Japfest 2014 - Top Gear

Top Gear turned up out of the blue, with Clarkson, May and Hammond bringing 3 European cars to a Japanese car show. One would presume this is the irony part of the episode they were shooting for next season. They were of course well received - Video below courtesy of Lee and Phil from the teg forum.

See Clarkson in the second car checking out my teg and dotty's ;)

Return to Snetterton

So on Monday I made my return to Snetterton. I was looking forward to trying out my semi slicks for a back to back comparison and it was looking like a cracker of a day - dry weather and only 30 cars in total!

Alas it was not meant to be because as soon as I had changed my wheels over and got out of the pit lane I heard a metal sounding, "clip clip clip clip" under the tiniest amount of load. Cue panick and driving like a pensioner round the whole of the track to get back to the pits as I pretty much knew what it was - my front rims were catching on the calipers!

After checking the calipers were ok, I swapped only the front wheels back over to my road tyres as I didn't fancy changing all four wheels again..
The car of course washed out on corners if I pushed too hard as I had more grip on the rear so I kept it in check but still had an enjoyable time on track and off, catching up with old and meeting new friends.

 A friend of mine joined me for the day as my wing man and he was a heavy chap to say the least! I was out once without him so cut a short clip of that below as I had my GoPro on the wrong settings so the brightness was focused on the inside of the car and not the track!

Best watched full screen in 1080p because of the wrong brightness focus..

Final Drives

So I've been evaluating my options for more speed out of slow corners and generally on the straights to overtake cars that I catch under braking and cornering, but who then pull away on the straights (talking about on track here btw).

More power is the obvious option but that's another topic of discussion. After one of my chats with Tom, he cagedly suggested a shorter 4th, 5th and 6th racing gear set as although it would rapidly increase the acceleration of my car, my effective (noise bearable) cruising speed on the road would be around 60mph.
I could maybe live with the above, but what I would also like is more punch in 3rd gear as I like taking hairpins in 3rd, although technically I could go a tiny bit faster in 2nd. Therefore I have been looking at short final drives, specifically 5.46 and 5.84.

Below are some calculated numbers on 5.84, 5.46 and 5.062 FDs. You may remember I have already changed my final drive from 4.763 (OEM) to 5.062, so look at that as my baseline.


The tables show the top speed in each gear and also the shift point when changing gear. FYI, the advantage of individual gear sets over changing just the final drive is that the shift point is a lot higher.

Anyway, back on topic. Some basic and generalised information on what I'm finding on track:

• I want more punch in 3rd gear out of hair pins and very slow corners. Effectively I want to eliminate the need to use 2nd
• On short straights following slow corners I am buzzing the top of 3rd gear. I could change up to 4th, but would very quickly have to change back down to 3rd for the next corner
• On fast corners my entry speed is usually 70-80mph with road tyres. More speed will of course be achieved with semi-slicks

Given the above, the benefits vs benefits of the 5.46 and 5.84 are as follows (if running semi-slicks):

5.84

• Better 3rd gear punch out of hairpins and slow corners
• Better suited for fast corners
• Better acceleration on the straights

5.46

• Possibly better suited for very fast corners as I can rev out for longer
• I can rev out for longer on shorter straights without having to change up and then down for the next corner

Decision decision... I'll spend more time on my favourite tracks and make some notes on my findings. I also need to take into consideration an up in power, so we'll see how this pans out.

Shakedown at Snetterton

So from my previous rather cryptic post, you might have guessed that I had made my long awaited return to track (yes that's the teg in the fly by).
I went with the guys from HOT for good company, as aside from being a great bunch of guys and gals, their etiquette is impeccable and their driving ability very very good with a lot of them now experienced racing drivers. I was really looking forward to it for two reasons. Firstly it had been 2.5 years since I was last on a racing circuit and secondly, I hadn't tested my car properly since getting the Nitrons, race brake setup and aero done.
However, my track set of wheels were without rubber so I would be driving on my road tyres, the ContiSport 3's I had earmarked for road and wet weather circuit driving (It was a dry sunny day by the way). Static noise testing showed my car was producing 103db on the noise meter which was a bit of a surprise! Engine wise, I have had this setup tested at Brands Hatch and I'm sure it was only 100-101db. Something to ponder in the future. Anyhow, as I was getting to grips with the car on circuit again it was immediately apparent that the car was at another level from the last time I was on the grey stuff:

• Brakes - Insane amount of stopping power, fade free, stable and progressive. For the majority of the day whenever following someone into a hairpin, I had to constantly brake earlier than my braking point so that I didn't crash into them! And that was with all weather road tyres! When I did get space in front of me, late heavy braking was constant and absolutely fade free although the ABS did kick in quite a lot due to the limitations of the tyres.
• Nitrons - Very very stable on track which allowed me to carry more speed through corners and be fairly aggressive with the braking. Initially the rear was a little stiff, where it was a little bumpy on a couple of corners however my friend Mark was on hand to adjust my setup based on his experience (he has the same coilovers and races in the Vtec Challenge). He reduced the high speed and low speed bump a few clicks both front and rear which worked a treat; when I went back out, the rear soaked up the bumps a lot better for a smoother transition out of those corners
• Aero - The car personified stability. Under braking, round tight or fast corners it was just so stable. The J's wing made such a difference in fast corners and held the back end in very well. I could've pushed the car more but was conscious I was on road tyres and was still breaking myself back into the swing of things
• Tyres - The limiting factor of the day. They could not keep up with my suspension or brakes but then they were not meant to be for track in the dry. Taking this into account they performed well and weirdly am looking forward to trying them out on a wet track day o_0
• Power - I need more. Now before you say I should keep improving my driving skills, hear me out. When closing in on some of the Lotus's (especially under braking and fast corners), I found that I lacked the grunt to "clearly" overtake them in the following straight. This led to the yo yo'ing game of closing in on a car under braking and in corners, then being left behind on the straights... This as is the same with many people on track is very frustrating. Don't get me wrong, the car isn't slow in a straight line, but out of slow corners and on long straights it lacks the torque and power compared to the type of cars I'm on track with. Thoughts of pursuing the stroker kit route have now re-awakened as I don't particularly want to go down the supercharger or turbo route. Nothing will happen anytime soon mind

Final Thoughts

• Mega impressed with the setup. The handling and brakes are on an entirely different level from before
• I really need to run semi slicks with this setup as the road tyres are noticeably the weak link when on track. In saying that, one of the guys from HOT who was hunting me down on slicks couldn't believe I was on road tyres from the speed I was carrying around the circuit. I was very happy with that comment. Some pictures below courtesy of Dan Youngs from itr-dc5.com:

Getting ready to go back on track - very clever photo by Dan; you can see my face!

My mate Dave from Reelmotion and his turbo'd teg. Super clean and very very quick!

911 GT3 came out to play in the afternoon

Rob Burkinshaw's teg, the dominator of the Vtec Challenge. His car is immense which is exactly the same description I would use for his driving skills

Snetterton - The Long Awaited Return to Track. To be continued...

Ahoy 100% Tuning

Last year, I was very privileged and fortunate to be selected to go with some amazing cars from the UK to participate in the 100% Tuning show at the Ahoy exhibition centre in Rotterdam. D day was over the 12-13 October so we made our way up on Friday morning to get there for the afternoon to prep the cars. To say it's the most amazing show I've been to is an understatement. It ticked every box on what a show strives to be with 45,000 people attending over the Saturday and Sunday!
Had an amazing time with amazing people and tbh it reneweled my waning enthusiasm for the show scene.

I'll do a separate picture thread later but for now, here's a video that captures just a glimpse of what was there. See if you can spot the teg ;)

Recaro SPG and Willans Race Harness fitted

In July of 2013 I completed the final piece to my plan I instigated 4 years ago. This was my my Recaro SPG race shell along with my special order white Willans harness.

In addition I was supposed to run solid Recaro side mounts with lightweight Recaro adjustable rails however these were not compatible despite being advertised as such.. Therefore I made do with Buddyclub rails and mounts.

Given that there is a greater chance of wear and tear on the side of the seat when getting in and from when I want to use the seatbelt, I added an ASM Recaro side protector which you'll see from the finished pics below.