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Building: confidence and miles with smiles
posted on 18/4/22 at 12:01 PM
My Track Day at Anglsey (story + pics)
I thought I would share my most recent track day story with you all. It maybe of interest to some, a fun read or enticement to get out to your garage
and get your cars ship shape ready for the summer.
I had carried out a few modifications since my last Oulton Track day in November, mainly the replaced oil rad sandwich take off. I had finally
identified that the reason my car was STILL over heating on hot days was because the Mocal thermostatic take off was not opening properly preventing
the rad from doing its work. Apparently its quite common. I have a Mocal straight to rad one now and the oil still warms up very quickly so im not
damaging the engine.
I put the car through its MOT a couple of days before. Although it does not see the road it allows me to get a 2nd pair of eyes on it. This was worth
it as he identified the brake lights dont work! This was fixed by bleeding the hydraulic brake light switch. This also means IF I was going to sell
the car, its worth about 20% more with a fresh MOT.
Anyway, track day time. I left Dartford around 8am on Monday 18th to head over to Anglsey, meeting my mate near Manchester who was doing the same
track day in his own car (R53 mini Cooper). We made really good time, and got to the track in time to haggle our way on to an evening session. This
was on the national circuit (a short track at only about 1 mile in length) and as it was dry (forecast heavy rain the next day) this may be our only
chance of dry weather. At around 7:30pm we called it a day as we had all day tomorrow (Tuesday) on track as well. The car performed faultless and
punched above its weight as usual.
We stayed local in a pub hotel so managed to get some decent food and beer in the evening.
The next day was torrential rain for the International circuit (the longest circuit). This was not all bad for me. I invested in some Uniroyal Rain
Sport 3 tyres last year and this was my 1st chance to try them. Up until now I had only had semi-cuts and just sat sulking when standing water was on
circuit and tip toed around when wet. Normally being a moving chicane for everyone else, I hated driving my car in the wet it was sooo dicey. But oh
my these Rain Sports were something else, amazing levels of grip, it had dried out before I managed to grow balls big enough to push them. They had
bundles of grip under braking and progressive when sliding during cornering. I had good pace in comparison to the other cars. I was soaked to the bone
but smiling from ear to ear!!
In the afternoon the rain stopped and the Coastal track had dried out. I changed back onto my R888R tyres and started to re-learn the track now it was
a lot faster and dry. Again, my car was faultless and I spent the afternoon chasing M4, M3 and Clio cup cars. The brakes never faded, the oil stayed
spot on temp and I just had to manage the tyres (they get a bit hot after 20mins) and keep topping up the fuel. Anglsey is a strange track, the rear
tyres were getting far hotter then the fronts, normally its the other way round for me.
Throughout the 1.5 days of Anglsey there had been only 3 red flags (surprising considering the rain) I had covered 185 miles on track and used about
50 litres of fuel. I saddled up the car and left for home at 6pm. My initial intention was to have a nap half way but try and get home that night. In
the end I drove all of the way home and got home just after mid night, that was a long day!!!
Of course I managed to get snapped at the iconic Anglsey spot. The below picture was honestly one of the reasons I went, I just wish I was sideways a
little!! The circuit is beautiful, even when its raining, and there were a few laps where I just went at site seeing pace and looked at the scenery. I
think Coastal circuit is under rated and is a really good circuit. One of my favourites now. Although I doubt ill do that journey again soon. I dont
think I was close to hooking up any fast laps but for reference my fastest National Circuit lap was a 1:05.15 and my fastest Coastal lap was a
1:27.40. Plenty more pace to find if I had more time.
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Building: SR20DET powered LA Gold Pro Comp
posted on 18/4/22 at 08:20 PM
Thanks for sharing, sounds like you had an epic trip ....if a full on mini road trip mind. Sone great pics 👌
Last time I was there had issues with rear tyre temps and never gave it much thought until your post. Put it down to power and old setup 185 wide cut
slicks not liking the extra 100bhp, maybe the track is hard on them.
I fear the wet so good to hear with alt tyres it can still be fun
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Building: Built - Fury '06R1 ...now on with the mods
posted on 28/4/22 at 02:20 PM
The rain-sports are impressive in the wet aren't they? I've got a set on some 14" Peugeot steel rims as wets. In torrential rain at
Blyton there was only me, an Impreza and an Evo still on track.
Photo Archive
Building: confidence and miles with smiles
posted on 28/4/22 at 08:35 PM
quote:Originally posted by pigeondave
Sounds like a great day.
Out of interest, where are you taking the oil temp from?
Also how are you logging it?
Hi Dave (I guess your name is not Pigeon!!)
I have a little sender sandwich plate before my Mocal one so the temp is straight out of the engine. I don't "log" it but have a DD2
lite. This allows for pretty accurate reading and a high temp memory per drive.
I don't think it saw much more than 100, before the change is was having to stop as temps would see 125+!!!
Hope that answers your question.
Track days ARE the best thing since sliced bread, until I get a supercharger that is!
Photo Archive
Building: confidence and miles with smiles
posted on 28/4/22 at 08:40 PM
quote:Originally posted by adithorp
The rain-sports are impressive in the wet aren't they? I've got a set on some 14" Peugeot steel rims as wets. In torrential rain at
Blyton there was only me, an Impreza and an Evo still on track.
They blew my mind. The thing is that you often drive hard in the rain. It just feels wrong to push. I certainly got sideways a couple of times but
I'm quite a smooth driver and only ever push to 90% of my perceived race pace so don't expect it to ever be too dramatic.
The track was almost empty as well. I think there were more prepared people than usual. Being north west Wales and a consistent forecast of heavy rain
for weeks before.
Croft in June next. Never been there before. It's a Saturday so I expect a different type of trackdayer this time. One less committed to taking a
day off, it's going to be full of road cars trying to race each other I bet.
Track days ARE the best thing since sliced bread, until I get a supercharger that is!
quote:
Croft in June next. Never been there before. It's a Saturday so I expect a different type of trackdayer this time. One less committed to taking a
day off, it's going to be full of road cars trying to race each other I bet.
Just been to Croft on Tuesday. It's my local circuit.
My favorite part of the track must be the Jim Clark esses. In the dry you should be around 100mph through them. Barcroft is the one where you can
probably suffer the most damage, (and pain I would think) as the armco is close and speed is high.
Here's a vid from my day. It was a Javelin day, and had been fairly busy until mid afternoon. This was my last session, and found some clear
track for a lap or two.
I'm down your end of the country next, Brands GP on 17th May.
