2006 Impreza STi "Time Attack" - RaceDynamix

[Gee Wr1]

& good thigs come in 3's so the 3rd is it's also your month for the calender pic Nice pic on the carousel

Well done getting the support from Zen

[danr55]

great article and pics Dunc

[Ferret WR1]

Excellent

Where's all sponsors stickers? Or did they digitially remove them from the image in the mag?

[dynamix]

The car had come back from the bodyshop the day before so was un-stickered.

Stickers went on 2 days later

[dynamix]

Lots of jobs done last week:

- passenger seat
The std OE seat has been removed (25kgs worth) and replaced with a nice Cobra Imola S Kevlar seat. This has been bolted directly to the floor on the side mounts rather than on rails. It is fine from a height point of view (a little low) but it is good for extra weight saving and lowering of C.O.G.

- changed fuel pump
The Walbro 255 lift pump has been in there for 2 years so I thought a bit of preventative maintenance was in order. Easy swap.

- removed in tank swirl pot. Surplus to requirements now with the external swirl pot plus I had sold it so it had to go

- discovered why the alternator belt keeps squeeling and the pulleys come loose. The power steering pulley system was not bolted in when the engine was installed Subsequently the pulleys were moving around and one of the clamps had disintegrated. Anyway, had to remove a few bits to get to the bolt hole. One job out of the way.

End of last week:

Following on from the recent Snetterton test it was obvious that more stopping power would be needed with the increased speed from tuition and handling advances. After that event I set about finding a good solution that was also good value.

After a conversation with Paul and Liz at Zen, I managed to persuade them to let go of the excellent KSport calipers, discs and Performance Friction pads from their race car for me to run on mine.

The kits consisted of:

* 8 pot front calipers with 356mm discs and Performance Friction 01 Race pads
* 6 pot rear calipers with 330mm discs and Performance Friction 01 Race Pads



A superb day at day at Zen fitting them myself but with adult supervision on shimming the calipers to match the disc offsets and the end result is pretty amazing. Very impressed with just how sharp they are even on cold brakes, I can't wait to get some heat in them on track





more update....

As Snetterton showed the need for additional oil surge protection - Mark @ Lateral Performance came to the rescue with a properly baffled and superbly built twin scroll baffled sump to replace the std item fitted to my car.






Looks a proper piece of kit !!

I am going to fit this along with the Cosworth Baffle plate that I already have fitted to give added protection from surge and blow by.

and more...

Right, engine mounts done .. god that is a horrid job on your back with the engine still in. Next time (if there is a next time) it will be out for it.

Headers, up-pipe, turbo and downpipe all off and ready for re-wrapping and preventative maintenance.

Now for double helpings of pain and fitting the sump... old sump is off. The cosworth baffle plate needs cleaning and this and the new baffled sump will be fitted shortly.


so...

Baffled sump is fully in place, I had to make some minor modification to the oil pick up pipe rear stay to enable it to fit with the sump baffle without fouling but a good excuse to use the dremel to do it. It is also a lot easier to refit the baffle plate with this mod so I didnt need 3 hands this time. Sump went back on and dropped the engine down to bolt the mounts in place. This should be an improvement.

Headers and up-pipe were removed as part of this job and also to rewrap them. Lucky I did this as it showed that the 3 bolt up-pipe gasket had split into 3 parts and was not sealing the exhaust. Looks like it has been like this for ages so it would have been costing spool up and power.

I got some fresh new exhaust wrap and a new gasket from Lateral and re-wrapped the headers/up-pipe as the old stuff was hanging off.



I fitted these back on last night.

Also done:

- re-routed the MAP sensor take off to a central position to give smoother boost control. It was taking off from the FPR vacuum take off.

- re-routed the cylinder head breather pipes

- regreased ARB bushes

- properly fitted the towing eye

- tidied the induction kit pipework to reduce pushing out of wheel arch liner. This has reduced but i still need to make some proper wheel arch liners that fit with the new wider wings.

The need to do list for round 1 is looking very small now and should be finished on friday/saturday leaving next week to clean the car, bleed the brakes again and do a couple of nice to do bits.

[WR1 Bro]

Looking forward to seeing you in action at Oulton Park Dunk. What time does the Time Attack start as I would hate to miss the action?

[dynamix]

Looking forward to seeing you in action at Oulton Park Dunk. What time does the Time Attack start as I would hate to miss the action?

I havent got a timetable of events for the day yet.

But, we are normally out for warm up at 9 ish

practice at 11 ish

qualifying at 2 ish

final at 4 ish

[WR1 Bro]

Thanks. I will certainly be cheering you on fella. Good luck.

[danr55]

fantastic progress mate! Best of luck for the season!

[Ferret WR1]

So you've been busy then dynamix?

Very impressive!

How you finding the Performance Friction Discs and Pads? I'm thinking of getting them on my WR1.

Looking forward to seeing you in action at Oulton Park Dunk. What time does the Time Attack start as I would hate to miss the action?

Oulton Park not far from me, I might join you if you don't mind. What day is this?

[WR 1mposter]

Dunc, after all the money an effort you have put in to this, why are you still wrapping your headers ?

Or do you not like ceramic coating for some reason ?

[dynamix]

So you've been busy then dynamix?

Very impressive!

How you finding the Performance Friction Discs and Pads? I'm thinking of getting them on my WR1.

Looking forward to seeing you in action at Oulton Park Dunk. What time does the Time Attack start as I would hate to miss the action?

Oulton Park not far from me, I might join you if you don't mind. What day is this?

PF discs now sold as I have kSports on there - they were superb though.

PF pads now on thr kSports and they rock

Oulton Park is a week on saturday - 25th April.


The reason for wrapping the headers as opposed to ceramic coating is purely money. I know it looks like I have spent a fortune on stuff but believe me I have got extreme bargain hunting and most bits are second hand whilst selling the old stuff on to offset upgrade costs. In fairness this year is a very very tight budget affair compared to most.

[Ferret WR1]

Good Luck @ Time Attack Dynamix

I'll be rooting for you tomorrow

[Gee Wr1]

CONGRATULATIONS Dunc 3rd place podium finish on your 1st outing of the season

Well done all the hard work over the last couple of years is starting to pay of now, you must be chuffed to bits bud & very little in it with you & 2nd place

[Chris B]

Very well done Dunc,your car was going very well,we did not get chance to speak,but watched you race,Matt Clark said your car was looking good.

[Chris B]

Saw Rocko at time attack and there was another WR1 with LEE on the number plate.

[rocko]

Chris .. Fair ply for blagging your way in ..lol

Dunx i got some good shots of you and the stopper.. your k sport glow a treat .. good result dude

Bro was there some were but didnt manage to bump into him .. i know he stolen some bhp off me car ..

[MY498]

The car with Lee in the number plate is mine. I also saw Rocko' s car and I went across to the Midlands stand to chat but the other guys didnt know where he was???? I didnt see Bro or Chris either?? but did manage to see Ducan lol. It was a really good day apart from half an hour or so when it pi$$ed down. ps Rocko your car looks the biz fella, I was well impressed.

[dynamix]

Awesome day / weekend

Good to see Dan, Ferret and everybody else that popped by and said hi during the day.

Loved it and just wading through thousands of pics and vids - this is gonna take a while.

Very happy with 3rd but 2nd was so close and well within grasp as I was baulked on my fastest lap and would have cost me dearly. There is another second or two in the car/me. (at least )

[Ferret WR1]

Congratulations Dunc! Excellent start to the season

It was great watching you race and to finally meet you

Overall excellent day with some awesome cars!!!

I have some pics, which I'll put up as soon as I can.

I also saw Rocko's and Chris B's WR1.

Spoke to the guys at SMACS, they said WR1 Bro wasn't there.

[Micktype WR1]

Just caught up on the latest chapter so want to add my congrats on your 3rd place.

[danr55]

Wow, what a result!.

Congrats mate, was great to see you there

[WR 1mposter]

Cracking result Dunc, all that hard graft paid off

[WR1 Bro]

Great stuff Dunc. Car was looking awesome and sounded lovely on the home straight.

We had a lovely chilled day in the end. Picnic with the kids and Danr55.

Gutted we didn't get to see a few other people but what can I say. Tonight I am going to fit the 15bhp I stole from under Rocko's bonnet.

[The Swede]

Well done, Dunc !

Where is the next event?

Any a bit more South ? My invite to Bro's got lost in the post, so we didn't come up this time

[Ferret WR1]

Round 1 - April 25th - Oulton Park
Round 2 - May 17th - Knockhill
Round 3 - May 31st - Silverstone
Round 4 - June 28th - Brands Hatch
Round 5 - October 11th - Snetterton

WR1 Bro, so you was there Your SMACS mates, seem to think differently.

[dynamix]

... 1 week to go

Having spent most of the previous weekend under the car, I was relieved to have finished the need to do list on the friday so could look at some tidying up work and double checking of the work done to make sure there would be no show stoppers on the day. This, i felt, would be time well spent as the events come thick and fast to start with.

The week started with a great offer of a Jeep Cheroke tow vehicle from one of my sponsors CJS Norwich. This was an absolute god send and meant that towing up to Oulton Park was going to happen and I could push harder on the day for a result along with taking the family and all the spares I could need with me. There was even room for the odd luxury with my a proper beans to cup coffee machine making its way into the truck so that caffeine fixes could be had at any time !! LOL

... 2 days to go:

Toyo 888's arrived in time from Toyo and a quick trip to Ely Tyre Services to fit them to the rims and chat to the guys about what I was going to do with them. I was surprised and delighted that they had heard of Time Attack and they quickly got the job done so that I could come back and watch whilst Matt Neame of 2 clear buckets put yet another coat of wax on the car and wheels. He said it would make me faster LOL. The car looked gorgeous when finished and with 2 sets of absolutely glistening Hyper Zero Wheels, i felt proud to see what the vision and discussions with Paul of Zen Performance at the end of last season had materialised into on my drive.

Lower, Wider, Faster were the key words of that discussion on the Sofa in Wellingborough and now that the check list of 'need to do' things had all been done for this round (further developments are following soon) I was excited about the prospects of doing well. The car was certainly lower than last year, definitely wider and I know from the testing at Snetterton that it is faster too (along with me).

... 1 day to go:

Nerves didnt have time to hit as I spent the day running around collecting the trailer and loading the truck and trailer and we headed off for our good friends Nigel & Lou Pinder to spend the night before at their house (more local than ours) and go for a curry. A great meal and a good relaxing evening and it was early to bed for the 5am rise and trip to the circuit for signing on, and leisurely run up to the warm up. Last year's accident at Oulton was definitely in my mind and the mixed weather forecast looked all too familiar.

... the day itself

The trip to the track was simple and the Jeep performed its duties superbly with plenty of grunt to cope with the hills - they have hills around there - and yet return 29pmg towing the trailer !

Unloaded and set about preparing the car for the warm up, signing on (LOL) and chatting about the plans for the day.

A good short briefing this time and we were ready to start the car and head out onto the track. Nige was going to sit with me for the warm up session to help settle my nerves. It did in a way but he could tell my head wasnt right as my lines in the first session were quite frankly embarassing and I was not right. The car performed great though on wastegate duty apart from a huge misfire that was solved as soon as I got back to the pits with the help of Pat. The Solaris ecu's immense datalogging abilities providing the exact millisecond when this happened and we were able to identify the issue and sort it there and then with Pat on the phone. Simply download the rolling log file when I come into the pits and thousands of data points are there able to be analysed and improved upon in time for the next session.

Then, just before practice the heavens opened. De Ja Vu and my already messed up head with going haywire. I did not want a repeat of last year's daftness so optimistic, well definite that the weather would improve, I was going to go out and do one lap in the wet and come back in. No prizes for practice times and it would not be of any use to the dry track experience later.








Tom Ferrier was helping me get my head together during the lead up to going out and he definitely helped (as he did all day) with words of encouragement as well as wisdom. I think everyone around me could sense my mood and most gave me a wide berth so that I could do what I needed to do to feel

The track was patchy - some parts were very grippy even in the wet but others most definitely weren't. I guess the Deisel guzzling Trucks on the track did not help and unfortunately it bit a few competitors and the session was stopped. Thank god

The time for qualifying to happen took ages to come around, luckily the gang from Zen arrived so that was a great distraction and great to see as the experience of Paul in the pits is a nerve settler for sure. The car was looking superb and even though not 100% finished it would still be very very quick on track.

The rain clouds had gone and it was turning out to be a fantastic day.

Qualifying was going to be the first session run at full boost. Time to extract every bhp out of the Lateral MD321V and find the confidence to drive the track as hard as I needed to....







The pre practice checks were done by the gang, more fuel added and away I went with the instructions that Paul had given me. We had a plan and it was time to apply it.

It seemed to go well, I was gaining in confidence and speed but I guess others were on the same journey. Into the pits for a check up after a very sideways moment, I think it must have been on the oil that Neil Wrenn was chucking onto track as it was unexpected and nearly took me into the gravel at Druids. I told Paul that i must have a puncture as it felt very weird.. Paul assured me all was well and instructed me to head out again and get another hot lap in. This was the time to make it count as there were points on offer for qualifying position.





back into the pits and Steve Darley (I think) informed me that I was 4th - superb !

Mark from Lateral Performance was as excited as I was, as was Julian, Nige and all of Team Zen. Rachel and Annabelle headed back from viewing and they were ecstatic too.





The car felt great with the first full session on full boost, the braking was immense from the KSports and Performance Friction Pads, the handling sublime and far greater than I could use at that stage. It was confidence inspiring - just what I needed. A few checks on the car, download the data logs, check the oil, water and all was good. Nothing to do for the final except change tyres and put a splash of fuel in. I knew I could go lots faster. As Tom said to me - "time to be brave".

In car footage from Qualifying: http://vimeo.com/4337076

The final and I lined up behind Shane. We chatted and he explained to me what his intentions were so that we could work with each other to make sure we had space on track to make our times count. This was great and shows the comradery of the competitors and the TA spirit. Time to go and when the safety car pulled in Shane had dropped back from the car in front so as to give himself space to make his first lap count. I did the same and on fresh rubber for the final tried to warm them up on the first full hot lap ready for a banzai number 2 lap. This didnt quite work to plan and I came to the pits for a chat with Paul and he sent me back out with a plan, one fast then one balls out lap after he made an adjustment. The first part worked and into the last flying lap of the final - about a minute to go and I was on it, faster than I had been, deeper into braking, quicker onto the power, harder through the chicane and flat out for the tree before druids and I catch the silver civic on a cool down lap overtaking two other cars on a cool down lap ... grrrrrrrrrr. I had to come right out of the power through the apex of druids and this cost me right down the straight to lodge, around there to a proper brave line this time and nailed it to the finish. It was a fast one - must have been my quickest - it had to be.





Into the pits and Steve Darley held up 3 fingers ! - fantastic and I punched the air with delight, even though the lap had been compromised it had been enough to get my first ever podium. Steve asked whether I had seen the pit board he had been holding out showing that I was 5th at that time and basically saying get a wiggle on - unfortunately I had just been focusing on picking the right braking point for that final banzai lap so had forgotten to look. Thanks for trying to help Steven - I will remember next time LOL.

Out of the car and immediately on the phone to Rachel to ask whether she liked champagne - I was going to celebrate this one. My target pre event was top 5 and I had done it.

Looking at the sector times afterwards showed where I was quick and where I wasnt, understandably my slow sector was the final corner of the lap where I had the accident last year. i was getting the confidence but a few more laps would have been great.

Everyone was so happy around me and lots of other drivers came up to the pit garage to say well done, even Steve Linton that I had pipped to the 3rd place spot - I have a feeling it will be a close battle all year with him.

Party time !










http://vimeo.com/4335571


To everyone else that was competing and writing their own stories, it was great to see you all. Getting there through all of our work, sweat, tears and money was a huge achievement.

So many thank yous, so little space...

Mark at Lateral Performance. So much help over the last few months on getting the performance and the reliability in order. That MD321V turbo is mentally ballistic - I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT ! but when's that 600bhp bolt on turbo ready ?

Pat & Charlie - Solaris ECU - What a piece of kit that is. SUPERB! The improvements to the driving characteristics of the car are huge, it is so much easier and smoother to drive on the limit now and the ALS adds a bit of sparkle to the final cool down lap to celebrate.

Paul and Team Zen from Zen Performance - as usual the calming influence of infinite set up knowledge is so easy to work with. The extra time gained through making the car handle predictably and smoothly pays dividends in inspiring confidence to put the boundaries. I can't wait to see the improvements on the other tracks too.

Julian at CJS - your help and loan of the tow truck made the weekend possible.

Nige/Lou - for trillions of photos, videos, help setting up, getting there, entertaining, feeding, distracting me, entertaining me and generally being a great mate.

Daren at ABW - for making the prettiest car on the grid. Wide is the way forward

Gary at Keith Michaels - for sorting out insurance for me at the last minute.

Matt at 2ClearBuckets - it was the wax that did it I am sure !!

Alyn at ASP - I will just say thanks for everything, hopefully you can make it up to Scotland for round 2.

GW Autoserve Ipswich - thanks for sorting the tyres / geometry out for me last week. It really helps when all the wheels point in the direction that you want them to.

and most importantly to Rachel and Annabelle for losing me to the car for a few weeks and putting up with my general grumpiness over the past week. It is great to have highs and lows - it makes you feel alive.

I would also like to say thank you for all the words of encouragement and support from friends and aquaintances whether actual or cyber. They mean a lot to me.

and now, time to prepare for Round 2 - Knockhill 17th May

[dynamix]

Dunx i got some good shots of you and the stopper.. your k sport glow a treat .. good result dude

Got any pics of this?

Where were they glowing?

[WR1 Bro]

Great result Dunk. GReat to see your car in action and another fantastic read. Best of luck, we hope to get to another event this year.

[Ferret WR1]

Some great pics there Dunc, love the video