takahashi

Just have another track day at Sandown today.
Beautiful spring day and I had A LOT of fun

Atridge came along as well... he will provide a lot of pics I am sure. :p
ypwpat (Yun) and Nismo350Z (richie) was there too!

The good news is I am much faster than the 350Z :D :D and on the straight the RX-8 is on par. I am much faster most cars depends on the driver behind the wheel (Yun was much faster thans Richie )- I am tailgating a 996 Porsche Carrera that it is not funny. :p I am MUCH MUCH faster than the Ford FPV (I think it was the driver)

But I am still doing 1'35.9" and consistantly doing low 36s. Although it is a second faster than I have ever done, it is still 4 seconds from my friends in Boxster S, and unbelievely 2 seconds slower than my best friend in the DC5R tuned to ~170kW with Hondata tuning. :o

What is going on??

I think I need some semi slicks to keep up with the guys. What else I could do? Suspension and slicks ,,,, and what else

I KNOW I NEED HYMEE SUPERCHARGE!

RXE16T

Greddy turbo kit?

takahashi

nothing is shown reliability though... I don't want to go home in a back of the truck yet! :D

I had a lot of fun, and I drove very well... just ask Matt Coleman. hehe

Lock & Load

Taka

REDUCING WEIGHT WILL CERTAINLY IMPROVE YOUR TIMES , maybe a few less YUM -CHAS will help reduce your weight . :D

cheers
michael

rpm_pwr

Tyres tyres and tyres. They are the single best investment in terms of lap times. They can polish the proverbial turd.

Gomez

nojooc (no juice) : to exert pure dominance of the road and most importantly, your competition, without the aid of performance enhancing substances from the house of Garrett, IHI, KKK, Eaton, Vortex and Nos

What, now you're advocating the use of a turbo! :D

AMG

have to agree there, gave me 3 seconds per lap at Mallala, add to that a real good set of brake pads you should get 4-5 seconds.

Also play around with your tyre pressures a bit to find te sweet spot which suits your driving style and track temp.

RXE16T

Yes indeed..... I'll be the first to jump ship from the NA brigade if the price is right.

EZZY

couldnt agree with you more paul...... i so need a turbo fix i missed my turbocharged cars :o

ypwpat

well Taka The good thing is i'm still a Newbie on the Track and it was my First time ever to be on the track

But i guess one day i can fully use the full potential of the car atm i just couldn't to get a proper line most of the time yet. but anyway i'll practice more

Been great to meet you guys

Cheers
Yun

PS: When i go home i'll try on our RX8 on the Track :p :D

stasis1

oohh no u dont,
gonna keep the keys its my women

NickG

That's interesting what you say about the Z Taka. I would have thought it would have better in gear acceleration than the RX-8. Not totally surprised about the Boxter S though. With a chassis that is probably better still than the RX8 and significantly higher power to weight ratio, it's easy to see why a lot of people regard this as one of the best Porsches ever. The standard Boxter would I guess be a much closer thing though....

takahashi

Interestingly enough there was a normal Boxster there and the accleration was not that great. The guys is a newcomer so he still has to learn but I think even WOT vs WOT My 8 is gaining on it.

Yun was new on the track so they have not discover there beast yet. I was tempted to race Matt Coleman in their Zs.

AMG and rpm_pwr = yes I will go for tyres and suspension next. Semislick I will go (Sport Cup or Potenza RE 55?) and the Michellin guys were there as a support crew and will continue to check tyre pressure (certainly will go to them more often). Suspension I have to wait - still cannot lower my car yet.
Maybe upgrade with brake pads and rotor (I am happy with MS brake pads at present).

ypwpat

i have asked the Michellin guys the cost for the Semislick (used on M3 CSL) for 18" is about $600 for the front and $650 for the rear each.

What do you guys think?

Btw Taka Rich car got some problem on his Linkage so he is not faster than me, He is taking easy on his car

Cheers

Lock & Load

ypwpat

I personally would firstly invest my money on getting extra tuition on driving on the track no offense ment , all the best equipment will not make anyone a good driver without the right skills .

cheers
michael

takahashi

That is what we went for...

There is only so much to learn from one driver and I do have special person I go to. But mainly is lap time - practice make perfect. Did I made you guys to go to the track all the times yesterday, rather than just sitting around?

Yun your tyre is fine and hardly peeling - you aint drive hard enough on the S-03s yet

ypwpat

sure i'm also thinking to either get a Steel brake hose or good Brake pads first. But i'm just worried about using the road Tyres. Yesterday my Right Front Tyres is quiet bad feathering already.

But we'll see how it goes

takahashi

The feathering will go away - your tyre still have so much thread left!

Don't worry - the best rubber is still to come on your tyres!

Brake pads will drive longer - not necessary better.

ypwpat

Yes you did hahaha, but i think it's a great fun and i wanna go again :p, I'm always worried when i braking into Corner, the Brake kinda Slipping, I don't know if that is Brake fade or ABS interfering.

So that's why i'm kind off worried.

nismo350Z

yeah...... Yun was faster than me because I didn't really push the car that hard at all, plus that was the first time I was learning the racing route (same as Yun).... as I told Yun that there is a rear arm linkage problem at my car and Nissan will need to look into that and replace the parts (Seems to be a common problem for all the Zeds).... when I was driving at high speed, the rear axle was actually screaming badly...

Also the reason I took it easy because I was not covered by the stupid GIO insurance... just cannot get over that after seeing morgan and the GT3 bumped into the walls....

But it was a really great day... thanks to Taka!!!

cheers,

richie

AMG

However tyres will considerably reduce lap times of an average untrained driver.

AMG

taka good brake pads will stop better, need to get the right heat range.

takahashi

Like me... :D


Richie, there are so many average driver in Porsches yesterday it is unbelievable. The GT3 driver is just doing 110% in the wrong places, that is why he is on the wall at turn 3. You saw A LOT of V8 driver oversteer at turn 3 at Sandown and you are thinking: Why are they pushing so hard for 50meters.... hehe coz they are racing - not on a drive day me thinks

takahashi

Yes for the 8 the MazdaSpeed brake pad is great 0-650 degree C...

No fade what so ever...!

But the stopping distance is still just about 10m deeper. The stock brake was really really good I think. The better rotor or even caliper will make a lot more difference. But I am brake as close to the Lotus already - so I was not expecting more

Gibbo

I have done quite a few track days etc etc and I have found that the times will not improve as much as you think with better brakes and semi slick tyres.
The 8's lack of speed means that corner speed is critical, whilst tyres will make a difference I am a firm beleiver in picking a better line through corners and getting all your braking done in the shortest period of time. Too many drivers brake soft and long before corners. If you want to improve your times forget about extra accessories, simply practice picking your lines on corners, practice hard braking (not soft long breaks that start 100m before corners) and invest in a set of sway bars for front and back.
The 8 is a great car because it is very forgiving so make sure you learn to drive it before getting more expensive options. This is not a criticism of people's driving it is merely a note to point out that you will be beaten 9 times out of 10 by a driver that knows how to drive rather than by a car with more go fast options.