Eastern Creek Track day - Circuit Club Twilight Event

Jeff and I went out for the Circuit Club Eastern Creek twilight event on Thursday evening from 5pm to 9pm....
Not only was it our first track day at Eastern Creek, we also had to deal with driving in sunset and night time conditions - all of which were a steep learning curve!!

I absolutely loved the track and look forward to returning, preferably in normal daylight conditions though.  Jeff drove our white V8 track car and I drove the Blue Soarer.

Apart from learning the track, dealing with the lighting/visibility/glare, we also had to deal with lots of down time with drivers coming off the track left right and centre with so much time lost due to recovering cars gone off, hitting walls and hitting each other - very frustrating to say the least!!

Anyway, we got out there and had a ball when possible.
The Blue Soarer was handling a lot better after a wheel alignment since last week at Wakefield and my ordered Hawk HT10 track pads finally arrived and were fitted in time.
I should have had the rotors skimmed though as I had to manage getting around with massive vibrations under brakes causing the steering wheel to litterally jump out of my hands....
Night time racing without anyone in front of you was a revelation for as my night video will show and I made the silly mistake of putting the good lights on the white Soarer!!

A few videos of the day here

EC Circuit Club Daylight lap

EC Circuit Club Night lap

EC Circuit Club highlights

Random picture from the night I came across on the web

Trackday : Wakefield Park 12th November 2010

As usual, trackdays arrive faster than expected and the "to do" list isn't always complete - in this case, the Hawk HT-10 track pads that had been ordered 5 weeks ago from the US did not arrive in time so I was forced to run on street pads and I ran out of time to book in a wheel alignment, so geometry settings are unknown.

It was a stinking hot day in the 30s, so we had to be very wary of thermal overloading for both the cars and drivers!

The car performed well throughout the day and was absolutely fantastic on the straight bits pushing everyone it encountered.

The brakes I had to be cautious with as they were cooking within 3 or 4 hot laps, so I tended to brake 50-75 metres earlier than on the V8 track car to try and prolong their life each stint.

Handling-wise it took me a lot of time to get used to it as it tended to understeer initially followed by oversteer and I really struggled the find a fast balance into/through/out of corners - I'm more used to the go kart like handling of the V8 Soarer and it showed through the twisty bits where I lost a lot of time.

The only minor issue all day was the shifter starting to become difficult to select gears and finally coming out of the housing and leaving me stranded in neutral on the track.

A tow back to the pits followed by a strip down and no broken components were found.

I cleaned and refitted everything and the change was dramatic with a nice tight and short shift - I wondered why it was so loose previously in it's movement and unlike what I recalled.

It's amazing that all 4 bolts unthreaded some 10mm each and decided to let go on the track!!

Within 45 minutes I was back out on the track better than ever.

A few vids of the track day firstly from within the car and then from Damo following:

http://youtu.be/OlIVWmkBxHM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4fDLnBeWA

A short turnaround for the next track day, a twilight event at Eastern Creek this Thursday afternoon.

A shorter "to do" list this week - fit HIDs, fit a Sparco drivers seat, wheel alignment, fit Hawk track pads which arrived on Friday and an oil change and I'll be set to tackle a new track!

A few random pictures of the day I came across on the web

Trackday Prep

With a track day at Wakefield  Park fast approaching, a few changes were made.

Supra 2 pot rear callipers, DBA 4000 rotors and Maltech ADR approved teflon/stainless braided lines were fitted and bled with Motul RBF600 DOT4 high performance brake fluid.

A Whiteline adjustable front sway bar was fitted along with matching polyurethane bushes and links.

The original radiator was showing signs of stress with hundreds of horizontal micro fractures on the plastic top tank, so a near new OEM radiator was fitted with a TRD 1.3 bar radiator cap holding in a fresh batch of Toyota Red coolant.

All engine bay vacuum and boost lines were replaced with highly resilient black silicon lines and secured at each end with cable ties.

The R154 5 speed's fluid was replaced with some Redline MTL and quickly positively transformed the shift quality.

Some spare 18" wheels were sourced and mounted with some used 24/64-18 Porsche Cup control Michelin slicks.

Pickup and long drive

To cut a long story short, I was offered too nice a Soarer to pass up, I bought it before someone else did - I flew up and picked it up in Brisbane and drove it home 870kms!

I've known the previous owner for almost 10 years and during that time we have corresponded swapping suggestions/experiences on upgrading each of our respective Soarers.
I actually drove it some 7 years ago and was impressed with it way back then.

The plan at this stage is to set it up for use on track days and the occasional weekend drive until the current QLD rego runs out and then attempt to get NSW rego - whether this can be achieved with the current configuration or will required a standard driveline to be dropped in remains to be seen.

Having got to know the car very well during the long trip home, I can report that it drives very well and is a very well sorted combination.
Compared to the Garrett GT3540 I previously ran on my daily driver, turbos response is better with a little bit less top end as the consequence ; this is with only 18psi, so perhaps with another 6-7 psi to even up the boost, this would come close to catching the GT3540's top end.
Handling-wise, it handles exceptionally well and this suspension combination is very accomodating to less than perfect roads and absorbed imperfections and bumps quietly and with easy - surprising to me  considering the solid strut tops!
Brakes were great and very much better than standard but I didn't try and find their limits so early on.
All in all, I'm very pleased with the mechanical package and no nasty surprises.

Some specs:

1992 GTTL JZZ30 Soarer
Custom DMD Electric Blue paint mix
Top Secret front bar, side skirt and rear bar

Engine
1.5JZ based on a new Supra GTE block
HKS GT3040 turbo kit
HKS 50mm wastegate
Apexi GT spec 88mm intercooler
Trust Type R blowoff valve plumbed back
HKS 256/256 camshafts
Adjustable cam pulleys: Jun intake, custom exhaust
Sard 800cc injectors
ATI harmonic balancer
Custom made airbox with Apexi Power Intake filter
Custom intercooler piping ceramic coated
HKS thermostat controlled oil cooler
TRD thermostat

ECU/Ignition
Motec M48 Pro with Advanced Tuning Options - logging, traction control, closed loop lambda etc with integrated boost control.
Ignition fully sequential via Motec ignition expander operating std igniter and HKS DLI
New Toyota coil packs
Denso IK22 iridium plugs

Drivetrain
R154 5-speed
RaceClutch 5 puck carbotic w/ 3400lb pressure plate
Torsen T1 LSD 4.1 ratio - Torsen II supplied and to be fitted

Wheels /Tyres
TOMS TN-06
Front: 18x8.5
Rear: 18x9.5
Front: Michelin Pilot Preceda II 235/40x18
Rear: Toyo T1-R 265/35x18

Suspension
Tein HA adjustable coilovers
Solid spherical strut ctops

Brakes
Front: Supra 4-piston calipers, DBA slotted 324mm rotors, Hawk HPS pads
Rear: Std. Soarer calipers, standard Toyota rotors, standard Toyota pads
Maltech braided brake lines
Motul RB-600 brake fluid
Supra 2 pot rear callipers supplied and to be fitted

Exhaust

3.5in ceramic coated downpipe with braided connection for external wastegate. Two O2 sensor bungs.

3in genuine Metal Cat.

3in ceramic coated pipework with custom stainless packed Genie centre muffler and Rival Performance rear cannon muffler.

Variflo exhaust valve/controller

 

Fuel pump

U.S. Supra Denso pump controlled via the Motec

The car recently made 331.2 rwkW on a Mainline Dynolog dyno at 19 psi boost.

A few pictures