Archive for the ‘ Trackdays ’ Category

New Tyres

For the next track day outing I have been sent a set of tyres to evaluate, and they arrived bright and early this morning.

New Tyres

New Tyres

Whilst the name might be one that most people would be prepared to shy away from, the Nankang NS-2R is on the RAC MSA Blue Book Tyre List 1B, which is the RAC MSA approved list for Sports/Uprated tyres suitable for competition. These are the 180 Treadwear tyre and at a respectable £108 a corner they are worthy of consideration.

I had a similar experience with some Hankook RS-2 tyres – again an RAC MSA List 1B tyre, an excellent dry weather tyre (more grip than the ‘average’ road tyre), and great in the wet – very progressive. Sadly they are no longer produced and they were not sold in huge numbers, mainly I suspect down to people being unsure of the name. However now Hankook are now OE to several respectable vehicle manufacturers.

Not expecting them to be as sticky as a cut-slick type of tyre, but if they prove to be a good track day tyre covering dry and wet conditions, similar to other tyres of this type then they will be well worth the money.

Specification:
UHP tyre with two grip level options for Fast Road/Track Day (Treadwear 180) or Sprint Use (Treadwear 120). Exceptional high-speed stability and wet weather performance plus cornering precision and grip. Used as the control tyre in the 2014 Fun Cup series.

The three main circumferential grooves on central tread can improve drainage efficiency and wet handling performance.

Unique groove wall angle design can prevent excessive stress massing to restrain irregular treadwear effectively.

Continuous tread shoulder design can improve tire stiffness and ensure cornering grip.

Optimized tread width design (contact patch wider 13% than regular tire design) improved stability while driving at high speed.

Large block design on tread shoulder upgrade stiffness and cornering handling performance.

RAC MSA Permitted Tyres List 1B:

PDF Icon

RAC MSA Blue Book Section L Tyres 2014

Direct Link to the 2015 file on the RAC MSA website www.msauk.org
192_202_Common_Regulations_for_Permitted_Tyres_(L).pdf

For Further reference RAC MSA 2014 Blue Book >>> RAC MSA 2014 Blue Book <<<

Track Day November 2013 Snetterton

The final Track Day for 2013 was at Snetterton on the 300 Circuit with Open Track www.OpenTrack.co.uk on Monday 4th November 2013.

As usual Snetterton weather provided everything during the course of the day! Dry, bright, sunny, wet and damp. Great to get out on track for one final time, and looking forward to the closed season changes to the car, which will bring high improvements for 2014 to what is already an ultra capable track day car.


Thanks to Tony Harrison for the On Track Photographs © Copyright Terms: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

Track Day September 2013 Snetterton

Trackday at Snetterton on the 300 Circuit with Open Track www.OpenTrack.co.uk on Sunday 15th September 2013

A changeable day; dry, bright and sunny in the morning and damp occasionally wet in the afternoon.

Thanks to Tony Harrison for the On Track Photographs © Copyright Terms: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

Track Evening June 2013 Snetterton

An inexpensive Track Evening at Snetterton Circuit became available with Javelin, on Thursday 27th June 2013 and it would have been rude not to! Dry for the most part, but it became damp towards the end of the evening, but no great dramas. Photograph by http://www.xtreme-sports-photography.co.uk © 2013

On Track @ Snetterton

On Track @ Snetterton

Track Evening June 2013 Snetterton

Another outing at Snetterton, this time a track evening on Monday 10th June.


Track Evening organised by OpenTrack www.OpenTrack.co.uk
Thanks to Tony Harrison for the on track shots © Copyright Terms: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

Track Day February 2013 Snetterton

First track day of 2013, a dry, bright, sunny but cool Snetterton Circuit. Sunday 17th February.


Track Day organised by OpenTrack www.OpenTrack.co.uk
Thanks to Tony Harrison for the on track shots © Copyright Terms: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

Track Day November 2012 Snetterton

After the remaining modifications were carried out during August and September, November was the ideal opportunity to get back out on track; Saturday 3rd.

The changes for the latter half of the year consisted interior improvement, suspension alteration and rear brake improvement. The interior changes have seen the addition of the Safety Devices rear half cage, Sabelt 4-point harnesses and Recaro Pole Position seats to help with stiffening the vehicle’s shell and improving driver comfort. The extra suspension improvements include a damper change to Bilstein B8 spec which were fitted with new DAP lower, stiffer ‘Race’ spec springs and the rear brakes have been replaced with a vented and grooved 292mm kit, which will help with preventing the rear end going light under extreme braking.

A cool, and on occasion wet November day was the ideal chance to test out the car again and see what a difference the changes have made. The most noticeable changes to the chassis have come from the new dampers and springs improving the handling and road holding, but matched to this is the reduction in flex in the chassis due to the roll cage; the chassis is much stiffer which has helped with turn-in and the new seats and harnesses are not only more comfortable but as a driver you are held more securely with no movement, unlike factory seats and 3 point road seat belts.

Track Day organised by OpenTrack www.OpenTrack.co.uk
Thanks to Tony Harrison for the on track shots © Copyright Terms: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

Track Evening July 2012 Snetterton

The first track outing for the car was Thursday 26 July 2012; a track evening at Snetterton on the 300 circuit. The majority of the changes had been made to the car namely the Intercooler rework, addition of the Pro Alloy water radiator, turbo rework to K06 specification, the front brakes have been enlarged to 356mm, additional front brake cooling added and the front suspension bushes upgraded. The car has also had a 4 wheel chassis alignment carried out. The car ran on factory dampers with DAP road springs and the standard front seats and 3 point seat belts were still fitted along with the factory spec 278mm rear brakes.

This was an ideal opportunity to give the car a shake down and see how it performed, prior to further modification work.

The car performed faultlessly over the sessions run, it was a hot sunny July afternoon with the ambient air temperature at around 24 degrees C. Despite the heat coolant an inlet air temperatures were kept well under control and the front brakes were superb, offering excellent stopping ability. Looking forward to the next track day and the future mods.

Track Evening organised by OpenTrack www.OpenTrack.co.uk
Thanks to Tony Harrison for the on track shots © Copyright Terms: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

Astra VXR Sprint.....

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