16v_paddy
04-07-2010, 18:46
Well as some of you know (I've been constantly reminding :oops: :lol: ) I've done my 1st ever trackday in my valver :D
I was at Castle Combe on Friday along with all the folk from http://www.T5D5.org in their stupidly fast Volvo's :twisted: I'll tell the story of how it went in pictures below...
This was the weather we were caught up in while heading to Combe on the M4 from Bristol after **** all sleep, on friday morning. Pissing it down :roll: :(
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0007.jpg
After I had my cam timing sorted, the cam belt was whining like a pig as it was done up too tight :? & I was advised to slacken it before blasting round on track. I meant to do this on wednesday but me & my mate & I nearly killed ourselves helping someone else get his car ready for the trackday. This car T4 running around 370 odd bhp plus lots of other expensive goodies :twisted:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0023.jpg
After we managed to finish that car we were both too ****ed to even move so called it a day, & I said I'd do my cam belt on the thursday morning just before we left for Bristol. Unfortunately twat brains here left the torx bits at my mates house :oops: so couldn't do it :evil: Plan B was to do it in the hotel car park, but my mate got delayed getting to the hotel we were in so it had to be done in the morning at Combe. So after the sighting lap in the piss wet ( a couple of cars spun off on the sighting lap :lol: ) I cracked on with it
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0009.jpg
In typical me fashion I made a hash of it :oops: I'm never doing that job again if the engine is still ****ing hot :x I missed almost all of the morning session as I struggled to get the pulley cover off without causing 3rd degree burns to my hands. Big thanks to sideways danny for answering the phone that morning to tell me how to do it properly 8) I still ****ed it up by doing the tensioner pulley up too tight so it wasn't turning & burning the belt :oops: so done it all again, fixed the clunk that had appeared on the way there & got out on track for the last half hour before lunch :D :D :D
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710163.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710172.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710185.jpg
Check out the G-Meter hanging from the rear view mirror :wink: some hard cornering there :twisted: was moving around quite a bit in the old bucket seat considering I had harnesses on & they were tight :shock: I just pulled them even tighter after that as the confidence was building
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710198.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710210.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710229.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710240.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710256.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710264.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710269.jpg
So that was a brilliant 30 mins out on track that had completely dried out, so after lunch the spare wheels with the R888's on them came out :twisted:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710490.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710494.jpg
Not many pics from that session I'm afraid, but R888's are ****ing awesome!! :D Amazing how much difference they made, the levels of grip took the piss, the paradas in the morning session started to get a bit iffy at the back of the car towards the end of it but the toyo's just took the abuse & screamed for more :D :D
I then became victim to shit timing, said to my mate as we were coming up to the last corner "1 more lap & we'll go in as I'm a bit low on fuel now" got 2/3 of the way round & the brake pedal just dropped to the floor :shock: pulled into the paddock to see smoke pissing out from both of the fronts :( I'd stayed out that little bit too long :roll: and cooked them :P
The track was virtually empty & no-one was waiting in line to go out so we just kept on going, I've no idea how long I was out for on that spell, but I was getting much faster, the car was getting a right pasting but she just took the abuse :D started to notice a slight knock at the front left of the car but it was still ok. I left the car to cool down & hope that it wasn't the end of my day.
No more pics of mine out on track so here's some of the cars that were there
This is my mates car
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0011.jpg
we fitted some 6 pots to it earlier in the week :twisted:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0017.jpg
This thing is an absolute ****ing weapon on the road and on track plus the guy who owns it can seriously drive and he's ****ing mental!! :twisted: it's featured in this months practical performance car magazine, well worth a read boys & girls :wink:
He didn't have enough negative camber on the near side to suit Combe & shredded 3 slicks on the front left wheel :lol: it's ok though as he had 9 more wheels with slicks on sat ready to go plus plenty of other people with spares with slicks ready & willing to be loaned :P
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0046.jpg
The whole day was sponsored & heavily subsidised by MRG in Chippenham http://www.mrgcars.co.uk/ so they bought a load of their cars down & some went out on track as well.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0036.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0033.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0037.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0039.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0027.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0029.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0032.jpg
A few of the others there
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0013.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0015.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0021.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0041.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0043.jpg
After an hour of cooling down, I decided to go back out on track to see if it was just a case of getting too hot for the brakes or if they had died completely :? I had the track to myself so took it easy, the brakes worked fine so gave it some hammer for 10 mins, the knocking had developed a bit more but everything still seemed fine. So I pulled back into the paddock & collared an instructor to go out with.
David Da Costa, guy is an absolute legend :afro: Brilliant instructor, taught me so much in just 10 mins it was unreal. He got me to drive that car harder than I've ever driven it and to drive that circuit sooo much better :D
You didn't need a stopwatch to know that after his instruction I was going so much faster & smoother, it made me enjoy it so much more.
Took Dave back to the paddock, let the car sit for 10 mins or so for her to chill out before she got a good pasting for the last 20 mins of the day :D
I finished the day, soaked in sweat, sunburnt to a crisp, covered in all sorts of crap from fixing my car & helping others fix theirs to get them back out on track & absolutely knackered but with the biggest cheesy grin on my face. I absolutely ****ing loved it & can't wait for the next one.
The car has has a thorough beating, with it now clunking like a bastard, pulling me all over the road, brakes are about shot now, I had to fight the ****er to keep it on the road on the way home but she made it home in 1 piece and all she really needs is a bit of TLC, some new ball joints or something along those lines on the passenger side & she'll be ready for the next thrashing, whenever it may be. I just need a break now as it was a hard drive back home, especially since I wasn't exactly pootling along the motorway at 50 either :wink: :P
One last pic for you all, this is my left rear tyre, I think I collected most of the 3 slicks the guy with the white P reg estate shredded :lol: Just noticed a lot more on that tyre as I took it out the car today along with some of the cords that came off as well :lol:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0045.jpg
I was at Castle Combe on Friday along with all the folk from http://www.T5D5.org in their stupidly fast Volvo's :twisted: I'll tell the story of how it went in pictures below...
This was the weather we were caught up in while heading to Combe on the M4 from Bristol after **** all sleep, on friday morning. Pissing it down :roll: :(
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0007.jpg
After I had my cam timing sorted, the cam belt was whining like a pig as it was done up too tight :? & I was advised to slacken it before blasting round on track. I meant to do this on wednesday but me & my mate & I nearly killed ourselves helping someone else get his car ready for the trackday. This car T4 running around 370 odd bhp plus lots of other expensive goodies :twisted:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0023.jpg
After we managed to finish that car we were both too ****ed to even move so called it a day, & I said I'd do my cam belt on the thursday morning just before we left for Bristol. Unfortunately twat brains here left the torx bits at my mates house :oops: so couldn't do it :evil: Plan B was to do it in the hotel car park, but my mate got delayed getting to the hotel we were in so it had to be done in the morning at Combe. So after the sighting lap in the piss wet ( a couple of cars spun off on the sighting lap :lol: ) I cracked on with it
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0009.jpg
In typical me fashion I made a hash of it :oops: I'm never doing that job again if the engine is still ****ing hot :x I missed almost all of the morning session as I struggled to get the pulley cover off without causing 3rd degree burns to my hands. Big thanks to sideways danny for answering the phone that morning to tell me how to do it properly 8) I still ****ed it up by doing the tensioner pulley up too tight so it wasn't turning & burning the belt :oops: so done it all again, fixed the clunk that had appeared on the way there & got out on track for the last half hour before lunch :D :D :D
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710163.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710172.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710185.jpg
Check out the G-Meter hanging from the rear view mirror :wink: some hard cornering there :twisted: was moving around quite a bit in the old bucket seat considering I had harnesses on & they were tight :shock: I just pulled them even tighter after that as the confidence was building
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710198.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710210.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710229.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710240.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710256.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710264.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710269.jpg
So that was a brilliant 30 mins out on track that had completely dried out, so after lunch the spare wheels with the R888's on them came out :twisted:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710490.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/volvocc020710494.jpg
Not many pics from that session I'm afraid, but R888's are ****ing awesome!! :D Amazing how much difference they made, the levels of grip took the piss, the paradas in the morning session started to get a bit iffy at the back of the car towards the end of it but the toyo's just took the abuse & screamed for more :D :D
I then became victim to shit timing, said to my mate as we were coming up to the last corner "1 more lap & we'll go in as I'm a bit low on fuel now" got 2/3 of the way round & the brake pedal just dropped to the floor :shock: pulled into the paddock to see smoke pissing out from both of the fronts :( I'd stayed out that little bit too long :roll: and cooked them :P
The track was virtually empty & no-one was waiting in line to go out so we just kept on going, I've no idea how long I was out for on that spell, but I was getting much faster, the car was getting a right pasting but she just took the abuse :D started to notice a slight knock at the front left of the car but it was still ok. I left the car to cool down & hope that it wasn't the end of my day.
No more pics of mine out on track so here's some of the cars that were there
This is my mates car
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0011.jpg
we fitted some 6 pots to it earlier in the week :twisted:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0017.jpg
This thing is an absolute ****ing weapon on the road and on track plus the guy who owns it can seriously drive and he's ****ing mental!! :twisted: it's featured in this months practical performance car magazine, well worth a read boys & girls :wink:
He didn't have enough negative camber on the near side to suit Combe & shredded 3 slicks on the front left wheel :lol: it's ok though as he had 9 more wheels with slicks on sat ready to go plus plenty of other people with spares with slicks ready & willing to be loaned :P
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0046.jpg
The whole day was sponsored & heavily subsidised by MRG in Chippenham http://www.mrgcars.co.uk/ so they bought a load of their cars down & some went out on track as well.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0036.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0033.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0037.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0039.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0027.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0029.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0032.jpg
A few of the others there
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0013.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0015.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0021.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0041.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0043.jpg
After an hour of cooling down, I decided to go back out on track to see if it was just a case of getting too hot for the brakes or if they had died completely :? I had the track to myself so took it easy, the brakes worked fine so gave it some hammer for 10 mins, the knocking had developed a bit more but everything still seemed fine. So I pulled back into the paddock & collared an instructor to go out with.
David Da Costa, guy is an absolute legend :afro: Brilliant instructor, taught me so much in just 10 mins it was unreal. He got me to drive that car harder than I've ever driven it and to drive that circuit sooo much better :D
You didn't need a stopwatch to know that after his instruction I was going so much faster & smoother, it made me enjoy it so much more.
Took Dave back to the paddock, let the car sit for 10 mins or so for her to chill out before she got a good pasting for the last 20 mins of the day :D
I finished the day, soaked in sweat, sunburnt to a crisp, covered in all sorts of crap from fixing my car & helping others fix theirs to get them back out on track & absolutely knackered but with the biggest cheesy grin on my face. I absolutely ****ing loved it & can't wait for the next one.
The car has has a thorough beating, with it now clunking like a bastard, pulling me all over the road, brakes are about shot now, I had to fight the ****er to keep it on the road on the way home but she made it home in 1 piece and all she really needs is a bit of TLC, some new ball joints or something along those lines on the passenger side & she'll be ready for the next thrashing, whenever it may be. I just need a break now as it was a hard drive back home, especially since I wasn't exactly pootling along the motorway at 50 either :wink: :P
One last pic for you all, this is my left rear tyre, I think I collected most of the 3 slicks the guy with the white P reg estate shredded :lol: Just noticed a lot more on that tyre as I took it out the car today along with some of the cords that came off as well :lol:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/16v_paddy/Castle%20Combe%20July%202010/RIMG0045.jpg