Weather was good in Singapore before set off. The rain hit our convoy of 3 around the 100km mark on the North South Highway but luckly the sky started to clear up from Ayer Keroh onwards. We reached Sepang with a total clear and dry weather and I knew immediately that it was going to be a fun day.
The track opened slightly late around 8.15am after the usual registration and safety brief. I took my time to remove my number plate when the newbies were heading out for their orientation laps. I did this to see whether it makes any difference to the efficiency of the oil-cooler as the plate was covering 3/4 of the cooler's area.
At around 8:30am, I was out at the track doing a easy 3 laps to warming-up my tyres and then pit again to check and adjust my tyre pressure. Then I headed out again to concentrate on attacking T5, ,T11, T12, T13 and T14. I shifted to 4th before entering T5 and it feels much better than when I was on 3rd on those previous trackday I had. However, somehow I didn't manage to red-line on 3rd before going to 4th and I believe that "eats" into my timing for T5. But the good thing was I was able to take T5 in excess of 120km/hr, which I cannot do it previously. This might be the results of the more negative front camber.
For T11, I still got problems finding the best point to brake and turn. I think I will need to aim at some object in future. There should be still plenty of rooms for improvement for this turn.
The cones at T12 and T13 are gone this time, so I was able to carry more speed into them with less worries. I was definately faster around T12 and T13 compared to the last trackday. As for the killer T14, I still had alot of mistakes. After shifted from 4th to 3rd then to 2nd, I was outside the power band during the turn. I will definately need to fix this in future. I would also want to explore different lines as I saw some of the faster cars were running a totally different line from mine. I was so confused on this turn.
For other turns like T4, T9 and T15, I still have problems with overspeeding and missing apex. I knew it was the braking that caused this. I had no doubts on the braking system and I was sure that I had not been braking enough for these tight
turns.
When the qualifying period was over, I was happy that I got selected to participate for the JD event. That means that I was entitled to another 40 mins of track time to have some racing fun. I started out first in group C but ended 3rd. Nevertheless, it was full of fun, excitement and not to mention the tons of mistakes caused by the racing pressure.
This track was considered a fruitful one despite lots of mistakes still stays uncorrected. I was happy to clock my personal best of 2:48 and also brought home a small souvenir given by TCC. I am already looking forward for the Edge Trackday on the 22th Feb to try to fix my mistakes.
TCC 28 Jan 2008 - Best Lap:
If you prefer to watch it in YouTube, Click here
This video was recorded during the JD qualifying period of the track session. The lap time recorded in my DV Cam was 2:48:15 which is slightly better than the previous 2:49:08. It was a good start for a new year and I will be trying harder to do better in the following trackdays. A little improvement is better than no improvements ! Don't you guys think so ? Ha Ha.
3 comments:
Hi Ronnie,
Well done. 2.48 is very respectable. I see a 2.46 potentially because I noticed several mistatakes.
Watch your front straight braking. You can brake a little later. I notice you will coast at 150m mark and start braking at about 120 mark. I will full on pedal until I reach 120-100m mark and immediately brake hard.
T4 can take in 3rd. The trick is slow down and turn late. Step on gas early at turning while the engine will bog a little. The tires will spin slower but at a grippier rate as compared to 2nd where the tires will spin more than gripping. Instead, you have to control your gas because you can put in all the torque of 2nd gear down.
T5 and T6 has improved. Excellent but you need to anticipate T6 so you can power down early just before the T6 apex. This way, you will carry more speed out of T6.
T7 and T8 I'm indifferent to 3rd or 4th gear. I noticed you tend to take it as a even sweeper with constant speed. The trick here is slow for T7 to control your entrance. Once you cross T7 apex you will power on down to aim for T8. By the time you exited, you will hit vtec.
T9 need to look at marker to brake. Just a little late and too fast. The trick here is smooth and tight round T9 to aim for late apex so your car can point straight as early as possible to plant your foot down on gas to get all the pull power you need from 2nd gear.
Of cos T11 as mentioned earlier, need to anticipate the apex. Take it late so you can full bore out at apex.
T13 and T14 is totally out. You are going too tight at T13. You need to imagine a possible straight line from T12 to T13. Take that straight line and not following the T13 curve. You can full blast past T13 and yet able to brake for T14. Go around the outer part of T13 as you brake (wider curve approach) so you can aim for T14 apex. The wider approach helps to carry more speed and allow early WOT as you exit T14. Also a 3rd gear is possible.
Few more times of focus practices will surely be 2.46.
Hi Fred, I will be going up again on the 22nd Feb. I'll be concentrating on trying to fix some of the problems you listed. Let's see how it goes.
I have acquired another set of used stock DC5R rims which came with used 225 profile A048 semis.
I am thinking for giving the RT615 another shot before switching to the true Semis. My only concern for using the semis now, is that the Semis might cover-up all my mistakes. What do you think ?
The semi may not cover your mistake because the driving is the same. In fact, you may not get any faster the firt time using it. It takes guts and confidence to push the semi to its limits in order to get better timing. You have to be ready and consistent.
I would suggest learning the approaches and lines first whether using street or semi tires. You may get slightly better timing with semi but your mistakes if any can still be spotted. So improvement in timing is not a true improvement similarly to putting more hp in the engine. Keep all variables the same so you can focus on pure driving.
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