So trackday on Tuesday went well overal albeit with some teething issues!
Started out pretty wet, kept on road tyres for the morning and it was very slippery. Lots of running off-line as there was an appreciable amount of extra grip there. The sighting laps were really good actually, as the pace car was going on a wet line through the corners and you could feel there was grip there.
So started my first run, and get black-flagged after 2 laps. Initially I assumed it was for the drifting Porsche in front but by the end of the lap I knew it was for me, though had absolutely no idea why as I was driving like a saint at that point, only really doing a run to get the tyres and brakes a bit warm and see where pressures were. Came into the pits to be told something was flapping under the car. Turned out to be the front part of the passenger side trim panel, which had been like that since I owned it and I've not really looked into. Told I needed to secure it somehow before going back out.
So the next 30-45 minutes were trying to work out how to do that, when zip ties aren't any use as there's no way to pull them through, and I already had a shortage of those silly wheel arch clips they're meant to be secured by. Rummaging through my tool bag for the third time I came across some screws and bolts I'd taken off my old Trans Am in about 2008. Turns out 3 of those into the outer plastic clips was exactly what I needed! Really not sure what I'd done without them as the normal plastic clips just wouldn't go in, even with the trim forced against the sill.
During that time I was lucky enough that there were 2 red flag periods, so I only actually missed out on 15 mins or so of potential track time.
By now it was 11am and I'd managed 2 laps, so went out to get some more running. In all the work of doing the trim, I'd not adjusted my tyre pressures... which probably contributed to me being caught out in Hamilton after a few laps - much more of a slide than I had before but did manage to not spin (or sound like a tit afterwards

). There may have been oil as well because the 2 guys behind me also had pretty big slides! But my fronts and rears were up to high 30s when I came in so adjusted back to 30F and 29R and went back out - much better! Also softened the rear damping which was at 16 down to 8 just to help rear grip.
So at lunch I swapped to semi-slicks as the track was almost dry by then. I also wanted to adjust the suspension up at the front a little more as I was still getting a little vibration at high speed (100mph+), and I really wanted to raise the rear because comparatively the rear was pretty slammed. Unfortunately adjusting the rears either up or down is a total arse as there's very little room to adjust and the dirt on the threads wasn't helping either, ended up only raising the rear 1mm. Just before lowering the car back down I noticed the heatshield over the rear straight section of exhaust was resting on the exhaust itself! Corroded off around the rear mounting point. A stanley knife, screwdriver and zip ties later and it was secured to a cable run and was fine for the rest of the day.
The afternoon was much better, generally dry with the odd very light sprinkle of rain just enough to see but not use wipers. Ended up definitely faster than last October even though the track was definitely less grippy. I was being braver on the brakes and hitting them harder and later, and lines were better. I did a 23 minute run where the brakes were slightly going away at the end, but it was much more gradual than the cliff-edge I had with the standard brakes. Never the less, ducting is definitely going in before next time!
The engine mods definitely improved speed at the end of the straights as well, although there was noticeable heat clipping at 6200 or so, proved by TorquePro captures of my afternoon runs. GRS definitely on the cards at some point I think! Not sure this summer though, and
may go FMIC. Not sure yet really. It was nice to be able to keep up a little more on the straights!
So overall really positive! Now my work list before the next one next month:
- Brakes do need some extra cooling.
- Engine temps were fine - 80 to 96 over the day and warm up is definitely faster with a working thermostat!
- Need to raise the rear a bit. In the short term probably just back to near stock until I can get the front to be lower as well.
- Need to replace the front engine mount now and see if that has any effect on being able to run the car lower (after all it's moving more, and lower than it should be atm).
- Have ordered more wheel arch clips! My car seems to eat them

I'm sure I'll think of a load more things as well but it's a start!