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

[rex]

the bruce Thanks for the ideas!
Here is where the cover is melting:



I think it is easier just to cut that piece...

JUG I use H&R hubcentric spacers and bolts.
There are no issues with vibration but I have a slow car and don't go very fast. I have 10mm and 20mm spacers and there are no issues with the vibration...

[Veee-dubber]

great thread!

I think after seeing this, If I could choose my car to be any standard colour then it would have to be this, something about it sets it off so well!

[rex]

Thank you very much! 

As I previously said, buying this color was a gamble (haven't seen any car in sunset red) but it payed off. Am am very very pleased with the color.
For all those who like this color, Sunset Red is available on Golf 7!

[rex]

Well, I haven't written here in a while, some time for a few thoughts and some photos.

After the engine swap, I was really disappointed with the stock engine software... The car was behaving well once the oil and water were up to temperature but it was not behaving well when cold. Sometimes the engine would stop (when coming to a complete stop and the car was not in gear and the clutch pedal was not pressed). Unfortunately, the REVO software, based on my latest stock software did not fix this issue. I told my friend, Adrian (REVO dealer in Romania) about the problem and he called me for an update that would solve the issue. I delayed my visit because I was very busy, but yesterday, I managed to pay the REVO guys a visit. Today I got to test the car (as I said there were only issues when the engine was cold) and so far so good. The car is much better but only after a few days/weeks I will come to a conclusion. But I hope for the best!

On the 30th of March there was a track day at Hungaroring but, unfortunately the Hungarians closed it at the last minute because of the snow... So I still have no kilometers on track with the new engine. Thus, first I have to do a track day somewhere close by to see that the car is in order (although I tested it many times at full throttle and max RPM) and after that, if the finances are good have another Nurburgring trip sometime is the summer.
Unfortunately the closest track is in Hungary (Romania has no tracks for cars   ) so, I should be in Budapest for a track day on the 13th of May. I really envy you guys who have a lot of awesome tracks and trackdays!

And since kind-of every topic is worthless without pictures below are a few pictures of the car, taken during the past week.
How the car looks at the moment:











For those of you who want wider fenders here is how the car looks with 17 inch, 8 inches wide, ET50 rims (the front has 10mm spacers on each side), TT arms and Kerscher fenders:









And an experiment:



This photo is not quite on my or the photographers taste but it is a beginning. We have to make some other photo shoots to correct the mistakes. So please don't be very critical!
We used 2 flash lights to light up the car (from 2 different angles) and only a few lighting was added by Photoshop. Anyway, hope we improve and come up with a better picture...

Thanks for watching and all the best!
 

[alfboden]

Great pictures, love the colour!

[jimk04]

Great photos Rex, a shame about the trackdays tho!

What tyres do you prefer for everyday performance driving on 17"?

[xjay1337]

Great pictures my man. Shame to hear about the problem with the track day but I bet you can't wait for the chance to finally drive the car hard on the track in the near future. 
TT arms are great, I need some myself lol.

Hope to see more progress and pictures soon. 

[fuscobal]

Hopefully bad news are gone for both of us and we will enjoy many beautiful track days from now on :) I will be replacing the clutch disc next week and by the weekend I should know if everything's well !

[rex]

Great pictures, love the colour!

Thank you very much!

Great photos Rex, a shame about the trackdays tho!

What tyres do you prefer for everyday performance driving on 17"?

Thanks! I am using Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 (I had the Asymmetric 1 before).

Great pictures my man. Shame to hear about the problem with the track day but I bet you can't wait for the chance to finally drive the car hard on the track in the near future. 
TT arms are great, I need some myself lol.

Hope to see more progress and pictures soon. 

Thank you!
I hope to see some progress soon also. But my main concern is enjoying the car as is.
I have some minor plans for near future (some Pagid RS-29 and some rear wiper delete) and some bigger plans for the following years.

Hopefully bad news are gone for both of us and we will enjoy many beautiful track days from now on :) I will be replacing the clutch disc next week and by the weekend I should know if everything's well !

I sure hope so my friend. Best of luck with the clutch!
BTW, we should make the reservations in Budapest!

[fuscobal]

No hurry as there are plenty of hotels around :) I should be knowing for sure if everything's fine next weekend which is still 2 weeks before the event !

[rex]

This Monday I payed another visit to the Hungarian F1 Track, Hungaroring. I really wanted to go to see if everything is ok before a Nurburgring trip this summer. And, thank God, everything is ok!

I've had a very pleasant trip with some close friends and we all had a lot of fun on the track and we all came back safe and sound (and so did our cars). The weather was colder than expected (14 degrees at noon) but this weather was great for the engines. Unfortunately, I had some troubles getting the tires to temperature... During the first session the car was not quite controllable. Because the tires were not warm the brakes were not working as expected and the car would oversteer a lot. I saw this as a chance to practice oversteer recovery and had some limited success. I understood that I am not quite as good as I though I was after I span out of control. I really liked playing with the car but I would definitely not do the same on the Ring  .
As I previously said, I really wanted to test the new engine and see if everything is alright. The engine was great, no errors were recorded but I did not change gears at the rev limiter in order not to push it too far.
The brakes were awesome. I had absolutely no issues with them even though I have done 2 sessions (aka 40 minutes) straight (twice) and no brake fade. I am not sure if it was because of the colder weather or because of the brake ducts, but I suspect the brake ducts have a great contribution to this (also the heat radiated from the discs, after the session was done, was much less than before).
The car, as a whole behaved wonderfully. The balance was just right and I was happy/scared that the car would surprise me with an oversteer from time to time, in places where it would normally understeer. Although some of the oversteers were at speed above 130 kph (80 mph) I somehow managed not to lose the car out of control. But, I must admit that I found some of them quite scary!

Here is the only photo from the event (I will post some others as soon as I have them):



And the session with the best lap:

You might find this session boring since almost all 6 laps are the same (and times) and they are mostly influenced by traffic.
The scariest moment of the trip was the oversteer at min 3:35 . That is the corner where you are most likely to crash the car.

Thanks for watching! Any comments are welcomed! 

[Tfsi_Mike]

Great stuff Vlad, as always 

[Top Cat]

The car looks very neutral Rex, I think the oversteer was due to the car taking off over the curb kind of like lift off oversteer as the weight transferred.  You certainly know how to carry the speed through the corner.   

[RENNTAG]

Nice video 

Looks like a well set up car. And good save with the oversteer.

[rex]

Thank you for your comments guys!  

Great stuff Vlad, as always  

Thanks Mike!  

The car looks very neutral Rex, I think the oversteer was due to the car taking off over the curb kind of like lift off oversteer as the weight transferred.  You certainly know how to carry the speed through the corner.  

Yup, it seems very neutral (at least according to my standards and my driving technique). The curb definitely had something to do with it. That bend is the trickiest one at Hungaroring (in my view) because on turn in there is a little peak that can make the car oversteer and because you have to ride the curb in order to be fast. Combined with very limited run of to the left, it is pretty much a bend where you do not want to lose control. I have seen quite a few accidents over there (from other videos or even live, with the car that was in front of me).
Because of my lack of horsepower I really need to be very efficient with carrying the speed through the corner. I really hope I am doing a good job over here but I think I can do better.

Nice video  

Looks like a well set up car. And good save with the oversteer.

Thanks! I like the current setup and I would change nothing about it!
Although I managed to keep the car on track and I have had plenty of practice with oversteers this time, I am afraid most of the saves where instinctively. I wish I were more comfortable with oversteers but there is plenty of time to improve...