Silverstone Mar 6th Circuit Days
Silverstone Mar 6th Circuit Days
I've had this booked for a short while now and realised I hadn't asked if anyone is going. Anyone?
There will be a bunch of us from Trackaction-Online there so come over and say hello!
Just look out for a MR2 turbo, E30, R26R, 205GTi, Clio 182, and a Westie - that will be us! :-D
Just look out for a MR2 turbo, E30, R26R, 205GTi, Clio 182, and a Westie - that will be us! :-D
A quick report - I was really looking forward to Silverstone. Not just because it's the first track day of the year and that the car has undergone more work since last driving it, but because it's Silverstone - a real Grand Prix circuit!
I saw the car for the first time in the metal and am over the moon with the paint colour. Much better than the green before.
So, harnessed in, Chris took to the track first with me in the passenger seat. The car felt much smoother in its power delivery from what I remember and the power didn't die off at the top of the rev range. I remarked this to Chris who gave a wink and told me that he'd had the car remapped without telling me!!!!! It was dyno'd after the chip at 220 bhp (graph to be supplied). Anyway, the grip was also a revelation to me as I hadn't used the car with 888's yet.
So then, the track. I was surprised at its length and felt the usual uneasiness early in the day when you have to learn the track. Biggest issue was working out where to brake. There's very little (well nothing in my case!) to use to set a braking point due to the flatness of the circuit. Copse was tough to get right because of this but then the drive down and through Maggotts was wide open throttle with a gradual slow down for Becketts and Chapel. I really liked this section due to how it flows. Out onto hangar straight and we could achieve just over 120mph before braking hard for the right hander of Stowe where the car lifted the inside front wheel! A few damper adjustments later in the day sorted that out but couldn't be gotten rid of through Priory and Luffield. As for Copse, Stowe was also difficult to judge where to brake.
Through a few more corners and to another favourite section - 3rd gear through Abbey, keeping it pinned through Farm, under the bridge and with the foot still pinned and nearly at the redline, you're into the uphill right hander of Bridge where the inertia of the car is working to give extra grip. Great fun. Through Priory then the long right hander of Luffield which had us suffering fuel cut with just under half a tank of fuel left! The final corner of Woodcote was high speed and on the edge of grip - a great end to get you back to the start and do it all over again
The car performed beyond expectations. We estimate the weight is now 1200kgs and now that it's working with 888's it's totally different to last season. The best thing about it is that it's incredibly easy to drive when it's sliding just using the throttle and steering to play a balancing act on the way around a bend.
At the end of the day we set our fastest laps. Chris got 2:20.9 and I got 2:20.7 :lol: Shimmy from the Open Pit Lane forum who was also at Silverstone for the first time set 2:19.2 in his CSL so Chris and I are very happy with the time the 328 has put in.
I saw the car for the first time in the metal and am over the moon with the paint colour. Much better than the green before.
So, harnessed in, Chris took to the track first with me in the passenger seat. The car felt much smoother in its power delivery from what I remember and the power didn't die off at the top of the rev range. I remarked this to Chris who gave a wink and told me that he'd had the car remapped without telling me!!!!! It was dyno'd after the chip at 220 bhp (graph to be supplied). Anyway, the grip was also a revelation to me as I hadn't used the car with 888's yet.
So then, the track. I was surprised at its length and felt the usual uneasiness early in the day when you have to learn the track. Biggest issue was working out where to brake. There's very little (well nothing in my case!) to use to set a braking point due to the flatness of the circuit. Copse was tough to get right because of this but then the drive down and through Maggotts was wide open throttle with a gradual slow down for Becketts and Chapel. I really liked this section due to how it flows. Out onto hangar straight and we could achieve just over 120mph before braking hard for the right hander of Stowe where the car lifted the inside front wheel! A few damper adjustments later in the day sorted that out but couldn't be gotten rid of through Priory and Luffield. As for Copse, Stowe was also difficult to judge where to brake.
Through a few more corners and to another favourite section - 3rd gear through Abbey, keeping it pinned through Farm, under the bridge and with the foot still pinned and nearly at the redline, you're into the uphill right hander of Bridge where the inertia of the car is working to give extra grip. Great fun. Through Priory then the long right hander of Luffield which had us suffering fuel cut with just under half a tank of fuel left! The final corner of Woodcote was high speed and on the edge of grip - a great end to get you back to the start and do it all over again
The car performed beyond expectations. We estimate the weight is now 1200kgs and now that it's working with 888's it's totally different to last season. The best thing about it is that it's incredibly easy to drive when it's sliding just using the throttle and steering to play a balancing act on the way around a bend.
At the end of the day we set our fastest laps. Chris got 2:20.9 and I got 2:20.7 :lol: Shimmy from the Open Pit Lane forum who was also at Silverstone for the first time set 2:19.2 in his CSL so Chris and I are very happy with the time the 328 has put in.
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Mr Fletcher
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nice write up tommy and more power aswell 
Glad you had a good day and the car peformed well 
cheers
jason
Glad you had a good day and the car peformed well 
cheers
jason
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http://www.cuttersmachinerysales.co.uk
http://www.cuttersmachinerysales.co.uk