Wakefield Trip

I'm a bit slow with this post, but hey, here it is. ;)

Wednesday past I took part in my first Wakefield Speed Off The Streets Day. The short version of it is, it was a GREAT day. I loved it! I didn't go there with a goal of a time I wanted to achieve, I purely went there with the hope that I would learn some stuff and by the end of the day be able to get around the track without spinning my car or going off the track. I'm happy to say, all goals were achieved. :D

The basic run down of the day was that I took part in three sessions of the day - there were more, but I missed one and left early. The first session was the real experience, you know, first time ever and all. Half way through the first lap of the first session I had my first spin. :D Going into the corner that some call the fish hook and others call the 8th corner, I was very suprised at just how sharp that corner was. Carrying far too much speed and then trying to brake and turn resulted in what felt like a massive spin off.

That alone gave me an inkling of how important warming up your tyres first is, and also of just how crazy that corner is. Unfortunately, I can't say it taught me to slow down on that corner, as a few laps later I came off on that corner again. This time I didn't spin (as I managed to correct it) but I still ended up on the dirt. Thankfully they were my only spins and offs of the day, so needless to say, I learnt a lot in the first session.

Next session I took my mate in the car with me. Over all I felt this session was good with only a few close calls, and one very close call. The very close call being after coming flying down the main straight, passing a few cars (noteably a V8 Ute that was holding everyone up) I went into corner 2 waaaaaay toooo hot. I started to fish tail all over the place but somehow managed to catch it. One of my mates in another car (that happened to be behind me) said it look pretty spectacular, but for me I was happy to keep it on the track. Unfortunatly, after that I was still in 4th gear trying to work my way up the hill. Needless to say a few of the people I passed got to the the same to me (but not the stoopid ute).

I ended this session early though as I noticed that my engine was starting to cut out sometimes at around 5k - a cut out similar to what it used to do on overboost (but it sure wasn't overboosting). Plus the temp gauge was reading (until I did one or two cool down laps) almost at the top. If it wasn't for that, I would have probably kept going, as I was starting to really understand how the track worked and was starting to try and focus on the lines.

Funnily though, my friend (who was in my car for that session) decided that my car was just too scary to be in. He said that it just felt like it wanted to spin on corners and was just too crazy for him. He said he prefered being in my mates fairly stock, non turbo, AWD Subaru RX wagon - he considered that car to be more fun (rather than scary). But hey. :D

Anyway, I finally went out to do my third round thinking that whatever was wrong with my car before had now gone. I warmed up the tyres properly and was really starting to get a nice flow going and really understanding what to do, when the engine started to cut again. This time it was after just five laps, and the temp gauge looked ok. But I decided that the important thing was not to brake the car, and to still be able to get back to Canberra. I would have loved to have kept going, but really that cut was making it undriveable (and I think I did the right thing).

As it stands now, my car is running VERY rough and I noticed on the drive back that the induction noise from the turbo is sometimes no longer smooth like it always used to be. I fear I have done some serious damage, but am unable to determine what. Fluid levels seem alright, and there seems to be no leaks. Adam suggested I make sure all the piping for my intercooler are still intact, and I confirmed they are today. I'm wondering if I have broken the turbo, and as a result it is restricting the airflow (albeit the engine smooths out at higher revs) or maybe I have done the seals (but being new to rotas have no idea what that would be like).

Anyway, I'll book it in to the shop next week and see what they can tell me. :(

But still I had fun! :D I went there knowing that my car was still a bit of an unknown element and something could go wrong. But as long as I had fun and was able to get it back to Canberra I was going to consider it a good day. Therefore, it was a good day. :D

One thing that was enjoyable, was the fact that I could pass almost everything down the straight (especially big V8s - loved doing that). The only thing that almost had it on me (on the straight) that I came across was the Rx8, that was surprisingly quick! (And stock as a rock.)

But alas, straight speed will not get you the good times on a track, and it was in the corners I really suffered. My biggest problem was, that on the fish hook I would attempt to down shift into second gear (which would give me perfect revs through the corner for a nice quick exit) but that would cause a compression lock up. To try and avoid that I ended up doing two things, one was to try and slow all the way down to where I could down shift without the lock up, and the second was to try and pull out of the corner still in third - which needless to say was very slow. I also had a similar thing going on with corner two (shifting from fourth to third) and corner ten (third to second - after already shifting from fourth to third).

With that in mind then, next time I want to acqurie the skill of heel and toe. As simply bringing the engine speed up in line with the drivetrain will allow me to avoid those lock ups. Avoiding those lock ups will allow me to not have to worry about the potential of spinning and thereby allow me to be in the right gears to achieve the required speeds.

That then is my future plan, and shows that I have all intention of going back for more fun and learning. :D For now, just need to find out what I've done to my car. :(

Cheers,
Oz.

P.s. Seeing was driving, I did not get any pics - and nor did any of the other onlookers.
P.s.s. One thing I did notice after both the first and second session, was that coolant had sprayed around in my engine bay. But there was nowhere obvious where it came from. :?