Sam's build thread

[sambb]

Yeah there's no runoff whatsoever. The only place where you could come off and be ok is the exit of the first left hander (which is where I ran wide) and the exit of the 2nd right hander that's bordered by Armco but on the exit if you loop it you will come around onto grass.
There were 3 pretty decent offs. One of those mid engine MGF's looped it across the finish and slid down into the gully and crashed over the embankment - in that vid you can see the marks where they went off as the guy comes over the finish line on his 3rd run maybe. That's where my mate went off but went further left and his car stopped a papers width from the concrete. The second incident was an mx5 that got sideways over the line, over corrected and then put the nose of his car up the wall on the right hand side and then came crashing back down flat in the braking area and somehow pulled it up. The big one was at the end though. The guy who was easily fastest all day in a 6cyl powered gemini coupe sports sedan went straight on at the top of the hill before you drop left into that downhill carousel and punched the wall head on. His car was destroyed, he was ok, but said it'd be a long time before we see him again.
Guys in cars like ours will maybe just grab third across the top if they have a 6 speed but 5 speed cars will stay in 2nd. But because of the walls/trees being so close it actually feels really fast. So I change into second just before the first corner and it stays there the rest of the way. Its the tightest track on the state circuit but I love it because it suits the car as you're always in a corner, its very unforgiving - one mistake and you loose your flow. You just have to put the walls and trees out of your mind. A couple of times I don't think I took a proper breath until I was back over the finish line. Its a good rush.

[sambb]

the top 20 or so out of 60 cars at the end of run 1.
final results. fastest times of day after 5 runs.
breakdown of my 5 runs with each split.
the track from the viewing area
the twins getting the anti heatsoak treatment

EDIT: full results here - https://www.mgcarclub.com.au/wp-cont...2A-Results.pdf

[metalhead]

Well done! I've loaded a couple of vids my wife took of the car, but didn't have the gopro set up in the car for this event. Unfortunately I slowed up a bit after my brother had his off in the MGF, but was happy to drag my whale of a street car around as quickly as I did, particularly as I'm still running regular street tyres. I was in the Vette, ran a 61.99 on my second run (https://youtu.be/UTnd6oS4otM). You're getting impressive times out of that Polo!

[sambb]

Thanks buddy. yeah I remember you. I was with my mate up on the hill watching your car get around. That things handles man. I couldn't believe how tidy and agile it was for such a big car. Coming down the hill to the bottom kink I was thinking how the hell are you going to get that turned in and it just darted through- good driving. So whats the go with the MGF. Fixable?

[metalhead]

Thanks! It gets around pretty decent for a big car, they handle alright once you work out how to drive them, though I'm still working on that... I'm still on factory springs (shortened) and bars too (though admittedly my car had the factory 'gymkhana' suspension option with stiffer springs and bars), it's mostly just poly bushes, good shocks and an aggressive alignment. The engine is a fair way from stock though, it was a slug when I bought it. It's purely a street car, I'm just out having a good time.

Yeh, the F was remarkably ok, he drove it home. New blinker, tyre, and bumper and it'll be as good as ever. Amazing really, a metre or two to either side of where he ended up and it could've been a very different story.

I'll have to go back and read through your thread for what's done to your car, I was very impressed at how quick you were. What tyres are you running on?

[sambb]

Man I'm surprised. I didn't see it go into the embankment. I just heard the screech, the silence (so I knew it was on the grass) and then a dull thump. I didn't go over 'cos I hate gawking at accidents - could be me one day. I saw it afterwards and thought for sure the suspension would be bent so sounds like he came out of it ok.
I'm on Yokohama R spec Semi's A050. I'm only on 195/55/15 in G/S soft compound. I stayed with 15's and narrow to keep the rotating weight down and just rely on the compound to do the gripping. In contrast that Megane was on 19in 235's medium compound R888's. The rims are mk3 VR6 - I'm constantly hunting for something light and forged but no joy yet. Once my fronts wear out i'll go with 205/50/15 fronts and put the 195/55's on the back.

[metalhead]

Yeh, very lucky. I know what you mean about accidents and "it could be me"... Nothing bent underneath except the bashplate under the centre (that the car finished up sitting on). Probably a good thing it's mid engined, radiator and that sit a bit back from the front of the car. The car actually lifted up the front and got beached up over the drain.

Sounds good, the A050s seem a popular choice. Yeh, I know Steve's on the R888s, and he's quick too, that's part of why I was so impressed that you were right with him on times. I'm on 285/40R17 Continental ExtremeContact Sports - a great tyre and plenty of it, but with a treadwear of 340 it's certainly not a semi! I am very impressed with them, but I might have to consider a second set of wheels with some semislicks at some point, as much as anything so that I'm not tearing up my road tyres so fast. A set of 18" wheels would probably be better for that - better availability of cheapish wider semis.

[sambb]

To be honest I'm not sure how the pricing of r specs goes once you get up into 17's and 18's. I would have thought that r specs for 17's would be cheaper than 18's though. Once you get out of the yoko A050, toyo, kumho V70A's $$$ brands you might be able to pick up some slightly cheaper Nitto NT01's. I'm pretty sure they are an R spec, although not as sticky as the yoko's you can get them in medium compound, they have a continuous groove running around them which makes them 100% NSW road legal and sometimes you see them on ebay stores for much less than street contis/goodyears etc. Depending on the kays you do you could maybe just run them all the time and it may work out cheaper than street tyres but be better for the track - they'll howl like banshees on the concrete freeway up there though.
found these if you go 18's. still big money but to put it in perspective the motorsport tyre dealers down here want $330 for a single yoko A050 205/50/15: 2X 275/35R18 NITTO NT01 TYRES NEW 275-35-18 2753518 SEMI SLICK DRAG RACE TYRES | eBay

[metalhead]

275/40R17 semis are quite available and reasonable, but there doesn't seem to be much else in (wide) 17" sizes, and my 285/40s are already a bit too short (1" shorter than stock), so I wouldn't consider the 275/40R17s for street use (track would be fine). That means I'd need an extra set of wheels regardless. That being the case, a set of relatively cheap off the shelf 18x10 wheels will fit easy, and there's lots of 265/275/285/295 18" Kumho/Nitto/Nankang semis around for $2-300ea. I do drive the car a lot, it shares daily duties and has racked up nearly 15,000km since Christmas, so I'm not sure that a semi as my only tyre is the right choice just yet anyway.

Anyway, I should probably stop hijacking your thread!

[sambb]

yeah it s tough one with tyres. They make probably the biggest difference to your times but cost so much and bloody wear out!! No worries re hijack - its good to chat to someone who was there. Plus I saw your tee shirt and can see you have very good musical taste - its so rare these days ha ha. I'll be up at Tamworth for the state round and there at Ringwood again at the state round in August so maybe we'll cross paths again eh.