Posts Tagged ‘ Snetterton ’

An eventful Saturday…..

Saturday’s trackday at Snetterton (20th February) was yet another enjoyable event. Great organisation by MSVT and the staff at the circuit.

Conditions were however tricky to say the least. It was dry and overcast upon arrival and overnight rain had left the circuit damp and the racing line was slippery and conditions too some getting used to. Even crossing over the dry line in the wet caused the rear to loose grip on occasion, with only one minor off onto the grass just after Riches. A drying track towards mid morning made it much easier and a reasonable dry line appeared.

Expected heavy rain at lunchtime was only an hour or so of light rain so it was back to using the wet line in the afternoon, on a much emptier circuit.

A mid morning alternator light after only a two or three sessions, brought that session to a premature close, the fault being a shredded multi-v belt. Strange considering it was an almost new Conti belt. Fitted a spare previously used Gates belt which sorted the issue getting the car back up and running, with no further issues for the rest of the day.

Other than a failed alternator belt, the car performed faultlessly all day. All in all another great day.

Trackday Snetterton 21st April 2015

Trackday pictures from Snetterton on the 300 circuit. The day was organised by OpenTrack, with superb photographs by Tony Harrison.

Trackday Snetterton 20 February 2015

It was great to get back out on track for the first time since November at the MVS Trackdays (www.msvtrackdays.com) organised track day at Snetterton on the fantastic 300 circuit. This was an outstandingly good value for money trackday at just £99 for the whole day, open pit lane.

For this trackday a few of us got together for the day sharing a couple of garages and between us we had four modified Astra VXRs and a modified Corsa VXR. Track conditions were damp for the morning session, which led to a few red flag stoppages due to unfortunate ‘offs’, but the car performed faultlessly as it thrives on damp/wet conditions. A dry line started to appear from mid-morning and for the afternoon the track was dry meaning grip improved greatly further enhancing the enjoyment of the day.

Pictures from the day by MSVT Photography.

KW Clubsport First Track Test

It was great to get back out on track for the first time since November and it was also a chance to experience the new KW Clubsport suspension properly for the first time.

On the road the set up is very good to drive, the car rides with a degree of comfort and the solid top mounts are fine to love with but the whole reason for fitting it to this car was specifically for its on track capabilities.

The previous set up with the B8 dampers/DAP Race springs was a great set up and worked well. With no damper adjustment I was able to run with the rear bar on a medium hard setting (position 3) and this gave good feel and balance. The KW Clubsport kit however is on a completely different level and a huge step up.

To begin with and to evaluate the new set up I began by running with the KW Clubsports with the rear bar backed off to the softest setting (position 1). Initially on the slightly damp track the back end feel a little loose and unpredictable. There was little confidence in rear end feel and grip levels felt uncertain. I stuck with it to see if increased tyre temperatures helped but after about 20 minutes felt that something needed to be done to improve things.

The KW Clubsport kit has rebound and compression adjustment on both front and rear dampers. Now with the rear bar fitted this gave less grip at the back end upon first test. With the damper adjustment available I could have altered the settings to dial back the grip with the bar fitted. But the bar adds weight, and if the car can be made to handle without the rear bar, then not only will the handling be better with the KW Clubsport kit, but the weight of the bar can be removed as well…. win win.

When KW developed the clubsport kit they did so on a standard VXR/OPC chassis without any aftermarket add-ons, and KW maintain the excellent handling can be achieved without a rear anti-roll bar. Knowing KW and the development that they put into their kits there would be no reason why they would not be correct.

So after the first session it was back into the pit garage to remove the rear bar, check the damper settings and head back out on track.

Immediately the whole car felt more controllable, the rear felt more positive and the handling, even on a slightly damp surface was fantastic. Over the course of the day on a drying track the new set up was brilliant. The KW Clubsports performed beyond all expectations. Corner speeds were much higher than with the previous set up. So the handling has been improved with the new KW Clubsport kit and the rear bar is no longer needed to balance the chassis meaning an additional weight saving over the previous set up by removing the bar.

Having driven a lot of suspension set ups on the Astra H I can confidently say that this has to be the best out there, especially for track day use.

So as far as suspension is concerned it has to be KW all the way; Clubsports for trackday cars and for road use KW Variant 1,2 or 3.

Trackday Snetterton 22 November 2014

The MVS Trackdays (www.msvtrackdays.com) organised track day at Snetterton was a fantastic day. The weather varied between almost dry, drizzle and moderate rain throughout the day and track conditions varied from damp to wet, making driving conditions a little more challenging but still very enjoyable.

It also meant that the car wasn’t given quite such a hard time and it kept temperatures down. It was obviously harder to get heat into the tyres, meaning starting with higher pressures, but it also meant they were not subject to overheating. Speeds were slightly lower and reduced grip meant braking had to be smoother but progressive meaning that brake temperatures were lower and cornering speeds were also slower. Overall this also kept gearbox oil temperatures lower and the water temperature didn’t go above 90 on track due to everything being worked less and not put under as much stress.

The wet conditions meant that the usual ‘dry’ lines were abandoned in favour of ‘wet’ lines meaning searching for grip off the usual lines round the corners where more grip was available, keeping away from the apexes and braking slightly offline where more grip exists. Overall the Nankang NS-2R tyres performed faultlessly, gave excellent grip levels and offered a lot of confidence given the conditions and far outperformed their price point.

So the last track day of the year for me, now heading for the closed season giving some time for a few more improvements to be carried out. Counting down to the first planned track day of 2015 in February.

Image courtesy of Torque Photography:

A Wet Snetterton

A Wet Snetterton

Some images from the day by Torque Photography and MSVT Photography:

Track Day September 2014 Snetterton

Having been away from the track for too long, a track day came up with Open Track www.OpenTrack.co.uk at Snetterton on the 300 Circuit on Monday 29th September 2014; it was a late addition to their calendar.

Unfortuantely track time during the day was limited in the morning due fog delaying the start. Visibility was down to below 50m, meaning you couldn’t see the marshalls’ post or the lights or from one end of the pit lane to the other, so sighting laps couldn’t get underway until 11am once the fog had lifted as it wasn’t safe to go out. But once the fog lifted track time got underway, and it was a dry, busy morning on track. The afternoon brought some light showers. The ambient air temperature was good at around 15 degrees C, meaning inlet air and water temperatures were fine all day.

One additional change had previosly bew made to the gearbox oil cooler, and after monitoring on track the highest temperature recorded was 109.8 degrees C which is a huge improvement over the 125+ which was seen with no gearbox oil cooler fitted during similar track sessions.

There were still some fantastic pictures of the day, taken by Tony Harrison.

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

Latest Track Outing – Snetterton Wednesday 28th May.

A quick shakedown at Javelin’s (www.javelintrackdays.co.uk) recent Track Evening at Snetterton on the 300 circuit. Once the pads were fully bedded after a few laps in the car performed faultlessly, the extra power proving more than useful. The tyres were good too, and as a value for money tyre performed very well indeed, and if I am honest better than expected, but at £108 per tyre it is hard to fault them.

Here are a couple of pictures taken by xtreme-sports-photography.co.uk

Javelin Track Evening

Javelin Track Evening

Javelin Track Evening

Javelin Track Evening

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

Astra VXR Sprint.....

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