blyton, lincolnshire 27/9/08

[lewis1641]

hi all. again, not officially a track day but a "test session" at the blyton airfield track. its about a mile, not the best surface in the world but what do you want for £50 ish a day per car!  this time of year one car and 2 drivers at cadwell is pushing £200!

they have loads of test sessions at blyton but we are off on this date. its the first saturday one i have been on so dont know how busy its going to be. there's often some interesting machinery there too. i have seen single seaters, metro 6r4, 911's mk1 and 2 escorts, escort cosworths - bleedin allsorts!

if you need any more details let me know

[lewis1641]

less than 24 hours till thrash time.can't wait

[Paul86S2]

How did your day go? All good I hope.

Paul

[Diamond Hell]

I think he got given a rollcage, the flucky ucker.

[lewis1641]

now then.

indeed i was donated a roll cage! i am well chuffed with that.

we had a really good day once again. the car ran fantastically all day the only problem we encountered was a big gash in a front tyre. unfortunately it was a rather expensive trackday tyre so we have some saving to do.

definately need a brake upgrade too as they seem to fade fast.  its not like they go completely but more and more pressure is needed to slow down.

my mate came along in his almera gti. completely standard and in complete road trim (down to the cd player and tow bar!)

he had a really good day and his car was suprisingly quick. it understeered really badly through the faster corners but soon caught up with the golf. on a longer track it would be faster than the golf.  he too suffered with brake fade but his biggest problem was tyres. he got through 3 near side fronts in the day.

my girlfriend drove it for the first time too. she didnt like the lack of power steering and hates the gear change into second but had a really good time.  she was driving when the tyre went and she did really well controlling the car.

all in all a really good day.

[Paul86S2]

Good news on the cage - wish I had that kind of luck.

Glad you had a good day and the car performed well. Shame about the tyre but at least your GF managed to control it.

Re the brake fade - what pads and discs are you running. I presume you have changed / upgraded the fluid? I used some cheap pads and they realy didn't like much heat.

Hopefully if its dry next Friday I'll get to try out my new Max Sport track tyres.

Cheers

Paul

[Diamond Hell]

What spec are your brakes?

239, 256 or 280.

If you ain't got 280mm get some and get Zimmerman 280 rotors on there, with the 22mm master cylinder...... or did you have the master cylinder already?

You really shouldn't be able to murder 280s.  Mine certainly do the business and don't eat pads either - cooler for longer, innit.

[lewis1641]

paul - we are running dot 5.1 fluid.  pads are cheap. we put them in when we did cadwell earlier in the year as yellowstuff we ordered were out of stock (and never turned up anyway...).  they did pretty well at cadwell and had loads of life left so we thought we'd found bargain pads!  will definately upgrade in the future.

where did you get your tyres from? i heard they max sports were no longer available but i'd love some more.

diamondhell - we are still on the diddy 239mm brakes so an upgrade is definately on the cards.  do you know what i need to convert to 280? is that g60 spec?

as for the master cylinder, i am not too sure but i do remember their being an invoice in the documents for a master cylinder so i will have a looksie.

cheers, dave

[Diamond Hell]

280 is 'G60 spec' but can be found on 16V Passats and also SEAT Toledo 16V motors.  Don't worry if they've got ABS - just unbolt the sensor and throw it away.

Provided you've got the bigger master cylinder and something like the Zimmerman discs on - others don't have the vent holes around the bell - muchos reduced brake cooling, then I'd try out some OE-spec pads with them to start.

Going from 239 to 280, when you stand on your brakes with sticky tyres on, it's going to feel like you're about to stand the car on it's nose!  You will not regret it!!  I've NEVER had fade on my 280mm brakes.

How much were the Max-Sports, Paul?  Are they R-spec tyres?  Can't wait to go to R888s in 2009 - I've heard SO much about them 

[Paul86S2]

Sounds like you're definately suffering from the breakdown of the bonding agent in the break pads. When I put a "cheap" set in I had the same problem. Changed to decent quality ones and the problem went away without doing anything else.
OE spec pads should be good enough - but I still wanted something with a better temperature range.

Max Sport tyres I bought brand new off of ebay for the bargain price of £100 for 4.

As far as I know Ears Motorsport still sell them www.ears.co.uk they also sell some Indy Sport tyres with the same tread pattern which although they are remoulds have a very good reputation in the Rally circles.

Paul