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Trackday

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 11:09 am
by stylussprinter
YES , in this weather , mad , probably :!: I'm off to Abbeville over the pond next week at the kind invitation of Jeff Wiltshire , along with his son and a Brands Hatch instructor who I think I've probably met at N Weald last year.
His car is a Phoenix 2lt Blacktop Rotrex superchared 550kgs little beastie ---- power :?: erm :roll: --- not sure at this point because various pulley sizes have been experimented with but suffice to say it'll be well over 300bhp and similar torque at pretty low rev's :shock:
That power has found the odd weak point along the way , in engine and transmission but that's sorted ready for his 3rd season of sprinting . I had a hand in setting the car up & corner weighting it in 2010 plus he was one of the first to fit my ARB , a couple of years before that then tried it out at SPA .
I've never been to Abbeville so track and car will be a learning curve with his car being around 100 lbft more torque than my 600kgs Stylus ----- I'm at Goodwood on the 2nd April for a ''self wake up'' after 6mths of no track driving ready for my first sprint on 27th April ---- however , I think Jeff's car will probably do that job :lol:

Re: Trackday

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:36 pm
by stylussprinter
I made one error in my previous post , Jeff's car turns out '''300bhp at the wheels''' :shock: It was a lot of fun and the sound plus the awesome delivery of that 300bhp is addictive , especially once I'd stopped taking tight corners in 3rd which it's quite capable of doing . In 2nd , the throttle plus a tiny bit of steering input can negotiate the tight corners plus take you right up to 80mph or so before hitting the next one . It doesn't accelerate so much as view where you need to get and it's there with a dab of throttle :P
A few minor things were really driver specific , like not being able to see through/past the drivers side mirror , right in my eyeline for turn in and apex's in some spots. The steering wheel also tricky for me at 9/10 inches diameter and a short 4 inch ' stick ' . Brakes were very good but huge pressure to make them work , obviously just a leverage or cylinder size thing.
If it were mine , I might change the front wheels to a bigger size as they're so much narrower than the rears --- understeer can be a problem in slow corners unless you drop to 2nd and let it oversteer a touch . There's plenty of power in 3rd , it's just that the speed it induces makes it understeer . A bit of fibreglass chopping would be needed but that's not a problem.
Regardless of my comments , this car was absolutely stunning to drive and sounds like nothing else when on full song , nothing like a turbo -- way better . Reminds me actually of the supercharged 2lt ERA's of the 50's and 60's racing scene 8)

Forgot to mention I managed to spin the car twice on the same corner , during the same first session . He let me drive 3 sessions -- brilliant day :D Thanks Jeff .