Tsukuba Weekend Attacks

I had two days of 2 x 30 minute sessions at TC2000 this weekend. Saturday, my goal was to rotate the front right/left tires to spread some wear on to the lightly used front right tire. This proved to be very exciting as the car under-steered drastically on corner entry. Other places it was hyper-sensitive like the start/middle of the 80R and the final turn where I had a rather large over-steer moment. So while I did well to get a 1'11.08 it was a little insane to try perhaps. Still - nothing like testing your reflexes. Rotated the tires back to their proper sides Saturday evening. I put the times down to trying hard to brake properly and hit the apexes.

Sunday, I didn't know what to expect but regarding the tires and if I would have similar excitement in the other direction. It was also drizzling rain but not really wet. So when I got a few 1'10s I was very happy with my driving. I actually had a half tank of gas at the end of the day also so I guess I can be faster if the car is lighter. Best lap time was a 1'10.564 which beats my previous best. Happy days! Looking at the best sectors, if they had all been on the same lap, I would have got a 1'10.3 so there is more speed there also. I feel a 1'09 is not all that far away.

Here are my top 5 times:
____________Sec 1__Sec 2__Sec 3__km/h
1. 1'10.564 28.838 29.181 12.547 144.869
2. 1'10.614 28.727 29.270 12.617 144.850
3. 1'10.666 28.766 29.270 12.630 145.337
4. 1'10.708 28.909 29.283 12.516 146.421
5. 1'10.911 28.964 29.326 12.621 144.212

I think I'm a little slow at the speed-trap. I noticed other NCs on the Result Sheet are getting 149.896 which is quite a big difference to me. Hmmmm. Guess I have to work on my 2nd hairpin exit still.

Karting at F1-Miyazawa Lake

Went to this tiny kart circuit in Saitama called Miyazawa Lake with some guys from my work. We signed up for an endurance race which was 7000 yen for 5 mins qualification and a 40 laps race.

The kart was capable of 60kmph. It was the fastest kart I've ever tried as the few times I've gone before I have been only doing about 20 to 30kmph. So this was quite cool.

Qualification turned out to be wet as we had a small shower. That was fantastic fun as it was next to impossible to drive around a corner without opposite lock. In a kart this turned into pure fun and I forgot about getting a fast lap so I ended up 3rd on the grid. Not that I would have gone faster anyway but sliding was huge fun.

We did a reverse grid at the race start which was also good. I spun out on the last corner the first two laps and got stuck in the corner on my second lap. Damn. Already 1 lap behind. When will I learn?! After that I just drove faster every lap. I had a lot of problems with the last corner though as I'd either drift it and lose speed or I'd go too slowly and lose speed. Funnily enough going slower lost less speed than drifting though. Interesting.

I was going rather well when I was passing a friend on the outside when he bumped me off the track. That hurt. Still have the bruises! Took 85seconds to complete that lap as I had to get out of the kart to get it back onto the track. Those things are quite heavy when you are trying to push them!

Finally lost the race and finished in 3rd place, 2 laps behind our perfect leader and 1.8s behind 2nd place. Just shows if you are consistent, you don't have to be fast sometimes to do well. One of the guys put up this cool web site of the results

So - why do I bring up karts... Well it dawned on me when I was driving them just how much they have to offer in terms of learning about the basics of being smooth and using your tires properly. It's so easy to think you are going fast when you are drifting around the last corner but then someone goes and passes you on the inside... Huh?! Yes that just happened. Makes you think more about what you are doing wrong.

The other nice thing about karts is they are small, speed is less than a car and you feel everything so you are really aware of what is going on. The kart had no diff for example, so when taking a wider line around a corner vs taking a narrow line kept the engine running better, it dawned on me that my inside tire was slowing the engine down. I always knew what a diff did in general but experiencing this made them really make sense.

Another thing you learn is brake bias. Brakes are only on the back so its hard to brake when you are turning. Even more so in the wet. Back just comes right around unless you have a fine touch. Amazing. Its useful for adjusting mid corner though if required.

I was only really figuring out all this towards the end of 40 laps. It was really worth going though and I'm going to try go again and perhaps apply some of what I learn to my circuit driving.

Time for new fluids

Last Sunday the 5th, I had my engine, diff and gear oil changed. I had 9072km on the car. Wow, I only got the car in April! I remember my first year with my RX-8 I drove it 4000km altogether that year. Can't quite believe how much I have driven it although I guess 9000km is nothing for most people outside of Japan.

I also picked up another spare set of MazdaSpeed brake pads. At the rate I go through those pads it always makes sense to keep another set around.

Party Race 08/09/20 - Video

Finally I managed to get the time to get the video of my last race out of the camera and up on the Internet. I learned a lot from this race and even though I was at the back it was one of the most enjoyable races so far. I made a huge amount of mistakes as seemingly all of my smooth driving was forgotten and replaced with a mountain of under and over steer showmanship. If anyone was behind me they probably would have been scared out of their mind at the rate my back went out during these 20 odd minutes. The only reason I made it around in one piece is because the roadster is such an awesome handling fun car. Well done Mazda and well done D-Technique on setting it up for me. Now I just gotta fix my driving and go faster :-)

So without further ado, Enjoy the show!

Lake Okutama Trip

Went on a small trip to lake Okutama with some good friends. Had a great day driving and chatting. Took some photos but not that many as the car was filthy after lots of rain last week. It was good to stretch the legs though.

The road to Okutama (411) has a bazillion tunnels on it where you could hear the different exhausts whale off of. Very satisfying with the top down. Superb day of driving although a little burnt perhaps :-O