2008.08.08/09/10 Track Days 5 - 7: Tremblant
Back a few days later the Le Circuit, this time with Phil, Fred, Vince and the girls. BMWCCA Boston hosts the event in cooperation with BMW Quebec. Friday is a advanced/instructors only day, which meant a lot of track time... Hour long sessions were fun, but killed the brake pads (I'm finding out that Tremblant is particularily tough on pads).
After doing 2 days at Calabogie and a day earlier in the week at Tremblant, I ran out of pad at the end of the back straight during Friday's second afternoon session (Note to self, an Audi R8's brakes are better suited to track duty than my car :). I ended up chosing going in the grass rather than roughing it through turns 10 and 11. I lost the rest of the day changing out the pads and then using thwe last session as a bedding run. It was a pain to lose the time after upgrading the front calipers/rotors for this specific purpose! I then learned that the issue was worse that I thought when I went through a second set on Sunday! The backing plate paint of the pads had turned completely white, and discussions with the folks at Carbotech revealed that the issue is due to my brakes not being able to dissipate the heat.
So we spent a lot of time changng brakes... but the rest of the weekend was a lot of fun too! I worked on new lines, and especially tried braking earlier during the front straight in order to climb the hill under power (more stable). Two rides with different instructors showed me without a doubt that they do not agree on lines (2-3, 5, 7), so I'm at a point where I need to find out what suits the car (and myself) better. There is not only a single approach to a (combination of) corner(s).
I also completely removed the rear sway bar Saturday evening, in an attempt to figure my next F/R roll couple. I will be changing my suspension setup next winter, and I'm sick and tired of buying inefficient pre-made kits that DO NOT WORK, so I've go through the personal design route. Rear sway bar removal produced an even more healthy setup, allowing to apply power on corner exit a lot easier. I'm beginning to figure out one of the reasons why the miata has had a steep learning curve! :/. My new suspension setup will be very close to this tested roll couple, but with a lot higher spring rates.
After doing 2 days at Calabogie and a day earlier in the week at Tremblant, I ran out of pad at the end of the back straight during Friday's second afternoon session (Note to self, an Audi R8's brakes are better suited to track duty than my car :). I ended up chosing going in the grass rather than roughing it through turns 10 and 11. I lost the rest of the day changing out the pads and then using thwe last session as a bedding run. It was a pain to lose the time after upgrading the front calipers/rotors for this specific purpose! I then learned that the issue was worse that I thought when I went through a second set on Sunday! The backing plate paint of the pads had turned completely white, and discussions with the folks at Carbotech revealed that the issue is due to my brakes not being able to dissipate the heat.
So we spent a lot of time changng brakes... but the rest of the weekend was a lot of fun too! I worked on new lines, and especially tried braking earlier during the front straight in order to climb the hill under power (more stable). Two rides with different instructors showed me without a doubt that they do not agree on lines (2-3, 5, 7), so I'm at a point where I need to find out what suits the car (and myself) better. There is not only a single approach to a (combination of) corner(s).
I also completely removed the rear sway bar Saturday evening, in an attempt to figure my next F/R roll couple. I will be changing my suspension setup next winter, and I'm sick and tired of buying inefficient pre-made kits that DO NOT WORK, so I've go through the personal design route. Rear sway bar removal produced an even more healthy setup, allowing to apply power on corner exit a lot easier. I'm beginning to figure out one of the reasons why the miata has had a steep learning curve! :/. My new suspension setup will be very close to this tested roll couple, but with a lot higher spring rates.
posted by FredRoy at 7:07 PM
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