Phillip Island Circuit Weekend

The weekend just passed (1st/2nd September 2012) was epic, it consisted of my first back to back track days. After initially only planning to attend the Sunday's sprint event at Phillip Island, I was persuaded by Ying to drive on the Saturday practice day. That decision was one of the best that I have made this year. Back to back track days afford you the opportunity to spend the time on the first day to really get to know the circuit again and experiment with what works for the best lap time, then really put it into practice on the second day.

Day 1 - Circuit familiarisation

Having not been to Phillip Island for about 9 months, it was time to attempt to put what I had learnt into practice. As there was no official timing on the Saturday, I will use the times recorded by RaceChrono.

My first session out, I managed to get a new best time of 1:57.7; I was on the right track (no pun intended). As the day went on, my best lap time progressively dropped as I kept trying to brake deeper into turn 1, maintain more speed through sweeping corners and hold the throttle as close to flat as possible through turns 8 and 12. After speaking with Adam, I also managed to hold the throttle flat through turn 3. At the end of the day, on the final lap of my final session, I clocked a new best time of 1:56.5. I had achieved the theoretical best (TB) time from the results of my previous outing to Phillip Island. However, my new TB was now 1:54.9! My new-found knowledge would have to wait until day 2 to be applied, but I was already happy with the 56.

Some happy snaps...

Ying's MX-5, my 350Z and Viv's WRX

The GorillaZ, like a pig in mud

Jim performing some checks on his Evo 9

Some seriously fast cars in my group, not including mine...

Day 2 - Phillip Island Auto Racing Club (PIARC) Sprints
After a fairly good night's sleep, it was Sunday and that meant getting down to business. With the track theory fresh in my head, I concentrated on smoothness and applying throttle as early as possible and as much as possible. Throughout the day, I was also able to brake even later into turn 1 and managed a new best VMax of 226 kph. However, what surprised me was that my lap times continued to drop in the first few sessions.

Session 1
2:19.3049 2:02.7255 1:58.7144 1:56.4295

Session 2

2:11.9757 1:57.2711 1:55.2569

Session 3

2:09.3462 1:54.5856 1:59.8484 1:58.1716

Session 4

2:09.8472 1:59.7867 1:59.8871 1:55.2578

Session 5

2:31.3992 1:57.2229 1:56.3514 1:58.4974

At the end of the day, I was very happy with my new personal best of 1:54.5, it was very unexpected. RaceChrono now says that my TB is 1:53.3, but I'll leave that analysis for another time. Now, here is a comparison of my previous PB speed graph (red) to the day 1 best (yellow) and the day 2 best (green).

The gains were made up of:

• Later braking into turn 1.
• Faster through pretty much every corner.
• Holding throttle flat through turn 3 and flatter through turns 8 and 12. 

And here's a comparison of my acceleration and deceleration around the track on day 1 (left) and day 2 (right). The more green the better.

Full results:

http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?02/09/2012.PHIL

Kam's and my 350Z, as well as Canh's and Henry's Evo 9s

An immaculate 997 GT3, good to see it being put through its paces

Tyres

The Hankook Z221s wear incredibly slowly. They are hard compound and maybe I'm not getting enough heat into them. After each session they were only slightly gooey. These have now done 7 track days and they still look like this.

The Yokohama A050s have been good value. These medium compounds have now done 9 track days and are at end of life. The right has been almost worn bald due to the mostly left turns at Phillip Island. The left now has noticeably more tread than the right, but it also approaching bald.

Brakes
The Dixcel DAV rotors held up very nicely over the 2 days. They must have stayed cool because there is no sign of warping. The rotor surface is also smooth to the touch with no deep score marks. The brake ducting must be working even though it's still not currently ideally set up.

I can't wait for the next Phillip Island event!

The ongoing hail damage saga, but patience is a virtue

6th March 2010
The day I will never forget and in my eyes, unforgivable. Mother nature took it upon herself to endow my car with dents.

1st April 2010
The car was inspected by insurance and it was determined that paintless dent removal would not be conducted as the bonnet needed replacement. I later took it to my repairer and he advised that the car would be fully resprayed as every panel (except the bumpers and driver door) were affected by the hail. The bonnet as well as the roof would be replaced. However, the earliest my repairer could start work on my car was the 10th of May. At this point, I had to make a decision - whether to send the car in on May 10th or wait until after Exe track day on May 23rd. I decided that returning the car to status quo was my priority, and there was a chance that the repair work would be completed by May 21st.

10th May 2010
I brought the car into my repairer's shop and apprehensively left the keys with him. We spoke at length and I expressed my extreme paranoia with leaving my car in other people's care and how pedantic I am. He assured me that he takes copious amounts of care with customer cars and I do believe him as he did a great job with Jally's car previously. It was just good to let him know how seriously I treat my car in a non-confrontational way. Finally, I told him I had Exe track day on the 23rd but didn't want to rush him and he said he would shoot for a completion date of May 21st. I was optimistic he could do the job well and in time if all went to plan.

14th May 2010
I called up my repairer for an update - it looked like I would miss track day as there was still around one and a half weeks worth of work to do on the car. He asked me to call back on Wednesday the following week.

19th May 2010
Wednesday - I called again - confirmed, I would miss track day. As usual, nothing ever goes to plan and I have come to expect that from life. The replacement roof had arrived but it was damaged, so my repairer had to send it back and was trying to track another one down from Nissan interstate. I was disappointed that I would miss track day but I was not surprised by this unforeseen issue.

20th May 2010
My repairer called me and told me there are no 350Z roofs in Australia. Nissan advised him that there was a batch coming from Japan but they only send parts by ship now, so the ETA would be weeks. However, he told me he had begun repairing my roof by sucking the dents out and he wanted me to go in and have a look.

21st May 2010
I went in to have a look at my car today. This is the state it is currently in:

The tool used to suck out dents:

The roof, most of the big dents are gone:

The hatch and rear left quarter panel with the big dents sucked out. The stickers are where I indicated there was a dent.

My repairer assures me that he can get the roof smooth again with no signs of any dents and minimal use of filler/bog. I am inclined to believe him and seeing the work he has done so far on the car gives me that confidence. At this stage it looks like the car will be in the shop for another two weeks. So for now, I will bide my time as I know progress is being made. I still fvcking hate nature and all the evil that has befallen me though. :P

Also, I picked these up today. I had to be prepared just in case my car was ready for track day. Oh well, there is always a next time!

The saga continues here.

Test Fit: Advan RGII

Big thanks to Mugsee for letting try his wheels on my car!

Wheels: Advan RGII 17" x 9.5" +24
Tyres: Advan Neova AD07 255/40R17

Track Day Preparation

25th May 2008
Changed engine oil.

1st June 2008
Brake bleeding part 1 - Bled the brakes and added some fresh Motul RBF600 with the help of Shaun. On the drive home that night, the "bite" point of the brake pedal felt lower than it was prior to bleeding. I thought that was strange as we used a one way bleeding hose. After discussing with Shaun, we realised that at one point, the brake fluid reservoir had become empty and some air may have entered the top of the master cylinder. Thanks Shaun for all your help. I monitored the brake pedal feeling throughout the week and the bite point seemed to become a little higher. I don't know for sure whether this was a placebo effect or not.



7th June 2008
Brake bleeding part 2 - Just to be on the safe side, I bled the brakes again with the aid of Sheepo's foot. Thanks Sheepo. All calipers were fine except for the front right which had a couple of bubbles.
Also chucked on a set of fresh (slightly used) Yokohama A048's - 235/40/18 all around.