Will300's Subaru BRZ Build (UK)

[will300]

Update 23/02/2019 - Silverstone Trackday

On Thursday I attend a Circuit Days trackday at Silverstone, with several other members of the club. (Special thanks to @Vad17 for organising the day). This would be the first test of my new brake setup, featuring new Rear STi brembo's and Endless pads all-round. I was happy with the performance of the brakes, balance was good, no issues with over heating. Stopping power was the same as the Ferrodo's. I still think I'd prefer something with more of an aggressive bite, however I suspect that would mean sacrificing daily usability. So I might try running a dedicated set of track pads and swapping them out just before the event in future. Overall however they performed flawlessly.

I'm not sure if it's Silverstone specific but it felt like the car was suffering with too much body roll in some corners, even though I had the suspension set on it's stiffest setting. A set of stiffer ARB's has now been added to my watch list 😆

Overall it was a fun day out with a decent amount of track time, even if it was a little busy on track.

Here are a couple of photo's from the day:

[will300]

Update 19/03/2019 - Bedford Trackday

Another month, another trackday. This time at Bedford Autodrome, I've been to Bedford several times now and it's such a good circuit as it has quite a mixed track layout, long straights, tight corners, hairpins, chicanes, etc. It was a fantastic day, everyone was well behaved, there was lots of track time, only 1 red flag and little traffic. The weather was also good for March and dry for most of the day, other than 5 mins at lunch when there was a quick shower.

Thank you @Vad17 for arranging.

There is nothing new to report on the car, it performed relatively flawlessly as expected. A few things I've noticed, the car doesn't seem to roll as much at Bedford compared to Silverstone, so Anti Roll Bars have been removed from the shopping list for now. Suspension for both track day was set at the 1st click from full stiff. @Willclarke said it's very flat round the corners which he didn't expect. Overall I'm happy with the balance of the car, its very neutral, precise and easy to rotate on throttle, making it excellent in the corners.

My only complaint is with my brake fluid. I'm not happy with how my pedal feels and how soft it gets after a short period. I'm currently using ATE Type 200 which although is track focused, I think I'm going to get something with a higher boiling point.

Here are a couple of photo's from the day:

[will300]

Update 05/05/19 - Japfest 2019

Today I attended Japfest 2019 at Silverstone, with 59 other members of the drivers/owners club. This was a great turn out for the club and nice to see so many faces new and old.

Here's a couple of photo's of my car from the day. There are a couple of close up of the Verus Engineering splitter with race upgrade kit and dry carbon end plates, as I've just noticed I haven't posted any close up's before.

[will300]

Update 11/05/19 - Blyton Park Trackday

On Saturday I attended a Javelin Trackday at Blyton Park, it was a good day with everyone well behaved and reasonable weather, slightly overcast with only a small spell of rain in the afternoon, around 3o'clock.

After my previous trackday at Bedford Autodrome, I had an issue with the brake pedal going soft after a couple of laps, so last month I took the car to Rogue Motorsport to have the oil changed and the brake fluid replaced. Rogue bleed the brake system (inc the master cylinder) and supplied Millers Racing Brake Fluid 300 Plus.

I didn't experience any issues with a soft pedal at Blyton, however it's possible that might be because Blyton is alot shorter than Bedford so the brakes aren't getting worked as much. For research purposes I ordered a set of Racetech Motorsport temperature stickers (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Racetech-...8AAOSwPhdVDZ~m) to apply to the brake calipers. The max temperature registered on the front calipers was 143°c, the rear's didn't even reach the minimum temperature of 121°c. I'm going to also look at getting an infrared thermometer (I'm fairly sure I already have one somewhere), which I can then use the measure the disc temperature.

With quite a few trackday's coming up in the next couple of months I'm considering swapping the front pads out and re-fitting the Ferrodo DS2500's. Whilst I really like the MX72 pads on the road as they have better inital bite and feel compared to the Ferrodo's, I think they lack the aggressiveness of a more track biased pad. I'm also going to order a set of track tyres to go on my 949 Racing wheels, I'm considering the available options but it looks like the most likely tyre will be the new generation of Yokohama AD08RS.

Here are the photo's from the day:

[will300]

[will300]

Update 01/06/19 - Detailing Job

Over the last couple of weeks I noticed my windscreen wasn't clearing when using the windscreen wipers, it was just smearing the water over the screen. Not cool when your trying to drive down a dual carriageway and you can't see straight in front of you.

So yesterday I decide to clean the car and then re-sealed the glass. My go to product is G-Techniq G1 Clearvision Smart Glass, I've used this for a couple of years and it never fails to impress with how well it repels water. It takes about 40minutes to apply, you apply 3 layers to each window (you only really need 3 on the front, but it's easier to do all the windows), 5 minutes apart. Then you leave the coating to cure for 15minutes, before removing any left of residue with the G2 remover. I also bought a set of replacement windscreen wipers, I was previously using Michelin Stealth blades, however it appears these are no longer produced, so I opted for some Denso DUR-055R & DUR-050R blades.

p.s. For a single car the G-Techniq G1 coating comes in a 15ml bottle, this is more than enough to do all the windows on an 86/BRZ, with 3 coats on each window. I purchased the larger 100ml option as I'm going to do a couple of cars.

Here's a couple of photo's showing the beading:

[will300]

Update 02/06/19 - Schroth Harness Installation

As I'm starting to do more track days, I decided I needed to do something to stop me moving about in the seat so much.

My initial plan was to purchase a bucket seat, however after looking at the various options and the cost, I decided against this idea. Mainly because I was eyeing up an Edirb 023 seat, which meant lots of ££££'s.

I therefore decide to get a harness setup first, as this is a much cheaper option. I'd seen that quite a few people are using the Schroth Racing Rallye 3 ASM harness, so after speaking with @Vad17 (and a couple of passenger laps) & @Mike I decided to go ahead and order one in Red.

It's a straight forward install once you know what your doing, although removing and refitting the seat belt buckle nut is a royal pain in the backside.

Here are couple of photo from the installation:

[will300]

Update 22/06/19 - Track Wheel & Tyre Combo Updated

In preparation for several upcoming track days over the next few months, I decided to get a set of track tyres. I've been extremely happy with the performance of the Michelin PS4's, however I didn't want to eat them up over a short period with alot of track use.

With that in mind and after doing some research on a good track tyre that is still safe to use day to day, I found two compounds / tyres that would meet my requirements. The Yokohama AD08R and the Nankang NS-2R. In the end I decided on the Yokohama's as I could get them extremely cheap, even cheaper than the Nankang's (this was the only deciding factor, I'd happily run either setup).

A set was swiftly purchased, however I was aware that Yokohama have recently replaced the AD08R with the AD08RS (for environmental reasons). So I wasn't sure what version of the tyres I'd actually be getting. As it turns out I got lucky and ended up getting one the first sets of AD08RS, these have been fitted to my 949Racing 6UL wheels.

Pictures:

[will300]

Update - 22/07/19 - Bedford Autodrome testing the AD08RS

I finally got to test out the all new Yokohama AD08RS tyres at Bedford Autodrome, I fitted them to the car a week before the trackday. They are noticeably more grippy than the Michelin PS4 and surprising a lot quiter. Also the car feels alot lighter, this however could be down the lighter 949 Racing wheels as it's been a while since I last used them.

On track the tyres have lots of grip (you can hear me LOL at the grip in the video) with a good balance and durability seems very good considering the tempature was a relatively hot 30°c. They did start to slide a bit after about 5 laps, which meant coming in to the pits and lowing the tire pressues, which helped. I was running them at 30psi hot.

Here's a couple of pit lane photo's and a onboard video:







[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qirN31t6QDI"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qirN31t6QDI[/ame]

[will300]

Update 27/08/19 - Bedford Trackday

Another trackday at Bedford, this was pretty much the same as the one on the 22nd July, with 30°c heat. I was trying to find a good tyre pressure balance to limit the amount of sliding after an extended period. It felt like I only really got one good sessions at about 3:30 in the afternoon, when everyone had left and the track was basically empty (driving standards were abit hit and miss during the day). Still I was impressed with how the tyres held up and the amount of grip they provide.

I was concerned when looking for a more track focused tyre that it might over tyre the car, for my level of driving. However after a couple of days I'm now happy with the balance and control provided by the tyre. It's definitely a good purchase for someone looking for a dual duty tyre with a more track focused bias. In general driving they a comfortable, quiet and I've had no issues driving in the rain with them.

Unfortunately the day wasn't completely without issue, when going for fuel during the lunch break I noticed the car sounded alot louder than normal, on returning back to the circuit and checking the car over I found that the exhaust had cracked and was blowing quite badly 😟 knowing that I still had the afternoon and another trackday two days later, I decided to just carry on (more later).

Here's a couple of photo's from the trackday:

















(I didn't kill the cone, honest)

[will300]

Update 29/08/19 - Snetterton Trackday

Following on from the trackday at Bedford on Tuesday, I headed to Norfolk to spend a couple of days away with the family and also do another trackday, this time at Snetterton. Normally Snetterton is a 3hour drive away and not a journey I want to be doing before and after a track day, so this was ideal.

Unfortunately as I previously mentioned the exhaust started blowing at Bedford, I'd had a quick look under the car and couldn't see anything so I assumed it was just a gasket. The blowing noise was coming from the center of the car, by the front pipe to central resonator area. I decided to carry on and head to Snetterton and thankfully the issue didn't get worse on the drive there.

Snetterton was a fun day, which lots of cool cars and good driving standards. When I arrived at the circuit I noticed there was another 86/BRZ owner, who'm I spoke to and he let me share his garage, which was very nice of him, unfortunately he doesn't use any social platforms so I'll probably never meet him again ☹️

Other than the issue with the exhaust the car performed well. It was a very warm day but cooler than the previous day at Bedford so the tyres felt alot better and didn't seem to have any issue's.

Here's a couple of photo's from the day:

[will300]

September 19 - Exhaust Issue

The weekend after I arrived home from Snetterton I decide to jack the car up and have a look to see if I could see where the exhaust was blowing from. Hoping it would be a gasket and a simple fix. After spending 10 minutes on the floor I eventually found a stress crack in the large central resonator. Boo, not a simple fix. Fortunately the car was booked in at Rogue Motorsport to have it's 6 year services, in the process of booking it in I informed them of the issue. The exhaust was all custom made by Rogue and they were happy to fix it free of charge.

Whilst I could call this a design flaw in the system, I'm aware of two other manufacture's systems which have had exactly the same issue in the same place. Speaking to Rogue they said this was probably due to vibrations/harmonics when the car is put under heavy load and they suggested replacing the one larger central resonator with two smaller ones and a support relief.

Here's a photo of the crack, unfortunately I didn't get any photo's of the replacement pipe.

[will300]

26/01/2020 - Donington Park Trackday

As I'm sure most of you know, the club recently attended a trackday at Donington Park, thanks to @Vad17 for organising. This was to be my first trackday of 2020, at a circuit I've never driven before desite being the closest circuit to where I live at less than 30miles away. Knowing that it was a January trackday I didn't have much hope for the weather, thankfully the morning was dry but very greasy. These conditions meant it was very tricky for even the most experienced drivers and I don't think I've been to another trackday which had as many red flags as Donington did in the morning. Which was a shame as I didn't get alot of seat time, my longest session was about 25 minutes. I litterally left our pit garage only to be stopped at the end of the pit straight as the track had just been red flagged, however this meant I was to be the first one out in the next session. It helped that there was a couple of very slow cars right behind me, so I could get some space on track with no one else to immediately worry about. I made sure I got as much seat time as possible during that session, and eventually the track started to dry out. Below is a video of that session, taking it easy whilst trying to learning the circuit.

(This is footage taken from the new GoPro Hero 8 which I'm testing - unfortunately the free video editor I'm using didn't use the best export ratio, which is why the footage is square)

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm1BzhzA8D4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm1BzhzA8D4[/ame]

The rest of the day was abit of a mess, I think I only had one more clean session as there were numerious red flags or the condition changed. It started to rain just before lunch and the afternoon was very wet. Unfortunately the AD08RS don't really like greasy conditions, they are fine in the dry or full on wet, but in between not so much. @Adi had has instructor there for the afternoon and I listened whilst the instructor and @Hokum discussed what lines to take during wet conditions, this helped massively during my next session.

Overall I think I managed 6 or 7 sessions during the day, mostly because of the number of red flags and people needing to be towed back to the pits. However atleast I can now say I've done Donington and I'm eager to go back during the summer.

Here are a couple of photos:

[will300]

Here's a better video from the Donington Park trackday:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwq8QYDpnGE"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwq8QYDpnGE[/ame]