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Neale
Small Ford Addict
Australia
889 Posts |
 Posted - 05/09/2011 : 22:47:40
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Lap timing is great, Phil can you email me the bank account details that you would like the money transfered into.
Also I have a friend that would like to join us aswell, are there any places left? |
2006 LS Focus Zetec
1969 Mk2 Cortina 440L
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Phil
Administrator
Australia
1770 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2011 : 23:02:55
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Hi Neale,
No probs, will shoot you a PM. There are still places left so its first in best dressed now |
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Bacca
Small Ford Guru
Australia
1240 Posts |
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Neale
Small Ford Addict
Australia
889 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2011 : 20:16:25
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Cheers Phil, I got the email.
I send through $195 (because I haven't coughed up my membership yet) |
2006 LS Focus Zetec
1969 Mk2 Cortina 440L
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Edited by - Neale on 06/09/2011 20:28:05 |
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Phil
Administrator
Australia
1770 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2011 : 11:09:36
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No probs Neale
Cheers,
Phil. |
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n/a
deleted
244 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2011 : 16:47:25
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Phil,
For those of us who have paid deposits; I assume we can the balance on the day in cash? And what is the balance due? |
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Phil
Administrator
Australia
1770 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2011 : 19:23:06
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Hi BJ,
Balance on the day in cash is fine. The balance is $50 for members and there are a few memberships fees that are due as well. I will update the list later tonight so everyone knows where they're at
Only 10 sleeps to go!!!!!
Cheers,
Phil. |
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LiLJaY
Small Ford Master
Australia
202 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2011 : 20:04:11
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| where do we stand on having a passenger in the car? |
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Phil
Administrator
Australia
1770 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 10:27:46
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Hi Jeremy,
Passengers will be allowed after the first couple of red mist clearing sessions...they will need to fill out indemnity paperwork no doubt.
Regards,
Phil. |
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Phil
Administrator
Australia
1770 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 10:43:30
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Hi Guys,
The list below is where we are currently at with deposits, full payments and membership renewals. If there is anything inaccurate please let me know. I have spoken to pretty much everyone and I think the general plan is to fix up on the day which is fine although it would be good to sort the last few deposits prior
33 commitments so far....
SFCC
Sean -------------> Paid Deposit
Phil --------------> Paid in Full
HAK073(Peter)---> Paid Deposit
Fehlbie -----------> Paid Deposit
BJ ----------------> Paid Deposit
Neale ------------> Paid in Full
Powertek(John)--> Paid in Full
Powertek(David)-> Paid in Full
Mark -------------> Paid Deposit
iSnowboard(Mark)> Deposit Due MShip Due
MKII440L(John) -> Paid Deposit
gerrs2000(Bob) -> Paid Deposit
Hilton -----------> Paid Deposit
Jeremy ----------> Paid Deposit
Theo-------------> Paid Deposit
TimW------------> Paid Deposit
Willo-------------> Paid in Full
SimonG -----------> Paid in Full
GraemeK ---------> Paid in Full MShip Due
Mike500 ----------> Paid in Full MShip Due
PeterC -----------> Paid in Full
Smcka -----------> Paid in Full
RoyS -------------> Paid in Full MShip Due
JeremyS ---------> Paid in Full MShip Due
Muzza(Paul)-----> Paid Deposit
ScottDu ----------> Deposit Due
MarkLu ----------> Paid Deposit
JohnSw ----------> Paid Deposit
Hendo -----------> Paid in Full
IanPr -----------> Paid Deposit
KieranH ---------> Paid in Full
Tentatives
mud(Cam)
HBFG/RSOC/CAP
BLOWNMK12L(Ben)
RSSHOP(Gordon) > Paid in Full
Club Currently Not Known
MATTJ(Matt)
Karl --------------> Paid Deposit
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n/a
deleted
244 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2011 : 06:45:02
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Phil,
Wayne paid my membership at the Kings School day. |
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Sharee
Small Ford Addict
Australia
685 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2011 : 14:43:02
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quote:
Wayne paid my membership at the Kings School day.
BJ can you let us know who Wayne gave your form and fee to and we shall follow it. |
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n/a
deleted
244 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2011 : 14:59:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Sharee
quote:
Wayne paid my membership at the Kings School day.
BJ can you let us know who Wayne gave your form and fee to and we shall follow it.
Sharee,
He didn't have the form; he just paid the money. I have sent an email asking to whom he paid the fees. |
Edited by - n/a on 12/09/2011 17:20:21 |
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Neale
Small Ford Addict
Australia
889 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2011 : 19:35:24
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Copied from another forum but its full of good info that can assist those wishing to venture into the realm of using your performance car for more than just A to B lane changing.
All information is of an advisory nature only; whether you apply any of it or not is your own lookout.
Car Preparation
Tyres
Don’t use a brand new set of tyres on the car. The tread blocks will be too tall and prone to overheating, and will in extreme cases begin to break up on the track. Use a scrubbed set of tyres. While you are at it, get a tracking geometry check to make sure the correct amount of toe is set on your front wheels. It’ll only cost 15 – 20 quid and can make the world of difference to handling and tyre wear. If there’s any vibration through the steering wheel it’d be an idea to get the roadwheels balanced as well. Tyre choice will be discussed in a later section. It’s also a good idea to ramp up the standard tyre pressures in order to stiffen the sidewalls for track use. The standard manufacturers figures are designed to suit cars driven by gimps on their way to Tescos, so a good trackday maxim is to increase the standard cold pressure figure by 10%. This will help prevent the tyre overheating and possibly coming off the rim. Be wary, though, that in the wet this will make the car break away more suddenly. Speaking of tread depth, if you go out on track with the same tyres you arrived on make sure you have enough tread left at the end of the day to get home legally. An altogether better idea is to have a set of trackday-only wheels and tyres, which will be discussed later.
Brakes
Check your pads or shoes front and rear and make sure you have enough wear left to survive the trackday. Running out of pad whilst braking hard for the hairpin at Knockhill has two effects: 1) You tend to depart the track, and 2) the now-exposed pad backing plate destroys your nice shiny expensive brake discs. It’s no fun, I’ve been there... Trackdays really eat brake pads, so do make sure you have plenty left. If you do fit new pads, bed them in gently for a few hundred miles before caning them. Brakes in general take a real caning, and many of you will have had that pant-filling moment when you’ve pressed the middle pedal and nothing has happened. Brake fade has two main causes with disc-braked cars. Firstly, the brake fluid is boiling and causing bubbles in the brake lines. Fresh brake fluid has a high boiling point, but the stuff is hygroscopic and absorbs water over time, meaning that if the stuff in your car hasn’t been changed for years it’ll boil and fade much quicker than fresh stuff, so best change it. I change mine once a year, and use DOT 5.1, which has a higher boiling point than 3 and 4. The other reason brakes fade is that the pads have overheated (and are probably on fire...). The solution is not to use crap Fast-Fit pads, but get some fast-road material like Greenstuff, Pagid, Mintex etc. Beware of using race-spec pads on the road, they normally require warming-up before they stop the car, so aren’t much use when you are just going down the shops. I’d advise against using fast-road or race pads with standard discs. The greater heat generated on the track can cause the discs to warp. I wrecked a set of OE VW discs on my first Scirocco at Knockhill doing just this. Aftermarket grooved and/or drilled discs are the best plan. Grooves prevent pad glazing and assist gas-dissipation. Some people claim that drilled discs can crack under stress, depending on the type. Increasing the size of the discs enables the caliper to exert more braking force, and makes a big difference. Steel braided brake hoses are another good mod. Standard rubber ones tend to bulge when you are pressing the pedal; steel hoses give firmer pedal feel.
Fluids (oo-er)
Oil should be in good nick and filled up to the top. Hard cornering can cause oil surge on road cars, and anything less than a full dipstick can temporarily starve the engine of oil pressure. Take a can of oil with you to the track and check the dipstick level throughout the day. Nothing will destroy an engine quicker than low oil pressure while you’re thrashing the nuts off it. If you are a serious headcase and have modified suspension and slicks on your car it’s a good idea to fit a baffled sump to stop the oil sloshing about during the high cornering forces. On the subject of oil, use the best stuff you can afford and change it often. Be wary of using Mobil 1 0W synthetic in engines which haven’t been run on it from day one. The stuff is so thin it tends to slip through gaps rather than lubricate older engines. Slightly more viscous synthetics or semi-synthetics are fine. Change the stuff often, particularly if you have a turbocharger. Turbochargers molicate oil molecules!
Coolant should be topped up and ideally changed before the trackday season. Flushing your radiator and cooling system will let your car run cooler on track. Again, take some with you to the circuit and check the level during the day, but try not to flay the skin off your hands by opening a hot expansion tank just after you come off the track.
Water in your windscreen scoosher tank is another good plan. It’s no fun to have the bloke in front of you throw muddy crap onto your windscreen as you brake for a corner at a hundred miles an hour only to find you can’t wash it off and you have to use The Force to get round the corner without carnage. I also put a coating of Rain Wizard (the stuff that comes in the pink plastic dildo from Halfords) on the windscreen. Makes driving much better in the wet. RainX is just as good.
Engine
Make sure plugs, HT leads, rotor arm and HT coil are in good nick and that you don’t have any tracking faults in the HT system causing misfires. I spray all of that stuff with Damp Start so that it doesn’t play silly buggers if the day turns out to be wet. If you have an airbox check that it isn’t full of crap. I found the remains of a kamikaze sparrow in mine one day... Clean and oil the air filter if you have a K+N or suchlike.
Take the junk out of your car...
Empty your car of all the crap you don’t need when you get to the circuit. It saves weight and means you won’t get decapitated when your nodding dog flies off the parcel shelf at Mach 1 on the track. Take out your spare wheel, toolkit, jack, subwoofer, parcel-shelf-full-of-speakers, blow-up doll etc. In fact, don’t leave anything lying around on the seats or floor. It’s no fun getting an Irn Bru can jammed under the brake pedal just when you really need to press it hard.
Fuel
Make sure you have enough to last the day. Even with a 1.8l hot hatch, the MPG on track will be down in the teens. Remember also that 50 litres of fuel weighs something like 32 kg, so rather than filling the tank and carrying excess weight consider taking jerry cans with you. What fuel you use really depends on what you have under the bonnet. High octane stuff like Optimax is really only necessary if you have a high compression or forced-induction engine, to prevent pinking. Having said that, a lot of old 1.8 and 1.9 VWs and Pugs don’t like 95 octane U/L. Retarding the ignition to prevent pinking on older hot-hatches will result in a loss of power, use higher octane fuel instead. Those of you with 20 psi boost Jap stuff or TVR Armageddons will definately need optimax at least. If your car still pinks then you’ll need octane booster. If it still pinks, call NASA. If you have an ECU and have been driving like a complete nancy recently, your car may benefit from being filled with Optimax, ECU reset, then comprehensively thrashed for a while before the next trackday, just to get the ECU in the mood. Incidentally, aviation fuel is 100 octane, just thought you might like to know...
Not getting Killed...
Helmets are compulsory at most tracks, including Kames, Knockhill and the Crail ‘long’ circuit. Having your own is a lot less hassle than running around frantically trying to borrow one just as everyone else has gone out on the track. I wear a full-face helmet even though I have an enclosed car, as any major impact on the track will have bits of razor sharp glass flying everywhere. I know the touring car and rally guys have open-face, but they also have perspex windscreens...
I also have a fire extinguisher and escape hammer with a seat-belt cutter mounted onto the floor of the car where I can reach them while strapped in. A Good Thing, even on the road.
The pit lane is open... Maximum Attack!
When you arrive at the track you will have to sign on. This normally includes a disclaimer to the effect that if you have an error of judgement and discover yourself upside down in a pile of burning wreckage it isn't the track owners' or the club's fault. Once this is completed, what happens next depends on which circuit you are at. Kames, being a sprint track, allows only one car at a time, so you join an orderly queue until it is your turn. Crail, and often Knockhill, have an ‘open pit lane’ which means you go out onto the circuit whenever and for however long you want. Hot- hatch days at Knockhill are run in sessions; 20 cars or so at a time go out for a 10 minute session, and so again you will have to queue in order to get your turn.
When you do venture out on track for the first time, make sure your engine has been idling for a few minutes beforehand in order to get some temperature into it. Access to the track will be controlled by a marshal. Once they have indicated it is safe to join, drive out onto the circuit, keeping a good look out for any approaching traffic. Always drive with restraint on the first lap; treat it as a sighting lap, enabling you to become familiar with grip levels, circuit layout etc. SS-R has had some first-lap incidents in the past with people being caught unawares by the above and departing the track unexpectedly with expensive results. Having said that, don’t poodle round at 30 mph, as at the bigger circuits you may have other people already on the circuit going flat out. Don’t use full throttle or high revs until your engine oil and water temps are high enough. On your second and subsequent laps increase your speed, but at all times drive within your own and the car’s limits. You only need to go as fast as you are comfortable with. Once you are ‘in the groove’ be wary of becoming overconfident, as you may find yourself starting to throw the car around, which can result in an off.
Track Etiquette
Some novices worry about having faster cars coming up behind them. The onus is on the faster car to overtake you safely. You must use your mirrors, however, and be aware of what is happening behind you. It is generally the rule that faster cars overtake on the left, so if you see someone catching up on you move off-line to the right to enable them to get past. Having said that, in practice, particularly at Knockhill hot-hatch days, faster cars usually just go around you on whichever side has the most room. The best piece of advice I could give to the novice who sees a Subaru 22B or Lotus Exige getting rapidly bigger in their mirror is to stay predictable and not to swerve off-line at the last minute. Knockhill discourage overtaking in corners on track days, and will often cone-off a corner to give only ‘one lane’ so that cars have to go through in single file on the racing line. The natural result is that you have lunatics trying to outbrake everyone at the end of the straights just before they arrive at the cones. Again, the safest option is just to lift-off or brake a bit earlier and let the lunatics through. This will prevent both of you going off into the gravel trap in a heap of tangled metal. The lunatic will normally disappear off into the distance probably to have an accident with someone else. Talking of accidents...
Spinners
There you are merrily hooning around the race track and the donkey in front of you loses control completely and starts pirrouetting frantically. This will probably happen at some point, especially if it is wet. Unfortunately this usually happens in corners, and if you are on the limit yourself at the time you will have little margin for manouever. Racers generally advise to aim your car directly at the spinner, the idea being that by the time you get there he will be somewhere else. Get on the brakes if you can, preferably while going in a straight line. If the worst comes to the worst and you are spearing directly towards a now-stationary car probably the best plan is to deliberately spin yourself. This usually brings the car to a halt remarkably quickly and may result in reduced levels of carnage.
How to prevent bits of your car from exploding...
Keep a good eye on engine gauges as you go round. Oil and water temps will be higher than they would be even if you were thrashing your car on the road. If anything starts to get near redline, back off a bit on the straights to cool things down a bit. If things don’t improve then come into the pit. The power band in most car engines tails-off towards the top of the rev counter so again there’s little point in redlining the rpms in every gear. Short-shifting will give the engine an easier time. If brake fade begins to get progressively worse, knock it on the head before you go off the circuit at 100 mph. When you decide to come in have a cool-down lap taken at an easier pace, trying not to hammer the brakes. The airflow over brakes and engine will help cool them quicker than if you pull straight-off the circuit into the paddock. Once you are off the track, don’t pull on the handbrake when you park the car. Your brake discs will be at several hundred centigrade still, and pulling on the handbrake will cause heat soak through the pads which can a) set them on fire, b) boil your brake fluid and c) weld the pads to the discs. Just leave the thing parked in gear instead. If you have a turbo, then sit with the engine idling for a couple of minutes before you switch off. Popping the bonnet is a good idea, as it’ll help dissipate heat from around the engine and be less likely to cook engine ancillaries like starter motors. Now you can give the car a rest while you bulls**t everyone about how fast you were.
How to drive fast on a race circuit:
OK, it’s the bit you’ve been waiting to read. Firstly, apologies in advance to Dave Scott because...Forget everything you were taught by your driving instructor before your test. You won’t be needing it. A lot of people, even those with performance cars, have absolutely no idea how much cornering ability their vehicle has, and the main reason some people are slow on trackdays is because they brake and corner like wusses, probably using only 50 % of the available grip.
I am not going to get into technical detail like tyre slip angles and such like. I’ll keep it fairly basic, and this advice is mostly aimed at newbies.
Driving Position
This is where all you lucky people with Italian cars are buggered. Adjust your seating position so that you can reach the wheel and pedals properly. While sitting back in the seat you should be able to reach out and place your wrist on top of the steering wheel. If you can’t do this you’re sitting too far away. Forget the ‘straight arm’ driving position in The Fast and the Furious; it’s just a load of American toss . Make sure that you can reach the pedals without stretching.
This is also the point where you begin to ditch all that driving school advice. Forget shuffling the steering wheel through your hands: you will need to cross your arms on the track. Keep your hands in a fixed position on the wheel; something like ‘ten to two’ is about right. Turn the wheel into corners with your hands in this fixed position; you should only need to move your hand position when you run out of lock in hairpins and such like. When you need to do this, only move one hand to ‘grab a bigger armful of lock’. Don’t grip the wheel too tightly: you’ll need to feel what’s going on through the rim. Exiting corners, particularly where large amounts of lock were applied, it’s OK to let go of the wheel and let it centre by itself, letting it run through your fingers under control, though. This is useful when you need to get rid of lock quickly.
Weight Transfer
Because your car weighs a fair bit it has inertia. This means that when you accelerate the bonnet tends to pitch-up and the car squats down at the rear (try this in a 5.0 litre TVR for the full 'being-catapulted-off-an-aircraft-carrier' launch experience), when you brake the nose ‘dives’ and when you corner the car rolls to some extent. All this pitch and roll affects how much weight is on each tyre and makes a big difference to how your car handles. Ideally you want to keep all this weight transfer under control and make it happen gradually. This is why it is important to be as smooth as possible with the controls. Some of you may have seen the ‘Formula Finesse’ thing that Jackie Stewart developed? Drive a Sierra round a slalom course with a ball sitting in a dustbin lid on the bonnet? I was always crap at that, mainly because I raced karts at the time and used to chuck them into corners, but never mind. Smooth is important in a car. As you go into a corner, the outside tyres ‘load-up’ through weight transfer and generate cornering force. Eventually there comes a point when the tyres are generating maximum grip. Any increase in cornering speed will decrease the cornering force from the tyres, and you will start to drift or slide. This looks cool but gets you round the corner slower and is therefore not cool for achieving the best times at Kames. The trick is to achieve maximum cornering speed and staying there. Any sudden movements with steering wheel, throttle or brakes will screw things up.
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2006 LS Focus Zetec
1969 Mk2 Cortina 440L
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Mark
Moderator
Australia
963 Posts |
Posted - 14/09/2011 : 20:39:28
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YBCOS is ready to go...See you all there...I hope that I have some tyres left after Monday 19th against the GT3's and other exotics.... |
1980 RS2000
2009 Mondeo XR5
2016 FGX XR6 |
Edited by - Mark on 14/09/2011 20:42:50 |
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