MrLizard Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Snetterton This was the first time Team Lizard had been to Snetterton, having driven around the circuit in a parade once before we were quite apprehensive about the results here, hoping to try and mimick the results from Mallory. The 350z with its now shortened gear ratios and large rear wing was looking as though it would struggle down the immense back straight at Snetterton. The night before the team made a concerted effort to walk the track, taking note of the newly painted hatching and the size of some of the new curbs, looking at the apexes and the change in track surface. Qualifying It was decided that it might be worth sacrificing the 350z's turning capability for an improved top end speed down the straight. I was to do 6 laps with the rear wing and then 6 laps without it, depending on which lap the fastest time was recorded we would then chose that setup. Unfortunately this didnt quite work how we wanted it to. We recorded a credible time on lap 11 and decided we would run the car with no wing. It was not until the day after when we had a full lap by lap account of qualifying that we could see that on lap 3 we were only 100th of a second out, which essentially meant i was driving around a problem and got quicker just by gaining experience on circuit. Race 1 We qualified 5th for Race 1, surrounded by the now familiar look of subarus and integra's. Paul hughes in a white DC5 just beside us. Off the line the 350z has been struggling, Abbey fitted a new clutch for race one which meant less clutch slip and more go! After getting out of first second gear bit and we were away. The white DC5 looked like he missed a gear and I had two other Integra's on my boot lid. After the first few laps we started to put in some consistent lap times, however the back of the car felt like it was starting to get twitchy, the white DC5 had made its way back up the grid and was now hunting us down. I could also see that Ian in the Scooby Clinic Impreza was having trouble. I was lining up the Blue Subaru for what felt like an eternity, finally nailing him into the first corner, he was close behind and made the mistake of trying to brake as late as we did on the back straight, locked up and he dissapeared from view. I was hoping the DC5 would struggle here but was gifted the position in the end. RAIN! It wasnt supposed to rain, we had no rear wing and very 'slick' semi slick tyres on and a hard suspension setup. The back end was now going sideways at any given moment and under hard braking the rears were just running out of grip and trying to overtake the front. Paul in the White DC5 was trying every trick in the book to get past me, the DC5 was cornering better but the 350z was pulling harder out of the corners. Both of us pushing very hard meant that a couple of mistakes were made, I managed to drift the car from the bomb hole into the next corner (not on purpose) and the DC5 also went on an excursion through the chicane twice. Ian in the impreza was struggling with grip around Coram just as both Paul and I approached, I dived down the inside and Paul tried the outside and the inside paid off. It turned out that the power steering had dumped all of its fluid over the windscreen of Ians car and he was struggling to see and steer. We managed to bring the car home in 2nd position overall and 2nd in class, Vaughan in the other Scooby Clinic car took an impressive lead and well deserved 1st place in class and overall. Race 2 The sun is shining, the wheels dont look 'that' bad, the track is hot and dry. We made the decision to run the same hard setup with no wing, having got 2nd place in race 1 surely this was a good idea? No, no it wasnt. In assembly the sky went dark, after the parade lap it started to look a little damp. Just before the lights go out RAIN! AGAIN!! Oddly, we got a good start, the car jumped off the line and we we were in a good position. on lap 1 coming into the esses the rear of the car completely lost grip and i entered the corner sideways. Having covered the tyres sufficiently in mud I then set at making up the place I lost to Martin in his Subaru cup car. Coming into sear corner I got tapped slightly and decided to take a wide line, the rear of the car lost all grip and no amount of braking or turning was going to make up for it, i ended up spinning off the track onto the infield narrowly avoiding the Blue integra of Stewart. I rejoined the track, last... With nothing to lose the chase was afoot! We were making good progress, with a clear track and no pressure from behind my laptimes were coming down even though the water was building up. A few laps in and we were back to 6th, then I noticed Martin and Paul in the SC Impreza and White DC5 on the outside of the track just before the start finish line, consideirng the conditions and the obvious danger, the race was red flagged. We regrouped on the start line. We were held in the pouring rain for what felt like a life time, it was actually about 10 minutes whilst they cleared the track. In this time the weather changed from RAIN to a thunderstorm, hail, rain the lot. The car had a puddle in the passenger compartment and my right arm was getting wet, I couldnt see anything and I was stood still. Eventually the marshall came to warn us the conditions were bad??? and that we will be restarting the race with 4 laps to go and 2 parade laps to get some heat into the tyres. He pointed me to the new grid start, put the car in first, pull the clutch out and... nothing... unsure whats happening i tried again, nothing yet the speedo is moving... ah, im in a small pond, the rear wheels are literally just spinning now like on snow, the marshall helpfully pushes down on the back of the car and that allows me to move forwards into my designated puddle. Lights out! Massive wheel spin followed by a lot of sideways action, deciding that making it back to the paddock in one peice was the best solution I backed off a little, bringing the car home in 5th overall and second in class. A Fantastic track and a great weekend, we acheived our best position of 2nd overall which we could not of done without Abbey Motorsports continued efforts to support us. The rear tyres are completely trashed but we are all looking forward to Castle Combe Anyone interested Video is here Huge Thanks to Abbey Team Lizard Opie Oils UpRev Motordyne Zenzero Total Nissan Special thanks to Sean from the forum who came along and helped us eat/drink our way through some food, and hopefully took away some ideas of what he wants to do with his car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted July 9, 2010 Author Share Posted July 9, 2010 just as a note the rear facing camera was done with one of the £10 jobs recommended from here, we do have footage from race 2 and it did survive sat still, open, in pouring rain... very impressed, thanks to andlid for forcing me into buy 3 more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebized Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Good to see you are getting the measure of the Scoobys a bit more now although their superior grip of the line must be frustrating. Also the rear cameras clearly show the Zeds extra grunt compared to the Hondas, but they sure do close up in the twisty bits whereas there seems little in it comapred to the scoobys? So if the change of direction/grip through the slow corners could be improved that seems to be the answer to those in front and behind - guess that is where a fancy diff would come in very handy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walbertonio Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Great write up and videos too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted July 9, 2010 Author Share Posted July 9, 2010 As I said we were running without the rear wing which didn't help the grip, also didn't factor in just how bad one of the tyres was, driving combe was completely different, currently developing a custom front splitter too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 Excellent write up as always I'll take the wing if you don't want it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 just as a note the rear facing camera was done with one of the £10 jobs recommended from here, we do have footage from race 2 and it did survive sat still, open, in pouring rain... very impressed, thanks to andlid for forcing me into buy 3 more great writeup mate, will have to watch them movs when I'm not annoying the other half, glad to hear the camera worked! the more I read thsi stuff the more I get my head around doing this to my own car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Sweaty watching them clips! Amazing to see it, like the little rear cam! some close moments after you finally dump that subaru, you can really see that both drivers and cars where going for it at just under 60 sec on the part 2 video! I know why he was breaking to late and locked it up, must have been SO hard for him to see that Z going that litlte bit faster on the straight Such a loss of traction after that though and when the rain started! I'm so jelaous watching that looks cool but no clue if it actually works (saw it in action on a 900bhp Skyline around Mondello...) You need something to keep the ass down on the Z for sure... any ideas on using one of thos fip type wings? Oh before I forget some nice rubber you put down on the start grid Well done! A (close call at 5.50... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronzee Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Excellent write up as always Seconded. Always interesting to see a Zed mixing it up with other cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 Andlid, the ass wouldnt stay down to a lack of rear wing and shot tyres, we have a wing but chose to run without it, which was the wrong call in the end... New tyres and a wing at CastleCombe made a lot of difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Andlid, the ass wouldnt stay down to a lack of rear wing and shot tyres, we have a wing but chose to run without it, which was the wrong call in the end... New tyres and a wing at CastleCombe made a lot of difference VIDS Great stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 great write up and fab vids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 Combe vids will be up soon, the mrs is working on them now, due to the clamp the camera is zoomed in a bit further than normal but still looks good, another brave move in that race saw a decent result, write will be up when vids finished thanks for the kind words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Combe vids will be up soon, the mrs is working on them now, due to the clamp the camera is zoomed in a bit further than normal but still looks good, another brave move in that race saw a decent result, write will be up when vids finished thanks for the kind words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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