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