EXE TRACKDAY 20th November 2011

thx for the photos from: Dan lee (dupra), Senk9, Andrew Squidge and Trev mcbarber

Result: Personal Best of 1min 47sec (1:47.3920) i slashed 4 sec off my previous PB (1:51.2400) on this 2nd trackday in my E30 325i. what changes is New Set of street tyres to replce the 6 years old tyres, 4.1 final drive upped from 3.7 OEM, e36 OEM clutch type LSD 25% lock.

i drove up from melbourne 5am with Dan Leet (E46 330Ci Convertible)


met one of the car for my dream list, while pumping petrol at our last stop before winton circuit, Red AE86 owned by JP Ordona


finally... at winton, pitted next to kthl is one of my other all time fave car, Z33 350z...


track is abit damp but it did dry up later on the day... i am so glad coz the forecast of the day was supposed to be 'rain', and closer to the day it changes to 'clearing up'...


briefing time... so glad exe ditch that FOB, that no one can understand when he made announcements on briefing time...


so i begin the trackday with passenger session. i had Andrew Squidge as my passenger and was trying to follow Daniel Leet E46 330ci around the track... on the straight my car was left behind, but closing in every corner and managed to stay behind him for few laps... i then ask him what time did he do (the session is not timed but he has personal timing gear) and he said 1:49s... i was so happy as that mean i am doing 1:49 too! thats all i aimed for this trackday... to break under 1:50 second...

observation from first passenger session: rubs very bad at the back, so i raised the back abit more and beat the sh!t out of the inner guard with a mallet... apart from that, THE CAR IS PERFECT at the moment! hahahaha handles even better than Shirosame (my other E30 in indonesia)...




so for the first timed session, i decided to do some weight loss on the car... i took off the: front passenger seats, front and rear bumper...


after the session i look at the time and i remember seeing 1:49s, i jumped for joy and ran back to the car... while i am re adjusting the tyre pressure, jorge came and said "have you seen your time?", i said "YES!!! 1:49!!! woohooo", jorge said "no it isn't! look again"...

i was like:

Link


i ran back and look properly this time... turned out the 1:49 was my last lap on that session, and the best lap was 1:47!!!

i remember thinking that it is possible, and said to jorge "1:49 is achievable, 1:48 if i push hard, but 1:47 is very hard... possible, but probably someone else has to drive it, i don't think i can do it"

SESSION 1
2:02.1360
1:47.3920
1:47.4170
1:47.4670
1:47.5350
1:49.0530

i did 4 consecutive 1:47s on the first session without realising it... the only thing i notice is the laptime on street tyres got slower and slower every lap as the tyres got hotter... while when i was using semis on the 350z, the lap time kinda get faster each lap as the tyres got hotter


SESSION 2
2:05.9920
1:48.2730
1:47.6200
1:48.9420
1:50.0320
1:48.7640
the group is getting busier coz alot of people move up from the slower group A. and had to overtake most car in the group too...

SESSION 3
1:54.5650
1:49.9900
1:52.8310
1:48.3720
1:48.2930
1:49.1510
this group got so busy, and i cannot get a clean lap... so i asked to be moved one group up into Group C

SESSION 4
2:04.8450
1:47.8800
1:48.2630
1:47.7260
now in group C... much much better altho the session ran short... i got 2 clean lap... race with Gerald! i had fun battle with him around the track... just wish i have more ooomph to catch him on the straight...

SESSION 5
1:51.9780
1:48.1200
1:47.8050
1:47.5920
1:47.6230
now that group C has emptied, i can finally get lots of clean lap... altho i cannot get any faster, i still get strings of 1:47s...

Overall, the car felt good but understeer abit when i push too hard. this is due to me removing the rear sway bar to reduce the oversteer from last trackday... and i lost the bolts for the rear sway bar so i cannot put it back on hahahaha i tried stealing the swaybar bolts from jimjim X5 but his X5 got bigger swaybar link bolts


last fuel pump on the way home


last toilet run on the way home, sorry kenny! sorry jorge! man gotta dump


what a scenery to end the day altho jorge told me of for taking pic with my mobile while driving... i said to him "relax, i got cruise control "


thank you for everyone's help in me finishing the car in time, mainly the diff / lsd part... and for my melly suherman for understanding my busy week and endlessly supporting me. i was going to give up on the lsd but she made me keep going... work, editing, then back to garage, then fell asleep few times in the garage, then back to photo jobs, and then editings and back to garage again... non stop for a week... altho i must say beers, lots of them, help sooth the painful process...

REFLECTION:
i would've been glad with 1:49s, but thank God for giving me the extra surprise with abit more, faster laptime...

i remember doing similar time with my 350z on street tyres... ( my 350z street tyre PB: http://silasba.blogspot.com/2008/03/350z-exe-trackday-10th-march-2008.html) i only did one 1:45.9 and lots of inconsistent 1:47s on the 350z...

i see 2 things from here... altho its just a theory which means nothing till it actually been done, it is enough to give me incentive to press forward...

1. my driving has been far more consistent since...
2. the similar street tyres lap time between my 350z and e30, with driver skill being absolut, it is possible to do 1:40-1:42s on the E30 if i put semis on as that is what i did on my 350z with semis, altho if i include the power factor, 350z has more power which mean its suffer more limitation when using street tyres hence using semis probably extract alot more than less powerful e30...

well... only 1 way to find out...

i am aiming 1:38-1:39 with this e30, Natural Aspirated and with semislick, when i am done with improving it... i know this is possible because KTHL has introduced me to someone that has done it before

compared to SHIROSAME, my indo E30, this MERAH #3 is a completely different animal... this MERAH is more agile and light on its feet, userfriendly and very rewarding when pushed to the limit... while SHIROSAME is angrier, more brutal and bites back harder...

now the photo gallery! (VIDEO COMING SOON)

PHOTOS BY SENK9





PHOTOS BY DAN LEE


PHOTOS BY TREV MCBARBER


PHOTOS BY ANDREW SQUIDGE