Time Attack 2008 STi - new dyno figures !!

[WR 1mposter]

great progress already mate, and fair play for getting stuck in yourself. I'll be at Silverstone to cheer you on

Its really quite liberating cutting holes - I might do some more

and also weight saving, less weight more speed

[dynamix]

The oil cooler is mounted, just got to connect pipework and get some oil to finish the job. The oil cooler is angled inwards now with the rear of the cooler towards the extraction vent on the outer wing. Should draw the air through nicely I think

Also the mesh is sikaflexed into place (my god that is yukkie stuff) but that will do for the moment to see what it is like.

some pics of it:







so... remaining pre Silverstone is erm not a lot apart from maintenance because I havent a lot of time. Much more time before Oulton to play with stuff.

[dynamix]

The car is all ready for the weekend

If anyone is popping to Silverstone on Sunday - come say hi in garage 5C

[danr55]

The car is all ready for the weekend

If anyone is popping to Silverstone on Sunday - come say hi in garage 5C

Hoping to be there, however things have now gone all up in the air now this weekend. If I'm there I'll drop by without doubt!!

[Houdini]

Good luck for Sunday, Dunk Sadly, I'll be unable to make it as we have just a few things to get ready for Snetterton the following day. Would be great to see you there if you can make it, but if not we'll be thinking of you and cheering you on from a few miles hence. Good luck mate.

[Chris B]

Kev,Rosy and me will pop by to see you,we will be on the SIDC stand if you get time cime round to see us.

[dynamix]

Kev,Rosy and me will pop by to see you,we will be on the SIDC stand if you get time cime round to see us.

Cool.

Weather isnt looking too hot now

[dynamix]

What a weekend of highs and lows !

Family Graham set off for sunny Northants to The Home of Motor Racing on Saturday afternoon having packed the cars up with all the necessary luxuries for the luxury pit garage we had and some glad rags for a night out in Northampton with a load of the guys.

We had booked into Holiday Inn Express for a bargain of £43 for the 3 of us inc breakfast and arrived there via a small detour to Zen to get my rev limit raised. At Zen, there wasnt the normal last minute panic of fitting an engine into the Impreza, instead Liz was outside polishing it Steven Darley was inside with his car on the rollers trying to sort out some fueling issues (eventually diagnosed and fixed as fuel pump relays). Sounds superb on the dyno Steven .... very loud indeed !

The hotel was clean and tidy and had all we needed. I changed the wheels on my car there and we drove to the circuit to drop the car off in the garage so that I didnt need to worry about it being left outside in the hotel car park, plus it left us time for fettling in the morning. We arrived at the track at the same time as the DCY boys and had a good chat to them and Stu, Dill and many others before heading back to Northampton for a Japanese meal at the Sakura restaurant.

Sakura was easy to find I was told and we headed in without directions and eventually found it. The meal was fanastic and the company great too, eating with the crew from Zen, Andy Forrest, Steven and Emma Darley, David Wallis, Dill, John Felstead and Team Orange Drift guys from Japan.

Some flamage:



Smoking:



Table for 29 please



oooo that looks good:



Makes you strong like Jackie Chan....



Team Orange having a giggle



Paul (sushi king) Blamire telling Rachel (my wife) what he has ordered for her.... blowfish anyone ?



Number One pit crew:



Some special fried rice served the proper way:















Anyway, meal done and time for Rachel to try some Saki. She didnt like it but necked 6 glasses of it to find it out her legs werent working too well after this it seems !!

Back to the hotel for a quick night cap and off to bed for an early start.

Sunday morning came and it was dry and reasonably bright so we headed over to the circuit and I started to mess about putting some heat shielding on the oil cooler pipes after chatting to Steven darley at dinner about it and the problems that he experienced last year at Silverstone. Quickly dispatched with that thanks to some cable ties from Sam Kerr's team and ready for signing on and briefing.

Warm up was next and the drizzle was there but still it didnt seem to affect grip at all. Had a nice dice with Mike Payne following him around until he cracked from the pressure and drifted sideways into the gravel Manfoot didnt work that time, but he was looking quick all the same and a sign of what was to come from him later in the day.

Warm up went well for me recording 11th quickest but there were some without transponders on so not all times recorded.

The friendliness of everyone in the pits was unreal, everyone seemed to be having a ball and happy to chat, swap stories and general have a laugh. This was superb and made the day extra special for me. Great to chat to Pablo, Bart and Dave about their days too as with Club Challenge split into 2 groups we didnt see each other on track.

Mike, Jase and Mark from Area 52 Autosport arrived and were keen to know how it had been going. It was all good at this point and nothing but good to report.

Next up was Practice and the 20 minute session for me was cut short with a boost leak from a hose just as it came onto boost and forcing me to come back into the pits to try and find it. It wasnt the obvious and previous culprits but instead the joint right behind the bumper so needed to remove the bumper to make some repairs. Unfortunately we ran out of time.... scrap one session. I had improved on the previous session's time by 1.7 seconds but still lots more to come. Thanks to Mike, jase and Mark for doing the repairs but the clock was against us and they did a slightly more robust fix on this in order to get rid of this one for the next session.

Rachel and Annabelle were busying themselves watching the drifting and getting annoyed with the stewards that asked them to pay £5 to sit in the granstands ! - surely team personnel dont normally get charged. They got some good pics though and I will post those up later.

After lunch it was time for qualifying and the 20 minute session to set the best times. The top 15 forced induction cars to go through to the final. I rolled out of the pits behind Barrie from DCY knowing that he wouldnt be holding me up and warmed the tyres on the out lap ready to hit the pedal for a hot lap straight away. First lap I took another second off my previous and down to 1.08 dead but still more to come from it as it felt very settled and strong in the important sections, braking was perfect and lines were getting there.

Next lap I was on a flyer just ahead of a Skyline with my lights on indicating that I was on a hot lap but the white skyline decided he wanted to take my line in the braking zone going into brooklands. I was fuming. Not only had he ruined my lap but he had no chance of getting a good lap himself with a compromised entry to the complex - that is wrong in my book. I decided a cool down lap was in order both for the car and for me. Next lap was a flier and I got more speed out of luffield that before, held it for longer on the straight and didnt brake so much for Copse, carrying way more speed than before and running one wheel onto the rumble strip on the exit and the other just over it. It felt planted and fast Then the pop. Fek another hose off this time but it felt like it had come off completely this time as there was no drive at all and I could just muster to get it onto the straight and pull over.

I jumped out of the car and over the barrier but in a red mist decided that I would pop the bonnet and put the hose back on to limp to the pits to get back out there, this was my one chance to get back out on track and put in the time that I knew I could do. I did this and heading under the bridge could see that they had red flagged the session. I got flagged down before brooklands and told to report to race control.... into the pits and was told to park in the yellow box (racing equivalent to the naughty step) and follow the marshall up to race control. Duly, and quite rightly chastised I sprinted back to the car, went up the pit lane as fast as I could to try and get the hose back on and back out before the end of the session. Mark helped me get the hose on but then the Chequered Flag was waved before I had a chance to get back out. I was gutted and really p***ed off that yet again a hose popping off had spoilt it.

I am sorry to everyone in group A for causing the red flag and hope that they can forgive me for losing a couple of minutes of track time in my desire to get running again.

It took quite some time to calm down.

The rest of the day was spent mainly cheering Mike on who had done brilliantly and continued to do justice to the amount of time and effort that had been spent this week on getting him to the start line. We were routing for all of the BigPower teams and am so pleased for their individual results.

The pro final was amazing with top times being swapped and the end result of 0.19 seconds covering the top 3. Some incredible driving in some incredible cars. Well done also for Gary at APT for exorcising some demons and putting in a great performance (just imagine what it would do with some proper aero Gary )

Great weekend in all, nothing broken, no oil consumed at all ! and no issues to stop me having a nice drive home in it

Just cant help thinking about the one that got away though.....

Huge thanks to:
Area 52 Autosport for their support before and on the day - cheers Mike/Jase/Mark
Zen for for the chassis tuning, ecu mapping and organising a great night out
The BigPower massive for the friendly banter and numerous other people that wished me luck during the day

[danr55]

awesome write up, mate!

and I'm sure your time will come

[Houdini]

Great write-up, Dunk Such a shame about the hose but, as Dan says, your time will surely come.

[dynamix]

Ironic that Dan's car had the same issue and it was what saved the day for him

My time will come..... and it will be even more special because of the hassles and problems to date

[dynamix]

Right all pipes off and cleaned and hairsprayed back in place. Some uber heavy duty clamps are on their way to me:

http://www.owendevelopments.co.uk/produ ... -clamp.asp

A whole range of these to do all of the joints.... that should do it.

Also, been working on some aero improvements to help give a little more downforce. One of these is the rear spoiler as it stand is too low. I have designed a new bracket to mount this on the car higher up and further back to give it more leverage. It will then sit in the clean/laminar air flow behind the car and have more impact. I will be milling this myself !!!

[dynamix]

With some of the leftover ally/plastic composite sheet I decided it was time to make some end plates and canard type attachment for the splitter.

It proved quite tricky as the shape of the v limited lip on the bottom of the bumper was awkward but I got there in the end.

OSF one:


From above showing the upsweep of the canardy type thing (not sure whether this is a true canard) and the edge of the end plate:


The end plate nicely attached:


I doubt whether I will notice much if any difference but it beats watching euro 2008

[WR 1mposter]

Our own mr blue peter.......

wonder what your gonna do with the cornflake pack and double-sided tape ......twisted turbo perhaps

[WR 1mposter]

went past oulton park thursday sure was a lot of lotus exige/elise's etc
trackday no doubt..

[dynamix]

Our own mr blue peter.......

wonder what your gonna do with the cornflake pack and double-sided tape ......twisted turbo perhaps

Strangely enough I was just making something out of a cornflake packet...

A template for a new appendage for the car You will see this later this week once the fixings arrive from Demon Thieves

[WR 1mposter]

Our own mr blue peter.......

wonder what your gonna do with the cornflake pack and double-sided tape ......twisted turbo perhaps

Strangely enough I was just making something out of a cornflake packet...

A template for a new appendage for the car You will see this later this week once the fixings arrive from Demon Thieves

and there's more

[dynamix]

Come closer

[dynamix]

Today was the day to go up to Area 52 to replace the turbo that decided that it didnt want me to go on track on Thursday... but all did not go to plan.

I wont go into that here, but I was greeted by Jase and with them being two men down today the choice was either to come back another day and change the turbo or do it myself with adult supervision I was feeling brave

So out with some tools and I proceeded to take my existing turbo off slowly and surely. Once off we could see the amount of play in the main shaft and the wear on the tips of the compressor wheel but that wasnt the end of it.... there was a chunk missing from one blade of the exhaust wheel. No idea at this stage which caused which or whether there was another external influence on the blade that caused this but suffice to say it is better off on the bench than on the car

Anyway, what to put on ?

FP red, GT35R, or ..... decision made, I liked the performance of the FP green but wanted to be able to run a little more higher up the revs. Forced Performance have just released an enhanced version of the Green: The HTA Green.





This has the new HTA compressor wheel. (full details here: http://store.forcedperformance.net/merc ... =WRX-Turbo)

The official feedback on this aero wheel is that it spools quicker than the green but flows more at the top aswell. Being a 57lb wheel compared to a 49lb wheel in the green. With the same 3 inch inlet and 8cm exhaust wheel but an anti surge housing.

So, to put it on.... what a bitch of a job !!! My forearms are raw, my knuckles are raw but I did it Without dropping oil everywhere too

Because of a recent oil feed pipe breakage we swapped to a braided hose for this to allow more flexibility in the pipework. All done up, tested and heated up and bolts re-tightened and I managed to do the in 5 hours I am knackered

Jase had told me that the HTA wheel sounds different to the original green. He was right I cruised back home as the laptop battery died and I couldnt be 100% sure that it was going to be the same map wise but managed to give it some boost on the way back (1bar), which incidentally came in very quick and it felt lush with a completely different note to it. Cant wait to wind it up to 2 bar tomorrow

Thanks Jase and send my regards to Mike for a speedy recovery

[danr55]

woohoo new turbo, be interested to see how you get on with it tomorrow.

[dynamix]

New turbo is ballistic - I love it

I reckon on 10% up on power from the old green so should be over 500 bhp now.

Small update that wont mean a lot to some but, I have now got launch control and the ability to flat throttle shift. I plugged my laptop in and patched the OE ecu and added these features. No drama, no cuts, no oil, all done with the bonnet shut

Initial feedback is that it is completely mental !! B)

Holding the accelerator foot to the floor in between gear changes is very alien but it works and holds it at my pre-defined limit holding the turbo on boost ready for the next gear. I reckon this is going to be a great tool and is incredible to drive as the turbo is always making a minimum of 1.5 bar of boost

Been out for a drive and took a local lad to his prom and gave it some beans ... both giggling like 5 years olds. I like it a lot in case you hadnt noticed

Havent tried launch control but I am guessing that will be good too !

[danr55]

New turbo is ballistic - I love it

I reckon on 10% up on power from the old green so should be over 500 bhp now.

Small update that wont mean a lot to some but, I have now got launch control and the ability to flat throttle shift. I plugged my laptop in and patched the OE ecu and added these features. No drama, no cuts, no oil, all done with the bonnet shut

Initial feedback is that it is completely mental !! B)

Holding the accelerator foot to the floor in between gear changes is very alien but it works and holds it at my pre-defined limit holding the turbo on boost ready for the next gear. I reckon this is going to be a great tool and is incredible to drive as the turbo is always making a minimum of 1.5 bar of boost

Been out for a drive and took a local lad to his prom and gave it some beans ... both giggling like 5 years olds. I like it a lot in case you hadnt noticed

Havent tried launch control but I am guessing that will be good too !

[dynamix]

Dan - If only ecutek had this ability ... one up for open source mapping mate

Can I say again how mental this is ?

[danr55]

Dan - If only ecutek had this ability ... one up for open source mapping mate

Can I say again how mental this is ?

Please go ahead..

[dynamix]

I love it

[dynamix]

Another job:

In order to help draw air through the oil cooler I have built some boxing around the rear of the cooler from nice ally sheet. This sits around the extraction vent on the side of the front bumper.

A quick road test wasnt particularly conclusive, but it cant hurt.

One off the list.





Still to do:

- finish mapping (if it is ever finished)
- change oil
- fit mounts
- spray the track wheels again

[dynamix]

Into the armco but managed to drive home....

Thanks to.... well lots of people really but mainly Chris and Gary from APT for getting my car in a fit state to drive home. In normal APT style, no fuss, no panic just straight to work to find the broken bits give me a shopping/scrounging list and getting it put back together.

Thank you so much and also a huge thanks to; my mate Lee and his friend that came to watch me and in the end drove me over most of cheshire collecting parts, to all the teams that I scrounged various parts, washers, nuts, tools etc from. It was great to be able to get home under my own steam. :notworthy:

As for the accident itself it happened very early in the first session of the day in the torrential rain coming out of Lodge with a power slide quickly (too quickly) turning into a huge tank slapper and before I had time to recover it the left two wheels were on the grass and I slid sideways into the armco at about 50-60mph.

This was the before thanks to Chungster:



This is after it was cleaned up, wheel changed and temporarily repaired enough to drive it home. Apparently one of the magasine snappers got the full sequence on his camera so I am looking forward to that.









I got off lucky compared to some but the shopping list is still pretty big in order to get back out there.

Front Bumper - Scuffed but repairable
Front Wing - still on but crumpled and stopping pax door from opening.
Front door - small scuffs and crease
Rear door - scuffs
Rear door surround - dented
Rear Wheel arch damaged
Rear Bumper - scuffed
2 wheels dead
Bottom Whiteline Roll Centre Adjusted ball joint
Front Whiteline extended trackrod end
Lower alloy wishbone has chunks missing but got me home
Brake disc missing a chunk
Oil cooler bent and leaking (removed and joined pipes together)
Splitter bent but will bend back

There are no other visible items that are damaged, even the wing mirror bent out of the way and didnt smash and all glass intact, panel gaps even or creases internally.

If anyone has a second hand alloy bottom suspension arm please let me know. (or front wing for hawkeye)

As for me I have a very stiff neck this morning but I really enjoyed the track day on friday and had a great weekend despite of this - the social/teamwork side of TA is superb.

In motorsport, stuff like this happens....unfortunately.

[WR 1mposter]

gutted for you dunc

but like you say thats motorsport for you

[dynamix]

Some pics of the incident...

Starting to come out:


Snap back but pointing at the armco thank god it didnt go in this way:



The impact... I knew it went up on two wheels.



How the heck there wasnt more damage looking at that

[stijoy]

thas what you get for going too fast in the wet