Last 8th of April I went to my 4th track day at Estoril. It was an hot day and for the first time I took my new track wheels and track tyres.
I was allowed to go on one of the Advanced classes so I knew I'd have well prepared cars on track with me. As usual I always let the fast ones pass when they got near me, because I don't like to make others waste their time.
Here are a couple of pictures from the boxes while waiting for the 2nd round:
Not leaving the car under the sunlight if not needing to...
On track pictures:
This Radical got a bit confused after spinning on that corner...
And IMO the best picture of my car on this track day:
A couple of videos from outside the car:
The 3rd session with the help of a former pilot. What a great and fun experience this was!
The best lap recorded of the day happened on the last session with no co-pilot. I could have done better, though. Next time, I hope!
I had to learn on the first two session what was the correct tyre pressure to use with these tyres. The best handling was achieved with 1.7 bar on the fronts and 1.8 bar on the rears when cold. With that pressure they reached at least 2.2 bar when hot.
The rear camber was too negative at -2.5º compared with the front that was only around -1º. I had trouble making the rear slide a bit to help turning the car on the tighter corners. Reducing the front tyre pressure from 1.8 bar to 1.7 bar helped a bit. If I want the car to handle properly, I'll need adjustable top mounts (since I can't fit adjustable ball joints due to rubbing on the brake discs) and maybe a stronger rear ARB. Another option would be coil overs with adjustable top mounts...
The new Carbotech XP20 pads are really aggressive and unfortunately I could only get them fitted the day before using them on track. I guess I also didn't follow well Carbotech's instructions on how to bed them on track. By the 3rd session I could notice some vibration from the discs under hard braking due to pad deposits. At the 4th session the vibration was really bad.
I've ordered new discs, this time from Brembo since they were a 20% cheaper than the ones from ATE (got pricier at the moment). Lets see how these compare to ATE's that I liked. If I had the funds available I'd order fully fluctuating discs...
Well, that's it. Love going on track with my car. It's really addictive!
