Peters NA6 "Britney"

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:24 am

That's an interesting development. Glad to hear you've managed to recover your brakes. I haven't had this problem with my HP+ and regular rotors although I do find that they don't work so well on the first run. Very sensitive to locking up on the first few laps. They're great after that though.

PeterB · Postby **PeterB** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:38 pm

Whilst I was searching some classic race photos I found a photo of a succesful sports car of its era called "Jaffa" so by rights I thought I should rename my NA6.

After careful consideration I thought of key factors in selecting a name :

Was beautiful and highly desirable when new;
Has entertained a good variety of menfolk and made them very happy, but they soon tired of her and moved on;
Has suffered several breakdowns and disgraced herself on occasions;
Was happy to be seen topless in her younger days, but these days travels with the top on;
Has had some body surgery, including enhancing the frontal regions;
Has recovered from rock bottom and is slowly being rebuilt to her former glory;
Still looks great from a distance and is capable of making this old man very happy !!!!

So the re-name obviously has to be to "Britney" - long may she continue to entertain.

jojoeffe · Postby **jojoeffe** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:48 pm

Perfect!

I'm going to need a name for my new baby (car) and I will be keeping you guide at the forefront of my mind.

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:58 pm

Haha! Well done Peter!

But Jaffa wasn't in THAT bad shape. You could almost call her Lara Bingle! And she's still quite happy to be seen topless.

PeterB · Postby **PeterB** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:24 pm

"Britney" was loaded onto a trailer for her first trip to Eastern Creek for the state supersprint on Saturday 21st, and spent the night in a carpark outside the local club, which fits with her new name.

The front brake rotors I cleaned up after they were glazed at Wakefield didn't feel right, and as I was having this cars first run at Eastern Creek, I fitted a new pair of slotted NA6 rotors and took some time to bed them in.

A very cold day, but it stayed dry and the track felt fairly grippy. I never got fully committed at turn 1 (whimpish I know) but the rest of the track came together OK. My aim was to crack 2 minutes and I finally did it on the last session with a 1.59 .89. "Britney" is capable of better, but I was happy with this.

By good fortune I ended up with 1st in type 3A for the day (and a good swag of points for the club) and this unexpectedly puts me in the lead in Type 3A for the state series. This puts me in a dilema as Eastern Creek was to be a one off trip this year, with my main focus being Wakefield as it is close to home. I will have to decide if I run more Eastern Creek rounds and have a go at getting a class win ?

I had a great dice with Bryan all day with him consistently in front and finally only pulled in front on the final run as our best runs in session 4 was red flagged, then Bryan was baulked in his last session by a Porsha with too much power and no cornering ability - he was not happy Jan.

Spent Sunday spectating at the AASA races at Wakefield Park on Sunday, so a good weekends motor sport.

Now to top it off by watching the grand prix.

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:56 pm

Thnx for the f1 reminder!

PeterB · Postby **PeterB** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:27 pm

Ran the MX5 trackday on the 29th.

A very mixed day - my first session saw a 1.14.88 chasing Mitch around in the blue NA6 (1.14.6 in that run), so it looked like a day to set a new pb.

Next run was hopeless as I couldn't select 2nd to 3rd through the fish hook and lost momentum and got caught in traffic, so a wasted session.

Run three was clean, chasing Mich and Luke, but I still couldn't pull a quicker lap - I had set the front shocks at full hard and Britney was sliding a lot (hope there are some photos) - so maybe I overheated the tyres in my enthusiasm.

Run four - Bryan had a run in the car, but as he was in traffic couldn't pull out a quicker time (1.16.1), but seemed to have fun.

Missed a run or two as I was trying to help get a fan belt on an SE that had shredded an alternator belt. With help from Peter Battington and Daniel Decked we got it running again and hopefully home to Sydney ?

My final run was only a low 1.15, so a day starting with great potential fizzled out, just like the men's 4x100 relay. The car felt quick, but maybe I was overdriving, as Mitchell had set an awesome 1.13.6 in his similar NA6.

Still had a good day and Britney arrived home unscathed and ready for Eastern Creek in two weeks.

mitch_f1 · Postby **mitch_f1** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:14 pm

Bummer about the lap times, but hey, you have some good karma coming your way after the fan belt event!! Was good to have you behind me for the first couple of sessions; I think it helped egg me on a bit ;)

Thanks for your kind comments, it was a pleasure meeting you again yesterday, and I look foward to our next meeting

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:27 pm

Thanks again for the drive of Britney. She's a feisty little thing and felt quick. Which explains why I was so disappointed to have only done a 1:16.17. She definitely felt like being capable of a high 13. I did experience my old problem of struggling to get any heat into the R888s. They weren't overly warm after my run, and didn't have much grip out there. Dunno what it is about the R888s but I can't seem to get them working. :roll:

PeterB · Postby **PeterB** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:09 am

Bryan

I agree she definitely has a 13 in her, but this driver just needs to get over the hump. I thought chasing Mitch may have been the incentive as it is good to have a someone quicker to chase.

A 1.15 in Little Reddy is a great time - you may be in the 14s before I can get down to the 13s !!!!

This was the 3rd run on this set of R888s and they still have lots of tread. Checking on my first set of R888s, the first 3 runs were in the 1.15s and only the 4th run got to a 1.14.8, then they got progressively quicker, so maybe they need to be 1/2 worn or more to get to their best. They certainly weren't gripping up like the last set that came off and given the effort put in should have been setting better times - maybe the upcoming state round at WP next month may see an improvement ?

I tried 30 to 32 psi and harder front shock settings, with no improvement on Sunday.

But I had a lot of fun with similar cars to chase, which is better than Fanta as I rarely had someone running at a similar speed (too fast or slower), so I ran alone mostly until Mark H got quick enough to give me a good run.

I still have my secret weapon of putting my son John in Britney if I can get him down from uni, as he can usually pull 1/2 second of my best times (sad isn't it, but I guess I taught him well).

PeterB · Postby **PeterB** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:22 pm

State round at Wakefield Park run today, 23 August. Track a little cool, but quite grippy.

I have been trying to get "Britney"under 1.14.5 for some time, and finally set a new pb of 1.14.43 in the last session, so very happy with that.

I ended up 1st in type 3A after the quicker car failed to proceed after the first session, so a good haul of club points.

Strangely my quickest time was set after a clubman oiled down the track and I was being a little more conservative, but ended up quicker. Proves that trying too hard slows you down !!!

PeterB · Postby **PeterB** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 8:49 pm

I replaced the left headlight motor in Britney as was spending too much time winking at other men, so now the headlights behave.

I gave her a run at the Fairbairn Park Hillclimb on 21 October with a best of 50.59 (and 50.60), which is almost equal to my pb, before badly flat spotting the front left tyre. This gave me a class win in Type 3A ahead of a quick Nissan Micra that had beaten me last time, and quickest MX5 on the day (because I had the best tyres), so a satisfying outcome.

I have to miss the Eastern Creek runs on 27/28 Oct due to a wedding committment, so won't be out again until the December trackday.

I picked up a trophy for 1st in class 5M and quickest 5M lap for 2011-12, so was happy with my consistency over the year, but frustrated that I am stuck at mid 1.14s. There is a 1.13 in Britney if I can just work out how to achieve it !!!

I won't get to too many trackdays in 2012-13, so will concentrate my efforts on getting down to a 1.13.9 at Wakefield and 49.9 at the hillclimb. I may need to do some data-logging to find out where I am losing time.

Good luck on the 27/28th and then roll on December.

OurCognitiveSurplus · Postby **OurCognitiveSurplus** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 12:13 pm

Sub 50 in the hill climb would be pretty amazing. Still on the R888?

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:09 pm

Britney's first song was 'Baby hit me one more time'. Not a good thing for a car!

PeterB · Postby **PeterB** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:25 pm

OurCognitiveSurplus wrote:Sub 50 in the hill climb would be pretty amazing. Still on the R888?

It is ambitious, but it is only 1/2 sec to lose so it is possible on a very good day with the R888s. I am sure Britney can do it, but the question is can I? Every run I did had errors in it, so it is a matter of stringing together all the good bits.

A well set up type 3A NA6 did 50.02 a few years ago and it was a borrowed car.

Britney still has a stock exhaust, so I plan to fit extractors with a high flow cat and a 2.25" exhaust which will give extra urge.

As I run in type 3 I don't run with a passengers seat and every bit of weight off helps. If I run with an almost empty fuel tank and no hardtop to further reduce weight further it could take off a few tenths.

It is good to dream !!!