Donington Trackday Report: 08/12/07

[trackdaynova]

What a day! I have never in my life had so much fun on a trackday, it was unreal!

Got up at 4:30am, overcast, thought "cool", still dry.

Got to Donny - into briefing, still overcasty, if a little darker.

Got out of briefing - oh hell yes, the heavens had well and truely opened - throwing it down - and continued throughout the day.

Was an open pit day, constant down pours made it very interesting, but absolutely fantastic at the same time.

SCCR box and ZF Plate diff were both awesome, and the Uniroyal Rainsport tyres were absolutely phenominal, the grip was unreal

I was quicker in rain this time, than I was in the dry last time. The sc box, together with plate diff and tyres, gave me so much grip it was hard to understeer at all.

If you're wondering why I'm posting this at 15:20, it was because I blew my clutch , not bothered in the slightest, the fact it was a standard GM item which I bought 2nd hand for half a bottle of coke - it's not done too bad, just an excuse to get a Helix Paddle & Heavy duty cover for it.

So, had about 8 sessions, by which I mean change of passengers (roughly 20 mins at a time), took 4 passengers in total, Michelle, Steve, Paul (novashed) and my Mum :D was great.

Managed to start the car in 1st gear and drive it home, as could select gears once I'd got it rolling

Despite the clutch failure at only 13:30, I can honesly say that's the best trackday I've ever been on.

Nova was awesome, felt like a completely different car since my last trackday, with all the modifications that have been carried out

Videos later or possibly tomorrow...

Thanks to the following for coming down and seeing me, helping out: iainel, novaian, (forgot the other ones username -sorry), OllyTB, novashed.

Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!


Now then, throttlebodies on, management in, ARPs fitted, Acewell bike dash in, seats in, helix paddle clutch to source and fit - then back to Donny for 27th December :D

[novashed]

dont waste time do ya!

have to say credit to olly, was a good day despite the weather.

the car is an impressive piece of kit, put together in hardly no time at-all by my standards .

olly is quite impressive at the wheel too guys i have to say!

[The Simps]

Nice one Olly.

Whats the difference in feel between the plate diff and Quaiffe item?

[General Baxter]

i woke up at 5am, and said nuts its too cold fell back to sleep, woke back up at 11am and went ****

[trackdaynova]

Awww man - cheers for the kind words Paul - I felt I performed well, but moreso the car (despite clutch!) which is only minor.

Hey Simps, plate diff is by far more aggressive that the ATB (Quaife), more torque steer too. but I don't think I could have gone half as fast out there with an ATB, simply because the plate type is always engaged, whereas the ATB only engages when it needs to.

And with the weather how it was, and the speeds I was doing there is no way I'd be able to happily rely on a Quaife to engage when it needs to, in the short space of time you have.

I'd never go back to having an ATB, however I do understand why totally why people have them they're great, but you only know you have one, when you boot it mid corner, don't get me wrong, and its just my opinion.

I know, for instance, that Dar loves ATB's and hates plate types, I'm the opposite (again, its all personal to driving style)

[The Simps]

What would you have on a turbo? torque steer is bad enough! Never really driven a car with a diff!

[Adam]

Was a decent day out, even with the ****e weather.
Glad you got home ok, and didn't have to blag the rac into towing you

Car was fooking flying, sounded awesome down the opening straight. Straight cut boxes are ace :D
A guy that came in the garage asked what was in it, he thought it had a LET, thats how quick it was

I have a few pics to upload in a min, including the "incident" with the 306. Your front wheel was about 3" from the grass Olly.

Hope Iainel managed to get home ok too, as he had a few electrical issues on the way there.

[trackdaynova]

Simps, as everyone is - you're more than welcome to attend a trackday that I'm next and give mine a blasting around the track to see, I would PERSONALLY like a plate diff on a turbo car, as again, coming on boost going around the corner isn't ideal for understeer, I know this from my Astra Turbo (yes the one you called "one big bodge" )

So again, I'm presuming that with a fwd turbo coming on boost, the ATB will wait until one wheel starts to spin faster than the other before it engages, where the plate diff won't wait at all

LLTN- So it was you? I'm so sorry dude - I didn't hear you say your name Glad to meet you!

Thanks for the compliments about my car, 306 wasn't exactly clever what he did, obviously didn't like fact an F reg Nova was quicker than him.

There was only 2 cars that I felt were quicker on the day, which were 2 Mini Cooper S Race Series Cars, I was passing everything else from Evos, Scoobies, M3s, Porsches, even GT3 RS's

Glad it sounds good, from the outside too, looking forward to the pics now... I have the in car footage from the 306 thing, however I presume you won't see much as the camera points forwards

[trackdaynova]

One more thing, every single thing that I wasn't happy with last trackday at Donny, was totally cured this time around, which is how it should be... the mods I've carried out in between are:

- Fuel lines inside car & Swirl pot - to prevent fuel serge I was getting
- Wilwood 4pot brake setup - as the 16v ones just weren't up to the job
- 313lb front springs - to reduce body roll
- Rear ARB - to reduce body roll
- Eccentric topmounts - to tighten up front end suspension
- Uniroyal Rainsports - makes the biggest difference, having great tyres (altho had 888s if it was dry)
- Battery relocation and weight loss helped generally
- Gearbox & diff wasn't planned, but proved awesome


Hitting redline in one gear at 6800rpm, when shifting up, it only drops to 6300rpm back right on power - you'll notice this moreso from vids!

[Adam]

LLTN- So it was you? I'm so sorry dude - I didn't hear you say your name Glad to meet you!

Yeah mate, im the quiet one

Glad its hopefully only the clutch fooked, and not the new box.


I told you Rainsports were ace when you put the Wet tyres thread up

Pics just uploading now, not the best quality, as it was so cold outside i was struggling keep the cam straight