Cheap Donington Track Day - Fri 31st Oct

[Fen]

Another PF pad convert - and and inkling of KW as well!

I bought a relatively cheap oil cooler intended for a bike that has about 5 times the surface area of the OE one, and a Motul thermostat. Then I took my old lines and the new bits, plus some measurements, to Pirtek who made up braided 1" hoses to fit to the original take-off points. All up not too expensive and much, much better cooling than stock, plus with the 'stat it whouldn't be cooling when it doesn't need to be. I might have borrowed the space for it from the location of the air-con condenser though.

 

[MarkK]

Ed-Yup can see some sparks up both sides of the car visible from the drivers seat,quite dramatic,first time i drove it in the dark and i saw them it really worried me,really pulls up sharpish though like you say.

 

[sawood12]

Ed - I liked the flames coming out of your exhaust under braking going into the corner at the end of the start/finish straight. I've seen that on a few 944T's on track days now.

 

[appletonn]

OK, look out Lewis Hamilton, here I come....![]

What a fantastic day; great weather, good company (thanks for the passenger laps Ed!) and a perfect circuit to get to know your car on track for the first time!

I had one exciting moment in my very first session when my entry speed into Redgate exceeded the available talent [8|] and around I went, but no harm done...

By the time I got into my last session, I was starting to feel more relaxed in the car and in feeling just how balanced and controllable it was once it started to slide, although I never did manage to make much less than a complete bolognaise of Coppice, despite many attempts![8|]

I was never totally happy with my brakes (first excuse from the racing driver excuse book!) so I need to investigate that, but apart from that the car didn't miss a beat and then cruised home along the A50 and the M6.

I think my next upgrade needs to be to the driver and some tuition will be on the cards for the next time[]

Good to see 3 red turbos and a red cab (that Chris was pedalling very quickly, incidentally), especially as they are clearly the fastest ones.....[]

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: appletonn
Good to see 3 red turbos and a red cab

That's why the rest of us chickened out (we had the slower colours )

 

[cdickinson]

Ed / Nick - great to meet you yesterday (and Nick's dad). Scott, sorry I missed you! - I was stuck helping my friends try and keep their 'rubbish' cars running! (Astra GSi with too much power through the front wheels & MK1 Golf Gti with too many mods so the sum of all parts is less capable than standard!)

What a fantastic day, I really managed to see exactly what she can do and my oh my did we embarrass some 'decent' motors - the highlight was showing an E36 M3 how to take the old hairpin properly and a modified Celica GT4 not being able to shake me off. People kept coming into the garage saying how surprised they are at how the old girl dances and pulls down the back straight!

It was great to see the 944's out there doing us proud, it was obvious we are still very capable.

Final note to all S2 owners, we aren't as slow as the figures on paper may suggest, especially with a decat, induction kit and chip, I can thoroughly recommend these basic mods to change the way the power is delivered.

Roll on the next one.....

 

[Big Dave]

Hey Nick. You ready for Oulton next.????

 

[appletonn]

ORIGINAL: cdickinson

Ed / Nick - great to meet you yesterday (and Nick's dad). Scott, sorry I missed you! - I was stuck helping my friends try and keep their 'rubbish' cars running! (Astra GSi with too much power through the front wheels & MK1 Golf Gti with too many mods so the sum of all parts is less capable than standard!)

What a fantastic day, I really managed to see exactly what she can do and my oh my did we embarrass some 'decent' motors - the highlight was showing an E36 how to take the old hairpin properly and a modified Celica GT4 not being able to shake me off. People kept coming into the garage saying how surprised they are at how the old girl dances and pulls down the back straight!

It was great to see the 944's out there doing us proud, it was obvious we are still very capable.

Final note to all S2 owners, we aren't as slow as the figures on paper may suggest, especially with a decat, induction kit and chip, I can thoroughly recommend these basic mods to change the way the power is delivered.

Roll on the next one.....

Chris, great to meet you too. As far as your mates and their 'rubbish' cars go, I'm glad I didn't get too close to that GSI and its flamethrower attachment [] and that 318is looked to be great fun to chuck around.

I think my car would benefit from going on a diet most of all (plus the reprogrammimg of its driver too of course[8|]) as it is a good 500kg heavier than those Elises and Exiges.

Great day, have been reliving every corner in my mind ever since! [8|][]

 

[appletonn]

ORIGINAL: Big Dave UK

Hey Nick. You ready for Oulton next.????

Errm, how are you defining 'ready'?![8D][]

All I keep thinking about is how little run off area there is at Oulton compared to Donnington, so I will definitely be investing on some tuition on the day, if it is available...[]

Just need to wash the car and give a good check over and I'll be 'ready'!

Can't wait []

 

[sawood12]

Trying to take weight out of these cars seems to be just as much as a 'dog chasing it's tail' job as finding horses. It seems to me from most that once you've taken out what you can from the interior and installed a roll cage (you need to really if you are going down the more track-car orientation) then you're just about where you started from. I think the only people who are successful at significantly reducing weight are those who strip back to bare shell, acid dip, only re-install those items that are absolutely essential, install a few plastic body panels and perspex tailgate and side windows. Would be a bit of a shame to do that to as nice a car as yours Nick.

I think in mildly modded form with improvements in driver skill area you can hussle these babies round any track as quick as much more expensive and quicker machinery.

 

[Fen]

Oulton is superb, Nick. OK there isn't a lot of runoff in most places, but my experience of tracks like that is that you soon forget. In fact my most worrisome track in that regard is Silverstone as I just get nervy round the last right hander onto the sart-finish for some reason (maybe that I only got a place the one evening I ran there due to an RX8 stuffing it into the wall at that very point).

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

Trying to take weight out of these cars seems to be just as much as a 'dog chasing it's tail' job as finding horses. It seems to me from most that once you've taken out what you can from the interior and installed a roll cage (you need to really if you are going down the more track-car orientation) then you're just about where you started from. I think the only people who are successful at significantly reducing weight are those who strip back to bare shell, acid dip, only re-install those items that are absolutely essential, install a few plastic body panels and perspex tailgate and side windows. Would be a bit of a shame to do that to as nice a car as yours Nick.

My half cage without harness bar weighs the same as the spare tyre, so it's easy to offset its weight (ok it's higher up in the car but at least it's in the middle, plus it hopefully improves chassis stiffness too). This leaves loads of stuff you can do to save a lot of weight without spending a fortune and get other benefits at each stage too i.e. bucket seats are also infinitely better on track, gel based batteries cannot leak acid and so on. The tail gate and side windows are easily reversible (although the side windows are a pretty small saving). I agree it would be nice to remove the undeseal as there's a lot of weight there (albeit low down on the car), but it would make you have to think more about how and when you drove the car.

The only worry for some is it's more tricky to remove weight from the front, but after setup on the scales mine was still very well balanced and on track it was great even with almost no weight removed from the front (added in fact, as the S2 engine is heavier).

 

[edh]

Peter - talking of weight saving - did you manage to rescue that sunroof?

Fen - I won't be shelling out for KW's any time soon - oil cooler, Tial, weight reduction & maybe ARB's are all on the list though.

Scott - Flames sound interesting! - must be my ALS kicking in [] I think there's lots of weight reduction possibilities - but I'm waiting to see how civilised Peter's car is on the road before I get started.

Dave - I agree with you about Woodcote at Silverstone. It looks like a very nasty corner in the wet (only ever driven it in the dry myself) - according to John Sims there's a small stream that runs across it when it rains [:-] Having said that, I think you're (not you maybe, but people generally []) more likely to stuff it at Druids - I saw a F360 get badly damaged there in Feb. If you don't know the line through that corner it's easy to run out of road on the exit.

 

[Peter Empson]

Hi Ed,
I did ask them to put it to one side but completely forgot to mention it when I visited last. I asked Simon if he felt it was much lighter and he didn't seem completely certain. I'm heading over again later on this week so will give you a shout, but worst case I've asked them to save the manual latches as they're really useful and pretty difficult to get hold of in the UK.

I don't think my car is going to be very civilised as I don't plan to put the carpets back in straight away (if at all). With carpets but no sound deadening it should be ok, although if it was returning to daily use then I'd probably put the felt back onto the rear arches, and a removeable mat on top of the gearbox (but still leave out the useless bitumous pads that the factory fit) as they seemed to be the biggest sources of noise from my experiments.

 

[appletonn]

ORIGINAL: Fen

Oulton is superb, Nick. OK there isn't a lot of runoff in most places, but my experience of tracks like that is that you soon forget. In fact my most worrisome track in that regard is Silverstone as I just get nervy round the last right hander onto the sart-finish for some reason (maybe that I only got a place the one evening I ran there due to an RX8 stuffing it into the wall at that very point).

Fen, Oulton is my local circuit and probably my favourite (along with Donnington now!), but, although I have driven it twice before, that was only by way of introductory 'sighting' laps and not in the Turbo, so I'll be in new territory!

That said, having spectated at 5 or 6 race events there this year alone, I can't wait to try to drive it 'properly', hence the comment about getting some tuition.

I think I spoke to you a few years ago at Oulton, seem to remember your car and the immense 'sucking' noise that emanated from it on full boost down the pit straight.[]

 

[Fen]

That was me - sorry I didn't realise we'd met. Of course now I'd trying to place you among the people I met that day with little success.

 

[appletonn]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

Trying to take weight out of these cars seems to be just as much as a 'dog chasing it's tail' job as finding horses. It seems to me from most that once you've taken out what you can from the interior and installed a roll cage (you need to really if you are going down the more track-car orientation) then you're just about where you started from. I think the only people who are successful at significantly reducing weight are those who strip back to bare shell, acid dip, only re-install those items that are absolutely essential, install a few plastic body panels and perspex tailgate and side windows. Would be a bit of a shame to do that to as nice a car as yours Nick.

I think in mildly modded form with improvements in driver skill area you can hussle these babies round any track as quick as much more expensive and quicker machinery.

Scott, I am reluctant to do anything that would not be easily reversible, should I ever wish to sell the car. Above all, it is a fun road car which I want to be able to enjoy on track as much as I can afford, so I think I will look into getting light weight seats in there (already have one in a box in the garage, waiting to be fitted) and remove the spare wheel, boot carpet etc when I venture on track. That way, I can keep my nice Linen leather seats wrapped up and protected, ready to be refitted as and when. From what I've read, just removing the standard electric seats (which are pretty heavy, I'd guess?) and the boot carpet and spare wheel should equate to circa 50-60kg saving, which will help!

Just checked the car over and it has used around half a litre of oil, including the 200 mile round trip to Donnington and 5 20 min sessions on track - not too bad for an old bus with almost 137,000 miles on the clock!

 

[Big Dave]

Nick.
Buy all means get some tuition if its available...But im most happy to sit in the passenger seat with you + show you the "correct" lines.. Ive been round Oulton LOADS + im pretty confident with my lines....
At least itl be a quiet day...
The key is to start slow + build up, gaining confidence as you go...

PS...Edited to add. Im not a driving god + never purport to be...[8|][8|]
PPS, Hopefully ill be able to show you how a 968 can be driven round Oulton...Thats if you want to join me for a few pax laps...???[][][][]

 

[cdickinson]

Nick, I also used about 1/2 litre of oil and did all six sessions - my car has done just over 60k so there should be no concern with yours.

I'm leaving mine as the GT that it truly is as the 'no roof wobble' is not exactly curable! However, go for it with yours and keep doing the track days as it looked a great example and obviously has loads of potential.

Hope you have a great day at Oulton - I'd bite Dave's arm off at his offer as the right line / speed can account for lots!

 

[edh]

I used a bit more oil than that...[] - about 1.5 litres. Oil temps of 130 C may have been a factor.

I was pushing it quite hard, revving to well past 6k & hit the limiter a couple of times

We'll see how much gets used once I've sorted the cooler & can run more reasonable temps.