brillomaster Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 Alrighty, write up for the day.... quite a relaxed start at 6am, car started first time which was good, no need to jump start. cruised on over to bedford for signing on, managed to blag one of the free garages so unpacked the car in the garage. Met up with Chris (Keyser) and Darren (Darren- as well, so shared the garage when necessary to get out the rain and wind. So on to the beemer, and the word of the day is (surprisingly) Understeer. Lots and lots of understeer. which as you can imagine was incredibly tedious. it was bad in the dry, atrocious in the wet. You would think that having 225s all round rather than running wider rears as we have had in the past and having budget tyres all round would be a recipe for skids, but no amount of stabbing at the throttle mid corner or trail braking could unstick the rear - and once it started understeering there was no other option than to back off, since the steering wheel became useless at that point, adding more lock just increased the volume of the tyres squealing. I think first upgrade will be some tyres (shock horror!) - at the moment the front tyres are made of trees and precious gems (Evergreen and Diamondback) and while thats eco friendly, i'd rather they were made of decent rubber. and then as Darren says, geometry adjustments might be in order - we've got plenty of negative camber on the front (possibly too much, although i didnt think that was possible) but strongly suspect the wheels are toeing in a lot - car just does not want to turn, and the rear is glued to the road. some toe out on the front might be in order to get it to turn properly! you can just about drive around it with a decent slow in, late apex approach and gently feeding in the power, but get greedy with the throttle on the exit and it'll run wide. Looks like the best option for us with the wheels not fitting will be 15mm spacers, which also modify the hubs so we can run normal 3 series wheels - the extra track width will help with handling, and then hopefully we can run the preferred 245 front 255 rear tyres we want. One other small query - does anyone have an arch roller we can borrow? if we're adding width and wide tyres on a lowered car, we strongly suspect we'll need to roll the arches to get the clearance. Elsewhere, shakedown was entirely successful - engine was strong and smooth, so much so that it was hard to tell when you hit the limiter! Ken noticed a drop in power compared to the old 330ci we had, but in fairness i was happy with it - we were still pulling 110mph down the back straight, which is plenty. managed to see off most mx5s and caterhams during the course of the day. The odd M3 would pull away from us on the straights, but thats to be expected really. Plus we have the option of swapping the inlet manifold which frees up around 30hp and is relatively straightforward to do. Brakes held up surprisingly well as well - pedal would just start to go a bit long after 5 quick laps, but no pad fade - and just about 4pm the rears started grumbling, i think they now need iminent replacement, was making a horrible metal on metal noise on the way home. But once we have brakes and tyres on, she'll be a good cheap car - the lowering springs did a fine job of keeping things level through corners. I do have a video which i'll post a link to when i upload it - unfortunately quality isnt brilliant - need a go pro really. Great to see Darren and Chris in their respective machines and glad that Wendy got a couple of sessions in - always keen for more trackday drivers! Hopefully next trackday will be cadwell park at the end of april if i can convince Ken that the weather will be ok, but will sort brakes before then. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Home safe and sound great to see you all today - will post up some vids soon. Sorry Darren - that may have been an expensive passenger lap for you PS - Super big thanks for letting me use the garage when the rain came down I luv you guys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 (edited) Just for Darren (and maybe Sam Mcgoo) Just caught you in the corner of the camera More vids after I have had some sleep - been up since 3:45AM EDIT: Just to say as I came round the corner I could see the look on Darren's face and even with a full face helmet you could tell he was grinning from ear to ear like a little kid Edited March 28, 2015 by Keyser 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Thanks mate I wasn't going home until I found the limits of that car. It's been an absolute blast. I Even went & done the Appledore ring this evening Full Blast. I hate to say it (being a Jap lover) the balance & grip is outstanding! (for a reasonably priced stock road going car) Had a look for the video on-board but the SD card is fragmented & only stored the last 10hours 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 @ Darren - You certainly found the limit in the wet mate Here is another quick vid - First bit (up to 1:22) is following the Mad BMW in the wet - it's just .... well MAD The last little clip is me chasing down a Caterham on the back straight before being to far left as I turn in (early) clip the curb which lets the back end slide - I catch it but she straightens really quickly - the second quick tug on the steering wheel is to avoid the cone Enjoy I have some more Vids - looking for the bit where I pass Ken and he gets me back under Yellows - well as they go Green - he is sneaky that one - takes every advantage 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 you wouldnt be the only person to go straight on at the back chicane chris - once the rain started falling our braking points moved dramatically since the fronts were just sliding! had to abort across the grass. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillomaster Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 (edited) So, finally uploaded a video... dont have any fancy video editing software, so this is just raw footage... and the camera was mounted a bit low so you get more of the dash than the track ahead, but you get the idea... I'm following a megane for the first few laps, and then at 7:10 a caterham overtakes and i follow him for a little while. Generally keeping up too until we get to the faster sweeping corners, when i start getting hampered with understeer, certainly using all of the exit on some corners! But car sounds great with the hole in the exhaust, and not a bad car for £775 Edited March 29, 2015 by brillomaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 @ Darren - You certainly found the limit in the wet mate Here is another quick vid - First bit (up to 1:22) is following the Mad BMW in the wet - it's just .... well MAD The last little clip is me chasing down a Caterham on the back straight before being to far left as I turn in (early) clip the curb which lets the back end slide - I catch it but she straightens really quickly - the second quick tug on the steering wheel is to avoid the cone Enjoy I have some more Vids - looking for the bit where I pass Ken and he gets me back under Yellows - well as they go Green - he is sneaky that one - takes every advantage Would have to say, BMW handled far better than i thought it would for just clapping eyes on it for the first time yesterday. We should have time to fix a few issues for the next outing. Mad, nothing mad Chris just a bit of a backend twitch . Yellow fags my a..... Green all the way, no advantage. Just don't like being passed by the older man and and an even older Beemer (i'm stiking to the older beemer thing), must keep the visor clean Chris . Great fun with Darren and Chris, good day out, thanks 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMballistic Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Interesting videos all, ...the Radical is just so impressive though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Interesting videos all, ...the Radical Driver is just so impressive though. Fixed that for you I'm lying it's all the car really - you know me All the gear No Idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 (edited) You must manufacture a small wiper blade gismo that will fit on your helmet Chris. Edited March 29, 2015 by Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 You must manufacture a small wiper blade gismo that will fit on your helmet Chris. GMb is already on the case See - http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/91251-keyser-gets-radical-big-update-p5/page__st__120#entry1454806 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stutopia Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 You must manufacture a small wiper blade gismo that will fit on your helmet Chris. GMb is already on the case See - http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/91251-keyser-gets-radical-big-update-p5/page__st__120#entry1454806 Can't you just go fast so the wind blows it off 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I can tell you that the rain just blows round the back of your helmet and down your back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilogikal1 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 So what you really need is some sort of helmet guttering then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Just uploading my video now, unfortunately the camera overwrote the video from the mornings wet drift session 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 So what you really need is some sort of helmet guttering then? Or maybe just maybe we can get a nice warm sunny day and I can get the slicks on and really give it the beans 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilogikal1 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Or maybe just maybe we can get a nice warm sunny day and I can get the slicks on and really give it the beans Well yeah, if you want to take the easy way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebized Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Notice you left out the 'oh bugger' bit Darren But nice lines (expect no more from you after you showed me up on the Kart track ) but who was the lucky passenger? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 That would be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will370z Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Nice little vid Darren. Looks like you were having fun there in the new toy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 A little rusty if I'm honest, it takes a bit of getting used to, but I love the way you can trim your line on the throttle a lot sharper than a FR car. That being said the rear tyres have taken a little punishment Also forgotten how to get the youtube video on the forum page Can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ioneabee Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 i think - just copy and paste the url nope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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