Thursday, November 29, 2007

Stuff

Well I have some results of testing with the new CR gearset...

Not suprisingly around my local circuit it is fantastic with 2nd gear now good for 75mph and 3rd about 95 so the previously ratio gap between 2nd and 3rd is gone and many corners which were "lugging" in 3rd are now 4500+ in 2nd which gives excellent driveability/steerability on the throttle.

At a VSCC regularity (ie pretend racing but lots of similar speed traffic) last weekend I managed a 71.9sec lap which involved a lot of overtaking and poor lines for ultimate lap times... nonetheless that is only 0.2 secs above my personnel best which was done on a clear track... bodes well for sprint type events where the track is clear and lines are fast.

Also under test were some Willwood Polymatrix B Pads ... these are Yank pads and designed for 900 -1650deg F work and have a 0.63 Coe of friction. Well all I can say is throw those green/yellow/red stuff EBC shite in the bin because straight out of the box these pads are bloody amazing in comparison. Very powerful from cold and no fade... I was braking 25-30 metres too early based on my previous braking points with a totally predictable pedal rather than mushy with random bite that EBC provide. The Willwood pads feel very similar to the Ferodo DS3000 pads my mate has just fitted to his Volvo calipers.

Back to gear ratios... did the 1/4 mile at Whoop Ass Wednesday last night ... well what can I say ... A first gear good for over 50mph is no bloody good for standing start sprints ... at least not with my 2.5 Laycock cover and metallic paddle plate set up... more clamping force required to stop hideous clutch spin with a 6000rpm dump.... first run was a hideous 16.2sec (previous best was 14.8) although terminal speed of 92.5 mph was similar to my 14.8 run !!

With a tickle off the line at 1000 revs and no clutch dump or slip I managed 15.3 secs but by now a miss had set in at about 5500rpm (rotor arm fried methinks) so terminal speed was actually worse and I headed home for a beer . My mate Nissan 350Z managed 15.2sec (bit poor I thought) and the father in law of Andy Miller (TR6) brought his AMG SL55 Merc and did a 12.6sec run with traction control on... goaded to do a proper unaided run resulted in $2500 worth of spinning rear Michelins + smoke and a 13.1sec run.... spectators and commentators were much happier though....

What else? Stag is in the middle of open heart surgery, the Estate finally has a rust free tailgate so final prep is happening before its respray and I have a green Herald in Hertfordshire awaiting shipping to sunny Perth and fitting of a TH7 Cam ;-) cheers Dave............