Si.G's NA6

[Okibi]

Nice!

[Si.G]

I got most of the jobs I need to do to be able to enter the McRae rally sprints today. I still have to fit my new catch can, but all the other essentials are done.

Passenger seat and new harness fitted - was a bit of a nightmare, because the passenger side floor pan is narrower than the drivers side because of the tunnel being shaped to allow the exhaust to fit. I was hoping it was going to be a simple removal of the OEM rear mounts and then using OMP side mounts. Only actually used on of the OMP mounts. I had to manufacture the other side from 5mm Ali bar.


Finally move the ECU out of the foot well, it is not tucked up inside the dash now away from co-driver feet. The wiring needs a tidy up, but this is the 'millennium falcon' of motorsport cars


2nd fire extinguisher fitted in the driver's side. You need a total of 2kg of extinguisher the rally sprint.


As I said, just the catch can to sort, with regards to the mandatory jobs, but hoping to fit my SE sized rear brakes and 2 new front lower ball joints, nothing really wrong with the ball joints, just the boots have split.

Si.

[Si.G]

Managed to find some time today to weld some tabs onto my catch can. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

[Si.G]

more development done

Rear brakes before


And after

(SE disks, Later model pads and carriers, M-tuned dog bones)

Welded the hose flares on to the cam cover and made up the hoses.


In a nitro dann style, took the angle grinder to the finger - no where near as bad as dann's though


I got done what I wanted to, but it has just not been my day today on many fronts, the above being just one reason, but no real drama in the grand scheme of things
Si.

[NitroDann]

As soon as I saw the photo I recognised what had happened

Dann

[hks_kansei]

Is it just the photo, or have the manufacturer painted the rotors black?

ie: hats and friction face?

[Si.G]

Is it just the photo, or have the manufacturer painted the rotors black?

ie: hats and friction face?

Yeap, they seem to be powder coated. They are EBC disks. It has worn straight off on the braking surface, but is intact on the rest of the rotors. I guess it will help stop them from rusting and keep them looking nice.
Si.

[Si.G]

I have not done a great deal of work on the car lately. I have replaced the front bottom ball joints and got the alignment done.

More importantly I have been driving the car. M1474 and I did round 3 of the McRae Rally Sprint at the perth motorplex. The first attempt was a bit of an anticlimax since the event got called off due to a bush fire less than 1km away. As we stood there with ash falling from the sky, the police came and made us leave. Apparently the event could have gone ahead, but that is easy to say after the fact. 6th Feb was the revised date.

Having never dríven the stage, the first run was pretty exciting. We had done 2 recce runs, but things are quite different at speed, especially when you figure out that your brakes are not bedded in properly. After about half the stage, we had that lovely smell of cooked brakes in the car. This led to not being able to slow down enough for a chicane, snatching a rear brake, taking out 1/3 of the chicane with the back quarter and a trip into the dirt



After the first 2 runs the brakes got loads better, partly the bedding in and partly a move to more front bias. As darkness fell, so did the ability to see. Most of the stage was well lite, but there are a couple of sections that aren't and the lights on my car are pretty rubbish. One of the dark places was probably the fast corner on the stage and there are big curbs to hit, so not a good place to be vision impaired. We also realised that there was a load of sparks flying out of the front brakes, which probably looked pretty spectacular. You can see a few of them on the vid below. We managed to find about 5 seconds between our 1st and last run, which is not that surprising given the brakes. Our fastest was 2:46:630, which I was super happy with. I am sure there is more time to be found, particularly in the brake zones, but more visibility is needs, particularly in one spot where there are concrete blocks to hit if you get it wrong. Also running on A050 would find seconds over the 123s, but the A050 are being saved for the club championship

[mr bender]

well done, there was a big difference in the first lap and last.

the rear of the car didnt try to over take you in the chicane anymore.

btw which lap timer/ video display do you use?


and it was nice to meet you and M1474.

[Si.G]

well done, there was a big difference in the first lap and last.

the rear of the car didnt try to over take you in the chicane anymore.

btw which lap timer/ video display do you use?


and it was nice to meet you and M1474.

Using Race Render 3, it is pretty cheap and works well enough. The data is coming to my android phone from the megasquirt over bluetooth using ShadowDash. The GPS is not the greatest, you can get speed, but it kind of steps up in 1 second intervals.

With regards to the chicane incident, I also think over the night I got a better feel for the car generally. This is only the 3rd time I have dríven it fast in about 18 months because of the engine problems, so it has been a bit of getting you know you again.

Yeah, it was cool to have a chat.

[The Green Goblin]

really enjoyed the vids mate.. the things an animal..

having gone from a decent n/a powered 5.. to turbo, which do you prefer? i noticed some more over steer in your driving when you switched to forced induction - would you say it throws off the balance so to speak?

keep it up.

Jas.

[Si.G]

really enjoyed the vids mate.. the things an animal..

having gone from a decent n/a powered 5.. to turbo, which do you prefer? i noticed some more over steer in your driving when you switched to forced induction - would you say it throws off the balance so to speak?

keep it up.

Jas.

I think it really depends on the event. The tighter autotest style events the N/A is nice, or a easier to drive I should say. Because of the short and tight nature of autotests, being able to just stamp on the throttle with not too much wheel spin is quick. With the turbo you obviously have to feed the throttle in slower which is more prone to mistakes, over doing it and getting to much wheel spin. Events with decent straights, the power of the turbo is awesome. The extra power has not upset the balance at all. Also, as I said before, I am still getting to know the car again. I have some work to do on the boost control, so I can bring the boost in gradually with throttle position to help with driveability.

I have had the privilege to have dríven a V8 LS2 powered mx5 at the club sprint event and I think the question is not really N/A vs turbo, more of how much power can the chassis handle or how usable it is. The LS2 power was amazing, but orders of magnitude more challenging to drive to the maximum. I initially drove it like my 1.6, stamping on the throttle hard - basically I don't thing the steering wheel stay still, even on the straights .

With regards to having more over steer in my driving - it does not matter what car or engine - I love over steer!! It was really really tempting to just do a big drift around the open hair pin at the end of the drag strip

Si.

[deviant]

Well dríven Simon. How much was there left in the car / bag of talent on your final run?

[Si.G]

Well dríven Simon. How much was there left in the car / bag of talent on your final run?

I think we could have gone faster through the 2nd and 3rd corners for sure, visibility was the issue. The rest was pretty much the max safely, 95% ish. Did not want to total the car or take a wheel off on the curbs. Would be interesting to see what the yoko a050 would have done.

We were very close all night, what about you, much left

[deviant]

First two runs felt off the pace but I noticed last night they were quicker than the first runs of the last time we ran this course. Run 3 beat my previous PB by half a second and run 4 smashed it by 1.5s.

I always felt that there was another second or so in it but never pushed for it to keep a safety net. Just got the game face on and pushed...I think SFA left in the car on that run, maybe a bit in turn 2 if I braked later.

We both take the same line in to the turn that exits the big wide car park near the end (the car park after going under the bridge). Lots of people try to do more of a sweeping turn and carry a heap of speed up to the second half of it. Never worked for me...I make two corners out of it like you did.

I reckon you will be jumping well in to the top 10 in class next round. You are only a second off. I just don't have the power to go any quicker, maybe I can get something if I play with grip levels.

Not sure how well I will go at the next round, I never get my flow going as well with the reverse course. There are a couple of sketchy areas you need to be aware of to...Going up the big wide car park you will be driving straight at the concrete wall of the footbridge, then you will be driving at a concrete wall in the chicane through to the drag strip and running the reverse of turn two can be tricky....it sweeps right and loads the car up but you will need to be on the brakes to turn left through the intersection.