My true love & my 1st "driving-in-wet" experie

juansolo · October 26, 2003, 09:25

Righty then, got some of the dry stuff up from tape 2. Not the greatest fottage in the world and the lines seem a bit odd because of the angle of the camera... Anyhow, enjoy!

Wet fottage to follow, CBA last night as I was absolutely knackered. At work at the mo so I'll probably get around to it this evening.

Anyhow, the earlage: http://www.bookatrack.com/-pg?1963

Quite impressive how quickly that Exige went past, what a noise! JDM spec Honda K20A in that puppy, LSD, nitrons, sticky tyres. Very sweet.

Edit: They're Quicktime mov's BTW. Gonna re-encode them tonight as something else methinks, prolly MPEG-4 or something.

Anonymous · October 26, 2003, 09:49

downloading now......

watching now......

NICE! s:D

s:D (YOU DRIVE LIKE A NUTTER! s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: ) Love the way you just flick the back end out - class! s:D

s:D

Makes me want to do a track day even more now! s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Anonymous · October 26, 2003, 09:52

Blimey, quite sideways there. Looks like you know what you're doing (numptys like me would just end up facing the wrong way on the grass). And FWIW I think you kept up with that Exige quite nicely.

juansolo · October 26, 2003, 10:21

Quote from: "krisclarkuk"NICE! s:D s:D (YOU DRIVE LIKE A NUTTER! s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: ) Love the way you just flick the back end out - class! s:D s:D

Makes me want to do a track day even more now! s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Why thank you *bows*. Only on track though, only on track s:)

s:)

Anglesey 2004, I shall be making it so when Jonny gets back and reads his e-mails.

juansolo · October 26, 2003, 10:25

Quote from: "phil4"Looks like you know what you're doing

Thanks! But it's just practise and as I've said, I still get it wrong every now and then. I'll post a montage of the spins later for your amusement s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Anonymous · October 26, 2003, 10:53

Just started downloading the small 5.82Mb video by modem & will come back tomorrow when it is finished to pass comment s:!: :!: s:!: s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

juansolo · October 26, 2003, 10:56

I'll try and make them smaller tonight, I just took the defaults from quicktime last night for speed.

Anonymous · October 26, 2003, 13:02

Don't change them on my account.......I should move to a house in a Broad Band area s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

First vid was superb with some top driving. Now doing the elise biggy file while i go outside for an hour or 2.

juansolo · October 26, 2003, 13:14

TBH I've been reading up on MPEG-4 and I should either be able to double the res for the same filesize or half the size of them. Only downside is that I think you'll need the very latest Quicktime to play them so that could be an even bigger download s:(

s:( As I only went to broadband myself recently I still feel for the modem-bound out there.

Anonymous · October 26, 2003, 15:46

Well moving house is the only way i will get broad band for the next few years. s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

Have now got all 3 files downloaded & they are quality.

Respect s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown:

Tem · October 26, 2003, 16:37

Could someone convert them to .mpg or .avi...?

juansolo · October 26, 2003, 20:13

Only just got home, will try and sort them out tomorrow.

MadMigMR2 · October 26, 2003, 21:53

Our car in wet is so fun :p

Since i have been on a track day on a karting track that i have a better feeling of the car.

The reason for that was because it was a very slow track and some corners were wet.
That section of the track was the most fun to drive, lots of traction loss on the rear wheels and i had the oportunity to learn how to drift the car.

This learning helps a lot when you have a dangerous situation on a public road.

So people that don't know how to control the car when the rear gets loose do your self a favor and go for some parking lot and practice, or get some driving lessons.

Or else you will have a visit to the toyota shop for something repairs some day...

I think everyone knows that driving a RWD like ours with the mid engine setup is diferent than a FWD or even a RWD with a engine on the front.

juansolo · October 26, 2003, 22:01

By the time I've finished this the others should be at the same URL. Basically more of the same but slower (the wet laps) and to give you an idea of just how slippy it was in the morning (not to mention how easy it is to run out of talent in those conditions) there's a spinnage reel also.

enjoy.

PS> I will sort out a smaller format when I CBA.

Anonymous · October 26, 2003, 22:21

Blimey, it looked like you knew what you were doingin the first 2 vids... very impressed... then the third one.... damn, you didnt get on with that one corner did you! s:lol: :lol: s:lol: I would have probably spin in the pits in those conditions s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

MadMigMR2 · October 27, 2003, 00:55

Finnally i some videos of someone that pushes the car to the limit s8)

s8)

Nice driving s:)

s:)

What mods do you have on the car???
Suspension, tires, engine???

Whe in portugal have only 2 tracks and very few trackdays by year.
But whe have another places to have fun, like karting tracks and roundabouts ( i think that's the way it's write).

I'm speaking about those big circles where there is room for 3 or 4 cars side by side and only one trafic direction.

Those are the best public road place to learn how to drift the car!!

juansolo · October 27, 2003, 07:07

It was fantastically slippy at that point but the worst part was that parts of the circuit were drying so you'd have grip then suddenly none whatsoever as you can tell on a couple of the spins where it just snaps with no warning. /excuse 22 s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Seemed only honest to post some spinnage as well.

Mods to the car: None really. It's got a TRD panel filter that makes it sound a little nicer but does nothing else, it's on Yokohama Advan Neova LTS tyres (Lotus Elise road/track tyres) which are awesome and it has Land Rover rubber mats s;)

s;)

MadMigMR2 · October 27, 2003, 07:46

nothing on suspension?

Not even a front strut ?

I suggest you to spend some pounds on 2 things.

TTE springs (or another brand) = much stiffer suspension and less roll.

Lampka motorsport full suspension bars kit.

This is something that could cost you around 750€ + install.

With this setup you will have much more front grip.
I'm with that mod's right now, and the car is completly diferent to drive.
Much less oversteer and you can start drifts only by acelerator.

On tight long corners where our car like's to do oversteer and you have to play with height transfer to make the corner.
Now i'm doing that corners much faster and if i push really hard, i will start to get understeer s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

The car is much easier to control now.

I have a friend that installed another thing: 15mm spacers on the rear wheels, and he told me that the car is much easier to control with that mod.

Anonymous · October 27, 2003, 08:37

I will check these out Solo! Just haven't been at home as yet this weekend and work won't run the software cos we are on Unix. But looking forward to it!!!

s:D

s:D

juansolo · October 27, 2003, 09:13

Quote from: "MadMigMR2"nothing on suspension?

Not even a front strut ?

Nope. Boggo is the way forward, it's my road car and I already spend faaaaar to much money on my track car as it is.

QuoteI suggest you to spend some pounds on 2 things. TTE springs (or another brand) = much stiffer suspension and less roll. Lampka motorsport full suspension bars kit. This is something that could cost you around 750€ + install.

TBH I find the ride quite stiff enough and the handling is fine. The only reason (for me) to consider shorter springs would be purely cosmetic.

QuoteWith this setup you will have much more front grip.
I'm with that mod's right now, and the car is completly diferent to drive.
Much less oversteer and you can start drifts only by acelerator.

Hmmm. More front end grip would generally equal more oversteer not less. Only starting drifts by using the accelerator? That doesn't make sense.

Cheap mod/experiment for you, drop the pressure in the front tyres (softening the front) and you'll find much better turn in (more front end grip) coupled to a much livelier rear with the harder backs. The car with factory pressures has a tendency to understeer which is when the front pushes on, nice and safe for Joe Public but hardly entertaining. Certainly on the Novas the car benefits greatly from a dropping in pressures all round but, as I say, moreso at the front.

QuoteOn tight long corners where our car like's to do oversteer and you have to play with height transfer to make the corner.
Now i'm doing that corners much faster and if i push really hard, i will start to get understeer s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Hmmm, not something I want really. Some people like this trait, personally I don't see the point, may as well buy an FWD Integra Type-R if that's your thing, they're better at it.

QuoteThe car is much easier to control now.

It's a doddle anyway. I haven't driven a more forgiving RWD car in my life other than a live axle Caterham.

QuoteI have a friend that installed another thing: 15mm spacers on the rear wheels, and he told me that the car is much easier to control with that mod.

Messing with offsets is generally not a good idea. Good way to shorten the life of your wheel bearings. 15mm is quite a lot of extra offset. If you must do this use proper machined ali spacers made specfically for the hub that's on your car. The cheap generic ones are a *really* bad idea. Basically if they cost him £20 a pair or less they're cheapy ones. Expect to pay £60+ for a set of proper machined ones. You'll also need to fit longer wheel studs (a real PITA) otherwise you end up holding your wheel on with 15mm less thread.

EDIT: FWIW this is a proper spacer http://www.bookatrack.com/-PG?juansolo&363&4370&640 You'll notice that it has the lip in the centre for the wheel to rest on, similarly it has one at the back so the spacer is perfectly central as is the wheel. The holes are also in the right places and not the long cutout, one size fits all, stylie. I have to use them to get around the calipers as I run 13" wheels and those calipers are massive. Total overkill really, don't even need to use vented disks as they don't get hot because it's essentially open wheeled at the front. It came with them on, it stops like hitting a brick wall so why change it*?

*Ok, to reduce unsprung wieght but it's a lot of arseing about and where do you draw the line? Billet calipers, ali belled floating drilled/shaved disks, ally hubs, ali uprights... By the time you've done all that you've spent in the region of £600 and then some. Will it be better? no doubt. Is it worth the expense/hassle? not really when the brakes on there are rediculously good.

Sorry it's one of my bugbears, I do tend to go on a bit about it... s:oops: :oops: s:oops: If it works, leave it alone. If it breaks, within reason replace it with an uprated item.

MadMigMR2 · October 27, 2003, 14:00

I see that i have to make a visit to england to show you the advantages s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

I loved the car stock, It has a very unique handling, but this mods i told you only improves the handling even more.

With the lower springs you will gain maybe +10km/h on curves.
Maybee i didn't explain well, you can drift the car more easy and you can finish the drifts better.

What hapened to you on the track when you lost control, wouldn't happen if you had the springs and suspension bars.
When you loose control for on side and then the car suddenly gets grip and goes to the other side faster than you can control it, this effect will be more controlable with the mods i told you.

I'm not so wild driver has you, but i like to put the car sideways and with this mods i noticed a much bigger control.

juansolo · October 27, 2003, 14:29

Point taken but:

QuoteWhat hapened to you on the track when you lost control, wouldn't happen if you had the springs and suspension bars.
When you loose control for on side and then the car suddenly gets grip and goes to the other side faster than you can control it, this effect will be more controlable with the mods i told you

Nope the reason I span was a sudden loss of talent rather than anything wrong with the handling of the car. I can tell you exactly what I did wrong in every situation there to cause it. FWIW I did about 100 laps that day and that spin reel was all the spinnage that happened.

Also you must bear in mind that the fottage does not do justice to how slick the track was and just how much standing water there was. Grip was very variable thoughout the circuit. Suspension cannot work miracles and there is a limit to grip no matter what setup your car has. For example the Mr2 was lapping everything on the circuit in the wet, eating caterfields for breakfast. Yet after lunch, when it dryed up it was one of the slower cars out there. Bearing in mind that there is little set up better for track use than a Caterfield it blows the set up theory out of the water.

Anonymous · October 27, 2003, 18:27

Just had chance to check out your vids from Anglesey. DEFINATELY put me down for a day there! Looks like a lovely little track! And nice hooning mate! I really, really need to do a track day. never actually done one in my car, but done a little single seater stuff at bBHrands Hatch, as well as a Toyota day there to try out the '2 at launch, as well as a few laps in a (pretty dull) Audi TT and then also in a 111S at Hethel and I have been hooked every since! I REALLY really need to get to a track............

Roll on April (ish)...........

Cheers for that Solo! s:D

s:D

juansolo · October 28, 2003, 11:39

It's a cracking circuit. Plenty of runoff everywhere apart from the hairpin, where in the conditions at the weekend, I wasn't taking any chances. I believe it did claim an over enthusiastic Elise, though there was little damage.

Back to the moddage, I think I should clarify where I'm coming from as on re-reading my above replies they do seem a little harsh.

I have a slightly different attitude to most people here when it comes to modding cars. It's not that I'm right or they are, it's just a differing opinion. Personally I'm of the belief that the best performance mod you can do to a car is to uprate the driver. The beauty of this is that it's not money you never get back as with most car mods and you can take it to any car you own.

I'm not saying that you're not changing or improving your cars for the better as you more than likely are, just that I'm not particulaly bothered about being that much quicker than anyone or anything else. It's quite quick enough for me and IMO very well set up out of the box. If there was anything fundamentally wrong with it I would sort it (like the tyres which are simply not up to track use).

It does help that I do have another car that I *do* modify rediculously heavily so I do understand where you're coming from. But the nature of that car requires very high levels of maintenance anyhow. It goes with the territory and mostly I enjoy it. I tend to see the Mr2 as the complete opposite of that though. A car I can simply get in and drive and not have to worry about it. That's all.

Hope that makes it a little clearer where I'm coming from.

Anonymous · October 28, 2003, 12:44

Agreed Solo. Driver is most important. Improve that and there are serious advantages. Tiff Needel in a standard car would still probably whipp the arse of most of us in a modded car or not!

Roll on Anglesey!!! s:lol: :lol: s:lol: