HOT - Brands Hatch

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.

Lurking behind this classic

 

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 :)

O2 Sensor. Goodbye Buddyclub Strut brace. Hello Mugen strut brace

I had felt the car was slightly sluggish ever since a bit before Japfest 2 but just assumed I had got used to the power. Additionally my idle was lumpy :(

It had turned out my primary O2 sensor was failing so the car in effect was running in limp mode!

This morning I was down at TGM to get my O2 sensor swapped out for one Tom had ordered.

After the 1 minute job of swapping in the new sensor I went for a test drive....

WOW. That familiar feeling of how my car used to run was immediately apparent. Pick up and throttle response was noticeably better and at idle the car was no longer lumpy - result! 

Whilst I was there I had arranged to meet a friend who I had sold my unfittable (for my engine bay anyway :( ) Buddyclub P1 Racing strut too. He fitted it there and then as I wanted to see it fitted :)

Dave test fitting the brace with his existing Spoon ETD bracket he had just cut down to fit along side

Before

After

Additionally, I had for once remembered to pick up the Mugen rear strut brace I had bought from Monz a while back. When I got back home I got cracking with the fitting

Some cutting of the interior trim behind the seat is required. Luckily this was done by the previous owner so saved me some time!

One side bolted in

Job done - view from the rear passenger seats

View from the boot