Well good evening everybody, Just thought i would do a quick wrap up of the supersprint that i competed in today at eastern creek as part of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club. Heres a link to the times (I was competitor No.87 and my mate was competitor No. 187). Lap Times Heres a link to the pictures from the day (mine was the white zed) Sideways Action Both me and Evan were a bit dissapointed with the results as we hoped for a larger improvement in lap times after we did a few changes to the car since the last time we raced at eastern creek (see my last post regarding aroca or eastern creek). after the day we have a few questions regarding how to improve lap times in a zed. firstly if you look at the lap times and look at competitor 166 with the RX7 (who did a time that was closer to what we hoped to do) we cant understand how his lap time is so much less than ours when for all the sessions we were out we dominated him around the track? we had more corner speed that him, more speed down the main straight than him and when both cars were on boost down the straight we pulled away from him noticeably. my question is why dosent having horsepower and the ability to use it (i am refering to my mate evan who is a much better driver than i am) amount to quicker lap times? what other things do you need to do to a zed to make it go faster around a track? some of the things we improved since last time was the removal of the A/C and the Hicas. Installing a Stage one brake upgrade from UAS (Thanks for that John). and installing adjustable upper arms. The only reasons we could think of as to why the times were not as improved as we would have thought are: 1. There were heaps more people at the track this time as opposed to last time and it takes off heaps of time to overtake people. 2. The rear tyres we were running were fairly shagged and tended to spin up alot which ment alot of oversteer (which puts a smile on the dial but dosent reall help lap times). John maybe you can throw us a few suggestions as to what we can do to improve our lap times, you watched the car on the track what are your suggestions? Finally a big hallo to the other members of the Forum (you know who you are) who showed up to support John on his last track use of his engine before the sale. Cheers From Andrew. p.s would love to hear some suggestions to from anyone who knows how to reduce lap times!!!!
Was awesome watching your car today! Top PR for the Zed :thumbsup: I love Eastern Creek, its such a fast track(compared to OP or Wakefield) and your Zed was hauling! You (or Evan) rouned up that white Skyline very nicely, great to watch. There was one particular corner that you regularly drifted beautifully:thumbsup:. Was good to meet you and your Zed looked mad out there. 9th position out of 95 cars is great and a 1.49.1 is a proudworthy time in anyones books. Well done.
Hey Andrew Was good to meet you and Evan, i was impressed with the way you had the Zed going on the track today, definately hauling ass. i wouldn't be to dissapointed with those times as they are not to shabby at all, the point you make about having to pass other traffic is a big factor in affecting lap times. Given a clear track and a clean lap, the times would definately be better.:thumbsup:
J.P was there but his car died Yeah Johns times are there you have to go look for competitor number 203 and individual race times. from memory i think his best time was a 1:49.64 but it hardly counts cause he only got in 5 laps. Gotta look for the answers Cheers from Andrew
Thanks Caz and Wizrd it was good to meet you guys Thanks for making me feel better. I guess i set my hope a little to high, but the fact of the matter is that the car hauls its way quicker in a straight line than most out there and yet it dosent produce the times!!! go figure. I think for the most its a traction issue me and Evan both agreed that it had plenty more power to put down but the tail always kept overtaking the front everytime you tried to use it. Maybe im just winging but i wished the 300zx had about 500 kilograms less weight to run around with. Anyway it was still a hoot and not bad for my second time ever on Eastern creek. So Nice to meet you guys and hopefully we will see each other on the track sometime.
well i am no mechanic but i think he said something about... An alternator or something electrical like that, not quite sure but i am sure it was nothing to major cause from what i saw the car was smokingly fast.
Yep well done Andrew and Evan goes to show the potential of a zed as not many mods and very good times. Out out of a hundred cars to be in the top ten, awesome. Lots of other moded cars you beat also. Awin in your class by a long way. You even beat me although I was just warming things up and checking stuff out. Had power probs and think the alternator died. Reco alternator on the cards. Perfect conditions and a host of fast cars to play with and it was a top day anyway. Thanks for your help again Ron. I had done a 1 46.74 previous which would have had me down as 4th overall and with new brake bias adjustment and better rear brakes since and more and with the conditions yeasterday I probalby would have done a 1 45 or maybe better. Yes Andrew lots you can do but you won't see big jumps in times at this level though. Happy to help and come see us or call.
Andrews 300 Just to let you guys know its Andrews car and not mine, I just help him prepare it and keep things running smoothly, and he's nice enough to let me cut loose around the track in it. Considering this was Andrews second time at EC, and about my 20th (clocked up hundreds of laps there) 3 second difference between us isn't a whole hell of alot. Of course I was his driving instructor at the AROCA driver training days, so that might have something to do with the size of the gap! Traction problems, you know you've got traction problems when you find yourself smoking the rears out of turn 1 in 4th at about 160+km/h, and it gets run on low boost! For faster times I might have to have more than the current casual approach of "I reackon that might work" which we've been working on as far as setup goes. (didn't check the tyres pressures all day). So thanks Andrew for letting me take the thrash car out for a thrash, at least we gave the flaggies something to watch! As far as temps go, standard radiator and oil cooler, water temp sat on 80 all day and oil temp never got above 80 (even after six flat out laps). Intake temps only got up a bit after 5 laps (stock intercoolers). They made them pretty robust out of the factory.
