Track Day 5th Jan - Pukie

[GravelBen]

nice and sunny down here..........somehow I dont think that helps though

[Esprit]

What a day!.... apart from a 10-minute drizzle patch, the weather was almost perfect! BIG thanks to Richard for organising it and I think everyone managed to get their fill of driving for the day!

Hard luck award goes to Mark (kiwikid) for having his engine lunch itself on his forst run of the day.... Mark, your car is gorgeous and one I always lust after and I hope the internal damage isn't too bad... would be nice to see it back with a better tune and ~180bhp to help you see off those Exiges!

From the sounds of it, Dean's damage isn't too bad either, which is great news! Also hope you get on top of those wiring issues Graham.... all you need now is some good reliability and a few days-worth of tracktime and you'll be set! That toy of yours is a really beautiful thing

My car ran faultlessly all day, the only oopsie moment being a minor off at Castrol, understeering off onto the grass after clipping the ripple strip. Big ups to Richard for setting a VERY competetive time, there ain't no way I'll be matching that, I've just not got the horsepower.

I'm off home now for a nice hot shower... was great to see you all again and hopefully I'll be seeing a few of you again in Taupo on the 23rd... that reminds me, must book my leave

[Kiwi le]

Great day, big thanx's to Richie.........
Question of the day "Whens the next one ???"

About to attack the offending CV, doesn't look bad, but will tell after a bit of surgery ?
I think a power slide onto the ripple strip at full steam shook something loose.....then a few more bumps and out she came - so to speak......?

I'll give you a report later.......bummer Mark, time for a Honda conversion, forget the 180 hp, go for the 250 hp + much more fun :-)

Dam forgot about the 23rd - I might be in Europe on business, if I here...I'm in ! hope the new track is finished ?? anyone know ?

OK I'm off to Grease-ville !

[Kiwi le]

Anyone get any pic's ??

And your times from those reliable Nokia phone stop-watches........I got a 1:03 at one stage until my timer keeper relised it was the wrong red Elise going by ?? dreams are free.......

Consistant 1:09's which I pretty happy with, need better rubber, brakes & O yes the driver needs a lot of work !!

[Esprit]

Hehe actually the stopwatch on Kel's nokia is actually very good... I was aiming for consistency on one run and managed to get my times all within 0.1 of a second. I think that any stopwatch will be accurate enough over a minute or so anyway

Hehe consistent 1:09s is very good indeed! My best of the day was a 1:12.8... next best was a 1:13.0 and a raft of 1:13.2 s laps. Overall a very good improvement from last time out. I found a LOT more speed over the top, a LOT more speed through Jennian and later braking into the hairpin... still more speed to be found though, just need to put the laps in and get my confidence up more (and my skills!). The modifications I've made to the car have given it some more grunt for sure and I've really found some tyre pressures the car's happy with... was much less nervous than last time out!

All in all a fantastic day!. When's the next one?

[Kiwi XTR2]

Esprit said:

. . . Also hope you get on top of those wiring issues Graham.... all you need now is some good reliability and a few days-worth of tracktime and you'll be set! . . .

On closer inspection, not only have I charred the rear wiring but also melted one of the brake lights

And nobody mentioned me setting the record . . . for the first 'off' of the day . . . into the esses on the first lap . . .

100% rear bias will do it every time.

[Kiwi XTR2]

Ooops, forgot

Big Thank You to Richard for organising the day

[Esprit]

Kiwi XTR2 said:

[quote=Esprit]100% rear bias will do it every time.

Better it happen into the esses rather than into the hairpin.... I can only think what would happen if I tried to brake from 200km/h by yanking up the handbrake!

[GravelBen]

Esprit said:

Kiwi XTR2 said: [quote=Esprit]100% rear bias will do it every time. Better it happen into the esses rather than into the hairpin.... I can only think what would happen if I tried to brake from 200km/h by yanking up the handbrake!

I'm just trying to picture that now



>> Edited by GravelBen on Friday 6th January 00:56

[Kiwi le]

George - I had a mate using his phone stop watching me as well, I forgot you used yours between ya legs

Heading to gaarge to operate on car - update later.

D

[Esprit]

Good luck with your surgery... and it wasn't mine between my legs, it was the Mrs's one between my legs (ooer)... it worked REALLY well actually, almost tempted to upgrade my phone to one that has a laptimer on it for just such an occasion. Did the same thing at taupo with a stopwatch and it worked well too, only the girlfriend threw that one out accidentally.... I should really get her to replace the stopwatch though because it's about half the weight of a cellphone... and in a 'liz, every gram counts.

[v15ben]

Useless internet cafe hehe! I posted up yesterday but it never came up on the thread! Thanks to the organisers and everyone there, it was great fun to get back to a ar event with the smell of petrol and sound of those engines at full tilt! Not such a good day for S1 Elises (except silver ones!) or wiring looms!

[kiwi le]

Status report - shaft popped out as thought, new shaft (wreckers $ 80) and new CV $ 1125 from ADL, + a bit of sweat, so in all not to bad......

The drive line is fully Honda so hate to think what it would be $$$$ if it was Lotus and how long I would have to wait for parts !! Bit of machining on the CV housing and she'll be back on the road in no time.

My mistake was chamfering the CV clip holder to make it easy to disassemble, but seems it's bit too easy and it self-dissaaembled on the ripple strip....!! Other than this little hick-up the car ran great, no gremlin, engine coolant max temp 94ºC & oil 99ºC so oil water cooler and rad system improments have worked perfect - in all great day thansk again Richard - whens the next one ?

[Kiwi XTR2]

kiwi le said:

. . . so all in all not to bad . . .

Good to hear Dean.

Thanks for the ride - Great fun

BTW do you know if anyone has any decent video of a good line around the track ? A bit of practice in the lounge should help while we're sorting out the loom.

kiwi le said:

. . . Other than this little hick-up the car ran great, no gremlin, engine coolant max temp 94ºC & oil 99ºC so oil water cooler and rad system improments have worked perfect . . .

Sounds like the cooling system could cope with a bit more chip 'n' cam

[Photochromatic]

Hi Everyone.

I haven't checked in here in a while - it has been a busy time, with my brother over from the UK. He got on a plane home this afternoon (BOOHOO), so I finally logged in.

The day seems to have gone off really well. With the exception of the unfortunates with mechanical problems, I think everyone had a good time. I certainly did, and with some more expert help I managed to shave 3-4 secs off my consistent lap time and beat my personal best by 3 secs. I was dancing a jig after THAT session!

Mark - bad luck man, that sucked, especially at the start of the day.

Thanks to everyone who came along - I think what made the day so good was having a bunch of sensible people out there and not having to worry about idiots the whole time. And no drifters, of course! It was good to meet another bunch of top people too.

Dean - drifting was BAD CAR-MA! Good to hear that you are well on the way to getting it sorted though. Graham - good luck with the wiring.

As far as the next one goes - it probably won't be too far away. I'd really like some feedback first:

-Would you like to do it again?
-Would you go to Taupo or Manfield instead of Pukie?
-Were there too many cars / too few / just right (like Goldilocks). Would you prefer to pay less for more people, or vice-versa?
-Would you pay more for a weekend event?
-Was the unstructured format OK or would you have preferred that we actually had discrete groups as planned?!
-Would you like extras, such as instructors at the track, a slalom for part of the day, or food etc?

I'll be emailing these questions around to everyone who came (and who I have an email for) anyway.

Cheers

-Photo

[Esprit]

Photochromatic said:

-Would you like to do it again? 1. Would you go to Taupo or Manfield instead of Pukie? 2. Were there too many cars / too few / just right (like Goldilocks). Would you prefer to pay less for more people, or vice-versa? 3. Would you pay more for a weekend event? 4. Was the unstructured format OK or would you have preferred that we actually had discrete groups as planned?! 5. Would you like extras, such as instructors at the track, a slalom for part of the day, or food etc?

Please let me be the first to answer:

1. Yes, without a doubt... always good to get some variety in the tracks we visit
2. I'd say about right, could maybe stand 5-6 more on a track like puke or Manfield, about right for Taupo I'd say.
3. Probably would stand to pay a bit more for it to be on the weekend.... less time off work, more money earned etc
4. Unstructured format was good... was good to just be able to go and lap, then come in.... so long as everyone there is experienced you don't have to worry about who's already on track.... even if you're on track with much faster/slower cars, it's not so much of a problem because we're all using gentlemen's rules and all responsible.... if it was a bigger event with more unknown/inexperienced people then maybe groups would be better.
5. Extras... hmmm instgructors might be useful at a track like Manfield where few of us have been before, other than that I'd say no... we can bring our own food, although a BBQ lunch would be nice... it adds a lot of organisation for nothing... it also means there's a more fixed lunch time where the track's not being utilised.... if everyone's doing their own food thing then people can lap when others are eating and vise versa.... as for slaloms etc, I don't really see the need... Personally I'm all about learning racing lines through real corners, I can never seem to translate things I learn with cones into real world situations!

That's my 2c anyway.... just let me know details of the next one and who to throw my entry fee to!

[kiwikid]

Hi Guys,
Just towed her home and stuck her in the garage and closed the door for a few days.Will take the head off over the next week and see what the damage is.I,ve got two choices really either stick a Type R in it or max out the K series, being a 160 sport (only 250 made)complicates the decision a bit.Will keep you posted. All advice accepted, I'll have to do some homework.Dean if you can give us some instruction on what a conversion to Honda takes it'd be appreciated.
The day seemed to work pretty well really, I think everyone had as many runs as and when they wanted, don't make it any more complicated to run it'll just become a chore.Richard you did a great job well done.

[kiwi le]

Ooops in case you hadn't figured that CV is worth only $ 125 not $ 1125 doh !!

Mental note: must read post after posting......
Mark any time just give me a call, I think I have ironed out al the bug's over the past year or so....
There will be another one here soon so you can see what another Elsie/Honda owner has to say about it ?



>> Edited by kiwi le on Saturday 7th January 11:18

[Esprit]

kiwi le said:

Ooops in case you hadn't figured that CV is worth only $ 125 not $ 1125 doh !! Mental note: must read post after posting...... Mark any time just give me a call, I think I have ironed out al the bug's over the past year or so.... There will be another one here soon so you can see what another Elsie/Honda owner has to say about it ?

I was gonna say... if the genuine Lotus item is more than $1125, I'll be taking my launches much easier in future!

[Kiwi XTR2]

Here's my thoughts

Photochromatic said:

-Would you like to do it again? Yes definitely -Would you go to Taupo or Manfield instead of Pukie? Definitely Pukie, possibly Taupo once it's finished, probably not Manfield unless it was a weekend (and bring on Hampton Downs !!! ) -Were there too many cars / too few / just right (like Goldilocks). Would you prefer to pay less for more people, or vice-versa? Probably just right keeping in mind that a number of cars (like mine) were pitted for quite a while -Would you pay more for a weekend event? Yes -Was the unstructured format OK or would you have preferred that we actually had discrete groups as planned?! I was happy but would defer to those with more experience -Would you like extras, such as instructors at the track, a slalom for part of the day, or food etc? Good the way it was. Don't make too much work for yourself