HPC 20th April 08

This should have been blogged sometime ago but I have been quite busy. This was my first time on the SIC track and my first HPC event. I registered for the Gp 2 morning session along with a few other friends - Khai in his x-147 2.0 Selespeed, Ken - x-AE86, CP - in his Satria 1.6 Turbo, Jack - SGTI 1.8 Turbo and Senior - SGTI 2.0 Turbo. My wife also decided to come and support me for the day.

The day before the event, I got the car aligned and the camber set to -2 degrees on the front and -1 deg at the rear. Also filled up the tyres with Nitrogen and set it to 32psi on all fours. Set the Ohlins to the recommended track setting and removed the rear seats for further weight savings! On the engine front the car was not in its ideal condition as I had a head gasket leak which at high revs causes some oil and coolant (only realized this at the track) to leak. So best to be cautious and I imposed a self rev limit of 7.5k rpm.

Jack's day started with a intercooler hose coming off just before arriving at the track. This was quickly fixed and all of us got into fixing the stickers which were provided. In Group 2 I think there were about 30 cars, RX7, RX8's, Impreza's, Satria Neo, Civics, old skool Saab and a few others. Feeling all jittery about the track and the car, I was taking it easy for the first few laps just to familiarize with the track and SP. After getting comfortable I started to push on and started to push the car more by braking later and trying different lines on the turns. So much so that at one point got too excited with my braking points and overcooked turn 9 while Sr was in the outside line and I was heading straight on to a RX7 which was halfway into the turn. Luckily I was able to keep things in check (thank you God!) and managed to avoid any incidents. I pulled in early to check the conditions under the hood and during that time was told off by the marshall that I cannot perform late braking and overtake on turn 9. Oh well, only if he really knew what happened.

Anyway it was a great outing for me and the SP and the car handled brilliantly on the track although it was smoking quite a lot, esp when I heel n toe into a turn, SP was emitting big clouds of white smoke from the exhaust. After the track day a top overhaul was required as the head gasket was on the way out and as well as the valve guides and a few other items which needed replacing. Jacko ended the day with a lil problem as well as his main relay gave way and was not able to start the car. Luckily his mechanic was there to watch the event and was able to make a quick fix. Well I will let the pictures do the talking.

Getting ready to go on the track. No more CF bonnet..sob sob!

Lining up at the pits

CP's Gangster Green Slutria

Jack and his playstation, the SGTi of course!!

Cooling down after the first session - corner markers on the tyres were full before first session, now totally gone!

Khai's 147 Selespeed! Now replaced with a different turbocharged monster!

Seniors freaking fast GTi

My reminder!

Blasting through the straights

Another shot different angle

Me, wifey and SP after the track day!

V Sixers Track Day 30th July

I was trying very hard to get myself registered for the trackday event organized by Vsixers through the SGTI club. After a couple of weeks of trying and my itch to have a go at the full track becoming more intense, I decided to just go to SIC and try my luck. The gods of track days must have been shining on me as I managed to get SP in for the event. Also thanks to Jack who was helping me out all the while!

There were about 30 Perdana V6, 8 Satria GTi, 5 Savvy, 15 Neo's and 1 Putra all ready in the pits raring to go. My first session on the full track was a bit boring, I didnt feel right, the car wasnt feeling right too and not too long into the first session I had my first spin in the SP on turn 10 which happens to be one of my favourites since HPC track day. I also attribute this to my own mistake as the day before the event I decided to swap the tires from rear to front and vice versa, which left me with tyres with more tread on the front and lesser treads at the rear. This in turn reduced the grip on the rear which made it more oversteery! I kinda "woke up" after the spin and decided to head to the pits to calm down a little. Checked tire pressure and dropped the front a little and the car felt much better on the next sessions.

The car felt a touch oversteery on turns 5 & 6 which are the high speed left and right and reckon some aerodynamic aid to get more downforce will be beneficial. The brakes performed well and the only trouble I had was a loose dipstick. This made me to loose some oil and dirty the engine bay. Managed to get some duct tape from one of the SGTI members (thanks man!) and did a quick fix to the dipstick.

It was good experience for me and to learn SP's handling limits in a safe environment. I still have a lot to learn in terms of being more smooth and consistent with my lines, braking points and turning points as its my first time being out on the full track. Nevertheless the day did have some incidents like a Satria Neo crashing into a wall and Jack's car stuck at the pit entrance which resulted in red flags being shown. We had to wait for about 10 mins before the track was OK to be used again.

Oh on the way home there was a rattling sound coming from the rear which I thought was due to a broken suspension/arb link but found out that bolts holding the rear boot hinge has managed to work out loose due to all the shenanigans of driving in the track!

Sorry no pictures!