Sandown Trackday (Australia)

[AlpineAde]

Guys, finally got the car out on its first track day. Interesting day, quite nervous, as this was the first time I've had a crack at this.

I wanted to spend the day getting a feel for the car at speed and see if the work I had done thus far was heading in the right direction or if I needed to tweak a few things. I was also interested to see if I needed to change anti-roll bars or if the stock units would give me what I wanted. I wanted to concentrate on getting my line right, staying smooth and hitting apexes. I wasn't particularly interested in trying to go fast. Going faster will come with experience and confidence.

A few pics....














The high point of the day for me was managing to get an instructor to go around with me. He corrected a few little things that needed correcting and reinforced what I was doing right. He then drove my car to illustrate what he was talking about.....

Man, the guy could drive!

Here's a video of the instruction laps:


http://www.vimeo.com/1457599


I asked him what he thought of the car. He loved it! "Awesome thing to drive, excellent under brakes, corners nice and flat and feels completely solid all around the circuit. Love it!".

Good to see the old E30s are still admired.

[doggydoo2000]

Good stuff Ade - how fast was the fastest straight?! Didnt get any audio? did it record? - thought I'd piggyback your lesson & listen to his tips!

What did you/he think to the ARB's?

Bet youve got the bug now tho eh?!!

[oze30]

Sandown is a good track. I miss the V8's. I don't have setanta and they only do replays late at night.

[AlpineAde]

Good stuff Ade - how fast was the fastest straight?! Didnt get any audio? did it record? - thought I'd piggyback your lesson & listen to his tips!

What did you/he think to the ARB's?

Bet youve got the bug now tho eh?!!

No audio of the "lesson" unfortunately. The camera is cheap, pretty good video but the audio lets it down. I will eventually get a better camera and use the GoPro as a second camera mounted outboard. Ideally, a digital audio recorder would have been best.

At the start of the day I was pretty slow. The front straight....around 165 kmh (102 mph) and the same down the back straight. I got a little faster and then went out with the instructor. Instead of using 3rd, 4th and 5th gears I used 2nd, 3rd and 4th and had a best run down the front straight of around 185 kmh (115 mph) and around 175 kmh (108 mph) down the back straight. I improved my lap time by around 7-8 seconds or thereabouts on my best lap. It was a tad difficult, though, as I found myself in a group that included a CLK Merc, WRXs and high horsepower Skylines and turbo Falcons. I concentrated just as much on making sure I let them all by as best I could as quickly as I could.

As for the ARBs...The stock units are excellent (or perhaps just suit my style). Seriously, they are good. Perhaps a slightly stiffer rear bar if I really wanted to tweak it but I'll try another couple of track days at the same circuit, get my speed up a bit, and decide from there.

The Koni/Eibach combination was superb.

The amount of camber was pretty good. -2.5 all around ~ though perhaps -3 front and -2 rear would be slightly better.

The instructor really thought the car handled well. It stuck where it needed to stick, pointed exactly where he pointed it and stopped hard. Very hard. He really did like it.

[AlpineAde]

Sandown is a good track. I miss the V8's. I don't have setanta and they only do replays late at night.

It's a great track. The run down to the blind left hander on the back straight at high speed is a corker! It's a nice mix all up ~ two pretty long straights and two pretty technical sections...a very good mix.

[AlpineAde]

A final few things...

The guy who runs the track day company emailed me a couple of very nice pics....

Pity Photobucket scales the crap out of them....

Coming out of turn 9.....






And for those interested this is what Sandown looks like:



Over and out until next track day!

[djs325]

Nice work Ade.

The standard E30 325i Aus Spec sway bars are 20mm front and 14.5 rear. Perfect for most track work & racing - a lot of E30 Racers still use them.

I however have upgraded my sway bar mounts and links, since the standard ones have a lot of give in them (great for road cars, not so much for race cars). I'm also going to Whiteline 24mm front and 16mm rear, both adjustable.

[AlpineAde]

Thanks, Dave!

Cheers for looking in. I never thought about upgrading mounts and links separately from going for a whole kit. I will definitely look into this ~ thanks. When are you making the move to the Whitelines?

[Lloydie38]

I'de love to have a blat around that track but the ferry from the Isle of Man doesn't go that far....

I'm looking for some instruction as I think that's worth the cash to pull me up on a few bad habbits - like resting my arm on the the door - lazy track driver on the straights!!

Looking good n tidy i the white BTW How did you do that Google earth thing?

[AlpineAde]

The track is indeed a great one. I'm hoping to do Phillip Island soon, too.

The club I'm a member of and the company that runs the trackdays at Sandown both include the use of instructors (if you want them) in the price. Definitely worth making use of them!

The Google Earth thing is not down to me. I simply ripped the interactive map off the Victorian E30 Racing site and took a screenshot, cut the map out, saved as a jpeg and uploaded to my Photobucket account.

To be fair, though ~ you Isle of Man fellows have some simply awesome roads. I'd love to have a drive over them but the only ferry I have access to goes to Tasmania. LOL! Still, nothing wrong there. Tasmania has top roads, too. Probably some of the best in the country.

[BMracing]

Good to see you've got yours on the track, looks great in all the pics. We want to get the bodywork looking like yours, some work to be done! You must have thicker/stiffer roll bars than we had on our standard car. Ours handled like a boat stock, so much taughter with the h&r adjustables on it!

Max

[schmick325]

Once you start track days you will find it hard to stop. cool shots. hope you beat that Vectra!

Ive got a 4 door e30 just waiting to be converted for the e30racing series. You seen that?

www.e30racing.com.au

[AlpineAde]

Once you start track days you will find it hard to stop. cool shots. hope you beat that Vectra!

Ive got a 4 door e30 just waiting to be converted for the e30racing series. You seen that?

www.e30racing.com.au

The Vectra...the guy was next to me in the pits. Nice bloke...and he drove very well. Yes. I beat the Vectra. The two straights killed it. Unfortunately, it was his car that dumped the entire contents of its sump on the track near the end of the day. I really felt for the guy as he was having a real blast and doing so very well.

I've seen the E30Racing series. Top stuff. I always check out their Youtube vids. You'll have a ball. Unfortunately, because of a disability, I could never pass the medical so the best i could do is a CAMS L2S and that allows me to fo stuff up to sprints. Good enough for me. More than happy to do that.

On the topic of further days ~ you bet ya! I can't wait to get out there again.

Glad you liked the shots, man. Cheers!

[AlpineAde]

Good to see you've got yours on the track, looks great in all the pics. We want to get the bodywork looking like yours, some work to be done! You must have thicker/stiffer roll bars than we had on our standard car. Ours handled like a boat stock, so much taughter with the h&r adjustables on it!

Max

Thanks, Max! I think we did get different bars. They felt pretty good to me ~ and as Dave said above a lot of the Australian E30 Racing guys still use them. I must look into uprating mounts/links as he suggested, though. Sounds the ticket to make things a tad tauter.