the brighter yellow line) comparison, the gains are to be had by going through the S corner (turns 10 and 11) some 10 kph faster.

Here are some photos I pillaged from Charlie, Robbie and Mellow. Thank you!

Finally, a big thank you to all Exe Crew for the effort they put in to make this one of the best Winton track days yet. Thanks also to all participants for your great on and off track behaviour, it made for a very smooth day.