MX5CQ Lakeside Trackday Monday 12th September (Afternoon)

[Racing Logic]

Its a shame i was working that day...


I picked up and towed the white lancer that broke an axle out the front of lake side.

Thanks again for the tow ;)

[MXO005]

Thanks very much Ross and Mark

I'm still trying to run the novice lines that Doug taught but couldn't keep Karousel a constant curve on Monday and pretty sure I never got close to that gutter curb on the exit all day. Normally push right out there. Turning in too early on the first apex?

Hopefully I can get my full session 2 video up by the weekend and would really appreciate if you could find the time to have a look.

Thanks for the tip about the bridge. I really don't want to break free there.
Had been wondering about trying to shave some out of that corner. At the moment I'm staying fully left until the point where the bus stop gets closest to the track [Small stain on the track that Doug used to point out on the walk around from a previous fire] and apexing where there's the little extra tarmac outside the white lines.

[slyfox2151]

Its a shame i was working that day...


I picked up and towed the white lancer that broke an axle out the front of lake side.

Thats my blue one

viewtopic.php?f=73&t=71648

[Steampunk]

I'm still trying to run the novice lines that Doug taught but couldn't keep Karousel a constant curve on Monday and pretty sure I never got close to that gutter curb on the exit all day. Normally push right out there. Turning in too early on the first apex?

Way too tight around Karussel. When you look at aerial photo/layout of the track, you can see it's a protracted circle, and you need to treat it as a double-apex.
I aim to apex at the last couple of meters of the rumble strip on the inside on entry and exit.

At 2min 44sec.... this is what happens when you take the entry in too hot, and as Ross said, turn the wheel too tight.


When I park the car, you can clearly see the lines the cars are taking, tight on entry, run wide in the middle of the corner so you can tighten up again on exit and straigthen up on exit toward left hand side

I know it feels a bit weird to run wide in the middle of Karussel but you have to force yourself to do it until it becomes normal.

Have a look at slug dub's vid too with me infront.

[Custardtart]

Had a great 1st time at Lakeside. Apologies if the shopping trolley held anyone up.

Lots of track time and friendly folks means I'll be back in November

[Trackphotos]

Thanks very much Ross and Mark

I'm still trying to run the novice lines that Doug taught but couldn't keep Karousel a constant curve on Monday and pretty sure I never got close to that gutter curb on the exit all day. Normally push right out there. Turning in too early on the first apex?

It's a tricky corner to get right. You need to use the first apex to push you deep enough through the corner so that when you turn in, you'll be apexing more than halfway along the kerb on the second apex. The later your second apex, the more speed you can carry onto the run down the back 'straight'. It's very easy to turn in early before the second apex and find yourself pushed wide out onto the concrete gutter on the outside. In your case I think it was a little early, but mostly seems to have just been that unintentional tightening on the exit that caught you out. If you had begun to unwind the wheel as you fed the power out, you would have used more of the track with less steering lock, and come out of it safely. I struggle with the second apex at Karussel a lot, it takes a lot of patience to force yourself not to get onto the power too early and push wide on the exit. The two laps I posted actually had my left wheels on the gutter, which is not ideal.

Hopefully I can get my full session 2 video up by the weekend and would really appreciate if you could find the time to have a look.

Gladly. I've subscribed to your channel on youtube, I'll keep an eye out for it.

Thanks for the tip about the bridge. I really don't want to break free there.
Had been wondering about trying to shave some out of that corner. At the moment I'm staying fully left until the point where the bus stop gets closest to the track [Small stain on the track that Doug used to point out on the walk around from a previous fire] and apexing where there's the little extra tarmac outside the white lines.

The fastest turn in point for the bridge varies from car to car, but the rule of thumb is that at the point where you would be passing underneath the bridge, your wheels should be straight. They should remain almost if not completely straight until the suspension compresses on the other side of the crest. In my car I believe the turn in point is pretty much where the bus stop section comes closest to the main track. I found some footage of someone turning in early and finding themselves going under the bridge while left of centre of track, requiring them to be steering left at the crest to follow the track. His suspension unloads with too much steering lock, and he gets into a spin that he can't recover. He got away with it, but it's one of the most common mistakes I see people make at Lakeside, and it's one of the hardest to correct. Downhill while spinning, it's extremely hard to counter it. If it happens, best bet is to lock all four wheels up and hope that you've done it at a point where your direction of travel isn't pointing you toward the wall. It happens at 3:45 in this video.

[zero00]

With most who spin there it generally ends in DISASTER!!

[Vat]

The best advice I heard on it when the Dunlop Bridge was still there was that the D stood for Death - as in if you passed under the D (on the left side of the track) you were in trouble.

Ross's description is spot on - in our MX-5s, if you stay left until that point where the Bus Stop comes closest to the track proper, then move right to the apex so you're straight under the bridge, you've pretty much got your pick of where you want to put the car for braking into Hungry, so you're hitting the brakes pointed straight up the track.

If you're too far left you'll come into the braking zone in the middle of the track and angled away from Hungry, tightening it and making it that much harder to into the apex.

[Red_Bullet]

I have heard that the DunLop bridge stands for D=Die L=Live

I had a bit of a moment there myself on Monday where I baulked in the right hander where the bridge used to be, I eased up on the throttle because I was being a nervous nellie. In hindsight, that loosened the back of the car producing an oversteer situation which I countersteered, back on the gas the back end hunkered down and put an end to the silliness. At the time I wondered what had happened beacause it had never happened to me before. I pitted thinking maybe I had a loss of tyre pressure. Tyre pressure gauge revealed nothing was amiss. Driver error! I won't be doing that again. It was my first time on Lakeside with zero toe front and rear.

[JBT]

...The run out of the Karousel is up hill to a blind crest and you need to stay left edge all the way up,
pulling fourth gear at the top or just over the crest, then continuing to hold the left edge until you
get to a point where the Bus Stop nearly rejoins the track and the grass is less than a metre between
the two surfaces. Note, from this point the bus stop goes away and returns to rejoin the main track at
a later point. The bus stop is a departure from the main track only used by bikes at Lakeside Park to
reduce speeds under the bridge and accidents resulting, please refer to the track map.
From this point the apex for Turn 3 is around 20 metres before the bridge and, if you’re on the
pace, you grab fifth gear around this point. From that apex and under the bridge, you aim for the left
edge at the second of the two blind crests at Lakeside Park and then aim for the 40cm track light on
the Armco barrier on the right hand side of the track before Hungry corner....

A link to the full story is in the first paragraph here: http://mx5clubqld.com.au/nat-meet/index/natmeet-2014-track-day-and-funkhana/

[Steampunk]

Those instructions are a little confusing and long winded, plus mentioning "....grab 5th gear...." should be totally ignored because I certainly don't come close to wanting to change up to 5th in either my current NA6 or previous NA8.

Thanks to Adam and crew for yet another relaxed day. It's awesome to have an hour break to have a pow-wow with Grant B, Hoolio, slug and vat ...
Good to see hoolio enter the fray and his car survived the day...albeit sounding like a Sopwith Camel sans wings
And I was slightly concerned that VAT seemed to be quite knowledgeable about kidnappings, assassination, drug running/money laundering involving famous car designers, at the same time showing up with new suspension bits and new AD08R tyres... hmmmm....

Dissapointed with my times but found a bit of consolation in that slug dub got a PB following my lines even though he let off big time before start/finish line which would have been a 64sec lap for "Dock Worker" methinks

Hopefully see y'all again soon

[Hoolio]

Hoolio, that's a great debut.
I know you were asking about a track car before. All I can see from the entrants list is that it is red.
We all know red cars go faster but I think it's time to spill the beans on the other details

Thanks. It's a budget 2F race car; i.e. not a million dollar front runner but seems to be fairly well setup for what it is. Monday was the first time I have had any decent seat time in it in the dry, and I felt comfortable with it and was able to concentrate most of my efforts on learning the circuit. Of course I also identified a few things which I want to change on the car. I should take some photos and start a garage thread…

[Vat]

Good to see hoolio enter the fray and his car survived the day...albeit sounding like a Sopwith Camel sans wings
And I was slightly concerned that VAT seemed to be quite knowledgeable about kidnappings, assassination, drug running/money laundering involving famous car designers, at the same time showing up with new suspension bits and new AD08R tyres... hmmmm....

Careful, that's how you end up in a shallow grave with a plastic bag over your head.

Uwe Gemballa was the fellow. On re-reading it was actually money laundering: Gemballa cars were being shipped to South Africa stuffed full of cash. One wasn't. Not that I'd know anything about that...

Very impressed with Hoolio's debut. Car and driver looked smooth and fast.

[plohl]

What was his car number/times?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[JBT]

Those instructions are a little confusing and long winded, plus mentioning "....grab 5th gear...." should be totally ignored because I certainly don't come close to wanting to change up to 5th in either my current NA6 or previous NA8.

Nevertheless, the author has more time there on the track (racing) than most of us combined in sprints. Gear selection will depend on gearing too.