Phillip Island Familiarisation This Weekend.

[Water Boy]

Have u tapped your headlights?

[Peter Jones]

Have u tapped your headlights?

With a vengence! ( I have my own Vinyl cutter )

Pete

[Peter Jones]

Back in one piece, I'm still trying to take it all in.

Great fun, I'm really happy with the way the car handles and the brakes are fantastic.

I got a stern talking to from Waterboy Senior (Bruce) about the my driving style and took his advice and managed to start getting my lap times down.

There's a lot of information to absorb and everything happens very quickly.

Unfortunately I didn't see the first white cloud when I burst a heater hose, I did however see the second white cloud when the head gasket blew. This was followed quickly by the "meatball" black flag.

I managed to get at least an hour of track time in before I blew the hose so I got my moneys worth at least!

I'll post the mechancil details in the "wreck to race" thread.

Phillp island is a great track, I'll pop up some photos and times when I've unwound and unpacked.

Pete

[Tim]

thats one thing that sucks about phillip island! its a long way back if u need a tow! I need to get the VR6 back together and start getting some track time under my belt!

The one question that needs to be asked. Did u take T1 flat!? hehehe

[Peter Jones]

The one question that needs to be asked. Did u take T1 flat!? hehehe

Sort of, my car is down on horsepower, always has been, so flat out sometimes only meant 90mph or so.

My best speed down the straight was 115mph / 184 Km/hr (I have a mph speedo). I wasn't entering at that speed though.

My driving style needs a lot of work so after my lecture from Bruce I concentrated on lines rather than speed, I had initially been going into every corner too hot and shreading up my tyres. Typically I was entering t1 in third gear an hitting about 6500 rpm out of the apex, out to 7000+ then brake for turn 2.

Pete

[Tim]

haha "lecture"

I can just picture that

[Peter Jones]

From my pit crew's notes my best laptime was 2:23:12.

Car is underpowered, In forth gear there's nothing to be had it just stops pulling. I'm not so concerned about laptimes I just don't want to be a roadblock to the faster cars. I'd prefer to be out there on my own I think sprints might be the way to go.

Pete

[Tim]

thats not too shabby. Ive seen faster cars go slower!

[Peter Jones]

haha "lecture"

I can just picture that

Yeah I think I frustrated him a fair bit. (Sorry 'bout that Bruce) There was just so much going on with Bruce instructing, cars closing, corners, gears, braking etc etc I was getting more than a little confused and couldn't apply what he was telling me to do. It all sounded fine but I just wasn't doing it.

Classic disconnect between the brain and the controls.

But I went there to learn how to drive after all - I don't claim to be any sort of racing expert. I still need a lot more practice.

Mostly I'm sure it's experience too, I'm not familiar enough with all the terminology yet and by the time I've figured out what's meant, it's too late.

"Brake early" for this turn doesn't help if I don't know what early is

It's hard to get up to that assumed level of knowledge from an outsiders perspective, although you've heard all the words before and they sound quite logical to you, when you try to apply them yourself they suddenly loose all meaning.

I need to hang around more racetracks and try and understand what the drivers are doing out there.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

[GoLfMan]

looks like a great day Pete

[evorobin]

My best speed down the straight was 115mph / 184 Km/hr (I have a mph speedo). I wasn't entering at that speed though.

Are you serious that's a decent speed!

Saying that probably overeading a bit but still I don't remember my 8v going any quicker. While I ran sway bars on std suspension with slicks 2'14" was the best I could do. Never enough straight line grunt at PI.

[Peter Jones]

Are you serious that's a decent speed!

Saying that probably overeading a bit but still I don't remember my 8v going any quicker. While I ran sway bars on std suspension with slicks 2'14" was the best I could do. Never enough straight line grunt at PI.

Yeah I only got there once. To do it I had to be pulling maximum revs 6500+ in third out of the last corner change fast to fourth and just keep the pedal down. I could usually hit 110mph before braking. The speedo is new old stock and is pretty accurate at 100km/hr on street tyres confirmd by gps., but at the far end of the dial on race tyres who knows?

Trouble is there's just no power left when you change to forth, It takes the whole length of the straight to get from 4000 rpm to 6500 rpm. This motor always has been down on power, so far as I can tell it's all working properly it just doesn't make as much horsepower as my other MK3 powered golf.

Still it's good for learning, The brakes and suspension outperform the motor which means I shouldn't get myself into more trouble than I can get out of.

Next year I think I'll build a motor for it - 2.0 16v on twin sidedrafts has a lot of emotional appeal.

Pete

[Water Boy]

Learn to drive smooth and then get the pedal to the metal... I drive slow as down there but i always hit the apex at full noise and try to keep as much flow as possible...

Remember what Hans Stuck says: Always slow in fast out to beat the Grout (Another famous euro racer)

Nah Pete dad says u were fine and listen better than most wana-be boy racers!

[Oneofthegreats]

Great update Pete & thanks for posting up the pictures.

Shame about the blown heater hose & head gasket, but these thing's do happen.

I know what you mean about the ratio's in the 5 spd. but that is still a good top end speed. Remember that even though it's got 110+hp in a 900kg car, it's still has to push a car that's shaped like a biscuit tin!

I actually found that my gti went better with a standard diesel 4 spd! Especially top speed, but suprisingly also in acceleration too!

My GTI topped out at 195km/h & 190km/h (correct tested speed too) on the back straight of Symmond's Plains & would do it just before the right hander & also stay in front of a tuned Polo GTI & E30 M3 in a straight drag race!
I reckon if I dragged it with the 4spd fitted, I reckon I could shave upto 2 tenth's off my time.

I'm actually refitting my 4spd for this reason. If I go back to doing major highway km's, I'll fit a mk2 4E 5 spd I've got here.

Keep up the great work. Look foward to seeing a power upgrade too!

Remember, with the right part's & setup, the K-Jet can be very tunable.