Radical Quiet exhaust

[splitpin]

Sigmamark7 said:

splitpin said:

As you will apparently be competing with the fastest cars outside the British Grand Prix, do be careful!

Talk about creative, copy penned by someone with even more imagination than Mad4Amanda?

2 points - Firstly, I am quite disappointed to learn that the SR3RS isn't actually faster than a F1 car and secondly, I have every intention of being careful. I will be wearing clean underwear and might even check the wheel nuts are tight and that most of the tyres have some air in them. I will also have a comprehensive list of excuses available to explain my lack of pace/courage/talent! Surely that covers all the bases.

Just remember to watch those rear view mirrors ........... and no diving up the inside under the brakes into corners and no rubbing

[BertBert]

splitpin said:

Book that hotel room and/or change your handle to mad4bert? Decisions, decisions

What are you on Trev?

[andylaurence]

Sigmamark7 said:

No, I didn't go home because I didn't want to rev it to 7500 rpm, I went home because when I revved it to 7500, it was measured at 104dB!! My complaint was that I didn't want to rev a new unit to 7500 before it had any miles on it. I guess the noise tester was vindicated, because the car measured over the limit, but that wasn't really the point I was making.

Anyway, following your advice, I have an entry for the GWS on the 21st, so hopefully you can prove what a friendly bunch you Libre boys are and give me some tips as to how I can get sufficient heat in the brakes and tyres, to avoid an early and expensive visit to the barriers at Quarry. Any advice will be very gratefully received.

Ahh, now I understand! Yes, that's why I don't do track days. I only bother with sprints and proper test days. Combe do them on Thursdays before the race meetings.

As far as next Saturday goes, there's 5 of us in class; Matt Carter who will win in his PR6 and 3 of us several seconds down the road in a bit of a battle, I hope! The final car is a Mini with an engine swap. It'll be a good day out, provided the weather's good and you don't beat me... I'm in the orange car and happy to help with anything. The key to Quarry on cold tyres with cold brakes is to remember that you're on cold tyres with cold brakes. Just build up to it and don't remember your braking point from the 2nd lap and think you can use that on the first later on! What tyres are you on?

As far as the quote of the fastest cars outside the British GP goes, I think that's probably a fair statement. The V8 single seaters are properly rapid - just stand on the bank at Folly to understand how fast. I hear 170-180mph is a ball-park figure up Avon Rise. They have oodles of downforce too, so they tend to corner well. Racecar Engineering Aerobytes features have tested modern F1 cars and some sprint/hillclimb cars in the MIRA wind tunnel and they tend to come out with similar figures, the lack of rules making up for the lack of resources, I expect.

[Sigmamark7]

[quote=andylaurence]
Ahh, now I understand! Yes, that's why I don't do track days. I only bother with sprints and proper test days. Combe do them on Thursdays before the race meetings.

As far as next Saturday goes, there's 5 of us in class; Matt Carter who will win in his PR6 and 3 of us several seconds down the road in a bit of a battle, I hope! The final car is a Mini with an engine swap. It'll be a good day out, provided the weather's good and you don't beat me... I'm in the orange car and happy to help with anything. The key to Quarry on cold tyres with cold brakes is to remember that you're on cold tyres with cold brakes. Just build up to it and don't remember your braking point from the 2nd lap and think you can use that on the first later on! What tyres are you on? quote]

So , if I aim for a 5th in Class, I can expect to go home happy!!
As for tyres, I have a nice new set of Dunlop Slicks which I hope to scrub in during practice or a set of nicely scrubbed wets if the heavens open. If it's damp, I think it will be a tough decision, but I will aim for a 5th in Class and then blame everything on the conditions. I have another set of tired slicks, so if there is anyone there cutting tyres, I guess that might be an option and I could use a cut slick and aim for a 5th in Class!!

[andylaurence]

Sigmamark7 said:

So , if I aim for a 5th in Class, I can expect to go home happy!!
As for tyres, I have a nice new set of Dunlop Slicks which I hope to scrub in during practice or a set of nicely scrubbed wets if the heavens open. If it's damp, I think it will be a tough decision, but I will aim for a 5th in Class and then blame everything on the conditions. I have another set of tired slicks, so if there is anyone there cutting tyres, I guess that might be an option and I could use a cut slick and aim for a 5th in Class!!

Aim for 5th and be happy is a great way to look at it. I don't know how long the Dunlops take to warm up - my Avons work well from cold and are on song by The Esses. I only use wets if it's standing water, but they've resurfaced the track over the winter from what I hear, so no idea how water will accumulate or whether it'll be especially greasy. There will not be anyone cutting tyres, so if in doubt, use your wets. Better to be a little off the pace than a little off the road. I assume this is your first sprint, so I'll keep an eye on you and make sure you're in the right place at the right time. Has your licence arrived yet? Don't forget to fit a timing strut and the right numbers...

[Sigmamark7]

andylaurence said:

Aim for 5th and be happy is a great way to look at it. I don't know how long the Dunlops take to warm up - my Avons work well from cold and are on song by The Esses. I only use wets if it's standing water, but they've resurfaced the track over the winter from what I hear, so no idea how water will accumulate or whether it'll be especially greasy. There will not be anyone cutting tyres, so if in doubt, use your wets. Better to be a little off the pace than a little off the road. I assume this is your first sprint, so I'll keep an eye on you and make sure you're in the right place at the right time. Has your licence arrived yet? Don't forget to fit a timing strut and the right numbers...

The Dunlops take a lap or so to warm up, hence my concern, but at least I should be able to brake late as I come back into the paddock!! Yes, this is my first sprint so any advice is welcome. I'm hoping that if I brake all the way from the paddock to the start line and left foot brake over the rise, there should be sufficient heat in the brakes before Quarry and the Esses, but this might just prove how little heat there is in the tyres. I have no idea how I can get any heat into the tyres, so I'm hoping that the temperature is in the 30s and the new surface is holding plenty of heat. Failing that, I would probably vote for some standing water. My shiny new license turned up the other day and the plan is to race my Clio, possibly in the CC series, but it is some way from being ready, so I thought that the GWS would be an opportunity to get the Radical on track.
I have made and fitted a timing strut, but hope to get some numbers from Merlin on the day. Ideally I would go for white numbers against the black background of the car, but the regs suggest that I need black numbers against white, so will need backgrounds as well.
If I can take the car home in the same condition as it arrives, I will be happy. A 5th in class will be ok (providing I'm not seconds off the pace) and anything else is a bonus.
See you there.
Mark

[SportsLibre]

Resurfaced tarmac with probably we as slidy as (a slidy thing) and really greasy if damp.

[Terzo204]

Having driven a few laps there recently, I don't think there has been much re-surfacing, if any at all.

Mark - I got numbers and backing from Demon Tweeks for not a lot of money. Delivered overnight.

Mike

[Sigmamark7]

Terzo204 said:

Having driven a few laps there recently, I don't think there has been much re-surfacing, if any at all.

Mark - I got numbers and backing from Demon Tweeks for not a lot of money. Delivered overnight.

Mike

There has been some major resurfacing since we were there Mike (about 75% of the track), so I'm guessing that it will be super grippy, super slippery, or somewhere in between!!
At least it will be the same for all of us, unless you happen to be driving a Westie, in which case ........................................

[MagicalTrevor]

I'll also be there at GWS, this will be my second Sprint.
Last year I used some used Avon circuit slicks which got me round. I elected to use the event as a something to find my feet, find out what needed changing on the car and just take it from there. I took it very easy around the corners, especially Quarry and Tower!
I have new sprint slicks this year so I'm hoping to turn up the wick a little... but I'm still a noob!

As Andy said, we're a friendly bunch in Sports Libre. If you have any questions or need help doing stuff then people will ALWAYS be help so don't be shy!


Front left to right:
Clive in his SR3
Me in my Van Diemen
Andy in his, now beautifully repaired, ADR

Edited by MagicalTrevor on Friday 13th March 07:53

Edited by MagicalTrevor on Friday 13th March 07:54

[andylaurence]

Sigmamark7 said:

The Dunlops take a lap or so to warm up, hence my concern, but at least I should be able to brake late as I come back into the paddock!! Yes, this is my first sprint so any advice is welcome. I'm hoping that if I brake all the way from the paddock to the start line and left foot brake over the rise, there should be sufficient heat in the brakes before Quarry and the Esses, but this might just prove how little heat there is in the tyres. I have no idea how I can get any heat into the tyres, so I'm hoping that the temperature is in the 30s and the new surface is holding plenty of heat. Failing that, I would probably vote for some standing water.

I did the Pegasus Sprint there in October in an SR8 on an old set of Dunlops, which is probably (aside from the engine) a pretty similar spec to mine. I didn't warm the brakes on the way to the line or anything, just drove it cold (engine was warm, of course). If you warmed it up in the paddock, it'd probably be cold by the time you left the line as you'll be there 5 minutes or even longer if there's a stoppage. All you have to remember is that the grip level is lower at the start. As the tyres come in, you'll push harder through the run.

Sigmamark7 said:

I have made and fitted a timing strut, but hope to get some numbers from Merlin on the day. Ideally I would go for white numbers against the black background of the car, but the regs suggest that I need black numbers against white, so will need backgrounds as well.

I suspect that many people will have white numbers on black. Some roadgoing cars may have sheets of A4 paper with the number printed on taped to the inside of the rear side windows. The important thing is that the number is clear and easy to read for the timekeepers and observers. J4 says you need numbers on the front too, but I don't recall seeing anyone with a number on the front. I thought Merlin would be stupid money for numbers, but they're actually only 45p. I buy packs of 100 from Hillclimb Supplies for £33.

[Terzo204]

Sigmamark7 said:

There has been some major resurfacing since we were there Mike (about 75% of the track), so I'm guessing that it will be super grippy, super slippery, or somewhere in between!!
At least it will be the same for all of us, unless you happen to be driving a Westie, in which case ........................................

Well if it rains, it will be an absolute ice rink!

If it's dry it will be grippy as hell.

Let's hope it's the latter!

[MagicalTrevor]

Forecast cloudy but dry, both Friday and Sunday are sunny. Fingers crossed!

[Terzo204]

High pressure most of next week so we might be ok.

I fully anticipate it to be wet.

There is another thread in the trackday forum discussing the re-surfacing of Coombe. There is a trackday there today so I have asked for someone who is there to report on the grip levels. The thread also includes a You Tube video showing it has ben resurfaced from Folly all the way round to Bobbies......

[splitpin]

This is where I usually visit to check out the 'circuit by circuit' weather >

http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/United-King...

So, that's currently showing not great, but could be a lot 'worse' (other than for those who star in the wet!). I.e. dry but flippin' cold.

Luckily (sometimes) just like every forecaster, they are certainly not always spot on. Hopefully this will be the case this time, hopefully actually still dry but a little bit warmer with some sun putting some heat into the track (just like we had at Silverstone GP yesterday)!

Either way, have a good time and Best of British to you all

[andylaurence]

Folly to Bobbies is a substantial part of the track. I wonder what the reasoning was? I hear there's Armco on the inside of the circuit now too. As for grip, it can't be much worse than driving in the snow two years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1s9ZtiGlks

[ric355]

I'm at the track day today at combe with my sr3. It was properly wet this morning and the new surface is very slippery. I list control on the exit of old paddock and ended up in the grass. No damage luckily. It was only resurfaced ten days ago and I understand this is pretty much the first proper event to be running on it.

As it dries out it seems a lot better but it will take a braver person than I to try and find the limit again on a track day.

The infield has changed as well. It is now full of solar panels and the very low barrier isn't all the far away from the edge of the circuit so the tradition of limited runoff continues!

[Terzo204]

ric355 said:

I'm at the track day today at combe with my sr3. It was properly wet this morning and the new surface is very slippery. I list control on the exit of old paddock and ended up in the grass. No damage luckily. It was only resurfaced ten days ago and I understand this is pretty much the first proper event to be running on it.

As it dries out it seems a lot better but it will take a braver person than I to try and find the limit again on a track day.

The infield has changed as well. It is now full of solar panels and the very low barrier isn't all the far away from the edge of the circuit so the tradition of limited runoff continues!

I'm glad you and the car are ok.

Thanks for the update - sounds like it's slippy out there.

[ric355]

andylaurence said:

I wonder what the reasoning was?

They wanted to take out some of the worst of the bumps. I guess over the years the ground has moved a bit.

It didn't feel much smoother in the sr3 though I have to say.