Sunset Red 1.4 TSI(TFSI) GT Sport - daily drive & track car

[rex]

Thanks!

I need no helmet since I don't drive faster than my guarding angel can fly.  That is the reason I only have a 155bhp car 

And now speaking frankly I do need a helmet and I will buy one shortly (before the next track day at Hungaroring or Nurburgring or Spa because I want to visit them all this year).

[danishmkvgti]

Next year i would love to attend a trip to the Hungaryring along with you and your friends. Maybe Marc (Revo Denmark) could be interested also 

[rex]

There will be 2 more Hring trackdays this year. Usually they should be in August and October (they haven't announced them yet). If you want you are more than welcome to come. I am sure we will have a blast!
So I guess there will be only REVO cars again...

[xht20]

At next Hring trip i will 100% come 

[rex]

Ha ha... Stop threatening us with that and just be there 

[rex]

Good evening,

I just finished uploading my first Hungaroring video so here it is:

And a few words about it:
- as you can see it is a little damp so I decided to take no chances. I started slow and gradually increased the passe. It was the first session of the day so there were no reasons to push harder.
- there was a lot of traffic in this session (both slow and fast). I am in competition only with myself so, when possible, when somebody faster is behind me I just let them pass.
- as you can see I have NO power but the car is quite fast in the bends. At a point I am laughing when I see how much the modified 335i is gaining on the straight. In order to be competitive I need much more power 
- I was really surprised that there was a Mk1 Golf GTI that passed me. That guy was really fast (I would say 3-4 seconds faster than me).
- sorry for the 2 seconds at the beginning where something messed up the video.
Enjoy!

P.S. I still have to upload two other videos. In these you will see better lines and the difference between a powerful car and maneuverable car. Hope I will edit them soon...

[fuscobal]

Nice run rex, you're faster than many others with expensive cars. I will be there in august as usual and hopefully I'll get to meet some fellas from this forum there !

[the bruce]

 

Like the way you drive. Not brutal with a knife in your mouth but smooth and relaxed.

 

[rex]

fuscobal thanks for your kind words. This was the first track day that I attended and you did not. Hopefully it will be the last!
danishmkvgti said he might come next year maybe we will convince him to come in August 

the bruce Thanks. I am calm on the outside and boiling inside 

I just finished uploading the second video so here it is:

And a few words about it:
- this was my third session of the day. The track was dry but still not like on a hot, sunny summer day.
- the best lap (and the only one without traffic) was the last lap. I managed a 2.23.4 (0.4 sec faster than my previous best lap in October 2010)
- I had some problems because of the traffic:
* First of all the red Alfa 156 didn't allow me to overtake him. If you ask me that is foolish because we were not competing for anything and I was clearly faster than him. After a 6 turn battle I managed to overtake him. The Alfa had a 2.5 V6 engine and as you can see it was much faster than me on the straight (well I think all the cars were faster than me on the straight)
* Second of all I had some issues with the guy in the A6. I was fortunate that I decided not to attack him on the outside, a turn before the turn where I overtook him.
* Third of all I was slowed down my the guy in the E36 M3 (I am not 100% that it was a M3, but I have every reason to believe it was). But it was nice of him to let me pass.
* I almost caught up with the guy in the grey Alfa 156 GTA. This was a friend of the guy with the red 156 so I am glad the session ended and I was not forced to overtake him (not sure if he was as competitive as his friend).  Anyway under no circumstances did he slow me down (he was well ahead).

Enjoy!
There is one more video where you will see how my car stands up against a 400bhp Polo. You might be surprised 

[animal]

rex, I've just read this thread from start to finish. Fantastic work. You and your car are proof that you dont need big power to have fun on the track or (legally) on the road. Even with under 200bhp, a well set up chassis can and does feel fast whilst staying safe. A lot of us would do well to remember that power definitely isn't everything. Keep up the good work.

I love the colour too, such a shame is was never offered on the GTI.

[rex]

Thank you very much for your kind words.
Well you know how it is... we always want what we don't have (power). Maybe if I had a GTI the path would have been different. Maybe my first modifications were under the bonnet. Since there isn't much I can do concerning the engine (only to try exotic things) I concentrated on making the car more maneuverable.
I also think that driving powerful and fast cars on the track is potentially life threatening. So I would like to improve my driving skills before moving on to a more powerful car.
You were really kind to say "under 200bhp" when I only have 150  
You can imagine that I am glad that the color is rare. This way my car is more or less unique  . But I feel bad for those who did not have much to choose for there GTI's in terms of color.
Cheers!

[the bruce]

Rex, your car impressively proves that 150 HP is enough to be fast on track.
I ever knew that tyres, suspension and brakes are more important for good
lap times than engine power.
Be happy about that lightweight engine under the hood. The heavier 2.0 TFSI
won't provide a better handling and much more traction issues than you have
now with the less torquy 1.4 TSI.

I sometimes thought about better driving a significiently less weighting 2.0 FSI
Golf/A3 at Clubslalom events (Autocross). I doubt being faster with the heavy GTI.

 

[rich83]

Excellent video... 

[rex]

Thanks richwig83  

Rex, your car impressively proves that 150 HP is enough to be fast on track.
I ever knew that tyres, suspension and brakes are more important for good
lap times than engine power.
Be happy about that lightweight engine under the hood. The heavier 2.0 TFSI
won't provide a better handling and much more traction issues than you have
now with the less torquy 1.4 TSI.

I sometimes thought about better driving a significiently less weighting 2.0 FSI
Golf/A3 at Clubslalom events (Autocross). I doubt being faster with the heavy GTI.

Yes, you are right. My car weighs less than a GTI but not by much. The car weighs 1370kg with driver and the tank half full (I was hoping for 1270 as they say in the paperworks).
With a 2.0 TFSI engine I would definitely need a LSD. With my engine I also need one but not as much  . I would really be mad to put a LSD on my car but you never know that the future holds for us  
I doubt the 2.0 FSI weighs much less than your GTI... (BTW how much does it weigh?)

[fuscobal]

My GTI has 1489Kg on paper and 1664Kg with me and 1/3 gas but it's that heavy due to the audio system. However, for the next Hungaroring session I will put the car on a diet. For the beginning I will loose about 90Kg and another 90Kg on the future (I will kepp 90% of the audio however). With about 1500Kg it should be a little bit faster :) Your times rex are very good and now that you know the track quite well you will probably have little to improve unless you loose weight or put on even stickier tires. If you loose about 100Kg, I think you could go for the medium compound Kumhos !

PS : We both have Kumho V70a hard 225/45/17 purchased at the same. After the same session at the same track mine were 2 times more worn out due to the difference in weight and power !!!