Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/stocky021/winton/

There's mine guys. Not the best shots. Gotta get a decent camera one day.

Thanks for those pics! Gave a good idea of what the day was like. So many different types of vehicles. I like the pic of me next to the Formula Ford waiting to get on track :)

I'm still beaming. Totally stuffed, but beaming :P

The day went perfectly. Marty and I met up with Adam, Manni, Jason, and James at the BP servo. Left at 6:10am. Marty jumped in lead and set his cruise control to 109 to avoid any nasty surprises (damn DoT cameras). We stopped about 25 mins out of Benella cause my back teeth were floating.

Hit Benalla Maccas in a dense fog. Cold and crisp, perfect for turbo cars! After a quick feed and fuel we shot off towards Winton, arriving some 15 mins later. None of us had a clue what to do so we drifted in (as in moved slowly, not sideways), and managed to find the queue for scruitneering.

Happily, there were no scrutineering issues so with much joy and a touch of anticipation, we rolled our cars out with a pretty new sticker telling the world that we were track ready.

We headed to the pit area and emptied any and everything out of our cars before lining up for our first track session. Before we knew it we were being waved thru the entrance onto the the track. That first little climb up onto the finish line was awesome. Down into turn 1 and it was stead as she goes.

After a few laps to get comfy, the pace started to up. It wasn't long before the yellows were on thanks to someone having a bit of an excursion off the track into the watery depths of despair. A tow was needed to get them out which meant yellows for a few laps.

Fast forward to the end of the session. Cars were hot, brakes smoking, tires balling and smiles all round. It was unanimous: track days rule.

Second session out was not quite the high of the first. Traffic was not unlike the Ring Road, during road works, with accidents, in the rain. To be honest it took a bit of shine off the day thus far. Fortunately the third session rectified the situation.

I was having a blast. Pretty clear track, putting away some cars which by rights should've spanked me, having a massive tussle with one of the little Aussie Cars. But then about 6 laps in my brake pedal started to get very, very long so I called it a session early.

And then the final of the day. The 4th session. Only 4 laps long (thanks to ambition overcoming ability on behalf of a very track specced Commodore [see pic of commodore on tow truck in Stocky's pics]) but by far the sweetest 4 laps of the day. I was second on track behind the Formula Ford with Marty right behind me. That meant 1 completely traffic free lap followed by 1 lap with little to no traffic followed by 1 with still not much traffic. To say it was on was an understatement. These are meant to be "80%" days but there was not much about those last 3 laps which were 80%. Unfortunately 3 laps at pace was all we got before the Commodore tagged the wall somewhere near turn one signaling an end to the 4th session. For me that was the day over as I had to get back to Melb, but Marty stayed on for a 5th, and extended session. According to him it was nearly as hectic as the 4th. Everyone was going for it.

It was a seriously fun day. In the lead up I was wondering if it was going to be worth all the effort. To that, I can absolutely say "Hell Yes!" If anyone is ever thinking about doing a day such as this, don't think, just go. You won't regret it. Also heartening was the lack of carnage. There were probably 6 offs that I saw during the day with one resulting in damage, one in a very near miss (see pic or WRX backwards coming out of the chicane - he very nearly tagged the marshall station as he rolled backwards off the track) and one S2000 who snapped something suspension relate and had to be carried back to the pits (but no panel damage so I'd say a component failure). The rest were simple spins.

I will defo go again.

  • Replies 121
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I was there too, but only for last few sessions (had to party night b4). Was ok day, plenty of cars but also anoying yellow n red lights. Happy with restart of the last session. Managed to pull some clean laps n hit my PB speed in fast sweeper. As someone mentioned I also had problems with brake pads being too hot for disks so after 3 laps would start to wrap em so after 1st session i never used em as hard as they can go.

Ah yeh i drive blue N15 Pulsar SSS, n i think i was parked next to some SAU guys. To b honest lacking sleep n being late i didn't pay much attention, just went with the bussines :D

Hume Hwy needs resurfacing badly :bunny:

I was there too, but only for last few sessions (had to party night b4). Was ok day, plenty of cars but also anoying yellow n red lights. Happy with restart of the last session. Managed to pull some clean laps n hit my PB speed in fast sweeper. As someone mentioned I also had problems with brake pads being too hot for disks so after 3 laps would start to wrap em so after 1st session i never used em as hard as they can go.

Ah yeh i drive blue N15 Pulsar SSS, n i think i was parked next to some SAU guys. To b honest lacking sleep n being late i didn't pay much attention, just went with the bussines :D

Hume Hwy needs resurfacing badly :bunny:

Red lights did get annoying. One or two times, it seemed the driver only session got cut down to 10 minutes due to a red light, with the driver/passengers getting a full session right after.

I had three people spin out right in front of me causing yellow lights... seemed more chaos than last time, some of them were pretty close! But for $30 you know the track is going to be crammed so you have to expect the lights.

good reason not to go to a fun day imo

go to a proper driver dynamics day spend a bit more and have more experienced people on the track

What's the good reason not to go to fun days?

well i reckon for $30 you cant go wrong.

however, its gonna work out to be a little more expensive for me.

im sure most of you wouldve seen the silver S2000 with the L/H/R wheel looking a bit wrong... well that was me. The result of the rear suspension collapsing on the exit of the long sweeper. ooooh yesterday was a loooooong day... but fun, these things happen...

now i have two broken cars :bunny:

What's the good reason not to go to fun days?

inexperienced drivers (3 spun if front of Charlie).... thats why i suggested driver dynamics track days

but it costs a little more and dunno if people wuld go for it considering winton is only $30

well i reckon for $30 you cant go wrong.

however, its gonna work out to be a little more expensive for me.

im sure most of you wouldve seen the silver S2000 with the L/H/R wheel looking a bit wrong... well that was me. The result of the rear suspension collapsing on the exit of the long sweeper. ooooh yesterday was a loooooong day... but fun, these things happen...

now i have two broken cars :)

Sorry to hear. Was there much damage? It looked pretty straight forward, but I suppose its probably worse underneath. Glad to hear it wasn't due to a wall or some rubbins.

Hmmm...Bozz has a point.

It was a crappy day guys. I highly recommend staying away :D

2 of those people were very experienced actually... I confronted one of them as he overtook me on the outside half on the dirt on the back straight... then spun out infront of me. Experience doesn't mean you're safe.

Most of the people on the track are 'experienced' but you're not going to get away from accidents, that is the nature of the track. If you don't want to be around people pushing 100% (or more) or you cant afford to lose a car then don't drive on the track.

good reason not to go to a fun day imo

go to a proper driver dynamics day spend a bit more and have more experienced people on the track

I went to a driver dynamics drift day, and probably had the same level of fun, if not more at a fun day, for 1/6th the cost. Only downside was the distance to get there.

2 of those people were very experienced actually... I confronted one of them as he overtook me on the outside half on the dirt on the back straight... then spun out infront of me. Experience doesn't mean you're safe.

Most of the people on the track are 'experienced' but you're not going to get away from accidents, that is the nature of the track. If you don't want to be around people pushing 100% (or more) or you cant afford to lose a car then don't drive on the track.

If anything, the experienced people should maybe not go to it. Its make it uncomfortable for those of us with less experience. I had a much better time when I knew I didn't have to check to my left and right before taking a corner, but towards the end of the day, I had expensive track cars trying to cut around me on corners and it just ruins the fun for people that don't do track days often. Clogging up the track with race drivers on a family day just doesn't seem right.

Edited by Stocky21

There is another one of these on in august that im thinking of going to, is there enough room on the track to get a few flat out laps in or atleast some good runs down the straights?

Do it, for sure. I was flat bikkies everywhere. Hitting just over 160 at the end of the long straight.

Yeah I got up to 160 there as well. Could've gone faster, but I didn't trust my brakes, and there was usually a build up of cars at the end of the straight. The shorter stretch parallel to that part you can also get a bit of speed.

Do it, for sure. I was flat bikkies everywhere. Hitting just over 160 at the end of the long straight.

Nice, me and a mate that has a datsun fj20 are thinking of going, plus i want to do one before i sell the 33.

Sorry to hear. Was there much damage? It looked pretty straight forward, but I suppose its probably worse underneath. Glad to hear it wasn't due to a wall or some rubbins.

Hmmm...Bozz has a point.

It was a crappy day guys. I highly recommend staying away :)

from what i could see, it just looks like the lower arm broke clean in half, which resulted in the brake disk shattering and ruining the wheel and possibly the caliper. may need a hub assembly aswell, will nw more tomorrow when i can have a look at it at work.

as for the day, i thought it was great. but some of the slower cars need to keep an eye out in the mirrors. there were a couple of casses where i thought the car in front was going wide to let me through, but then they cut into the corner and nearly took the nose off...

2 of those people were very experienced actually... I confronted one of them as he overtook me on the outside half on the dirt on the back straight... then spun out infront of me. Experience doesn't mean you're safe.

Most of the people on the track are 'experienced' but you're not going to get away from accidents, that is the nature of the track. If you don't want to be around people pushing 100% (or more) or you cant afford to lose a car then don't drive on the track.

maybe more clarification, maybe a fun day for less and a fun day for more experienced drivers, or have them out on the track a different times

having everyone out on the track with mixed skills isnt the bes tof ideas imo

I went to a driver dynamics drift day, and probably had the same level of fun, if not more at a fun day, for 1/6th the cost. Only downside was the distance to get there.

If anything, the experienced people should maybe not go to it. Its make it uncomfortable for those of us with less experience. I had a much better time when I knew I didn't have to check to my left and right before taking a corner, but towards the end of the day, I had expensive track cars trying to cut around me on corners and it just ruins the fun for people that don't do track days often. Clogging up the track with race drivers on a family day just doesn't seem right.

never said a drift day, more a track day

only 20? or so spots and generally run at sandown

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Hey Dave, welcome aboard! Good to see another soon-to-be Stagea owner here. The wagons are awesome — plenty of space, still got that Skyline DNA, and loads of potential if you’re into mods. Definitely post up pics when you get it, everyone here loves seeing new builds. What model/year are you looking at?
    • See if you can thermal epoxy a heatsink or two onto it?
    • The other problem was one of those "oh shit we are going to die moments". Basically the high spec Q50s have a full electric steering rack, and the povo ones had a regular hydraulic rack with an electric pump.  So couple of laps into session 5 as I came into turn 2 (big run off now, happily), the dash turned into a christmas tree and the steering became super heavy and I went well off. I assumed it was a tyre failure so limped to the pits, but everything was OK. But....the master warning light was still on so I checked the DTCs and saw – C13E6 “Heat Protection”. Yes, that bloody steering rack computer sitting where the oil cooler should be has its own sensors and error logic, and decided I was using the steering wheel too much. I really appreciated the helpful information in the manual (my bold) POSSIBLE CAUSE • Continuing the overloading steering (Sports driving in the circuit etc,) “DATA MONITOR” >> “C/M TEMPERATURE”. The rise of steering force motor internal temperature caused the protection function to operate. This is not a system malfunction. INSPECTION END So, basically the electric motor in the steering rack got to 150c, and it decided to shut down without warning for my safety. Didn't feel safe. Short term I'll see if I can duct some air to that motor (the engine bay is sealed pretty tight). Long term, depending on how often this happens, I'll look into swapping the povo spec electric/hydraulic rack in. While the rack should be fine the power supply to the pump will be a pain and might be best to deal with it when I add a PDM.
    • And finally, 2 problems I really need to sort.  Firstly as Matt said the auto trans is not happy as it gets hot - I couldn't log the temps but the gauge showed 90o. On the first day I took it out back in Feb, because the coolant was getting hot I never got to any auto trans issues; but on this day by late session 3 and then really clearly in 4 and 5 as it got hotter it just would not shift up. You can hear the issue really clearly at 12:55 and 16:20 on the vid. So the good news is, literally this week Ecutek finally released tuning for the jatco 7 speed. I'll have a chat to Racebox and see what they can do electrically to keep it cooler and to get the gears, if anything. That will likely take some R&D and can only really happen on track as it never gets even warm with road use. I've also picked up some eye wateringly expensive Redline D6 ATF to try, it had the highest viscosity I could find at 100o so we will see if that helps (just waiting for some oil pan gaskets so I can change it properly). If neither of those work I need to remove the coolant/trans interwarmer and the radiator cooler and go to an external cooler....somewhere.....(goodbye washer reservoir?), and if that fails give up on this mad idea and wait for Nissan to release the manual 400R
    • So, what else.... Power. I don't know what it is making because I haven't done a post tune dyno run yet; I will when I get a chance. It was 240rwkw dead stock. Conclusion from the day....it does not need a single kw more until I sort some other stuff. It comes on so hard that I could hear the twin N1 turbos on the R32 crying, and I just can't use what it has around a tight track with the current setup. Brakes. They are perfect. Hit them hard all day and they never felt like having an issue; you can see in the video we were making ground on much lighter cars on better tyres under brakes. They are standard (red sport) calipers, standard size discs in DBA5000 2 piece, Winmax pads and Motul RBF600 fluid, all from Matty at Racebrakes Sydney. Keeping in mind the car is more powerful than my R32 and weighs 1780, he clearly knows his shit. Suspension. This is one of the first areas I need to change. It has electronically controlled dampers from factory, but everything is just way too soft for track work even on the hardest setting (it is nice when hustling on country roads though). In particular it rolls into oversteer mid corner and pitches too much under hard braking so it becomes unstable eg in the turn 1 kink I need to brake early, turn through the kink then brake again so I don't pirouette like an AE86. I need to get some decent shocks with matched springs and sway bars ASAP, even if it is just a v1 setup until I work out a proper race/rally setup later. Tyres. I am running Yoko A052 in 235/45/18 all round, because that was what I could get in approximately the right height on wheels I had in the shed (Rays/Nismo 18x8 off the old Leaf actually!). As track tyres they are pretty poor; I note GTSBoy recently posted a porker comparo video including them where they were about the same as AD09.....that is nothing like a top line track tyre. I'll start getting that sorted but realistically I should get proper sized wheels first (likely 9.5 +38 front and 11 +55 at the rear, so a custom order, and I can't rotate them like the R32), then work out what the best tyre option is. BTW on that, Targa Tas had gone to road tyres instead of semi slicks now so that is a whole other world of choices to sort. Diff. This is the other thing that urgently needs to be addressed. It left massive 1s out of the fish hook all day, even when I was trying not too (you can also hear it reving on the video, and see the RPM rising too fast compared to speed in the data). It has an open diff that Infiniti optimistically called a B-LSD for "Brake Limited Slip Diff". It does good straight line standing start 11s but it is woeful on the track. Nismo seem to make a 2 way for it.
×
×
  • Create New...