WAKEFIELD! new PB (1:11.1s) ^__^

after 1600km plus round trip (including the tracks km, getting lost on finding petrol session and etc) i must say its all well worth it...
its a long trip, but firstly, i am not alone. completing it with the exe-crew made it the best long trip for trackday ever! secondly... such a great track, great wheather and such a good organiser... well done autosports.

the weather was fine, abit too cold in the morning for a tropic boy like me but was perfect closer to midday...


morning prep:
i was lost with kenny, jimjim, and jally. trying to find a petrol station. when we got back to wakefield, the briefing has started and no time to change to my semis... so i decided to go on the first session with the street tyres and change to semis in between session 1 and session 2...


session1:
was on nankangs street tyres... i didnt have a good lap coz too much traffic... and the tyres still on 40psi for fuel economy on highway ... i did best lap of 1.17.7s based on my phone gps timer and never got a clean lap... i was using shaun's wheels and tyres which the offset are not enough for the front due to the spoke design. so i have to use 25mm spacer at the front to clear the front brakes caliper.


the result was: front tyres are sticking out like a dog's ball and the rear were tucked in... although the colour match the car pretty good... hahaha

the car get very sideway when i am not careful at wakefield... but i must say the nankang, even with 40psi on it, still grip and handles pretty well... it didnt snap on me and gave me plenty of warning... altho the limit was pretty low...
1:26.2280
1:20.9280
1:22.4420
1:18.4520
1:19.2320
1:22.8930
1:17.7200



session 2:
enough playing around with street tyres or shaun will kill me coz i finish his treads... i take the wheels and the spacer off, put on my semis. i run the on backwards rotation so even out the wear. but when i was in the middle of adjusting the psi, the session already started, so i went anyway... my front left was 30psi cold and the other 3 was still 40psi.

this was very stupid of me to do, i should've miss the session instead of putting my self and others in danger.... sorry kenny... i spun in front of you...

what happened was, everytime i brake, only one wheel, the front left, that will grip so the rest keep skiding, and the tail olways goes out and i can't really control the car... so after 3 hot laps i decided to pull out of the session and fix the pressure... managed only did best lap of 1:13.8s that session.
1:22.1210
1:32.7350
1:16.8940
1:13.8940

when i got back the semis was not even hot, except one, the one that has 30psi on it...


session 3:
i went with 30psi cold. and the car feels ok, but didnt get 2 good clear lap. managed to do best of 1:12.2s with it.
1:15.6080
1:12.9360
1:15.4910
1:20.4810
1:12.3440
1:13.6020
1:17.0360
highlight: i got chased and pressured by jimjim on the 2nd last lap and decided that it was a good idea to climb the ripple strip on turn 4 (right turn up hill). the result was on the pic at the blog post header, my car was off the ground and get thrown out off the track on top of the hill, managed to swerve back just in time before turn 5 which is the right hander downhill.


session 4:
i tried to adjust the pressure to 32psi hot. which feel alot better and i did have one clean lap... i did 1:11.8s best lap
1:15.8780
1:13.5300
1:15.6650
1:11.8020
1:15.1460
1:12.5130
1:13.8160
1:12.5380


session 5:
ran with 31psi hot. the car felt just right, but unfortunately, this session i was stuck behind few cars on every lap. couldnt really stick on the racing line.
1:15.0540
1:15.5480
1:14.1600
1:13.1700
1:12.1750
1:12.6230
1:12.6390
1:13.0810


session 6:
this is a combined session coz most ppl have head home. i did only 5 laps and i lowered the pressure to 30psi hot. which i thought it might be to low, but i was WRONG! it felt great!!! the car just grip and grip... i got 1:11.1s best lap which is also my PB for the day. i started pushing from the warm up lap, coz this combined session is not long after i finished my session, so my tyres are still hot... i finished the session early coz i heard thumping noise from my car which ended up being just this lump of rubber stuck on my semis tread.
1:12.3160
1:11.1630
1:15.3620
1:15.7180
1:12.3760


session 7:
which is the last session, i was a very fun session, despite the heavy traffic, i enjoyed following some other cars like evos, lotus, dc2r, etc and see the differences in our lines. i actually learnt alot from it... too bad the day have to end. i got 2 clear laps on this last session.
1:13.9110
1:16.0540
1:11.8220
1:12.0960
1:11.8790
1:15.3690
1:12.0400



summary:
this is my second time there
new PB of 1:11.1630s. stock with semislick RE55s 245/40/18 all around.

my first time last year june 2007, i did 1:12.4s
that was with mods: 245/45/18 RE55s, RSR spring, APS catback, Megan Racepipe, K&N Panel filter. and also bucket seat and strip back of my car which saved me 37kg...

so this time i am abit faster, could probably because: new surface, i have abit more experience from winton sessions in between, it is my 2nd time there. who knows... most importantly i had alot of fun and can't wait to get back out there! i love wakefield!




boring parts. please don't read unless you got time to waste:
cut my PB by 1.3s is not that much, but considering that i used to have abit more power and mods, also lighter wheels and body. i think i can see that i finally can understand the car abit more without relying too much on modifications.

i love mods, and have nothing against it. but for people like me, who used to think that i have enough skills to push the car to the limit even with some mods. i was wrong. i knew the theory, but took me 2 years to finally understand what someone that are very important to me once said. he told me "you gotta understand the car dynamic first and how it reacts before you can do anything else. how do you know what you improve if you never know where you really are at the moment? so forget what you think you know, fix your basic and LISTEN to your car instead of make your car LISTEN to you". sounds corny back then, and my pride was thinking otherwise, but i am starting to realised and will keep reminding myself this sayings to keep my feet on the ground. thanks again. i know you won't like me to mention your name here, thats why i didnt.

which is true, at least for me. when you always try to make the car listen to you. it wont always work to any car coz one car might be less forgiving then the other. but when you actualy try to listen to the car, one day you will be able to drive any car and adapt quickly to different cars and react accordingly.

some people ask me: "so silas, do you think stock is better than with mods then?". whatever answer i gave you, i don't know what im talking about... coz honestly i don't know... but what i know so far... the right modification definitely increase the limit of the car. but how can i see that newfound limit if i havent even seen the stock car limit? its like i want to run before i even can walk properly.

honestly, i didnt want a stock 350z. i am selling the car, so i revert it to stock, but i need my regular trackday fix, so i bring it to the track even with stock setup anyway... which now im thankful of... if i never had money problem, i wouldnt have to sell the car and part out with the mods, which mean i will never realised that all this time i was delussional and thinking that i know what i am doing.

looking back always embarassed me. what i used to think and do. but thats why we call it the past. i am still learning and will never stop learning.

after 2 years of tracking (which still a newbie compared to others that has been doing this far longer than me), one of few valuable lessons that i have is when you open your ear and mind, you will never stop learning. only when you think you are good, thats when you stop learning and thats when you start declining. overwhelmed with pride and stubborness.

i found that you can learn from anyone, not necessarily someone that faster than you. anyone, even the newbie. sometime this newbie are fresh and have no expectation and reacted freely without any corruption of theory and thoughts. which sometime reminded you that the basic are very importants. i just reminded myself again before the wakefield. from what? from someone that asked me, whats the basic of track driving. that got me thinking and made me realise even i forgot to do that sometimes haahahaha...

this is what i got 2 years ago from someone that don't want to be mentioned.
1. look where you are going, coz most likely thats where you gonna end up. if you stare at the walls then there you will be... so from now on let spiderman sticks to those walls, and we sticks on the track hahaha (not funny)

2. brake on straight progressively, means: loads the car first, let the weight shift then you can slam the brake as hard as you can (up to certain degree:P) as late as possible

3. if you can, and its not a matter of life and death, never ever coasting (i mean just foot off the throttle and brake). its either on the brake or on the throttle (whether its full throttle, half throttle, ease off abit, etc)

4. accelerate as early as you can on and out the corners, but listen and feel the car. it will gives you warning when its about to bites back... depending the power level of the car, the warning can be very short, or gradual.

5. sometime the only way to know your limit is to stepping over it. i said sometimes... at the right place, and at the right time.


and guess what? all that was just in my mind as a theory all those time... i completely forgot about it... then when i do starting to keep reminding my self that the basics is very important no matter how fancy i think i am now... it really pays off...

boring parts end. now wake up! thx for reading.


more boring data logging soon...


exe-crew PB results:
ES EVO6 - 1:06.4380
Jimjim EVO8 - 1:09.0160
flameboy 350Z - 1:11.1630
senk9 Soarer TT - 1:12.4540
kthl 350Z - 1:12.5700
celicajim Celica ZR - 1:13.7250
jally07 Golf GTi - 1:18.5590


ALL RESULTS OF THE DAY: http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?19/07/2008.WAKE.S2.Y

OTHER PHOTOS:
jason's - coming soon
http://www.speedshots.com.au/gallery/othermotorsport/trackdays/autosports_190708