The South African Feel Good Thread

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by LauraDUP

Hi Everyone, been following this forum for the past few weeks since I put my order in for an 86. Keep up the great stories!

WELCOME!!
We look forward to some pics when you get your car.

[LauraDUP]

Originally Posted by Fish Eagle

WELCOME!!
We look forward to some pics when you get your car.

Thanks Fish Eagle. Took Ownership last week and I must say I am LOVING every second of it! Will post some pics soon.

[Dammod]

Originally Posted by LauraDUP

Thanks Fish Eagle. Took Ownership last week and I must say I am LOVING every second of it! Will post some pics soon.

Welcome!! Enjoy the new car! I lived in the NC at one stage too, some nice roads there for this car!

[LauraDUP]

Originally Posted by Dammod

Welcome!! Enjoy the new car! I lived in the NC at one stage too, some nice roads there for this car!

Thanks. The roads are getting there, we drove to Krugersdorp last weekend and the drive was amazing!

[ShaunWRX]

Originally Posted by LauraDUP

Took Ownership last week and I must say I am LOVING every second of it! Will post some pics soon.

Congrats! I'm sure there'll be many happy motoring miles and smile

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by Fish Eagle

I'll be at Midvaal Raceway on Sunday 9th http://www.midvaalraceway.com/TrackDays.aspx

I'm on a mission to go sub 1m20, which I believe I can do if the track's warm and dry, and if I take a double dose of brave pills.
Whoo-hoo!!

So close!! My best lap was 1m20.1
Next time...

It was my first outing on Bridgestone RE11S so I did about 8 laps up front on my street tyres (Federal 595RS-R) to refamiliarise myself with their handling characteristics and set a benchmark. I then changed tyres and after 20 or so laps, once I'd got settled with the RE11S, I could make a good comparison.

Obviously the RE11S's aren't road legal. There's no practical problem with riding them on the road and our cops are too dumb to know the difference, but in the case of an accident, the insurance assessor will pick it up and probably deny any claim.

The RE11S's are 2 secs a lap quicker. They feel much more planted because the Federals get squirrely at the limits and the REs don't. Turn in is more direct and precise than the Federals, but I did find that the REs move around more than the Federals under maximum braking at high speed. Oddly, I felt the Federals actually had substantially better braking characteristics than the REs, but the REs are far superior in the corners.

The REs seem to have more rolling resistance - despite entering the back straight slightly faster, my max speed was 5kph slower with the REs.

Over the limit, the REs let go more violently than the Federals, but I was able to catch it OK every time. However, a small lapse in concentration will be punished with a spin without a second chance. The Federals let go progressively and are more forgiving.

The REs are noisy. They drone at lower speeds, and howl at over 160. But they don't squeal which my Federals do. Even in a full blooded slide on dry tarmac, they're quiet.

Changing tyres twice in a day is a big PITA and makes me wonder if it's worth the effort. But it is, for two reasons (1) 50-odd laps on the REs showed less wear than 8 laps on my road tyres. I was very favourably impressed with how they stood up to abuse, and (2) I can get second-hand REs quite cheap.

Bottom line - I like the REs and will continue using them for track days despite the pain of having to transport and fit them each time. However, I've always believed in "you don't get what you deserve - you get what you can negotiate" so I'm going to first see if I can get a tyre sponsorship from someone. I'm chewing up so many tyres that I don't mind riding around on any brand of tyre with some tyre stickers on my car if it takes some pressure off the budget Who knows. My car gets seen a lot more on road than any racecar gets seen on the track. Although I'm not normally on TV when I drive to work.

[Die$eL]

Nice post Fish Eagle!

Nice to see you enjoyed the track time

[Fish Eagle]

I got very little video yesterday before my camera died, but if you're interested, here's a 5 min snippet from session 3 which was early on, about 10am.
It was very quiet on track - I think there was only one other car out.
As usual, it's my typical crappy video quality.

This was only my second session on the RE11Ss, and I was still exploring what they can do. You'll see that I gave it reasonable stick on ice cold tyres right at the beginning. If anybody tells you that semis don't grip when cold, then show them this...

I was also experimenting with straight-lining turns 7 & 8 with satisfactory results.

And near the end of the video, I had to do some quick wheel work to catch a spin.
The REs tend let go quite abruptly when they run out of grip...

[ame="http://youtu.be/tHS4iH9L2bc"]http://youtu.be/tHS4iH9L2bc[/ame]

[sav]

Very nice!! There goes RMS' theory about the car going into the wall due to cold semis.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Fish Eagle

The RE11S's are 2 secs a lap quicker.

Tyre plus driver skill well done!

[Fish Eagle]

I eventually unpacked the car this afternoon and had a good look at my tyres.

The REs are looking great.
After about 50 hot laps they don't show any chunking, and they're hardly more worn than they were.

In the pic, on the left is left front, and next to it is left rear, which are the ones that take a hammering on a clockwise circuit like Midvaal.
There is some obvious scrubbing on the outer shoulders (left in the pic) which means that I need some more negative camber.
I'm currently at -1.2° front and -1.5° rear - better than stock but not enough.
After reading about camber in the tracking section of this most informative forum, I should be looking for -3° in the front and -2.5° in the rear.
Sadly, I don't think that's possible without expensive coilovers which ain't gonna happen.

Irrespective, I'm very happy with what I see after my first outing on RE11S's.
But it's still a big schlep to change wheels at the track...

[CWP68]

Tyres look remarkably good for 50 laps

How did the brakes hold up?

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by CWP68

Tyres look remarkably good for 50 laps
How did the brakes hold up?

The tyres were second-hand - they'd been raced before I got them, so I'm very pleased.

Front brakes 100% (Powerbrake rotors, Endless crossover pads and RF650 fluid). Rear brakes also 100% except that I misjudged my pads. I checked them on Saturday and thought mmm, they're quite low but still OK, and they just weren't OK. I had one pad disintegrate 5kms after I left the track, so I had to do a quick pad change at my son's house, and I'll have to get the rotor skimmed because it took a bit of damage. Not a big deal, and I'll be able to judge pad life better next time.

I assume that everyone's aware that you shouldn't go on track with stock brakes?
That's looking for trouble, especially with a supercharged car, and catastrophic brake fade is very real and it isn't fun.
I've been there and done that - I thought I knew better.
If you do go on track with stock brakes, DON'T RUN MORE THAN 5 HOT LAPS at a time!!

Upgrading brakes is simple and cheap (about R6k).
If anyone wants more info then PM me, and I'll send you all the info you need.

[Dammod]

Quick question guys, has anyone ever used those "spacers" you get at Midas?
The reason I ask is because I have 16" rims with RE11S's from my Impreza that rub the strut in front...I just need to clearance there. Backs are fine however I would add spacers at the back too if I did to the front to keep the balance of the car.

Just not too sure if they are safe....I'm assuming they should be fine as long as I still have decent thread left for the nut?