Probably my last track day of the year, I went with HOT (Hondas on Track) and LOT (Lotus on Track) to Brands Hatch for an evening session. With heavy rain in the morning the day did not look promising. It eased off from late afternoon however this turned to an almost permanent mist of light rain making the track surface extremely greasey.
I had been looking forward to Brands for a while since:
a) I had not been there for over a year
b) Some chaps from the forum would be joining in
c) It would be my first proper outing in the teg (at 100%) since the breathing and transmission mods. As you may recall, at Donny I was running in limp mode.
d) It would be a good way to finish off my front tyres which were on their way out
The sighting laps started out suitably cagey for everyone. Feeling the grip start to go on your sighting laps certainly did not instill confidence!
Sighting laps over I came back into the pits, gave it 10 minutes for the track to pad out then headed back out for some action. Being uber careful I took my braking points very early, especially at Paddock Hill. The last thing I wanted to do was fly off into the gravel trap like I had seen from videos of the same event last year, albeit they were practically driving in a tropical rainstorm.
Having the car continually twitch as I straightened up from Clark Curve instilled even less confidence. However as I put down more laps I got used to 'twitching' the car and found it quite fun throughout the evening. Paddock Hill caught out most people at least once. Myself three times where on two of those occassions I was drifting sideways down the hill! Thankfully I was able to catch them all before they turned into spins.
Overall it was a good night out and the car in terms of power and pickup performed well; I was very pleased in that respect. My front tyres were on their way out so given the conditions I thought they held out well. Brakes... I took it easy on them given the conditions, or maybe I was just thinking of their second hand value when they are taken off lol.
What I could have done with was more grip on the rear of the car for fast corners. Bring on the J's GT wing I say :)
Some pictures taken by MSV and Ben from the DC5 forum below.
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| Lurking behind this classic |
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| Paddock Hill in the background |
There should be a video of one of the DC2's following me which I'll post up once it becomes available :)
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