Track evening Snetterton 14th June

[Ben]

I'll pop along for the social - my car isn't worth racing round Snett - if at 115BHP it could be called racing!.

*** EDIT Frekin typical .. I can't as I've got a BSL course lesson on the thursday

[pjs65]

This was my first track event this year because the gearbox swop took longer to do than expected , so i was keen to try it out . The plan was to get there early and have a look at the other cars and get some photos plus it was a Ferrari track day and i wanted to look at those on track . I signed in early and went for the noise test , where i revved the motor to 4.5k and was shown a 104.6db reading with 102 the limit and no pass , shit . I decided the only thing to do was to take car in to work , which is just 5 minutes from the track and make something to go up the exhaust . So i found some stainless mesh which i rolled into a tube and wrapped some exhaust wrap around it and shoved it up the tailpipes . It was then a quick blast up the A11 to the track and have another test and this time passed at 102db with some advice to go steady . It was then another rush to make the saftey briefing which i did just , phew . In all the excitement i didnt get to setup my gopro which i have just recieved as a birthday present and only managed to get 1min40 of me looking at the lens muttering about how to switch it on . The only picture i have is of my exhaust bodge . Pete:Chevy_anim:

[pjs65]

Part 2 is how i got on and i have to say that the 5 speed is so much better than the old auto as its got more gears and the ratios better suited to the track . It made a big difference to the drive i could get out of the slower corners even the hairpin at the top of the track i could get out of quicker . Loved changing down from 4th into 3rd then 2nd at the bottom back straight and then booting it out of Nelson into the bomb hole , i could have done that all day . The suspension adjustment i made appear to have helped as i can now hit the apex on the top hairpin which is something i had no hope of doing before . It will still understeer in the tight turns if i go in to quick but thats more to do with my lack of ability than the car . The new seats are also a big improvement over the old ones so i no longer slide about in the corners . The only downside was that at end of the session i caused a red flag by pulling off the track . I was braking before that bloody hairpin again which i think its called montreal , when there was a bang and a horrible grinding noise:eek: i thought the gearbox had gone . I drove very slowly back to the paddock with this grinding noise and couldnt work out where it was coming from , so that had finished my day . At the paddock i noticed that a front wheel had a scrap line on the inside and a pin missing from the caliper . Without the pin the caliper had slipped under braking and rubbed against the rim , i have no idea where the pin went . A bit of a lucky escape there i think . Apart from having noise issues , damaged brakes and being to dumb to work a gopro ( was a faulty mem card) i had a great time and iam very happy with the alterations to the Camaro , Next time i will get some video because even with stuff shoved up the tailpipes the noise is awesome . Pete:Chevy_anim:

[pablo]

Great write up Pete. Sounds like you had a rather eventful evening one way or another, glad the gearbox has transformed the car for the better top job:thumbs: