E30 MERAH Video of 2nd Winton Trackday

Ok finally had time to quickly cut just the PB lap... will take a while on the highlights video...
CURRENT PB 1:47s on 2nd trackday with the E30 at winton

Link

my observation...
1. still abit messy, but alot more composed than my first trackday...
2. i think 1:46 is possible with faster driver...
3. the LSD allowing me to plant the power alot earlier and modulate the throttle easier...
4. the sweeper (big long double apex left hander), the car carrying alot more speed, and the extra modified angle on my rear spoiler stopped the car from 'bouncing' in the mid sweeper
5. at turn 4-5-6 (turn 1 is right after the S bend) the car is much more civil and i can stay on the power hence carrying more speed.
6. 4.1 final drive instead of 3.7 is more suited for a slower tight track like this... alot more much needed acceleration and sh0rt burst on the short available straight in between corners... i might have to change back to 3.7 if i start making more power...

Previous 1st Trackday 1:51s with the E30 at winton

Link

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

ISOM 4 - LAST CRUNCHING HOURS & THE RACE!

the pain continues....

now rushing back to the workshop, after borrowing the radiator from Anggi. We heard another bad news... the head is wobbed due to the overheat... which is what we fear the most... although not much, it is enough to cause leak between water and oil line...

with no machine shop open at that time, we had to opt for the traditional way...

Indra showed me and the mechanic how to shave the head using piece of thick glass and special liquid metal polish smeared on it. then using petrol to mix it... we then place the head on top and start moving it around... grinding it...



5 of us take turns and do this emergency method for 3 hours... while the others assembling the bottom end...

after we are done shaving the head, we seat the valve into its place one by one for an hour...


that is when we find another problem... one of the valve is damaged and causing some leak on the intake... we have no choice but to take the chance...


the RACE is at 11:15 and it will take us 1 hour to get there. we have to leave the workshop by 10:15 the latest... and i didn't even have time to sleep...

by 9:30, the engine is assembled and almost done... just need to put all the accessories and other stuff back on...


by 10:00 i am fully dressed in my Racing suit, and helmet, and getting ready to drive the car straight to the circuit.

by 10:18 the car is running, but badly... as the leaking valve has its toll... but we press on... i quickly jump in and drove as fast as i can to the circuit...

by 10:25 the tekno tuner support car leave the workshop

by 10:40 i took the wrong connecting highway!!! being in melbourne for a while and lacking of sleep, i forgot the correct path to sentul!!! i was supposed to that 'BOGOR' but i took 'BANDUNG' path... so now i am moving further away from the circuit... lucky it was quite free on that highway, i quickly jump into outer ring tollway to go back to the correct connecting highway...

10:49 i entered the outer ring, AND to make thing worse, ITS HEAVILY JAMMED due to major accident... the traffic isn't moving... so me, fully clothes in racing suit and helmet, got out of my car and knock the door on the car in front of me to make a way, they agreed, one car on the left lane moved to the left abit and one car on the right lane move to the right abit... i squeezed into the in between lane, i then stop and repeat the same method to the 2 cars infront of me... and repeating that until suddenly miracle happened... after the 4th time i did it (in and out of the car, begging to be given way), all the car infront start moving away giving the middle lane path, i quicky zoom past!!!! i only have less that 1/4 tank of fuel and i don't even have time to fill up... so i called indra asking for him to buy petrol on jerry can for me and to meet me at the entry gate...

11:00 i passed the traffic jam, onto the correct connecting highway... i am now 14kmh away from sentul... i drove as fast as i can, all the way, only to find my new fiber bonnet lifted up abit (like a small gap, catching the air) and limiting the top speed to 200kmh... so i called indra asking to get a duct tape ready...

11:05 i reached the entry gate and indra and tekno tuner is waiting in the middle of the street with jerry can and sticky tape!, they quickly taped down my front bit of my bonnet and fill up the car... we only manage to fill around 1/3 of the tank and i had to drive off as it is 11:11 already...

11:14 i reached the pit entry! due to my late entry, i have to start from the PIT... so i started from the 2nd last position out of 36 cars... from the PIT... meaning that after everyone has launched from the start grid, i then can enter the track from the pit...

mum and dad came to watch, they are here early and i didn't even had a chance to say hi... sorry mum, sorry dad...


there are few other cars that are late too so at least i am not alone... appearently they stuff up the announcement, causing some teams missing out on moving into the grid on time...



the race begin... i have the video only for the first few laps due to my stupid self forgetting to charge the gopro. i was focusing too much on the car being ready that i forget a simpler charging task... but i think it will be enough to show preview of the race... i will upload it on the next post...


i started on the 2nd last and overtook as many car as i could... on the 4th lap, my brake start failing! this time it is not the booster... it is the brakepad... appearently the supplier has given us yet another immitation... so i spun off the track once due to this... i then continue the race with only rear brake functioning... i regained control and pressed on!


i was lucky to be able to finish another race with only rear brake functioning... i really kill the clutch this time (i use it to enter the corner and get the correct entry)

secondly i was lucky that one of the car, is pouring oil on the track...
this has caused everyone to be slower and very sideways hahahaha so i had a time to catch up and i am not alone in term of taily (entering a corner with no front brakes means you car always trying to kick its tail out)

the end result is: i took the 1st place in my class and 3rd place on Bimmer race community overall placement...






on the way home we celebrate the win by having a really big lunch at a local restaurant...


and han han, indra's brother, was kind enough to drove the car back for me, as i am all tired and dehydrated hahaha


a quick photoshoot using my iphone... i reckon the car deserve abit of treat after so many beating hahaha


the imitation brakepad suplied by another dishonest seller is finished in 3 laps and this is why i loss my front brake capabilities... metal to metal :O


TEKNO TUNER team resting after a hard week...


we all too tired so we all went to bed as soon as we reach the workshop... i decided to sleep over tekno tuner's workshop one more day... when i woke up in the middle of the night to go to toilet, i found Donny sleeping in such funny position


and on the way back from toilet, i notice he had changed into another funny position hahaha


CONCLUSION:
due to many unexpected mishap, my budget ran out early and this will be my final race for this season (i only have enough to do 5 races initially, but now my budget ran out after 3 races), so i had to miss the 2 final races... which i don't mind... i don't care about the championship...

i just want to go out there and give my best... at the same time, having fun at it... i have learned alot too from the past 3 races, which will make me more prepared for the following year races...

more things i learned from competitive racing, is that ideal racing line is important but how you position yourself and cornering at any given unideal line as fast as possible is more important... every practice, i don't only do the ideal racing line, but i also practice hugging the inside corner, staying wide outside the corner, this way i am prepared in case of side by side cornering with other cars...

i also refined more about braking and early throttle... i almost had to be either on the throttle or on the brake all the time, i am doing less and less lift off and coasting...

most important thing is staying focus, keeping the fighting spirit high and even though sometime it seems like a dead end, we had to keep trying and whatever the result is not important... what important is the process...

until next chance!

SHIROSAME will be off the road and race for now and will undergo another upgrade for the M20