Moment of shame...
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Martin Perry
New member
Richard
What happened? Were you just pushing (too) hard?
Martin
What happened? Were you just pushing (too) hard?
Martin
Guest
New member
Pushing too hard? Probably.
It was very wet in the morning and my car is very stiff so its always a slightly delicate balance in the wet. It struggles to transfer enough weight to the outside front tyre on turn-in to get the tyre to bite. But, be that as it may, I went off when it had stopped raining and the track was merely wet. [
]I was starting to get a little more grip and I was following my friend in his 1973 RS Liteweight. His car is 950 kg and has MPSC tyres. My rain tyres are Colway Traxtar. Try as I might I couldn't maintain the same corner speeds in my much heavier Carrera. I had probably followed him for 10 laps or so making up time by taking a better line and maybe braking a little later and it was great fun. The torque of the 3.2 seemed to allow me to keep up on the straights and I was starting to experiment with accelerating a little earlier out of paddock hill etc etc. Well, I ran a little wide out of paddock hill and (as you may know) you really want to have everything pointed fairly straight as you hit the compression at the bottom of paddock hill. I ended up with 2 wheels on the slippery red and white curb and by the time I got it aff the curb and ready to brake I was a little late on the brakes. I think the left wheels were now on the painted white line so I locked up, came off the brakes and locked up again. At that point it was either risk turning in and have an inevitable spin or go straight on into the gravel trap.
The easy option seemed to be just let the gravel trap do its job and in hindsight I think was the correct option. I don't have a clear recollection of whether anything was close behind and turning in may have put me very close to my friend's car ahead. It is not worth the chance of hitting a real 73 RS Liteweight !
Tha "shame" comment is more reference to the fact that the session gets red flagged and everyone has to wait for the tractor to tow me out. So 10 minutes of delay to everyones day. Once I got the gravel out (needed to remove the cover from the steering rack), I was back out on track.
RB
Martin Perry
New member
If I could describe the circumstancs of an 'off' with such clarity I'd be pretty pleased with myself. Really interesting stuff Richard. I've never driven at Brands, but I've read pleanty about Paddock Hill bend...
Martin
Martin
nigelp
New member
Glad to hear you and the car came out in one piece, that is what's important at the end of the day. Have you tried softening the front a bit, for example taking the strut brace off at any circuits? I had one of my cars lowered, braced, top mounts changed and all bushes uprated and found it was too stiff. Just a thought as you couldn't possibly have been pushing the envelope too far..........surely!!!
Glad alls well in the end.
Glad alls well in the end.
Guest
New member
Maybe - but the only thing I could do is remove the strut brace, which would hardly make a difference in this respect. One day I will get an adjustable front anti-roll bar to match the rear then problem solved - just soften both bars or disconnect altogether. Then again, its only a track day.
The setup is perfect for the dry so I am reluctant to change it. I would even think of going a fraction stiffer in the rear for the dry. Part of the problem was also the tyres.
RB
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