BenB
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| posted on 15/9/08 at 10:02 AM |
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What I did @ the weekend / Javelin trackday [long!!]
Had a nice Locost related weekend. On Sunday I had a trackday session booked at Waterbeach and drove up to stay with my bro in Ely the night before
(he was taking part with his ZX9R striker).
Glorious weather both days, only downside driving up to Ely was that 16 miles from my destination my gearstick suddenly limped forwards and I realised
that no amount of waggling would change gear (the bolt holting the bottom of the stick onto the pushrod had come off). So I had to do the remaining 16
miles in fourth including negotiating two sets or traffic lights, 5 round-abouts and four speed-humps!!! The round-abouts were particular fun as I had
to try and judge when a gap would appear in the oncoming traffic then floor it and aim for the gap  But I made it and a quick bit of thieving from
my brothers well-stocked garage had it back and working again...
Running the last 16 miles in 4th meant I only got about 21mpg!! On the way back despite sitting in M11 traffic for ages I was getting more like
27-28mpg and I was pushing hard on the motorway before and after the traffic.....
The only other mechanical failure (on my car at least!!) was during the track day when some eagle eyed person noticed that on my nearside outer Lobro
joint all the bolts were loose and about to fall out(!!!!!!)....
The track-day itself was well-organised. It was split into two sections- quarter miles and a twisty sprint course. They had timing beacons and at
various points charts were posted onto the side of the control hut showing what times everyone was doing. It would be even nicer if there was a
display as you went through the finish line with time as you would then be able to see what changes work- as it was you'ld do three or four runs
between "updates". Sometimes what felt faster wasn't!!! There was a hint of a competitive spirit but everyone was out to have fun as
the main priority...
My twist sprint times slowly came down and down until I pushed too hard, span out and ate a cone (no real damage)..... It's good to find the
car's limits (and mine!!)... On the quarter mile I was being a bit pathetic with the revs on the start (I was keen to be able to drive it the 80
miles home!!!) but ultimately found that the best option was 8000rpm and lift the clutch  (took me a while to get to that degree of lack of
mechanical sympathy!!)...
Early on I was running 17s, then a few high 16s, low 16s... then I did a really good start but found neutral when shifting to 2nd
Last run of the day was a 14.8 which I'm not too unhappy with. The car is running ridiculously rich under load (in fact the marshalls stopped me
at one point to give the car a shoofty because they said the start line was stinking of petrol after I left the line and a few of the other
"competitors" commented on it as well). In fact I can feel the car spluttering and bogging down as I lift the clutch....
Oh well, screw the carbs, crack on with the EFi installation and lets see what it does next year.
They also had a "freestyle" bit of the track- a big coned off box with two blue cones in it about 50M apart. You could do figure 8s but most
people (me included) just did huge doughnuts.... Lovely 
Here's a picky of the car at the track-day (I did take off the sidescreens for the track-day!!!)
 
Car at Waterbeach trackday
My father was one of the drivers. He was sharing my brothers ZX9R Striker. Most people on the twisty sprints were doing between 23 and 29 seconds.
Most of the time my dad was doing 40!!!!! (but then he is about to retire and normally drives a Volvo 740 estate and amazingly doesn't just drive
up the middle lane on the m/way ). Last run of the day suddenly pulls a 30.2!!! Main thing was he had fun!!
I think the track day cost about £50 and I used about £10 of fuel.... All in I had about 10 quarter mile runs and about the same twisty sprints. It
may have even been more, I was always thinking about the "next run".... We were lucky with the weather but said track days are definately
recommended....
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chrisg
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| posted on 15/9/08 at 10:14 AM |
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In the end that's what it's all about!
Glad you had a good weekend, I was gardening (Grrrrrrrr!)
Cheers
Chris 
Note to all: I really don't know when to leave well alone. I tried to get clever with the mods, then when they gave me a lifeline to see the
error of my ways, I tried to incite more trouble via u2u. So now I'm banned, never to return again. They should have done it years ago!
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