Peugeot 306 Gti6 Track Day Project

Peugeot 306 Gti6 Track Day Project

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Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
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zedx19 said:
They have a small oil cooler as standard, tapping engine is a sign of cambelt snapping and rebuild. Nothing to worry about.
Yes i had heard that about the cambelt, which all tallys up with the fact it had a head rebuild and some nice bits added back in 2011...

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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So i've been worried about the quality of my steering wheel ever since I saw a video of how the bloody things snap and spear you like a cheap kebab. (I should have realised £45 was too good to be true...)

Anyway, I managed to grab a real bargain on eBay, a badly listed, virtually new OMP 2 Spoke wheel worth £160 @ Demon Tweeks right now.....price i paid, £65 incl postage - bargain...

And I love it! (its way way stronger/stiffer, slightly smaller and thinner rim, as well as being lighter, but most pleasing is the way it fits, rather than cheese strength plated bolts it uses the high-tensile Momo bolts that came with the boss, all counter sunk etc.)



I gave it a quick wash over lunch, noticed the tyres are ever-so-slightly catching the arches on the outside, i guess i will need to get them rolled?



Cheeky pic, without the decat the exhaust sits perfectly:





Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Monday 23rd February 2015
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Update time!

So we were back on track on Monday last week (16th Feb) @ Bedford, and following the previous outing i was suffering from oil temp issues. now the car came with an oil cooler fitted in a bracked but not plumbed in...

Oil cooler all plumbed in with Mocal thermostatic plate, oil temps on track never broke 100 (140 last October in similar conditions)




Also gave it a full oil change/service and fitted a new clutch cable. (the latter transformed the car!)

Car park, pre track:



The track day was fantastic, started off dry and the car felt amazing, the RSR's were incredibly sticky and we were faster than quite a few traditionally faster cars. Here's a few pics and a video of one of my dry laps, it was one of the first laps and turn in was a tad aggressive, definitely improved throughout the day...

Bloody LOVE this picture from a guy in the track day section on PH!:





Video:


The weather got progressively worse from lunch time onwards, however It was fantastic, really forced me to adapt my driving style, balancing understeer vs oversteer, trail braking etc, its some of the best driving i've ever done. Towards the end of the day we were keeping up with really pretty special cars, particularly the E46 M3's, one lap I caught on camera below that i'm pretty pleased with! (RSR's arent amazing in the wet so did struggle with understeer on a couple of occasions as you'll see...





Wet Video: 12 solid laps chasing this M3! (just awesome)



Overall the car was fantastic, brakes remain the best setup i've ever used, handling is agile and lively but incredibly predictable and engaging, although i am craving more straight line speed (particulary torque out of the apex) however i cant complain, clicked over 160k miles whilst on track, completing 180 miles on track and 110 miles each way to get there!

Now on the hunt for the elusive half-cage, harnesses and throttle bodies....

Thanks for reading smile

Chris

gazz81

172 posts

131 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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Watched the video, got to say I love the commentary!

banksey

65 posts

171 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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gazz81 said:
Watched the video, got to say I love the commentary!
Haha thanks (not all me) I had to edit some of the more explicit content - got a tad carried away!

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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banksey said:
Cheers, signed up to both of the above already smile

banksey

65 posts

171 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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Ah cool, the fb page is mine so I most prob added you lol

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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hmmm my bad not a member of that one, joining...

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Tuesday 4th August 2015
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So...Update time, christ its been bloody ages!

Well after what seems like an eternity progress at last - Rallye Aux kit fitted & all of the aircon pipes etc all removed, along with the compressor etc...

I also stripped out all of the carpet & sound deadening which has made it very very raw, but kind of fun and it was an amazing amount of weight reduction (particularly the rear seats carpet and the bulk head sound deadening

And much more importantly, it was a real pain of a job by all accounts but my Satchshift (from Satchell Engineering) is in, and I can confirm, utterly utterly brilliant! - Incredibly short throw, lovely high position near the steering wheel (i can change smoothly from 2nd to 3rd at 7krpm i dont even loose 1k rpm between changes, so its still at 6k and really pulling after changing gear - it is just brilliant)





As you will see I also bought a fire extinguisher as the tunnel does get very very hot after a reasonable drive so I can only imagine it could get pretty damn hot on track...

On the down side, I have found rather a lot of rust in the passenger wing and the floor on both passenger & driver foot wells (in the corners and running along the sill) so some serious welding is on the horizon i guess :-(

That said it is still so much fun to drive, so agile, lively, direct and engaging - such great cars!

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Friday 11th September 2015
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Well its been a few weeks since i stripped it out, loving the 'rawness' of the car now, really feels like a proper little sports car now..

That said it looked a bit crappy and with wet shoes was truthfully lethal, so i've added a set of tailored front mats which i've attached down (taking inspiration from my dads Westfield) with industrial velcro which has worked amazingly well.

I've also trunked all of the interior cabling which looks a hell of a lot nicer but also protects the wires during a spirited drive...


Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Sunday 11th October 2015
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Totally chuffed, thanks to Eddy aka Chris on the gti6 forum I bagged a set of 16" Pro Race 1.2's and had them powder coated White - a lot of people like the Turini's and I did but always wanted these not just for looks but weight advantage too...needless to say I bloody love them :-)









Centre caps are coming...

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 11th October 2015
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Nice choice, great wheels and they look good too smile

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Monday 12th October 2015
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Cheers, I was amazed how light they were, I understand they are strong too

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Monday 12th October 2015
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Strong and light, pain in the arse to wash though!

Nice work so far. smile

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Tuesday 20th October 2015
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Hi Gents,

Thought i'd share a little write up on the open pit lane track day @ Bedford Autodrome on Monday...

So with 2 little ones and a hectic life/job etc it came to Sunday night and 12 hours before we are due to convoy down to what was forecasted to be a sunny (or what actually transpired to be rainy) Bedfordshire I started 'preparing' the car...

Tyre pressures, coolant, oil, brakes, - all present & topped up, a good wash & polish and we are ready for the off!

04:30am - Alarm goes off...***** that is early (and I normally get up at 5:30am) but christ that was early

05:10am - Convoy assembled (Stage 3 Focus ST, A very tasty stripped out Leon Cupra with the biggest brakes you have ever seen, and a Cosworth honed, stupidly fast and setup Astra Coupe Turbo) - so yes I was at least 130bhp short...



Remarkably we arrived at Bedford at 07:45am with time to drool over a carpark full of M3's, 400bhp Mk3 Fiesta's, and an Octave VRS with a cone filter poking through the bonnet ?! Sadly its really wet, NOT what the bloody BBC reliably told us but it would certainly add to the entertainment value for spectators

09:00am - Briefing done, 89db at 4500 rpm with Cat was a surprisingly high readout (more than any of the cars in convoy...)

09:30am - On track for siting lap, now i've done Bedford before, it was always reassuringly open and 'safe' but the new additions have added a new and much needed element of complexity and it is a great circuit. It is still REALLY wet and the back of the 306 has already informed me it would like to overtake the front if at all possible!

10:00am - Track open, sit back, watch the nutters get their steam blown off, M4 comes spinning past the pits, and I boldly state "i've never spun here and don't plan to today...."

10:30am - We're off, car feels fantastic, the Satchshift has transformed how the car performs, you really feel the gears through the gearstick, tarmac through the wheel and the chassis through the buckets, its massively engaging and tactile - if bloody loud without any sound deadening.

Anyway, 1st lap out, its wet still, feels good but tyres not warming up that quickly, over confidence, caffeine, and early start all together result in the inevitable, right in front of the bloody pits!!!

It felt like I'd smashed something, temporarily it wouldnt move (or at least it felt like it...) In hindsight i'm annoyed with myself, just crap driving, cold tyres, wet, turned in off throttle but that is why i love Bedford, brushed off, cleaned up and out we went to continue the day smile

https://youtu.be/vnBrylw5N8E

So the rest of the day went without a hitch, the car, firstly it dried up (hallelujah!) i mean what a car, for a cheap and cheerful track car it was exceptional, with a real minority of cars lapping faster (with the exception of a tuned Megane 260 (thoroughly nice bloke), a handful of bonkers Caterhams, the M4 and a Supercharged Monaro)

Despite a 130bhp short fall, on a fast open track, my little 162k mile, 18 year old 306 gallantly marched around and around the track, using 2 tanks of fuel, and overtaking all of the cars that we came down with, along with loads of Evo's, Impreza's, 911's, C63's and one extremely well driven and v fast Scirocco...

Here are a few clips with the other cars metioned, some of which I am well and truly in overdrive mode but hell that is part of the fun!

https://youtu.be/p7S5TMZi9Ks

https://youtu.be/hPkTiVnUZ9Y

https://youtu.be/ncROLN2VkYI

2 tanks of Super Unleaded later and she was a tad dirty (those wheels were white....)



For anyone considering a 306 as a track day car, getting on track, or heading to Bedford, I cannot recommend all 3 opportunities, an utterly brilliant, exhausting, and exhilarating day in equal measure, bring on the next!


Edited by Chr1sch on Wednesday 21st October 15:09

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 21st October 2015
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Glad you enjoyed it. I really like the Bedford GT layout, lots of fun and variety.

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Wednesday 21st October 2015
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Yes i agree, had a fantastic day, and made it home in one piece to boot!

zedx19

2,704 posts

139 months

Wednesday 21st October 2015
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I had a similar off just at a different section of track, also in a white GTI-6, some time ago now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBBpIIB1RN0

Chr1sch

Original Poster:

2,585 posts

192 months

Wednesday 21st October 2015
quotequote all
Ouch, i'm glad i didnt have a meeting with that wall, i'm frustrated it was a simple lack of my attention early in the day, lesson learnt....

Still cant wait to get out again!