HRT

managed another trackday today, although have not had a chance to fix the Whiteline bits and pieces.

Bit warmer today at about 21 degrees. It seems we have swapped weather and got UK weather at the moment with rain over the past few days.

I decided to run low boost and see how much slower it was than high boost, which gives about 100 bhp at the top end. The car is quite unruly on high boost and overpowers the grip from the Toyos quite easily.
ran a few 1.03 to warm up, and then managed 4 laps in low 1.02, with a best of 1:02.03.

Car was better through the corners with less power but slightly slower down the straights.

I then went out as a passenger in the M3 CSL. This thing has an AP brake kit up front, probably 360mm and a set of APs at the rear. The brakes made the biggest impression on me and were far superior to my AP front and Brembo rears. I reckon he was making up a second on me at the end of the straight as he was staying on the power far longe and then hauling it up. Power was about the same as mine on low boost and although it was quick it would not stand a chance in a straight line agsinst the Sti. The gearchanges are just fantastic. Definitely far less understeer and more oversteer, but even from the passenger seat it feels so much more focused than the Sti. It was quite brutal and to set a time of 56 secs from it needs a really good driver as it can snap into oversteer easily.

I then asked him if he wanted to have a try in mine, as I wanted to compare his style and times with mine. He immediately got to grips with it and reeled off two 1:03, then a 1:02.06 and then decided to set a time. 1:01.30 and 1:01.61. I could not believe what happens in the drivers seat to post these laps and how hard you have to work the car and tyres to extract these lap times.

He commented about how bad the understeer was which from the passenger seat I noticed occurs everywhere. He also commented on how bad the setup was and how rubbery eveything felt for supposedly the high performance version of the Impreza. Also commented on how wooden the brakes felt and that the car was uncommunicative and numb. Was very impressed that we could do 1:01 with the way the car was behaving and also said this was the limit of the car with current suspension setup and tyres.

I went out one final time and ran a couple of low 1:02 and two high 1:01.

So I am happy to learn that I am driving it to its current limits. I have booked the car in for Wednesday to have the Whiteline bits fitted and then see what will happen.

HRT

Quick update. Although have not driven the car in anger due to split oil cooler pipe, I can report that the front end of the car feels much more planted with a solid feeling to it. The steering has firmed up nicely. Always found that it felt too light and was not keyed into the road. Unfortunately the warm weather has arrived and the go-kart track is just too hard on the car, with limited airflow and I nearly killed my front left tyre last week due to the heat. So may now need to wait until November to report on improvements.

dunx

iTrader: (3)

That's a shame, it's 12 degrees here...



dunx

HRT

12 is colder than our cold winter days. 25 or so today