just back from bedford

jezza l · Apr 29, 2006

Just got back from a track day at bedford. had so much fun on the track and the trophy loved it. After 3-4 laps at a time of the GT circuit i didn't really notice much brake fade. I did around 120 miles on the track the car wanted to do more. One thing i noticed was on the hairpins i had unreal amounts of understeer. Probably partly down to my lines!!

Went in a radical sr3 for a few laps. Which was stupidly fast. It happily managed 138 down the back straight and was just unreal through the corners.

All in all a great day and im looking forward to my next one now. Would have been nice to have seen another trophy. Got a few comments off other drivers saying how wicked the trophy was

hyb · Apr 29, 2006

jezza l · Apr 30, 2006

yes it was dry. I was running 36 on the front and 34 rear however obviously after doing so many laps the tyres were upto 40psi. So i took some pressure out.

OliS · Apr 30, 2006

Sounds like you had a great day!

Really enjoyed the day I did at Bedford earlier this year. Only understeer I had was when I was too keen with the throttle in the hairpins, but it is what I expect from a front driver, so I just drove around it.

jezza l · May 2, 2006

I certainly did. Am probably going to do rockingham on saturday the 13th of May.

Will post a couple of photos of my car on the track in the photos section.

I know on the last hairpin of the GT circuit i was lighting up the tyres in second gear. Everytime i tried not to but it happened and there was smoke and it was pretty funny.

OliS · May 2, 2006

Yeah I was the same, lighting up the inside front out of the tighter hairpins - good fun! I reckon if you put too much power through the Clio's front wheels then an LSD would become essential for trackwork...

jezza l · May 2, 2006

Photos located here http://cliotrophy.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1354

I agree. Isn't there someone with an LSD on a 182? Yozza??

OliS · May 3, 2006

Love the lean going in the first pic, looks like your passenger is just about to land in your lap!

Not heard about anyone actually running an LSD, Yozza has them advertised on his website, but I did not know he has actually fitted one. Hopefully there will be some reports back soon when the 1.2 Cup has done a few trackdays.

jezza l · May 3, 2006

lol yeh the first pic is the fav out of all the 19 photos.

Oh perhaps i am wrong there as i had also seen it on the website and thought yoz had it.

George K · May 3, 2006

Did you have much tyre wear - any chunking for instance? Presumably yuo are on exaltos?

oliie · May 3, 2006

Welcome back George

From my experience at Bedford with Exaltos: very little tyre wear and no chunking etc.

I have since replaced the front pair with another set of Exaltos (after circa 13k miles including the track day).

Cheers
O.

George K · May 4, 2006

Oliie, thank you for your kind greetings.

At long last my first event is this weekend at Wiscombe - delayed from April to avoid the paddock turning into a quagmire. The Dunkeswell training day was cancelled, presumably because of on-going work for the improvements instigated by Mr Mansell.

Any advice on how to get off the line without bogging down or disappearing in a cloud of wheelspin. Because the startline is well used it is very shiny/slippery; so in the past (RWD) I have used medium rpm and tried to aovid wheelspin - bit difficult in the heat of the moment!

jezza l · May 4, 2006

George. With 120miles on the track that day, i was amazed that were was hardly any tyre wear. Obviously the outside of the tyre was scrubbed but i don't need to worry about replacing them. We'll see how they are after rockingham on the 13th.

oliie · May 5, 2006

George K said:
Any advice on how to get off the line without bogging down or disappearing in a cloud of wheelspin. Because the startline is well used it is very shiny/slippery; so in the past (RWD) I have used medium rpm and tried to aovid wheelspin - bit difficult in the heat of the moment!

This is a tough one.

I have found that at time I forget the Trophy has traction control - so late is the intervention.

Personally I've not had any experience with launching the Trophy. I can only imagine how challenging it would be considering the front wheel drive and weight (lack of) over the front axles.

I am guessing that no more than 3k to 4k rpm should provide good results; will be interesting to see what you find!

Cheers
O.

George K · May 8, 2006

Back from two days at Wiscombe. 3 seconds quicker than the MX5 which was on track tyres. It is not a place where one takes too may risks, with walls and trees at the edge of the track. One chap rolled his 205 on top of a large gatepost - he was OK but they had to lift the car up off the post which was very difficult.

Trophy felt very stable and predictable apart from a big twitch through some tight Esses when it was still a bit damp. It is clear that the main development required is the driver - next weekend a sprint with good run off areas should help the learning curve

Off the line too much whell spin is a disaster - lose half a second in first 60 feet. In general it feels a tad better with tc off. The first big brake from cold is a bit problematic - there is no way to warm them up - used EBC greenstuff last year to get round the problem - fade is never an issue on hills or the sprints that I do so do not need heavy duty pads.

Biggest disappointment is straight line speed up the relatively steep hills. Obviously exit speeds from th preceding corners are vital but even so I was expecting a bit more.

Will wait for a few more meetings to decide on development plans and budget (as always).