Sandown '08 Driver Dynamics hosted a track day at Sandown Raceway today, and heaps of fun was has by all (well, by some!) Zeds represent . . . Krausey (Note: NA in front), Evan (Legozed), Alex (BADXTC) Baroo puts the boot in You reckon your Zed is low! Check out Roy's (Royszx) Monsta Zed behind the Ferrari Tim, you just gotta get some BIG brakes to fill those holes... Sandy entering the main straight Roy boogies! (Note: antenna up, music loud! Alex needs the ripples . . . Possibly the fastest car of the day Baroo tries to keep up with the ex-F1 AMG. Sadly disappointed! Mind you, it was the best-sounding 7-cylinder V8 I've ever heard! Lookit! Col's on the track! Didn't like the stock suspension, though! "Something wicked this way comes!" Not happy, Jen!
Aweseome weather and a great bunch of zedders make for a great day. Not much to say as I didnt race, but here are some pics I took. Didnt really take heaps of pics as I was too busy gas bagging.. Alex in action.... Bigcol.... Sandeep... Chad.... Kr4usey... Col and instructor swapping positions... Cheers
Nice pics pics as usual! Thanks also to Chad for organising today. It was one of the most enjoyable days I've had in a long time. The weather held out for us, and although it was very windy it was dry all day which was a godsend! Being my first time on the track, I didn't really know what to expect. The day started out with a small briefing, in which we were all split up into groups. Thanks to Chad all us zedders were in the same bunch. Next was a "walk through" of the track. This comprised of us piling into a few cars and stopping at 4 points around the track where the instructor would explain how to handle that section. Once that was over, we lined up in our cars in pit lane, and the instructors took us for 2 laps around the track showing us how its done. Then it was our turn. This was the only point that I got a bit nervous. After that first lap, I was fine. We got I think 3 sessions for the morning. After lunch there was a passenger session where drivers were able to take someone around the track. My victim, umm co-driver was Jedi! Fingers crossed I didn't scare you too much. Then there were more sessions in the afternoon. During my last session I got one of the instructors to come with me again to just check I was doing all the right things. The highlight of my day was the instructor saying that my lines were excellent on all corners throughout the track. Towards the end of the day one of the competitors failed to negotiate the final corner onto the straight. Keep an eye out on ebay for a slightly used Mini going cheap! As for my car, even though it has stock aus-spec (ie 4x4) suspension, the handling was incredibly predictable, and for me as a rookie, very servicable. The bendix ultimate pads and goodyear eagle F1's on all corners were fantastic. On the couple of times I came in to turn 1 too hot the car gently understeered until enough speed had been bled off and then it was onto the correct line for the next corner. I was able to keep up with (and in some cases catch) all cars in our division through the corners. However leaving the corners was a different story. This is where the humble NA is left in the dust of the TT's and other makes of cars. I can't wait to do it again! To those who pulled out of the day, you missed out on an amazing day!
So that's what a track day feels like. Yippee bbbrrrrrrroooommmmmmmm bbbrrrrrrroooommmmmmmm bbbrrrrrrroooommmmmmmm!!! Had a blast for the first time out on a track. Yep I had a little adventure in turn 1, these things happen when you don't get off enough speed. All four wheel slide through the corner mmmm tire smoke. I can safely say for all we had a great day and looking forward to some more photos.
No times. Was a 'training' day. However Alex (badxtc) was quite quick for most of the day. Chad was having an absolute blast after seeming quite nervous at the start and that bloody merc does have some balls to it. Chased it down the straight only to watch it pull away and the out brake himself into turn 1. Thinking to self, get this speed off and don't hit it!
You cant beleive how pissed off I was today watching you guys having a ball on that track. I had been looking forward to this for months and to have it wrenched away by a crook water pump after installing it 10 klms before, is a bitter pill to swallow But on an up note. It was great to see a heap of mates having a great time. Holy Crap Alex's car hauls ass. It is very very fast. Was mint seeing Chad hang his ass out. Smooth old Sandeep doing it easy. Only one missing was ME Oh well, you all better make a point of getting to one of the Tampered events at Winton soon so I can join in. :zlove:
yeah... that 6.3 litre AMG V8 was damned fast..... but I just wasnt impressed by the sound of the V8. It was practically silent while at idle, and at full noise it was just too..... well...... it didnt have that V8 rumble..... Still, its an awesome car..
thanks tek, yeah it goes good it was a great day , Kirby and i had a blast,,,,,, we went there in one piece , we go home in one piece ,,, all in all it worked out well for all of us , the day was good , the track was good, my car was good , excellent day .... thanks Chaddy for a mad day
dammm wat a day. had a blast. at first i was honestly shit scared, but when you actually get out there its pretty cool. was just awsome to have all the zed guys in one group. seeing otherr zedders on the track while you are was just awsome. esp badxtc passing me like HOLLY SHIT dude how much power do you want fkn boogies hardddd, think you would have taken the fastest zed on the track today :zlove: glad everyone had a great time. was doubting the weather judgin by how shit it was on saturday but we honestly could not have asked for a better day. check out the pics, not a cloud in site . would have been awsome if it was heaps colder though, car kind of climbs up in temps after a fewwww laps then your doing a couple of cool down laps... car was great. learnt many things about it. dam more things i want to do to the car now lol. sure would have to be done before i hit another track day though. for starters never go out on a track with semi's at the front and road tyres on the rear :bash:. although sliding is heaps fun, it really annoyed the hell out of me not being able to consistantly hold the rear down. ill upload some vids soon and you will see my famous spin out . next track day semi's at the front and rear 100% serz no point going out on a track with street tyres if your wanting to give it some. badxtc had the same setup tyres (semi's front and road tyres rear) and im sure he knows wat im talking about. was so funny seeing badxtc trying to gain on me hard only to find himself in a tackle with the steering wheel AHAHA my brakes were AWSOME. i didnt fade, i think at the very start of the day it was good for first few laps and then it was shaking a bit under hard braking as i told peter black. thought meh my brakes are fading. but next runs and the rest of the day it didnt fade at alll. even on the 3rd or 4th lap. just great. i really had a great day first up my dream and fav car of the day : and my 2nd fav car of the day (THIS thing was off its head possibly the best vl ive seen, and it was great on the track): another gt3: r32: r34: r32 (awsome driftek wheels): ferrari (VERY clean): evo: s15 (LOVED this car ): another nice one: merc (TOUGHHH - the paint on this car was so sexy. BLACK with a nice deep red/maroon pearl through it. exactly what ive wanted for my car ): carrera (passed this guy on the straight ohh was such a good feeling ): mini (so you said your running 18's? ok 17's? 16's? well this guy is running 10's ): mini's (poor mini i dont know exactly which one im sure someone has a photo of it but one of these babies went off track and copt some damage, didnt look too bad front drivers side fender, light, bonnet, bar, cosmetic stuff ): bmw (CHECK out the brakes ): sandeep: kr4usy (niceeeeee dish on the rears): bigcol (very clean ): badxtc (may be riced up but its TOUGH as ): baroo (could have atleast cleaned your wheels before you came ): legoz (cleannnnn 95model): thats pretty much all the pics i took. ill upload some vids soon
That was good fun, I was a newb to circuit driving before today but I learn heaps so I think it was definately worth the money. Favourite part of the track would be the turns after the back straight and coming onto the main straight. Thanks to Chad for organising our group and also Kev and the others at driverdynamics for running the day. Good to catch up with the regular track whores again (and jedi ). Some very nice cars too, not just the zeds but porsches and gtr's and that VL Passenger session was good, I rode in chad's passenger seat. We had a nice spin coming into turn 1. Thought they'd end the session but we kept going. Chad's car is quite quick, we caught and passed a porsche carerra i think. needs a set of semi's on the rear to balance it out though. Highlight of the day was when Dean Canto drove my car. He watched me drive for 2 laps and pointed out that I was turning in too early onto on the turn before the back straight and same with the turn onto the main straight. He was also managing to go about 20km/h faster than me on the straights. He also said my car handled pretty good, I was running on full soft front and rear on the dampers and it suited the bumpy track and didn't seem to skip/jump when i was running on the ripple strips. Also finally learn the limits of my car today. In almost 2yrs I've never even come close to spinning the car, I've just never pushed the car hard enough to reach the limits of the tyres because I'm not game enough to risk my car or licence. In the last session I came into the turn 1 too fast, I braked as late as possible and turned in at the first cone, car started understeering which wasn't really a problem at first and i started turning in abit more so i'd be closer to the clipping point and then all of a sudden the rear tyres just give out and I ended up on the grass doing a 360 and drove on the grass for abit and joined up at turn 3. I don't think my rear tyres respond too well to higher temps and it was weird because I wasn't on the brakes and wasn't accelerating either and they didn't give me any signs that they were about to give out, just lost grip in a split second. I drove abit slower after that and then when i got to the last corner at the end of the back straight the rear started to lose it again, managed to catch that one and went into the pits and called it a day. I think the spin was a good thing though, learnt exactly how far I can push my car safely... and now i'll never do it again things to do before next time, probably won't be ready to race again until next year as I have exams coming up soon. -new brake pads (i think i used up about 2-3mm of pad) and fluid and brake lines and also some ducting for the fronts. -better tyres. if i can afford semi slicks i'll get them otherwise just good street tyres. Only got this photo: Lambo Superleggera :drool: and the leboghini in the background p.s. I think we need a sticker like this for the zed guys who hit the track:
Looks like it was a really fun day, so pissed I couldn't make it. So when's the next one Chad? Sounds like nearly everyone learned a bit more about their car and it's limits while having a ball. Can't wait to join you all at the next track day!! Cheers! Craig PS. For your one and only photo Sandeep, thats an awesome shot :thumbup:
Great job organizing the day and I am glad it was as much fun as you hoped it would be. I am really disappointed I was not driving, I will have to make sure that does not happen next time. Good to hear about the brakes too, I was a bit worried there for a bit.
yer everyone had a ball ye i dont know why it was doing that at the start peter black, but after that it was consistently very good. maybe by the time the pads got really warm ??? duno. oh well it was awsome ok guys here is my first video first of all it takes bloody ages to upload this stuff. it was taken from my n95 mobile so aint the best vid quality. and the stand is very wobbly. i also bloody forgot to close the windows on this run and the wind gets fairly loud :bash: this was when we were allowed to take a passenger. sandeep jumped in with me. we were suppose to use about 80% of racing ability so its why you dont see me going all out on the corners and using the rippple strips. it also became slow wen i uploaded it duno why, but ill upload a digital version when i have more time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-u1rb5DIYA p.s CHECK OUT how fast the WHITE gt3 passes me. fkn leaves me for dead... ohhhh DREAMMMMMMMM
yeah i got i set of 16ns here, with slicks on them , so i will put them on for the next one ,,or just get 18ns it was a bit toey on the back but able to hold on to it as best i could , didn't come of the track once, ( chaddy ) lol , some of the laps i was going hard and some i was not , , but the car was very consistent , ( main concern ) .. i had a , what i though was a water leak , but it was just a little low, ( funny cause i checked the hole car at home )...but all good now ...... as far as putting slicks on the back goes , YES definitely is a must ,, i could not power out of the corners ,Ive got verry good pirelli tires on the back , 285/35/18 P ZERO ROSSO ( almost new ) and they still could not hold it .. well i think a lot of zed owners will say that there brakes are shit , ( as Ive said many times before ) but my brakes were verry good , Ive just got slotted DBA and ultimate pads , i was carrying some verry high speeds on the straights , and i was applying the brake way before you had to , because i was scared of brake fade. I think they did what they had to do..... they did not stop on a dime , but were consistent ,,,.... when i had kirby in the car i hit 230 240 ish on the back straight .. when my cuz jumped in , 210ish ( shit him self ) and his friend 220ish ( shit him self ) .. i really think i can get 250, 255 on that back straight ,i was frying 2nd gear , and short shifting into 3rd , slow corner entry speed ..... i think Kirby was the only one that could put up with my driving , ( GIRL POWER ) .... there are still a lot of things i have to do to the car to get it going good around high speed corners...... but this will never finish ........... chad "" how much power do i want " how much is to much ?????? the only thing i think about is 850 or 1000 cc injectors and cam gears lol ( then the BIG BOOST ) LOL i want to hear those rollers turning .. great day
yeah i think my setup really works essppp the brake ducts. usually after a hard twisties run my brakes will be smoking lol. after the laps at the track my brakes were never smoking. the rears were though lol. so i think my ducts are awsome. braking was awsome and i didnt get fade at all. i have brake master stopper, a1rm racing pads, slotted rotors, good fluid, and brake ducting into the middle of the rotor.
Looks like, Everybody having fun, Great to see some new people out on the track having a go, Be warned it gets very addictive and you will keep goingback for more, much safer finding the limits of your Zed in a controlled enviroment than on the streets. well done and hope to catch up at one of the track days.:biggrin:
did anyone get to see how fast they ended up going down the straight or not????...i wish i could of come though...next time
thanks, that was a photo from my n95. i took another photo of the mini that hit the tyre wall but i decided not to post it. would have been good if there were more zeds lined up behind. yeah learnt alot about the limits of the car and also my own limits, found that it was really hard to concentrate for the whole 20min session, used the cooldown laps to relax. also my whole body is sore, you have to tense up and hold yourself into the seats when turning, was using my left leg on the footrest and pushing myself into the seat with my arms.. proper racing seats and harnesses would make it so much better. you should have come man, you would have loved it. driverdynamics are running trackdays all the time and are running race nights at sandown during summer, if i get my brakes in and new tyres i'll go to one of the friday night track sessions with you. also running a beginners drift session soon I think. not sure how fast i was going, speedo went all the way accross to 180 but didn't hit the limiter, don't think dean canto hit the limiter either... or maybe my limiter has been removed. but the straights were boring compared to the corners. where is tektrader with the vids?
yeah ill be up for that during the summer...would be good...cant wait to see some vids...i wonder what speed alex got up to though???...would have been quick
