Discussion
So went to the Hampton Downs play day today; That track is so much fun!
And it's nice that everyone is starting from scratch with a new track to play on.
Well apart from the obvious differences in ability but it still takes away the old boy advantage.
Anyway, had a ball and looking forward to spending more time there.
And it's nice that everyone is starting from scratch with a new track to play on.
Well apart from the obvious differences in ability but it still takes away the old boy advantage.
Anyway, had a ball and looking forward to spending more time there.
Hear hear Willy!
Just because I'm lazy, I'll copy and paste verbatim the tripe write-up I did on NZHondas... it's probably all b
ks, but it's my take on the track thus far
Well, Glassjaw suggested I do a write-up, so I thought I'd share since I guess a lot of you will be eager to hear first impressions... so here 'tis.
Today, I was fortunate enough to get on one of the first public-access trackdays at the new Hampton Downs "National" circuit. This is the first section of the track to be built, which will be joined next year by the Club circuit. Combined these will make the full international circuit, but for future reference, this is in relation to the National circuit.
Turned up this morning under drizzly skies to the paddock/pit complex, which is still just a gravel-pit, a marquee, a couple of port-a-coms and a couple of concrete slabs. This is being slowly developed, but expect the pit complexes to take some time yet to develop into a user-friendly site. Take shade, shelter or a support vehicle there if you're going for the day as you'll probably need it to stave off the sun, rain or both. We were fortunate enough to experience the track under both damp and dry conditions, although not wet enough for spray or standing water, so if you're there in the wet, some of this may make no sense.
This was a Playday Ontrack event, so it was a real mix of cars. There were a handful of Hondas there including a couple of EK9s, an EG Honda cup car, a DC2R and a brace of S2ks. I'm not sure if any of these were NZHonda members, but one of the P-plates looked familiar.... TEC2NV I think?
I rocked along in my faithful Peugeot 306 GTi6, 167 baguette-eating horses just waiting to run off in surrender. Despite being not the quickest thing around, is usually pretty entertaining to drive on track. I was also joined by Graham (KiwiXTR2) who will no doubt be glad to give his input too.
On the whole, I spent the morning rather frustrated with the track and couldn't get it to flow well. The little pug , which seemed to be very adjustable at Taupo, just wanted to understeer all over the place here. Through the longer, faster corners it just seemed a bit more wallowy than I was used to. I think this is because Taupo has wildly varying camber, which tends to upset a car and make it move around a lot, which can help to make running a road car very entertaining. At Hampton Downs, the cambers are a lot more consistent, which tends to make the car want to grip 'n' go a lot more than at Taupo. I suspected in something a little more track-focussed, you'd revel in this rather than endure it.
In the afternoon sessions, my very generous friend, Mr Paul Aston gave me the keys to his Lotus Elise. I'm rather familiar with this little beasty as it's my old whip from pre-Exige times. It's exactly the same now as when I had it, only now it runs Semi slick R888 tyres in place of the road-focussed T1-S tyres I ran on it. As I suspected, the track then REALLY came alive.
You can then really use the camber of the track to settle the car in the bends well. You seem to really be able to fire it out of the corners here, pretty much everywhere. The faster corners are very wide, and this means you can be a late-braking hero and generally the worst that'll happen is you'll miss your apex by a metre or three. Contrast this to other tracks in NZ where similar transgressions will result in a swift trip to meet Mr Armco.
The surface is billiard-table smooth (in contrast to other NZ tracks!) aside from a single bump over the pedestrian tunnel, just before the pit entrance over the hill. The car isn't laterally loaded at this point, so unless you're in a single-seater or something like a GT3 cup car, this won't worry you at all. It actually adds character as in a faster car you certainly feel the car go light over it! Despite the lack of rubber down seemed to offer pretty good grip.
The course has only 6 corners, but don't be fooled, it's one of those tracks that's more than a sum of its parts.
I'll talk you through them in extremely basic terms:
Turn 1:
Coming off the start/finish straight, you'll be braking into this from anywhere from 150-210km/h, depending on how many stickers your car has. The track drops away after the start finish line, and you're braking as you crest the hill and drop down the other side. The corner is a fast right-hand sweeper of about 110-115 degrees. It's very wide, so plenty of room for error. It's also completely blind on entry, which makes placing the car on the road rather tricky. It's similar in nature (although slower) to Jennian at Pukekohe. The corner is downhill all the way (quite a bit actually!) through but despite this you can carry good speed right the way through it.
You want to apex it fairly late, but not too late and you can generally get on the power quite aggressively on the way out, run it right to the outside kerb as you wind on the power and wind off the lock. Thsi''l fire you down the short straight up to the turn 2-3 complex.
Late braking into Turn 1 yields BIG rewards, and the corner seems to reward bravery. This is a corner that's best taken on the ragged edge, rather than comfortable and tidy. Grip seems to build and ebb through the turn but the car should tolerate being a little unsettled here. If you're going around this one tidily, you're probably not pushing hard enough!
Beware with this though as it's a fast corner and overcooking it will either lead to a rapid burrowing into the sand-trap on the outside, or an over-rotation into the concrete block wall that makes up the entire inside of this corner. For safety's sake it's probably a good idea to stay a foot or two wide of the apex on this one.
Turns 2-3:
These really have to be treated as one entity and are probably my favourite turns on the course... a shame really as it's this 2-3 complex that gets "lost" in the combined international circuit. I suppose that's a good thing though as it means that the National circuit will always have some unique appeal that the international circuit won't, even though the international will surely be the more impressive track of the two.
Turn 2 is a sharp, open 90-degree right-hander that is flat on entry, turning uphill. This leads directly into turn 3, an open, constant-radius left-hander over the brow of a hill.
Turn 2 you really need to do a Peter Brock and brake on the straight. Turn-in is VERY late here, almost when you're abeam the corner. Get off the brakes and rotate the car in hard to the apex, trying to prevent the car from running wide (to the left) on exit.
All going well, you'll have exited turn 2 still on the right hand side of the centreline which will set you up for turn three. This corner is under power the whole way, and the challenge here is how much power to feed in to prevent running wide on exit. The corner drops away a little as you crest the brow, so the car will want to run wide, but if you've done it right, this'll carry you out to the edge of the track but no further.
This is another hard corner to judge as it's semi-blind on entry. You can see your turn-in but can't see the apex or exit. This is one that you'll be wary of at the start of the day but will really learn to attack and enjoy once you build confidence in it!
Turn three will exit you down a very short slight downhill straight to turn 4.
Turn 4:
Turn 4 is a very sharp, acute right-hand hairpin of about 150 degrees. Like turn 2 it's flat (actually slightly downhill) on entry, but the exit is quite sharply uphill. This is a good corner for pressuring someone to run wide, as you can cut in late here and get good purchase on corner exit, although this'll wrong-foot you for turn 10, as your rival will have the inside line.
This is another corner where you pitch it in as hard as your front-end will stand. It's a pretty orthodox mid-apex corner and one of those ones where several different lines will work. No doubt one will be better than others, but I had a play around and so long as you don't turn-in with too much speed on, I wasn't able to pick which line was fastest.
[B]Turn 5:
[/B]Turn 5 is the one everyone's talking about... the kiwi version of Bathurst's "dipper" or Laguna Seca's infamous "corkscrew". You crest the hill up from turn 4 and then drop STEEPLY down under brakes into this sharp ~170 degree left-hand hairpin.
This corner is a bit like the hairpin at Pukekohe where you have to hug the outside as late as you can before cutting across the face of the corner to a late apex (although in reverse as it's a left-hander). The corner continues to drop away on exit, so even late-apexing it isn't a guarantee you won't run wide.
Aim to be precise and clean here, this isn't one you want the car moving around on you.
Slow in and fast out is the order of the day here, there's little to lose here by sacrificing some entry speed and the long run up to Turn 6 will punish you if you are sloppy on the exit.
There's now a medium-length straight up to 6, similar in length and feel to the Denny Hulme straight at Manfeild.
Turn 6:
Turn 6 is a real unique one. It's a VERY long sweeping 180 degree right hander that starts off flat and ends arcing uphill back onto the start finish straight. This corner is VAST in width, which really opens up a bunch of different approaches. My current wisdom is to turn in BEFORE braking and straigh-line a very early first apex as you're on the brakes. Trail brake and turn in again and GENTLY feed the power back in as you try to haul in the second apex, which will be late, somewhere around the drain covers on the inside.
This is a very tricky corner to get right and one that's easy to run wide. It's fast on entry and as fast as you can make it on exit. I'm sure the width means there are several different ways it can be taken and only time will tell which is the fastest. You again want to maximise corner exit speed as this will help or hinder you all the way up the hill to the start-finish line. Having said that, it's one that can also reward extra mid-corner speed, so it's not one you want to be over-cautious on corner entry on either.
Well that's about it for a lap anyway.
Overall impressions is that this is a VERY impressive track and the guys behind it really deserve a huge pat on the back for getting it done. It's an ENTIRELY private venture with not a penny of public money, and as motorsport fans we should all do our bit to utilise this facility and help to make it financially viable for them.
No track in NZ has themix this one does, it combines the technical nature of Taupo or Ruapuna with the character of Pukekohe or Teretonga... but on a larger scale.
I'm sure in years to come, we'll end up speaking more of the overall international circuit, as this will be the one all the large events are held on.
Based on what I've seen so far it'll be a FANTASTIC spectator track. There are plenty of vantage points where one can see several corners.
The design of the track is such that it rewards bravery and is very much a track where the defending a race position will be very difficult as the defensive line on a few of the corners will pay a heavy price in mid-corner and exit speeds. This means more passing, and better racing for everyone involved.
Overall marks out of ten? From me, I'd say 8.5 to 9. If the rest of the international track lives up to the national track, I'd say the whole lot could combine to make a perfect 10? Time will tell.
Thanks again to the track owners for daring to build such a playground. Thanks to Tony Bowman, Gary Sterling and their team at Playday Ontrack for yet another well-run day. And thanks to all of the friends, old and new who came out for a blat today, may it be the first of many, and may I be in something a little more appropriate next time
That's it from me
Just because I'm lazy, I'll copy and paste verbatim the tripe write-up I did on NZHondas... it's probably all b
ks, but it's my take on the track thus far Well, Glassjaw suggested I do a write-up, so I thought I'd share since I guess a lot of you will be eager to hear first impressions... so here 'tis.
Today, I was fortunate enough to get on one of the first public-access trackdays at the new Hampton Downs "National" circuit. This is the first section of the track to be built, which will be joined next year by the Club circuit. Combined these will make the full international circuit, but for future reference, this is in relation to the National circuit.
Turned up this morning under drizzly skies to the paddock/pit complex, which is still just a gravel-pit, a marquee, a couple of port-a-coms and a couple of concrete slabs. This is being slowly developed, but expect the pit complexes to take some time yet to develop into a user-friendly site. Take shade, shelter or a support vehicle there if you're going for the day as you'll probably need it to stave off the sun, rain or both. We were fortunate enough to experience the track under both damp and dry conditions, although not wet enough for spray or standing water, so if you're there in the wet, some of this may make no sense.
This was a Playday Ontrack event, so it was a real mix of cars. There were a handful of Hondas there including a couple of EK9s, an EG Honda cup car, a DC2R and a brace of S2ks. I'm not sure if any of these were NZHonda members, but one of the P-plates looked familiar.... TEC2NV I think?
I rocked along in my faithful Peugeot 306 GTi6, 167 baguette-eating horses just waiting to run off in surrender. Despite being not the quickest thing around, is usually pretty entertaining to drive on track. I was also joined by Graham (KiwiXTR2) who will no doubt be glad to give his input too.
On the whole, I spent the morning rather frustrated with the track and couldn't get it to flow well. The little pug , which seemed to be very adjustable at Taupo, just wanted to understeer all over the place here. Through the longer, faster corners it just seemed a bit more wallowy than I was used to. I think this is because Taupo has wildly varying camber, which tends to upset a car and make it move around a lot, which can help to make running a road car very entertaining. At Hampton Downs, the cambers are a lot more consistent, which tends to make the car want to grip 'n' go a lot more than at Taupo. I suspected in something a little more track-focussed, you'd revel in this rather than endure it.
In the afternoon sessions, my very generous friend, Mr Paul Aston gave me the keys to his Lotus Elise. I'm rather familiar with this little beasty as it's my old whip from pre-Exige times. It's exactly the same now as when I had it, only now it runs Semi slick R888 tyres in place of the road-focussed T1-S tyres I ran on it. As I suspected, the track then REALLY came alive.
You can then really use the camber of the track to settle the car in the bends well. You seem to really be able to fire it out of the corners here, pretty much everywhere. The faster corners are very wide, and this means you can be a late-braking hero and generally the worst that'll happen is you'll miss your apex by a metre or three. Contrast this to other tracks in NZ where similar transgressions will result in a swift trip to meet Mr Armco.
The surface is billiard-table smooth (in contrast to other NZ tracks!) aside from a single bump over the pedestrian tunnel, just before the pit entrance over the hill. The car isn't laterally loaded at this point, so unless you're in a single-seater or something like a GT3 cup car, this won't worry you at all. It actually adds character as in a faster car you certainly feel the car go light over it! Despite the lack of rubber down seemed to offer pretty good grip.
The course has only 6 corners, but don't be fooled, it's one of those tracks that's more than a sum of its parts.
I'll talk you through them in extremely basic terms:
Turn 1:
Coming off the start/finish straight, you'll be braking into this from anywhere from 150-210km/h, depending on how many stickers your car has. The track drops away after the start finish line, and you're braking as you crest the hill and drop down the other side. The corner is a fast right-hand sweeper of about 110-115 degrees. It's very wide, so plenty of room for error. It's also completely blind on entry, which makes placing the car on the road rather tricky. It's similar in nature (although slower) to Jennian at Pukekohe. The corner is downhill all the way (quite a bit actually!) through but despite this you can carry good speed right the way through it.
You want to apex it fairly late, but not too late and you can generally get on the power quite aggressively on the way out, run it right to the outside kerb as you wind on the power and wind off the lock. Thsi''l fire you down the short straight up to the turn 2-3 complex.
Late braking into Turn 1 yields BIG rewards, and the corner seems to reward bravery. This is a corner that's best taken on the ragged edge, rather than comfortable and tidy. Grip seems to build and ebb through the turn but the car should tolerate being a little unsettled here. If you're going around this one tidily, you're probably not pushing hard enough!
Beware with this though as it's a fast corner and overcooking it will either lead to a rapid burrowing into the sand-trap on the outside, or an over-rotation into the concrete block wall that makes up the entire inside of this corner. For safety's sake it's probably a good idea to stay a foot or two wide of the apex on this one.
Turns 2-3:
These really have to be treated as one entity and are probably my favourite turns on the course... a shame really as it's this 2-3 complex that gets "lost" in the combined international circuit. I suppose that's a good thing though as it means that the National circuit will always have some unique appeal that the international circuit won't, even though the international will surely be the more impressive track of the two.
Turn 2 is a sharp, open 90-degree right-hander that is flat on entry, turning uphill. This leads directly into turn 3, an open, constant-radius left-hander over the brow of a hill.
Turn 2 you really need to do a Peter Brock and brake on the straight. Turn-in is VERY late here, almost when you're abeam the corner. Get off the brakes and rotate the car in hard to the apex, trying to prevent the car from running wide (to the left) on exit.
All going well, you'll have exited turn 2 still on the right hand side of the centreline which will set you up for turn three. This corner is under power the whole way, and the challenge here is how much power to feed in to prevent running wide on exit. The corner drops away a little as you crest the brow, so the car will want to run wide, but if you've done it right, this'll carry you out to the edge of the track but no further.
This is another hard corner to judge as it's semi-blind on entry. You can see your turn-in but can't see the apex or exit. This is one that you'll be wary of at the start of the day but will really learn to attack and enjoy once you build confidence in it!
Turn three will exit you down a very short slight downhill straight to turn 4.
Turn 4:
Turn 4 is a very sharp, acute right-hand hairpin of about 150 degrees. Like turn 2 it's flat (actually slightly downhill) on entry, but the exit is quite sharply uphill. This is a good corner for pressuring someone to run wide, as you can cut in late here and get good purchase on corner exit, although this'll wrong-foot you for turn 10, as your rival will have the inside line.
This is another corner where you pitch it in as hard as your front-end will stand. It's a pretty orthodox mid-apex corner and one of those ones where several different lines will work. No doubt one will be better than others, but I had a play around and so long as you don't turn-in with too much speed on, I wasn't able to pick which line was fastest.
[B]Turn 5:
[/B]Turn 5 is the one everyone's talking about... the kiwi version of Bathurst's "dipper" or Laguna Seca's infamous "corkscrew". You crest the hill up from turn 4 and then drop STEEPLY down under brakes into this sharp ~170 degree left-hand hairpin.
This corner is a bit like the hairpin at Pukekohe where you have to hug the outside as late as you can before cutting across the face of the corner to a late apex (although in reverse as it's a left-hander). The corner continues to drop away on exit, so even late-apexing it isn't a guarantee you won't run wide.
Aim to be precise and clean here, this isn't one you want the car moving around on you.
Slow in and fast out is the order of the day here, there's little to lose here by sacrificing some entry speed and the long run up to Turn 6 will punish you if you are sloppy on the exit.
There's now a medium-length straight up to 6, similar in length and feel to the Denny Hulme straight at Manfeild.
Turn 6:
Turn 6 is a real unique one. It's a VERY long sweeping 180 degree right hander that starts off flat and ends arcing uphill back onto the start finish straight. This corner is VAST in width, which really opens up a bunch of different approaches. My current wisdom is to turn in BEFORE braking and straigh-line a very early first apex as you're on the brakes. Trail brake and turn in again and GENTLY feed the power back in as you try to haul in the second apex, which will be late, somewhere around the drain covers on the inside.
This is a very tricky corner to get right and one that's easy to run wide. It's fast on entry and as fast as you can make it on exit. I'm sure the width means there are several different ways it can be taken and only time will tell which is the fastest. You again want to maximise corner exit speed as this will help or hinder you all the way up the hill to the start-finish line. Having said that, it's one that can also reward extra mid-corner speed, so it's not one you want to be over-cautious on corner entry on either.
Well that's about it for a lap anyway.
Overall impressions is that this is a VERY impressive track and the guys behind it really deserve a huge pat on the back for getting it done. It's an ENTIRELY private venture with not a penny of public money, and as motorsport fans we should all do our bit to utilise this facility and help to make it financially viable for them.
No track in NZ has themix this one does, it combines the technical nature of Taupo or Ruapuna with the character of Pukekohe or Teretonga... but on a larger scale.
I'm sure in years to come, we'll end up speaking more of the overall international circuit, as this will be the one all the large events are held on.
Based on what I've seen so far it'll be a FANTASTIC spectator track. There are plenty of vantage points where one can see several corners.
The design of the track is such that it rewards bravery and is very much a track where the defending a race position will be very difficult as the defensive line on a few of the corners will pay a heavy price in mid-corner and exit speeds. This means more passing, and better racing for everyone involved.
Overall marks out of ten? From me, I'd say 8.5 to 9. If the rest of the international track lives up to the national track, I'd say the whole lot could combine to make a perfect 10? Time will tell.
Thanks again to the track owners for daring to build such a playground. Thanks to Tony Bowman, Gary Sterling and their team at Playday Ontrack for yet another well-run day. And thanks to all of the friends, old and new who came out for a blat today, may it be the first of many, and may I be in something a little more appropriate next time
That's it from me
Esprit said:
Fraster said:
Thanks George. You write well. It's a pity you can also drive well and have mechanical ability-otherwise you could be a motoring journalist!
Hahah, yeah... guess I should leave that stuff to the pros eh? Jem,
Way ahead of you there. I'd like to do a bit of freelancing once the Exige is finished. I would have been looking at doing this now, only the Exige eats all of my time and money and I'd rather have enough free time to make a worthwhile go of things.
It's something I'll do as a hobby to start, then might look at developing it into a side-job. Would love to do it as a career at some point, but commercial reality dictates that it'll be a while before I give up my day job for it.
Way ahead of you there. I'd like to do a bit of freelancing once the Exige is finished. I would have been looking at doing this now, only the Exige eats all of my time and money and I'd rather have enough free time to make a worthwhile go of things.
It's something I'll do as a hobby to start, then might look at developing it into a side-job. Would love to do it as a career at some point, but commercial reality dictates that it'll be a while before I give up my day job for it.
Oh, and if you're wondering laptimes, I was clocking 1:26s in the Pug and 1:20 flat in the Elise. I reckon, a few trackdays practice could see the Elise down into the 1:18 or possibly 1:17 bracket before you hit the limits of what it can do.
Expect very quick trackday cars (Like Willy's) to be in the 1:16-1:14 range before too long and things like the GT3 race cars to be dipping under 1:10 at a guess.
Expect very quick trackday cars (Like Willy's) to be in the 1:16-1:14 range before too long and things like the GT3 race cars to be dipping under 1:10 at a guess.
Fraster said:
...and, on the subject of personalised plates-(wrong thread, I know) based on that plate, the Elise is in fact a JagPorsche!
Haha yes, when I first got the car, many people commented on my personalised plate.... they were surprised when I said that it wasn't personalised George - simply awesome, having read many of your Club Loti articles in the past - you rock!
Can you explain to me if the last turn (large sweeper before straight) does in fact have two apexes? Like the one at Taupo on the full sized track. I mean that wide turn before the back straight. Its like if you were to draw the line on the map of the track it would look like a V Does that make sense? I am just over anyalysing crap again and will get back to the kitchen.
Can you explain to me if the last turn (large sweeper before straight) does in fact have two apexes? Like the one at Taupo on the full sized track. I mean that wide turn before the back straight. Its like if you were to draw the line on the map of the track it would look like a V Does that make sense? I am just over anyalysing crap again and will get back to the kitchen.
Kylie, that's certainly the way that worked best for me.
Most people were starting wide then trying to single-apex it at about 60-70% of the way through.
What I was doing was hanging left on the straight, turning into the corner (still under power) and then braking straight. You then clip an apex maybe 5% into the corner (still under brakes) and then carry on this straight line until you've scrubbed off enough speed to turn in proper... at this stage you'll be about halfway to two thirds out of the corner (ie, just outside of the corner centreline). So then you get off the brakes and rotate the car in tighter and you're then able to treat it as a long constant-radius corner, just trying to gradually reel in the late apex at about 85% of the way through the corner.
The cars that I was driving will just want to understeer all the way through here so there wasn't much adjustability without making aggressive throttle movements, but this might be different in a higher-powered car. Because of this, from the second apex you've got to be careful as it's easy to run a bit wide on exit and you may have to trim the throttle to prevent running wide and over the kerb, especially since the gravel trap ends there and there's a concrete wall not far away that could bite you if you were being an idiot about it.
Most people were starting wide then trying to single-apex it at about 60-70% of the way through.
What I was doing was hanging left on the straight, turning into the corner (still under power) and then braking straight. You then clip an apex maybe 5% into the corner (still under brakes) and then carry on this straight line until you've scrubbed off enough speed to turn in proper... at this stage you'll be about halfway to two thirds out of the corner (ie, just outside of the corner centreline). So then you get off the brakes and rotate the car in tighter and you're then able to treat it as a long constant-radius corner, just trying to gradually reel in the late apex at about 85% of the way through the corner.
The cars that I was driving will just want to understeer all the way through here so there wasn't much adjustability without making aggressive throttle movements, but this might be different in a higher-powered car. Because of this, from the second apex you've got to be careful as it's easy to run a bit wide on exit and you may have to trim the throttle to prevent running wide and over the kerb, especially since the gravel trap ends there and there's a concrete wall not far away that could bite you if you were being an idiot about it.
Esprit said:
Kylie, that's certainly the way that worked best for me.
Most people were starting wide then trying to single-apex it at about 60-70% of the way through.
What I was doing was hanging left on the straight, turning into the corner (still under power) and then braking straight. You then clip an apex maybe 5% into the corner (still under brakes) and then carry on this straight line until you've scrubbed off enough speed to turn in proper... at this stage you'll be about halfway to two thirds out of the corner (ie, just outside of the corner centreline). So then you get off the brakes and rotate the car in tighter and you're then able to treat it as a long constant-radius corner, just trying to gradually reel in the late apex at about 85% of the way through the corner.
The cars that I was driving will just want to understeer all the way through here so there wasn't much adjustability without making aggressive throttle movements, but this might be different in a higher-powered car. Because of this, from the second apex you've got to be careful as it's easy to run a bit wide on exit and you may have to trim the throttle to prevent running wide and over the kerb, especially since the gravel trap ends there and there's a concrete wall not far away that could bite you if you were being an idiot about it.
Aha makes sense - coolio! Cause when I was standing there looking both ways in front and behind, its a massive turn to try and get right. That turn and the one after the straight was my only concern.Most people were starting wide then trying to single-apex it at about 60-70% of the way through.
What I was doing was hanging left on the straight, turning into the corner (still under power) and then braking straight. You then clip an apex maybe 5% into the corner (still under brakes) and then carry on this straight line until you've scrubbed off enough speed to turn in proper... at this stage you'll be about halfway to two thirds out of the corner (ie, just outside of the corner centreline). So then you get off the brakes and rotate the car in tighter and you're then able to treat it as a long constant-radius corner, just trying to gradually reel in the late apex at about 85% of the way through the corner.
The cars that I was driving will just want to understeer all the way through here so there wasn't much adjustability without making aggressive throttle movements, but this might be different in a higher-powered car. Because of this, from the second apex you've got to be careful as it's easy to run a bit wide on exit and you may have to trim the throttle to prevent running wide and over the kerb, especially since the gravel trap ends there and there's a concrete wall not far away that could bite you if you were being an idiot about it.
Cant wait to get there at end of month. I think Memphis will love it
Fantastic write up, very much appreciated.
I am meant to be playing next Monday but not so sure now....I measured the thickness of my rear discs and they are on(past) the thickness limit. from what I have been told Hampton is a bit of big braking circuit, would this be your view George?
If anyone knows of some sensible (cheap) discs for a 111R that i can get my hands on it would be great. I do not want to spend really as i will be picking up a set of EP Alli belled discs in London in a few weeks.
m
I am meant to be playing next Monday but not so sure now....I measured the thickness of my rear discs and they are on(past) the thickness limit. from what I have been told Hampton is a bit of big braking circuit, would this be your view George?
If anyone knows of some sensible (cheap) discs for a 111R that i can get my hands on it would be great. I do not want to spend really as i will be picking up a set of EP Alli belled discs in London in a few weeks.
m
Hampton Downs is indeed a very hard circuit on brakes.
Talk to Ken, he may have an old set lying about if they're required.
I'd give you a set of Exige discs to borrow for the day, but mine won't fit (different stud pattern).
I'm sure you should be able to find SOMEONE who could lend you a set of discs for an afternoon?
Perhaps contact EBC brakes in NZ? They may carry the Elise TurboGrooves in stock if you're lucky.
I do know that Andy (drac on here) replaced his discs a while back with DBA rotors on his 111R, he may have the old ones sitting around? I think his e-mail address is drac@mac.com
Talk to Ken, he may have an old set lying about if they're required.
I'd give you a set of Exige discs to borrow for the day, but mine won't fit (different stud pattern).
I'm sure you should be able to find SOMEONE who could lend you a set of discs for an afternoon?
Perhaps contact EBC brakes in NZ? They may carry the Elise TurboGrooves in stock if you're lucky.
I do know that Andy (drac on here) replaced his discs a while back with DBA rotors on his 111R, he may have the old ones sitting around? I think his e-mail address is drac@mac.com
Fraster said:
XTR2 times Graham?
3 days 17 hours 9 minutes 35.001 secondsHad a great time, but the diff was not behaving. Couldn't get on the power properly coming out of the corners and then my CBS (cowardice braking system) kept going off waaaaaay too early on the higher speed corners.
It is a fantastic track and will take many, many, many more trackdays to get to grips with it.
Took a few passengers around as well and most of them seemed to enjoy the experience
Good write-up George - it looks like there could be a number of different lines that could work through some corners. I would expect the qual line will be quite different to the racing line. In response to your question - I settled on a single apex line for the sweeper at the bottom of the hill - still learning like everyone else........so, report card after the first day reads; 'appeared to enjoy himself, but needs to focus and try harder'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ6BBpCAeX8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ6BBpCAeX8
Edited by RENN68 on Tuesday 10th November 19:19
...just to pick your brains a bit more, George: I remember a post some time ago where someone was surprised at the straightline speed of your wee Lotus, given its relatively feeble power-plant. You replied that the key to your straghtline speed was your ability to carry speed through corners and thus more effectively slingshot down the straights.(this at Pukekohe, admittedly) My question is: if you are in a nimble and lightweight car, are you not sacrificing some potential advantage in taking the 2-apex approach-as espoused by Racing Ray in his (very helpful and enjoyable)Taupo RS4 video?
IE: I get that, in a powerful but unweildy Oz V8 (for eg) the key is to effectively lenghthen the straight by trail-braking towards a deep second turn-in point, then turn in comparitively sharply and use huge torque and straightline speed (plus the added braking area already used) to cancel out any time loss through choosing a seemingly over-acute angle. I'm just a bit puzzled as to how to reconcile this with the "yes, but I can go round corners faster than you" strategy that we titchy-car drivers rely on.
There, I've finished now.
IE: I get that, in a powerful but unweildy Oz V8 (for eg) the key is to effectively lenghthen the straight by trail-braking towards a deep second turn-in point, then turn in comparitively sharply and use huge torque and straightline speed (plus the added braking area already used) to cancel out any time loss through choosing a seemingly over-acute angle. I'm just a bit puzzled as to how to reconcile this with the "yes, but I can go round corners faster than you" strategy that we titchy-car drivers rely on.
There, I've finished now.
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