To be fair, I hope to do well for someone with so little experience and in a road car but I aint nowhere near in your league Duncan

As stated early in this thread I did a 2min 1sec on my first trackday at Oulton, (wasnt going to reveal this) but I am gonna be aiming for a 1min 57/58sec when the car is all sorted. I reckon this should be good for a 1:39 around the TA circuit which will be ok for a novice in a road car

 

Ah, ok. for that.

 

As previously stated I was at Tracktive Solutions yesterday to get some more work done on the car, the work started at 09;00 and finished at 22:45 last night, I left hone at 06:40 and got home at 01:30 this morning but it was well worth it Here are a few pictures of some parts getting fitted, I will post up a few pictures of the car when its looking a bit cleaner

Front tow loop

Rear tow loop

New bucket seat

Suspension shot


and in my opinion, the main man setting up the suspension


Bearing in mind I drove home after a long day out and my car was full of parts that were removed > but you can tell the difference in a second, the car is more stable, turns faster and inspires confidence the seat is gonna take a bit of getting use to, the car is now running 40mm lower and the seat I will guess is about 4 inches lower than the stock seat so I am sitting a lot lower in the car.

Getting in and out of the car isnt very gracefull, theres a bit of legs & arm waving trying to get in & out but once in, it is quite cumfy

I will be cleaning the car soon so I will get a few pics of the whole car so you can see the ride height & camber changes.

Lee.

 

lol - I have done a few "late shifts" at Tracktive myself!

Glad you got it all sorted Lee. It won't take you long to get used to the seat.... I had the same issues when I went the full bucket route.

What camber did Rich set it to... -2degs Rear and -2.5degs front? That's what we set my Spec C up as and it seemed to work well.

Nice to see Rich doing some work for a change!

 

Thanks, even if I did put it on the video as an f430 doh!

Ive only done a few trackdays but having fun at it.

Your car is comming on really well.

 

Yeah I was suprised to see him in the overalls myself credit to them though there was no stopping til the job was done and they were still smiling & having a laugh to the end

The bucket seal feels so different, but as you said I am sure I will get there, just seems strange being so low dow

Over the weekend I will get a few pics of the car so you can see the ride height, camber & castor (back wheels fairly forward) and I will list the settings

Cheers,
Lee.

 

I managed to get the car cleaned today and get some pics taken, you can probably tell that the car is now running (40mm) lower from the pics but I dont think the camber looks that obvious? you can see it better up close.



New rear wheels


I like this piccy









I would like to add a HUGE thanks to Richard Bulmer and Matt at Tracktive Solutions and Paul at (SPD) BuddyClub UK for all there help so far, greatly appreciated

Cheers,
Lee.

 

life line behind drivers seat???!!!! lol

lovely motor

 

Very nice

 

yeah I know but I can reach it fairly easily and it just pulls out of the bracket, Matt quite neatly made a bracket to hold the harness crotch straps and also made it so it could hold the fire extinguisher as well, top bloke

 

You will want to secure it so that you cant just 'pull' it out of the bracket. I would say that the scrutineers will say that it could break lose in an accident and you really dont want a fire extinguisher bottle flying around in there.

My handheld system is at the front of my seat and secured by an extra strap. The plumbed in one is in front of the passenger seat (you wont need one of those in Club)

 

Car coming along nicely ,looks great

 

Thanks for the advice on the extinguisher fella, I have kept the 2 straps the extinguisher came with, I will see if I can attach one of these

I checked the suspension again today and it has dropped (settled) another 5mm since installation so this will be adjusted again this week. I went for a short play this morning and the car is starting to feel like a go kart compared to how it was still feels strange sitting so low down and the much "stiiffer" suspension will take a bit of getting use to I reckon.

Cheers,
Lee.

 

Good luck Lee, i have an arai edition myself so enjoying reading this. Hoping to take mine on track this year, i think it's a stunning road car, and with your upgrades you should have a ball and hold your own.

I use to run recaro spg's in my last subaru, you get use to sitting low very quickly, i loved mine. I swear the JDM seats sit a lot higher than the uk spec cars even on their lowest setting.

Health to enjoy mate.

 

Thanks for that fella, sounds like you have a nice car there

 

100% need straps on the the fire ext

For reference...

My classic 360'ish bhp impreza did a 1:59 in the damp at oulton in Nov. on 888's with a pas.

For challanging club I think you need to aim to be a low 1:50 at least (not sure, but basing this on the speed diff of Fee's car and mine. She did a low 1:35 on the TA layout in 2010)

Also - just to echo Phil's comments. Get as much weight out of it as you can. Less weight is as good as more power - never mind being a damn sight more reliable.... and easier to turn/brake.

I'll hopefully get a couple of rounds in my old banger

 

Old banger, yeah right

I was at Oulton on the damp track day when you and Fee where there, I was having a good look around your cars for pointers Being realistic for my limited talent & experience I reckon I should be hoping for a 1;57 for now? but we will see if I get better then that'll be great, I know the front runners in Club Class are pretty damn quick.

I will see what weight I can strip out of the car, but I am not willing to turn it in to a full on track car to be honest, that's a decision I have taken so we will have to see what is possible with the set up the way it is now. I am thinking back seats & spare wheel out and thats it really. I will be driving to the events in the car and hopefully home again.

Cheers,
Lee.

 

fair enough

Good luck, pop over and say hi next time

 

love the P Zero's on the F1 car

 

We'll see how long that lasts Lee...

I'll guarantee that by next season it will be fully stripped with roll cage, which for me would be an absolute neccessity before I went on track.

Neil.

 

Well if it ends up going backwards in to a tyre wall I may be on my way up to your place to strip it out totally, but hopefully that wont be necessary

 

looks stunning, hope to see it at a meet sometime!

 

Nice one fella

I have since had the Ultralites fitted to the front and also purchased and fitted a carbon splitter starting to look to nice to track nah only joking

Will post a couple of pics up at the weekend after a clean,
Lee.

 

I honestly dont think the fire extinguisher there will pass TA scrutineering, especially when it is secured in its mount properly.

 

Agreed. There is no chance of being able to get that released in the event of any accident from the drivers seat

 

Where would you recommend Duncan? i thought about mounting it at the front of the passenger seat, but to be honest when I am in the bucket seat its as hard reaching over there as it is putting my hand behind me to reach for it? I have found the two extra clamps to secure it as well

Nice write up on the car changing over to Apex / BC colour scheme, more power !!!!!!!! how much do you need

Lee.

 

My handheld is in front of my seat on a bracket to the seat rail holes. Nice and handy there in case it is a smallish fire.

Power ... enough to sort of compete on a level playing field with the guys in my class Last year I was 200-300 bhp down on a lot of them

 

only in Time Attack is it possible to have circa 600hp and still be 200>300hp down on others, unbelievable figures

 

It is possible to make up for it in other ways in club challenge - some people believe (wrongly IMO) that power is the be all and end all - it isnt. Same applies in pro but ultimately if you can get more speed down the straights it does help reduce the laptimes

Reliability will be your thing - but you will be slow to start with, no matter how good you think you are at driving, it takes a while to 'get' how to do it when it is needed in TA when traffic is going at various speeds. It is not the same as a track day

 

Dead right fella, I have been trying to play down the expectations and telling myself to aim for top 20 out of all of the cars in Club Challenge, I am gonna do another couple of track days in TA trim with the Pirellis on (when they are available ) and just set my best time. What ever time I achieve will be my guide for my aim for the day on the 16th April.

Dont get me wrong though, I do have dreams of stepping on a podium one day but I am certain it would take a few seasons for this to become a reality.

Good luck against the big guns scary cars with scary power