Lelystad autoX 03-09-2005

[NoHachi]

Hope this one is in its place here...if not: please move to correct location moderators.
(PS: wouldn't a more general track driving section be better than only a drifters corner? hmm dunno)

I didn't see an earlier post anywhere, so I guess I'll write down a couple of works so you all can keep informed. Before visiting the excellent aeu86 bbq, me Mux and Ivan took the oportunity to grab some seat time at the local autoX/slalom competition.

Due to some delays and traffic jams (on a saturday damn'it) we arrived a lot later then expected at the site..Luckily both cars (AE86 and volvo360) quickly passed the tech inspection, so off to buy some tickets and get behind the wheel..

Sadly though, for me the day didn't deliver the experience that I was used to have during these sorts of days..I decided that I would first try and do a couple of laps on ordinary street tires...still don't know whether it was a problem with the tires or setup of the volvo, but the end result was pretty damn pathetic. No grip, the slightest glance at the accelerator pedal resulted in a frantically chirping and whirring inside wheel. Did one lap and decided that this just wasn't anything near fun.

Back to the parking lot to throw on the slicks. We had been experiencing some clearence problems with these slighlty taller advans, so I hoped that I wouldn't shred the tires in a single lap. Luckily everything turned out ok and the volvo started to perform more like a car instead of a steamship..times dropped from the 1.20s to the 1.14s not a bad time for such an old lady, but there's more to be said about that..

Basically the volvo is a bitch to drive..I would always have either traction or fuel starvation problems coming out of a corner. The front needs a lot of negative camber to work properly..current camber curve is worthless..

Its a nice reassurance that the car just costs 150E to replace, but my mind is already wondering towards some sort of replacement...maybe a trailored mx5 or perhaps even an ae86..something a litte more playfull.

PS: ADVAN 032R SS rule for slalom! heat up real quick and give good grip, even when weared down to the cord. The MX5 would have ruled on these tires..certainly competing up there with the elises and such.

[Mux213]

Hey Damir,

Great idea, and here it is thus, for those people who love grip more then sliding Owh and you've just volentaired yourself as moderator on this subforum, BEHAVE

As for this day on the track, it indeed was a great day. The tracklayout was different then during c-day, a bit more hispeed parts where put it and they were alot of fun, the hachi really became tricky resulting in me going head first into the cones and doing a nice 180 later on the day.

I managed only a 1:16:40 and most often ran low 1:17s. So I was beat by a damn VOLVO! Awell, Damir has loads more experience then me and he has those nice slicks on his car I am very sure that when I learn more about driving on this sortof track my hachi should be able to shave seconds of that laptime.

Definately something I am going to do way more often!

[Dorito86]

Well, that on nice topic for shure. The thing is we haven't got a clue what the track layout looked like. Still, I dare say the AE86 with slicks would definitely gain the 2 seconds difference and thus be faster than the volvo.

As for myself, I'm waiting for Autumn to set in and the heat to go down, so I can enjoy my hachi without worrying too much about overheating.

[The Doctor]

This is the track.



They can combine some corners to get another track.

[Dorito86]

Looks very tight. Probably all 2nd gear? Or maybe even 3rd for a few seconds.

[Ivan141]

Exactly correct Dorito... On the course I have driven there I could only get to third gear in the first corner for a couple of sec's...it's possible to do it all in 2nd gear, but I dont like to keep the engine screaming at high rpm for too long...changing gears doesnt slow you down much anyway.

[Dorito86]

I agree Ivan. There's no point in revving to the limiter every chance you get. Besides, we all know how fast our cars accelerate. What always keeps surprising me is behaviour in turns. And I don't need to trash the engine to see that.

For example, the main straight on the track I go to, is long enough to see 170-180 in fourth gear in the hachi, before climbing on the brake for a 2nd gear right. I always come out of the previous one on 3rd full throttle, quickly change to 4th and cruise down the straight to cool the car down. Then I can always brake very late and reproduce late braking into the corner.

[Ivan141]

That's the exact same strategy I would take if I where to drive my own car on the track. There is no need to waste tires and brakepads, as well as heating the engine up on the straight when you can have fun in the corners. I floor the throttle all the way in the volvo though...
The difference is if you are trying to put down a nice time, or just having a fun drive around a track. Slalom is all about the lap time, so you usually try to go as fast as you can/dare. The more speed you pick up on the straighter bits, the better your laptime...simple as that. The only catch is that the straight bits are not actually straight due to the cone's, and they are very damn narrow, making it pretty tricky to go fast there.

[NoHachi]

The car should be able to drive at the revlimit all day..thats why that thing is there. In the volvo I would bounce of the revlimiter at the end of a straight..no problem. Saves me the trouble of 2 shifts and some revmatching...much calmer entry into the corner and more attention available to picking the braking point and correct line through the corner.

Regarding the volvo...I would be faster on my bicycle if I fitted slicks..sadly though my bicycle is worth more then the volvo. So instead of risking crashing my bike I just use the volvo ;-) IN defence of the volvo...I did way to little laps to get laptimes down to what me and the car are able to run..I think that with a couple of laps more I could have gotten the time down to about a 1:12, technical troubles prevented this :-(

By the way..both me and Mux were beaten by a citroen BX again...He was running around 1:08 laps..maybe even faster. So don't count on the superiority of your car, you will get your ass handed to you by people who can actually drive