Peters NA6 "Britney"

[Guran]

Peter, I was 1.2s slower than my PB. Was stuck in the 17s until I scraped a 1:16.99 (PB is 1:15.80 on Star Specs), and there was absolutely nothing more to get from the car. Your time is relatively consistent with that, so I wouldn't be too concerned about the V70As. My car was losing time on the straights, especially the back straight where I was holding 3rd all the way. On quick days I'm in 4th at 200m from turn 10! I'm blaming the weather - low pressure, high winds, fairly warm too.

[Jeo]

That's awesome. Good on Cooma council.

I'll be in the Kings Vally for a wine festival on the weekend but assuming this one goes well, I'd be keen to come down and watch the next event.

[PeterB]

Peter, I was 1.2s slower than my PB. Was stuck in the 17s until I scraped a 1:16.99 (PB is 1:15.80 on Star Specs), and there was absolutely nothing more to get from the car. Your time is relatively consistent with that, so I wouldn't be too concerned about the V70As. My car was losing time on the straights, especially the back straight where I was holding 3rd all the way. On quick days I'm in 4th at 200m from turn 10! I'm blaming the weather - low pressure, high winds, fairly warm too.

Thanks. It certainly wasn't a day for quick times and I was stuck in 3rd down the back straight as well.

I guess I was still disappointed as I was unreasonably expecting the car to have a much more precise feel than on the R888s, but she didn't feel that much different to a hot day on the Toyo's.

I guess if there is no real grip a fresh set of tyres aren't going to come in and I was also off my game a bit due to my six month lay-off from Wakefield and wasn't really into the swing of it until later in the day, so the next cool day will be the test.

It was a great day and good to see so many Victorians joining us for the day. It was fun to watch your battle in type 1 with the lead changing by such small margins - very entertaining, as was Mark and Patrick's battle.

.

[Regie]

got some good shots of you Pete was a good day!


DSC_9479 by reggiewalker84, on Flickr


DSC_9480 by reggiewalker84, on Flickr

[Hellmun]

Peter, I was 1.2s slower than my PB. Was stuck in the 17s until I scraped a 1:16.99 (PB is 1:15.80 on Star Specs), and there was absolutely nothing more to get from the car. Your time is relatively consistent with that, so I wouldn't be too concerned about the V70As. My car was losing time on the straights, especially the back straight where I was holding 3rd all the way. On quick days I'm in 4th at 200m from turn 10! I'm blaming the weather - low pressure, high winds, fairly warm too.

Thanks. It certainly wasn't a day for quick times and I was stuck in 3rd down the back straight as well.

I guess I was still disappointed as I was unreasonably expecting the car to have a much more precise feel than on the R888s, but she didn't feel that much different to a hot day on the Toyo's.

I guess if there is no real grip a fresh set of tyres aren't going to come in and I was also off my game a bit due to my six month lay-off from Wakefield and wasn't really into the swing of it until later in the day, so the next cool day will be the test.

It was a great day and good to see so many Victorians joining us for the day. It was fun to watch your battle in type 1 with the lead changing by such small margins - very entertaining, as was Mark and Patrick's battle.

.

I find with both the V70A's and A050's that they were squirmy and overheated easily when at full tread depth. They do become very fast when worn/shaved, especially on a cold day where you can hold them in the sweet spot longer assuming you push them into temp. I didn't heat cycle out either tyre and I've ran both to cords...and I've only been in 1:09's on bald V70A's and A050's.. where as I struggle to get into low 1:10's at full tread depth. I have data logs that would show you about a 1.2-1.3G peak when new...but upto 1.56G when bald. Don't worry as long as you keep them in a dark cold place the best is yet to come

[Guran]

got some good shots of you Pete was a good day!

Great photos Regie. Yes that's "Peter B" ... but not THIS PeterB. Think ACDC and you'll be closer to home.

[PeterB]

[quote="Regie"]got some good shots of you Pete was a good day!

Thanks Regie, but that is the other Peter B from Canberra. Great shots of him.

I was in Britney - a red NA6 which was running number 115 on Sunday in group 3.


Mark

Thanks for the reassurance on the full tread tyres. I will look forward to some quick runs in the cool of next year when they wear down some. I keep them stored in black bags in a garage, so they are as well protected as can be.

[Regie]

Ahh crap. My bad.

Too many peter b's in Canberra haha

[PeterB]

The Cooma club hillclimb at Mt Gladstone on 17 November was lots of fun.

Britney needed a new set of rear wheel bearings, as although the set taken out were only 3 years old they had developed some play which would have been knocked back by an attentive scrutineer. I wonder if the heat from the NA6 rear brakes cooked them.

The hillclimb is a 870 metre section of a closed public road to a lookout, so has lots of armco and tyre protected trees to keep your attention.

Britney was getting close to redline in 3rd in the quickest bit, so it took some concentration, as a mistake would be painful. My first sighting run was a 54.0, but I reduced that to a final run of 48.49.

This was quickest type 3 and about 13th outright (behind 6 4WDs, 3 clubmans, V8 commodore, a Porsche Cayman and a Renault Clio) from 29 entrants. FTD was a targa spec EVO with 39.45, then Dick Bates in a rotary powered Westfield with a 43.75.

Everyone thought it would be purely a power hill, but Britney's good result showed that agility still counts as she was ahead of some high power cars.

Although hillclimbs cover a short distance in a days competition, it is a very challenging skill and a good way to learn to go flat out from the start on cold tyres.

[PeterB]

2013 was a fairly quiet year, but some satisfying results.

2 hillclimbs at Fairbairn park, Canberra for a new pb of 50.14 - so close to that elusive 49.xx, but the track has been re-surfaced so should be quicker.

1 hillclimb at the new Cooma hillclimb for a best time of 48.49, which was the quickest MX5 ever up that hill - ok it is the only MX5 to have run that hill !!

1 trackday with the HSV club at Wakefield Park for an electronically timed 1.13.92 on old R888s, so a genuine 1.13 which made me happy.

2 state supersprints at Eastern Creek South for a pb of 1.08.54 on the new Kumho V70s, which was dissapointing, but I am looking forward to attacking it with worn V70As on a cool day.

3 MX5 trackdays at Wakefield Park, with a new pb of 1.13.53 on worn R888s on an excellent day. I was delighted with this, but throwing Britney into flag point 4 quickly put my ego back into my kit bag.

The MX5 class 5 trophy and two fastest laps for 2012-13 was a pleasing result.

Britney has been extremely reliable and trouble free and the only work on the car over and above general servicing included :

2nd hand front guard and passengers door, but minimal damage considering it was fairly hard hit against the flag point.
New Sparco Sprint V as my previous one was bent in the flag point incident.
NB8A front brakes with Carbotech XP10 pads and NB8A rear brakes with stock pads to try to overcome overheating and glazing problems with the NA6 brakes and HP+ pads.
New 205x50x15 Kumho V70A tyres which have yet to prove their worth - waiting for a cool day with half worn tyres to get their full value.

I have registered for Class 3A in the 2014 state supersprint championship, but will only run selected rounds. I will run every Wakefield Park event I can get to and a few local hillclimbs to try out the new surface.

Hoping 2 February at Wakefield Park wont be too hot. Looking forward to getting behind the whel a bit more this year.

[PeterB]

February 2 at Wakefield Park was an extremely hot day, the first time I have ever had Britney run hot.

Lots of good fun chasing or running from a variety of cars (MX5s, Renault Clio, XR8 ute) but very slow times with a best of only 1.1.5.06 (1.3 seconds behind Tony Williams) and well off the pace.

No grip from the Kumho V70As (now with 3 track days and 3 hillclimbs wear), but I will assume it was the heat and hope for a cool day next time out.



February 23 was a charity hillclimb raising funds for the Heartkids support group. A good family day with lots of kids and parents getting rides around the track, mixed in with 4 serious runs at the hillclimb at Fairbairn Park using the double lap configuration.

I ran my road tyres on the first run and practiced my drifting skills, so quickly put my semi-slicks on.

I ended up 1st type 3A with a pb of 87.28 ( just .17 off a class record) and a single lap pb of 50.02 - so close to an elusive 49 !!!

The hillclimb has been re-surfaced so is smoother, but slippery whilst it beds in. A good fun day and good money raised for the Heartkids, plus there were very tasty cup-cakes on offer.



Heading off to Phillip Island for the Classic Historic race meeting (a fantastic race meeting) over the weekend of 8 March and then touring around Victoria, so although I will be in the area I don't know if I can get a car down for the Winton trackday.

[PeterB]

A very enjoyable few days spectating at the Phillip Island Classic Historic race meeting, with lots of interesting cars and good racing which got me into the mood for the Interstate challenge at Winton on 15/16 March.

We got a practice on the short circuit on Saturday afternoon to get some sighting laps, which was much appreciated.

Sunday was dry and cool and we got to run the short circuit in the morning, then the long circuit in the afternoon.

As my last run at Winton was in 1980, things looked a little different.

My best times were a 1.15.41 on the short circuit (about 3 seconds off a good time) and a better 1.48.35 on the Long circuit as I was slowly coming to grips with the circuit as the day progressed. It would have been good to have another run at the short in the afternoon as I would have pulled off a fair bit of time.

The short circuit is very technical and tight, being all 2nd or 3rd gear. I actually enjoyed the long circuit more, but even it only had a short burst in 4th in my car. The track was bumpy in areas and quiet challenging.

The two Peter Bs from Canberra ran in the modified class, me in my modified 1600 and Peter Battisson in his stock NC on semi-slicks so we were outgunned, and convincingly out-driven by the two Victorians running modified. We had good fun in the last run with Peter b chasing me in his NC and sticking close behind, resulting in him dropping his pb by quite a few seconds.

This run has surprisingly put me in the lead of class 5M as most drivers have missed rounds.

A highly enjoyable and social weekend and Britney came home unscathed and ready for the first state supersprint at Wakefield on 13 April.

[PeterB]

A highly enjoyable two events with the state round on 7 Sept, then the MX5 trackday on 8 Sept. Both days were excellent conditions with great fun chasing/leading Gus and Bryan and others all running similar times.

Best times of 1.14.22 then 1.14.08 were good, but still not back in the 1.13s that I managed on worn R888s last year. The V70A s are now as good as finished.

I thought I had a disaster when I grabbed 2nd instead of 4th on the start/finish line on Sunday and gave the engine a big rev. The lifters are very noisy, but the engine runs well with no power loss, so looks like a new set of lifters will cure the noises. After Russell and Don had a listen on Monday morning we agreed it was ok to run on Monday and I had a great trouble free day and went faster than Sunday.

2014 has been a quiet year (4 Wakefield Park, 1 Winton, 1 SMPS, 1 Cooma hillclimb and 1 Fairbairn hillclimb), partly due to a very enjoyable 3 months with the grey nomads travelling to Perth and back (13,000 km in 80 days).

I was very happy to pick up the Class 5 trophy for 2013-14 meaning 4 years in a row.

A variety of circumstances, including more touring means I will ease off on track time, so have decided to go back to a more standard class. Therefore I will part company with Britney and the car trailer and have picked up a tidy NB8A (gold) to run next year in a more standard class on road tyres. The NB will also be a lot more user friendly for club runs and other highway use.

The NB has a cat-back exhaust and body kit, so looks like it will be in the Clubman class, which should be a lot of fun.

[Guran]

Ah!!! David mentioned that someone else was joining us in clubman class. Great stuff! Ditch the body kit and get yourself a torsen. Trying to catch Gus is a huge challenge.

[Blesif]

Congratulations on your purchase, Peter and looking forward to seeing you in the new car. Might think about Clubman class myself although difficult to part with Blesif.