Hi Lee,
I can certainly appreciate where you are coming from.

When I started all this I had no idea how the car should of handled and what I should of been driving like. That meant I had to rely on everyone else making the decision for me on what was best, based on my crap feedback. Little did I know that what I thought was a handling issue (say regarding understeer for example) was in fact me driving too quick in to a bend and asking the car to do something that it clearly couldnt.

That I suspect is what I am referring to, with regards to understanding the car better and knowing that what you are coming from and actually how the car should perform etc, understanding dynamics when driving. There is nothing like gaining this experience yourself.

It's a steep learning curve (well it was for a virtual novice like me)..... but it's great picking the knowledge up along the way.

My previous Spec C was built to take the abuse on track and in reality I had the following fitted to try and enable that:

Oil breather
Baffled Sump
Swirl Pot
Standard oil cooler coped fine tbh - and that was on a hotter running 2.5

I remember my first comp. event when I did TA in 2006 at Silverstone.... I had not done much track stuff before that competition and I was pooing my pants waiting in the queue (I literally felt sick!) I suspect you will be fine as you have already gone through that stage for your inaugural bike racing.

 

Couldnt agree more with everything you have just stated, I need to get the bits on and get out there and drive to get the experience. I still do not trust my own opinion yet on handling because I am not certain if I am driving poorly? However when I received training on how to ride a bike I remeber going backwards trying to do things that never felt natural

I will get tuition and try what they are saying, but the bits that do not go with my driving style I will ignore. I am hoping with Richards experience on setting up his own New age Spec C running Buddy Club RSD's with toe kit that he will be able to get my car in to a good place regarding set up, from there I will drive it and see how it goes

And yes................Cacking it already > message to self "its just a bit of fun"

I hope we can meet up at one of these rounds fella, I am hoping to do the grudgement days as well.

I did forget to mention that I have already entered one of the grudgement rounds but my engine mounts snapped on my 5th/6th run out so I never made it out there after dinner

Cheers,
Lee

 

Short update > I ordered a Cobra Sebring Pro bucket seat earlier this week which comes with a Cobra FIA approved 6 point harness, today I have been back to SPD to see Paul and collect the Ultralite ATEC11 18x8.5 +35 wheels, spiggott rings & Buddy Club seat mounting kit which utilises the original mounting points and also allows the seat to still be adjustable. These parts and a few others are all being fitted on the 26th

One wheel needs painting to match the others





I am still hoping that I can fit 245/40's on these wheels, possible a bit of arch rolling/pulling may be needed

Lee.

 

I was talking to TA at the NEC on the weekend and the tyres for this years TA will be Pirelli P Zeros

 

Yeah I was there on Saturday and spoke to Glen, although Pirelli have been confirmed as yet the exact spec has not been decided so everyone is in limbo awaiting an announcment.

I am having the wheels fitted with my road 235/40's for now until a decision is made and then the tyres will become available. We will have to see what the clearance is like on the 235's before deciding on whether or not the 245's will fit?

Lee

 

I spoke to the guy who said he was the Clerk of the Course for TA and he said they had confirmed that day at the NEC which tyres would be used, he said Pzeros and Pneros (whatever they are!). I know nothing about Pirellis (I am a Kumho kinda gal) but as long as it is not Toyos as I hate the T1R with a passion, they made my car undriveable in sprints early last year till I wore them out and replaced them with tyres that managed to stay attached to the tarmac. My scooby plus my driving style definitely dont suit a combination of T1Rs and performance friction brakes. And in the rain, I might as well have put slicks on. I know most people love Toyos but I think they are like Marmite - you either love em or hate em! anyone got any views on the Pirellis - are they similar to Toyos or Kumhos or totally different?

 

Looking forward to seeing the parts fitted Lee! By the way whats up with the wheels? They don't have the 4th one in stock?

I'm quite new to bucket seats and stuff. Whats the difference between the Buddy Club seat mounting kit and others from say Recaro? You mentioned, they still can be adjusted. Height adjustment?

 

I tried the T1R's & T1S's as well and thought they were cack, I went on to Dunlop Sportmaxx and thought they were terrific road tyres. I am running the Sessanta Ultrac's at present and again a great road tyre, thought they struggled on track though

I have used Pirelli track tyres on my bikes (Super Corsa's) and they were the business, loads of grip and plenty of warning when they had reached there limit, so looking forward to the TA Pirelli's

Lee.

 

I think the Pirelli's have good sidewalls in them, based on a friend of mine who hillclimbed on them.

Good luck BTW! Baffled sump may be a good idea!

 

SPD had only 3 wheels in black with yellow stripe and someone had returned the gold wheel because of a tiny scratch, I dont think there will be any new sets of the black with yellow stripe made so they where surplus stock ........ so I made an offer which was LOW and it was accepted gonna get the gold one sprayed black and for not a lot of money a brand new set of wheels in 18x8.5J

The seat mounting kit from Buddy Club allows the seat to be mounted as high or low as you like which most mounting kits do as well, but as well as using the standard fitment holes the kit also includes the runners so you can slide the seat back and forth to suit different positions.

Usually seats like this are bolted directly to your floor which allows no easy movement of the seat, I wanted to be able to adjust so went for the Buddy Club kit

Lee.

 

Thanks fella, I was quoted £560 for a baffled sump which at present is too rich for me, we will see how the first round at Oulton goes, if I am gonna get a baffled sump I am thinking it may be better to get a 2.1 CDB short motor built and fitted with the sump fitted? may be next year

Lee.

 

Lee,
Depending on how quick you are... a baffled sump is a must imo! When you realise you need one, it maybe too late as you find your have rumbled your bottom end. I know one TA event in particular, which is a notorious bottom end basher... assuming you are pushing it.

 

Might that be Brands Shaun? Lee, good luck with the TA it will be a blast. Id love to compete but the cost of time attack puts me off.

 

i would have thought one of the main items on your list would be a baffeld sump a must in any track car!!!

great work though buddy always nice to see a car that is used as a daily compete with the out and out track cars

 

I don't about Brands mate, but I know that Snetterton is certainly one of them.

 

Especially with slicks- would at least recomend a SPA oil pressure/ temp gauge, as you can link it to warning leds, and set the PSI they come on at. I have a pressure warning light in the speedo cowl.

You might want to check if you are allowed sliding seats too- i only do hill climbs under MSA rules, so dont know what time attack requires.

API did my baffled sump- nice twin scroll one for my classic Get a quote from them- very worthwhile

 

Thanks for the advice fellas and yes you are right, but when you list the items that are recommended > baffled / high volume sump, oil cooler, FMIC, roll cage and so on it becomes a list that I cannot afford. When you consider you only get 75 minutes a day of driving time, your probably only going to be doing 25 minutes of flat out driving which I dont think is that bad, you probably do 5 times more than that at a track day?

However I am aware that it could go pop and I will be thinking oh no but sod it lets go for it its a proper daily driver that is lightly modified and we will see how we get on

The sliding seat rails are defo ok with the TA rules, I also heard that in Club Challenge you are not allowed sponsorship? After speaking to Glen Horncastle I can say that you are allowed

I cannot wait to get down to Tracktive to get all the parts fitted and get a track day booked to see what its like, when I get back from Tracktive I will post pics of the car with the parts on, I will probably take it for a blast as well to see the difference

Cheers,
Lee.

 

All mounting kits allow a range of preset heights right? And all of them allows the seat to be slid back and forth i think?

So this this just makes the height adjustment easier am i right? Or did i miss your point.

 

Hi Lee,
You don't need another oil cooler. I ran the standard Spec C one with well over 500bhp, on a hotter running 2.5. It was fine and you just need to monitor the oil temps when on track.

You don't need a high volume sump imo.... just baffle yours.

You don't need a FMIC. It would be better for track use, but you don't need it.

You don't need a rollcage. You may like one for safety reasons, but you don't have to have one.

The only item I would look at is a baffle for the sump, as it won't be wasted and can be utilised on the next engine. It also means it's an area you don't have to worry about... as you could be the next Senna on track!

A good catch can is certainly recommended. I can't remember how well my 2ltr breathed, but the last thing you want is the breather return to go back to the inlet, if it does chuck some oil out. That could be det city. Even breathing in to a plastic bottle is better than nothing.

 

Your right fella, if you compare the kit to other installation kits > I will explain properly > I was comparing to the standard side mounting brackets supplied by the likes of Cobra, these are just brackets which have different holes which you can screw the seat too, if you want it higher/lower or more importantly further forward or back you unscrew the seat and move it on the brackets. This kit (Like the Recaro kit I have just seen) also allows adjustment once the kit is installed and you can move it like a standard seat it was this easy movement that I wanted.

 

aaaahh, I see. I will discuss with Richard on Wednesday. Thanks fella

Lee.

 

The buddyclub kit sounds smart. Thanks for clearing that up Lee!

 

i think the only real solution is dry sump, all these high capacity/ baffled sumps do a bit but not enough in some applications.

ps, the vid was a f360 not a f430

 

Andy,
The REAL solution maybe a dry sump, but it is all relevant to how quick you actually are in effect. If you drive like Miss Daisy AND don't have enough power to carry the G's, you may not need anything over OE. Obviously you don't want to be in a situation where you find out too late and prevention is always better than cure.

Logging your oil pressure would be a good start if you're starting to gun it on track.... regardless of what oil system you have installed.

 

First of all good luck this year.

If you're pretty new to track day driving I would spend as little as possible on your car in the 1st year, and spend a bit on 'yourself' if required on some driving tuition. Time spent perfecting your driving early on will make you far quicker on track than any other upgrade.

Thats said, do ditch any weight you can, and any reliability mods are always worthwile.

If after the first year, you get the bug, and you probably will...sit down and decide if its best to carry on with a compromise 'daily driver', or to get a shell and build a track car, or buy one ready prepped.

Dill

 

Cheers for the advice fella, although I have only done a couple of car track days I have quite a bit of experience on bikes, so track driving/riding I understand (to an extent) what I found hardest on the first two track days was trying to get my car to do what it was I was asking, it just wouldnt turn and over steered. I am aware that this can be partly due to the car set up at the time and my driving style, however to the extent it was happening I was convinced suspension & grippy tyres are needed.

I am hoping that once these parts are fitted it will be a bit like pressing the reset button and trying again, until I do try again I have no idea of how much difference these parts are going to make. I plan on circulating until I feel I have reached my max and then getting some tuition, but we will see how the next track days go's first.

Since Shaun strongly advised the sump above I have been looking around, the Lateral sump looks the business and if I am not mistaken I think Duncan (Dynamix) is using one of these. So I am coppering up at present to get one fitted as soon as

Lee.

 

Duncan is now running a drysump

http://racedynamix.co.uk/new/2009/09...-dry-sump-kit/

however the lateral sump is very good, I run a similar sump and had no "known" problems with it at Brands at over 400bhp and khumo track tyres.

 

You arent going quick enough then

Dry sump is the absoulte best solution, but as Shaun says, not necessary if you arent going quick enough.

I think there is enough Subaru experience out there at each of the Time Attack events, that you could probably sit down and work out what sort of lap times would suggest it would be wise to step up to a dry sump.

 

The dry sump set up looks like a nice bit of kit

Great vid chasing the Ferrari by the way

 

Def need the dry sump at brands

and snetterton
and cadwell
and oulton