Jump to content

Hillclimb Zed


Recommended Posts

Another year gone and woo hoo ... The old Zed has got a top 5 in the championship. It should have been a podium but things conspired against us.

 

Last year's best was 63.73. Every event this year was either too cold, too curtailed or too hot... It was really messy. Sensors failed and brakes failed. I mowed down some trees. 

 

But in the end the mods were Extreme R5 compound tyres, big width fronts,  Japspeed sports cats and loads of stickers which got it down to 62.91. (DQ'd for minor track limits,cough). 

 

She's absolutely flying right now. I should probably sort out the handling for next year. 

 

IMG_20190803_104051.jpg

P1050663.JPG

Edited by Kieran O'Quick
add pic
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
18 hours ago, Kieran O'Quick said:

The season is over now. I'll be back at it in late March. Going out of my tree with boredom till then... Get yourself along for a gander next year, it's a nice afternoon out..

That is a long wait! I shall come down for sure. I really want to do a track day sometime

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, fijifixit said:

That is a long wait! I shall come down for sure. I really want to do a track day sometime

Blyton Park is the nearest track, you can usually get good value days there in winter, especially if you go midweek. Great place to give it hammer without much chance of hitting anything or ending up in gravel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Testament to the old Zed that after two years tucked away in the garage she turned up for the last 3 hillclimbs of the year and bounced off kerbs and the rev limiter with no complaints. She got me three more wins. What a beaut. 

 

This year's best was a 63.66. 

 

It's looking like 61s will be needed next year. Tough, but in reach with a bit of work. 

 

Spoiler alert,

Glen took his Zed into a top 10 spot this year which is no mean feat for a big NA car in the hillclimbing scene. Coolest looking car in the top 10 too.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

2022 Season Review: sh1te year

 

(Caveat being, it's amazing and blessed she's still going at all, yay Zed)

 

My Extreme R5 tyres were banned this year so I ordered a set of R7 (50 degrees v 70 degrees) to stay competitive. Only the A-hole at Extreme wound up his company and took my money. 

 

So because of that MoFo I had to dig out some old Nankangs from used stock and emery them down and they did OK. Scraped a 64 second run with a bit of squealing.

 

Demon Tweeks were slow getting new stuff out but I managed to get some big fat rears in Yokohamas.

IMG-20220701-WA0001.jpeg.59e65831a14b8a6b832526068b405604.jpeg

Maybe rake was the answers? As you'd figure, the traction was incredible but the understeer threw me off at the second corner Ha. Who saw that coming... 

 

Budget for the year was weak because of the SoB at Extreme Tyres so when the diff opened up it was an annoying extra expense. Turns out a Kaaz 1.5  gives out after about 5 years hillclimbing. That's roughly 300 hard starts and 300 unnecessary powerslides for fun over the finish line. Fair enough.

 

The guys at Slidemotorsport rebuilt the diff crazily tight and it was lovely to drive for the rest of the year. Locking and unlocking as it should. Glorious.

 

Meanwhile my class records were getting hammered and  championship hopes were disappearing. The over-2 litre  road class is basically unlimited. I've got 395 bhp but a couple of S2000s turned up this year with over 400.

20220702_173320.jpg.c963279146d962367bedc1c595b13720.jpg

Normally you can bat away Astons and Porsches with big power but these guys could drive a bit for a change. And they weren't bothered about bending a Honda so drove like the wind.

 

I messed around with Toyos on all fours - the traction was great but they didn't corner as well as hot old Nankangs. But Nankangs had no cold traction. Proper hard field work discovering this but I'm damn quick at changing wheels since.

 

Despite it all the car was still huge fun to nail around the tight fast track. And it's a beautiful spot. C'mon other Zeds, get up here. 

 

Power seemed to drop off towards the end of the year. I took a lot if liberties and drove beyond what was sensible at times but the time wasn't there. Some parts need refreshing I'd say. 

 

Glen in the black Z  had a mental year in the barriers and on the low-loaders but he out scored me and, wow, looked more concourse at the end. We both got in the top 10. C'mon Zeds. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Kieran O'Quick
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

2023 Season Review: All about the Rubber.

 

Last year was a bit of a mess with the tyre situation. Couldn't turn it at all which feels so wrong in a Rwd car. But I persevered, wrestling understeer and got as much out of it as I could.

 

The Yokohamas were back in stock for this year so I got some big fronts at last. The handling change wasn't exactly subtle. The first few events were plagued with ridiculous oversteer. Which was fun but not quick. I eventually figured out that the tyres were slow to bite - so you'd have a decent bit of lock on before it would suddenly dive to the inside. The back would then come around and the fun started. 

 

The answer was to steer less than seemed needed, wait a beat and trust that it would dive in. It took a bit of nerve but it worked and the times came down. The trouble is, this style of driving doesn't become instinctive and shouldn't really. So you forget and end up smoking out of the corners every other event. But it's still a whole world better than understeer. 

 

It's probably not so much the tyre as the tired chassis. A tighter setup would potentially iron out the lag. Who knows. 

 

Halfway through the year I got nagged into getting a proper seat which I'd been resisting. I found one on rails from a breaker that was such a steal I couldn't say no. Everyone who ever gets one raves about them and bah, turns out they're right. A normal seat is like having a bath with your socks on -  if  you know what I mean.

 

The other rubber issue was that the tyres came in a higher profile. This didn't look like a big issue but it hit the acceleration noticeably. As in, a couple of tenths here and there. So I didn't beat last year's time. But I managed enough 3rd place finishes to grab 10th in the championship. And it didn't break and I didn't bin it, there is that. Screenshot_20230920-194549_Chrome.jpg.a2048b5c145103505633ba847facabfd.jpg

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...