Project Polo - 1min10 around Wakefield

[jamesatfish]

I went to play with the big boys from the Ferrari Club on Saturday, and as my mate's car didn't make it out of the workshop in time I lent him the Polo. This really reminded me how ambitious this project is and how much I'm looking forward to the results as the times come down.

I threw the camera in the Polo for an early session and the following video shows the difference between a 1:13 and a 1:10 second lap around Wakefield. For the non track goers amongst the forum, what that means is that to meet the goals of this project the Polo should be right behind the lambo again coming into the main straight at the end of the lap...

[YOUTUBE]Q8AFof9ZjPw[/YOUTUBE]

My best time for the day in the Polo was 1:13.5 - a fair way off my PB which I'm putting down to the age of the R-spec tyres - they've had quite a few heat cycles and I think it's time for new rubber. For reference my best run in the G was 1:08.2.

If anyone is interested, the whole 10 minute session appears below:

[YOUTUBE]yusoDKQrT-c[/YOUTUBE]

[noone]

Damn I need some good tyres for the next run...

Good to see you are getting the Polo out there, I'm not sure there is a lot you could do without atleast a chip to equal this time...

Peter, what tyres / suspension are you running?

[jamesatfish]

Peter,

Any update on your progress? Checked out the Facebook page but couldn't see any reference to the Polo project.

I'm taking the Polo up to Wakefield on Tuesday 19/10 - it's very short notice but if you feel like a mid-week track day it would be great to meet you and compare Polo notes.

[clubracer]

Hey guys I've been absolutely flat out with work and getting my other businesses up and running so both my polo and other race car project have had to be put to the side for the moment. I can tell you I've done some more research though. The nest thing I'll be doing is bushes. Solid SEAT item for the front control arms and rear beam axle kit. I'll also do a rear sway bar and anything else I can get from whiteline at the same time.

I'm hoping this will make the car a lot more stable under brakes. As is the car is very very squirmy under hard braking so I think this should cure some of that meaning I can prepare a little better for corner entry.

I haven't played around with ride heights or anything like that yet but I think a full day of testing at Wakey should be well worth it. At the moment the car turns in okay but I get a bit of exit understeer. I'm going to see how the car goes with the rear sway bay and possibly raise the rear ride height a touch to bring some more weight over the front wheel. There's a lot that can be done though, with adjustments being able to be made with the rear sway bar, the ride height and the dampers. I think first up will be ride height followed by damper settings and finally adjusting the sway bar the fine tune. Only time and testing will tell though!

Hoping I'll be at the track in the next fortnight with these new mods so I'll make sure I post progress...

Speaking of front SEAT bushes, where can I get some?

[kangfu]

You can order them from Jmac, PM him. Thats where i got mine.

What do the whiteline rear beam axle kit bushes do? It locks the rear beam axle doesnt it? Would it make the car too stiff for everyday driving ... hmm/.

[noone]

Whiteline do the bushes as well.

Hopefully you will be back on this soon, interested to see how it goes.

[clubracer]

Hey guys,

Heading down to Wakefield Thursday December 2nd. Should have new front bushes and rear sway bar on so will be interesting to feel the difference.

On a different note AUTOsports has a new website, we're selling a full range of Sparco gear, plus lubricants, data loggers and other race gear. Getting the full catalogue finished at the moment but it's looking awesome!

AUTOsports Australia

Let me know if anyone else can make it...

[jamesatfish]

I'm actually up at Eastern Creek for a Burrows day on the 2nd, so sadly can't drive 2 circuits at once...

Very interested to hear how you go with the new setup.

[seangti]

This is a little off topic, but given that you and James probably have most tracked polo's around, do you get much knock coming back through the steering wheel in your cars. I've noticed an increase in noise transmited from the steering wheel, knocks at say walking pace with some turn? I'm guessing this has been a result of the track time for my car, though has only been to probably 6-8 days so far, just have more planned and am having second thoughts if this is a suitable car for that. (yes it's slow and still a polo, but don't want to ruin an otherwise good car).

[clubracer]

I think most owners of Polos experience knocks and clunks from the front end. I was a little concerned at first but after checking everything out all seems ok. I run coilovers so it's just the spring moving or adjusting itself in it's seat. Nothing to worry about really...

[jamesatfish]

This is a little off topic, but given that you and James probably have most tracked polo's around, do you get much knock coming back through the steering wheel in your cars. I've noticed an increase in noise transmited from the steering wheel, knocks at say walking pace with some turn?

Can't say I've had too many issues with knocking or vibrations back through the wheel - there is certainly some bounce and crash over rough surfaces but I do keep the PSS9s set to full-hard most of the time so it's just as likely to be suspension related.

[clubracer]

About to pick up the car now with the new front bushed. Unfortunately I haven't been able to fit the rear sway bar as it's on back order. The weather is looking pretty suspect so times definitely wont be dropping, but I'll get some good practice in the wet which should be interesting to say the least.

I'll be testing the RaceChrono lap timer with basic logging so am looking forward to a good day and I'll have some video as well as a full wrap up of the day posted up on AUTOsports for anyone who's interested.

Might try and squeeze another day in late December with the sway bar fitted.

The joys of running your own business from home is that you can do track days mid week and not have to worry about the boss!

[Pommie]

I'd be interested to know what times you would go around Eastern Creek in the Polo, my best is 1:47 but that's on a bike - never been in a car!

[bfeboi]

i just recently went around the creek doing a 2'07"5290

its slow but its was hell fun. my car was too stiff in the rear causing me to twitch through every corner. i went sideways going down the hill after the bridge =).

[clubracer]

Hey guys I've just got back from Wakefield. It pissed down with rain the whole way down but we got there and it wasn't raining which was great. Even better was that my brother (Clio Sport 197 F1) and I were the only sedans. Not bad!

The track was horrendous. There was mud and puddles everywhere and all the rubber had been washed away. It was cold so I kept the tyre pressures 32 all round for the first session. I have never been in a front wheel drive car that has gone sideways on every corner. To the point where is was actually scary. I was backing the car into turn 2 lap after lap due to a river running across the road. The new Race-Chrono lap timer/logger was working an absolute treat though. I will recommend these to everyone.

As the day went on the track improved (to put it into perspective my pb in the Polo is 1:15.4 (my brother went 14. and the first session my best time was a 21 dead. There was no grip anywhere.

As we did laps the track cleaned up. A Formula Ford was out there helping us too and by the afternoon (2pm) the track was feeling ok. The best time for the day was 1.16 dead although my brother in the Clio did a 16.2 (I think his car would be faster but it was our first outing with it so learning the limits).

The Polo was turning in much better and some of the corner exit understeer was reduced. I got the tyre pressures spot on and generally the car felt faster. My 'new' ****ty brakes pads were rubbish. They took a hammering and I'm definitely going bigger brakes asap...

Some guys turned up in a Civic a bit after lunch and we got chatting. Their times were 3 secs off their normal pace so my 16 dead ended up being a pretty good achievement. I think the car would be good for a low 14, possibly even a high 13.

Next time round I'll have the rear sway bar, I'm going to drop the ride height all round a touch and play with the dampers just to try and tune it.

I'll get a video up tonight for all to see. My brother in the Clio following (and not being able to catch!)