Niges 2 days at the Ring & 1 day at Spa trackday mega report
Discussion
I feel it only fair to warn you, this is the longest report I've ever shared. It's a combined post of 2 days at the Nurburgring and the next day at Spa. You may want to grab a drink before you start 
After the low oil pressure caused the main bearing failure at Ringmeisters in July, I was particularly careful preparing for this event. Not only was it a 2 day Nürburgring trip but the 3rd day was at Spa Francorchamps.
The Golf was ready several days before we were due to leave and all we had to do was load it onto the trailer before driving across to Hull for the ferry. I brought the Golf outside and parked it in the driveway whilst sorting out the trailer in the garage, that meant fitting and loading the tyre rack and attaching the jerry can box then loading up the X5 with the tools and spares. It took a few hours to get everything sorted but we were finished around 13:00, as we weren`t setting off until 15:00 that allowed plenty time for a shower and bite to eat before we set off.
I started the Golf ready to drive it onto the trailer and couldn`t get it to idle. It was misfiring, stalling and generally sounding awful ! It was fine 4 hours ago when I parked it up, what on earth had gone wrong ??
Checked the spark plugs as it definitely sounded like a misfire, swapped coil pack but no different. Plugging in the laptop load loaded the DTA software to be presented with a big red warning saying "Short on Sensor 5 Volt Wire !! - 3300mV"
The engine loom is connected to the ECU via 2 large multi-connectors. One had the high voltage and feed wires, the other the sensor returns. I unplugged the sensor connector, leaving the injectors, coilpack and crank position sensor connected. The error disappeared and as the ECU has a failsafe value for each sensor it fired up and ran smoothly.
OK, so it`s not a fundamental engine issue, but time is ticking and that ferry will not wait.
Unplugged all the underbonnet sensors and started plugging them in one-by-one. The moment I plugged in the oil pressure sensor, Matt shouted the warning reappeared.
It turned out the plastic cover on top of the sensor sits directly under the vent in the bonnet. Rainwater had been dripping on it for 4 hours and running down the cable and waterlogging the sensor.
By leaving the sensor unplugged the engine ran smoothly. What a relief !
The nagging problem to me was this was the oil pressure sensor. I had an engine failure at Ringmeisters due to low oil and now I didn`t have a sensor to warn me of low oil pressure. The accusump was working and should protect the engine, but the lack of warning didn`t feel right and I was very apprehensive about the upcoming days.
(I now carry a spare sensor in my toolkit)
The Golf was driven onto the trailer, strapped down and then I had a quick shower before we set off to Hull for the overnight ferry.
This was not the relaxed start to the trip I was hoping for
Instead of being able to take it steady and have a leisurely morning I`d spent part of the faultfinding hour thinking I might not be able to attend the event with a working car.
After a smooth crossing and quick disembarkation, we had a trouble free drive across Europe and saw several UK plates on the journey. Alistair was across again in convoy with his mates in his lovely E46 M3, we stopped for lunch on the way as there was no huge rush to get there.
As usual, I filled up the Golf and Jerry cans with 102ron fuel from the ARAL. Even though the engine was mapped on 98, I feel the improved knock resistance from the 102 is worth the small price premium. I don`t see any performance benefit from it, the spark table is left untouched but the extra peace of mind is worth the little bit extra. In the UK I obviously only run 98.
Trailer dropped off at the guest House and then we drove to the Milltek centre to set up for the sign on and briefing.
It took us a good couple of hours to get all the packs completed ready for the drivers to arrive. We set up a mini production line, Claire, Karin, Matt, Gav and I, worked really well and efficiently together. I think we finished the last pack 10 minutes before the sign on officially started, although we'd had drivers turning up for the last hour hoping to get signed on.
With sign on in full swing the room quickly filled as people often met up for the first time in months and spent the time waiting for the briefing catching up
Darren gave the briefing as usual and when he asked if there were any first timers on the event, only 2 or 3 hands went up. It seemed so long ago that I drove my first lap of the Ring and it must be very exciting for those people to be just beginning the journey that for many of us has become such a large part of our lives.
There was an evening track-walk planned and Gav joined Ian & Jude on it. The coach has a guide who explains parts of the track whilst driving and then they stop at certain point to explain things in more detail
Gav. At Ex-Muhle "Nige, it`s so steep ! You just can`t appreciate when driving how steep it actually is " I`ve walked the whole track a couple if times over the years and I agree. When you are driving you simply can't appreciate all the bumps and the gradients involved. The walk up kesselchen is FAR longer than it feels when you driving at 130mph and above that's for sure.
It soon became dark and the tour was over. Back to the guesthouse and after a quick shower we went for the evening meal at the Pizzeria in Nurburg.
No beers here as I`m driving tomorrow so soft drinks are absolutely fine. Whilst I like a beer or 2, when I'm driving on track the next day I stick to juice. Pizzas weren't bad actually and I'd happily go there again. Good service, nice food and within walking distance to the guesthouse.
Alarm was set for 06:00 but yet again I woke well before it went off. Sent a message to the whatsapp group and the number of immediate replies showed I wasn't the only one excited to be here and wide awake well before 06:00
First job was to unload the Golf and park the trailer in the overflow carpark. Gurds drove his down from the guesthouse and then we wandered around for an hour talking to other drivers.
At 08:00 the track open for the 1 hour of sighting laps. These aren`t the usual follow-my-leader type, but simply a way for people to drive the circuit at reduced pace, not overtaking anyone just to refamiliarise themselves with the track. We always speak to the drivers to remind them of this and the fact that when it goes open pitlane it`s overtaking on the left hand side only.
Gav came out with me for the first sighting lap, Gurds followed and I made a point of driving the correct lines but doing it in an exaggerated way so he could see what we`d talked about beforehand. If it was a wide entry, I made it really wide which afterwards he said helped a lot.
I then followed him for a lap so I could see his lines and discuss them afterwards. His overall lines were good but there was definitely some fine tuning that could help. Turning in too early and not running all the way to the outside on the exit was the main area for improvement. That's simply because he hasn't done as many laps as me and is still unsure of certain parts of the circuit and it's something I've seen time and time again with relatively inexperienced Ring drivers. Even if like Gurds they have done plenty of UK stuff, the ring is different and they often subconsciously leave a little bit of extra margin but not running out on a corner exit. All that actually does is make the exit tighter and loads the car up more. I did the same when I first started coming here back in 2005.
My old windscreen washer hose had perished and I only noticed a few days before the trip, so we used some clear hose we had in the garage. It lasted 2 sighting laps before the heat from the Turbo melted it The weather forecast was decent so I removed the hose and managed without for the rest of the trip.
The track was live and it was time to begin lapping at speed. I started off with 2 laps, came in to adjust the tyre pressures and went straight back out for another 2. That`s 4 laps out of the way in the first 3/4 of an hour and no problems to report. The low pressure oil switch hadn`t alarmed so even though I didn't know the exact oil pressure, I knew it wasn't dangerously low at any time. The Accusump was working, the display on my dash showing the accusump capacity and when it was active was working well.
Matt was free and came out for another 2 laps. I think this is the happiest I've been with the Golf for some time. It felt absolutely fantastic.
I'm still not using all the braking capacity I have available but I was definitely improving, so much so that even Matt said I was braking harder than usual
We had a short rain shower that made the tarmac damp so I used the opportunity to pop across to the carpark to fill with fuel and adjust the fuelling.
Once everything was up to temperature, the injector table and boost curve needed a mild tweak. I find that when everything gets hot I sometimes need to adjust the settings a little after any modifications. I never need to touch them again but this was the first time with the new turbo in hot weather as using full boost for sustained periods is something I can't do in the UK. The straights simply aren't long enough. Map adjusted and it was time to get back out on track.
Gav jumped in for a couple of laps and whilst damp in a few places it was rapidly drying and at the end of the second lap a Porsche and Ferrari tagged onto the back of me. I moved across exiting Adenauer Forst as I thought they may have been quicker but they moved to the right, indicating that they wanted to follow.
By Weirseifen the Porsche wanted to go past so I let him by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVe3qmHeLHE
Approaching Breidscheid I moved to let the Ferrari by but he was happy to follow.
What followed was one of those laps. I didn't know the driver so I didn't follow as close as I would with someone I knew but it was still great fun and seeing his exhaust glowing cherry red at the top of Kesselchen made it obvious he was pressing on too.
By the end of the lap Gav was absolutely buzzing he said "Nige, if I don't get another lap this trip I'll be happy. That was amazing ! We were chasing a new Porsche GT3 in a MK2 Golf. This is AWESOME
!"
Matt came out for another couple of laps, he asked if there was anything niggling me, I was delighted to reply that there wasn't a single issue. The car was running perfectly.
It started drizzling again so back on with the Direzzas for a while. It was one of those days, dry one lap and damp the next. I often leave the slicks on until it's raining heavily but in places there was just a bit too much standing water so for the sake of a quick wheel change I swapped when necessary.
After the laps we pulled into the carpark where I wanted to give it a quick check over.
The Golf has been burning oil for quite some time now. New valve stem seals didn't fix it and there is no noticeable smoke from the exhaust. It definitely isn't external so whilst annoying, I know I'm not putting oil on the circuit. What it does mean is that I need to top it up every so often.
Parked up next to a lovely Lamborghini and popped the bonnet. A crowd quickly formed as often happens, the first question was "What's broken ?" Nothing ! It's fine !
I don't think anyone believed me until I pointed out the oil lever was 1/3 way down from max and all it needed was a few hundred ml to top it up
Everytime I'm on a trackday with mates we end up being on track out of sync with each other so Gurds and I made a conscious effort to do a lap together.
Where else do you see so many GT3RS's together and being driven hard on circuit !. Admittedly here they are taking a break between laps.
I took Karin out for a lap and as we were over halfway round when the Tyre pressure monitoring system started beeping. The front left was showing 16psi so I backed off. By the end of the lap it was 12psi so I knew I had a puncture. This lap alone made it a very worthwhile £25. Without the warning I wouldn't have known and could easily have had a complete tyre failure. The warning alarm gave me sufficient warning to slow down and drive back nice and steady.
It was late afternoon and I'd been lapping all day with zero engine or other issues. I'm sure everyone who spoke to me could hear the relief in my voice after the disastrous Ringmeisters trip.
Matt was in with me doing a couple of laps on the bounce and we caught Ali near the end of the lap. Rather than pass we sat behind him for a chase lap and it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable one too. My line into Miss-Hit-Miss wasn't ideal and we had a bit of a moment midway through the corner. Not what you want at all !
The driver cam wasn't working again so I overlaid some data instead showing the various temperatures of water, air and oil. As you'll see they are extremely stable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj4xX2JBkxI
Everytime I have a lap like this I see the appeal of these M3's, they are so good ! Even though they were released 20 years ago, the design still looks clean and with a bit of modification they are proper track weapons too.
After one more lap it was the end of the day. I had absolutely nothing that needed doing. I don't think I can adequately convey what a relief that was. The first few laps of the day were spent with me watching the accusump operation as much as the track, seeing it working and knowing that was maintaining the oil level was a big relief and by mid morning I just concentrated on driving. I didn`t use high boost that often, I'm still aware of the CV joint weakness so just kept lapping and lapping.
Over 20 laps completed and not a single issue.
After a quick shower we headed down to the Comfy Corner for the group meal. I know we do this every trip but as I`ve said many time, that`s because we always have fantastic food with a great atmosphere. Why wouldn't we go back
We usually call it a night somewhere between 22:00 and 23:00, whilst I'd like to stay late there is no point spoiling the driving tomorrow by being over tired.
Unloaded the car in a wet carpark. It had rained quite heavily overnight and the forecast for today was changeable. It made me even happier I'd had the quick laps in the dry yesterday.
Gurds and I gave the windscreens a clean and then went out for the sighting laps.
This was to be Ram's first EVER driving lap of the Ring ! We'd agreed it made sense to do it on the sighting laps, he wouldn't feel under pressure from other cars and could follow me.
Sahib had been in my passenger seat and I'd talked him round the entire lap, explaining braking points, gearchanges, late apex corners and unsettling bumps. My voice was hoarse by the end of it but he found it informative.
The usual post-lap debrief whilst I borrowed the tyre compressor to set my pressures as they'd dropped overnight.
As the forecast was for rain I went out straight away with the intention of making the most of the damp conditions and get in as many laps as possible before the heavens opened.
The tarmac still had that sheen you get when it's greasy so whilst I had to be careful, I still pressed on. The biggest indicator on photos is the lack of sidewall flex compared to a committed lap in the dry.
The bodykit on Gurd's car means fitting a splitter is not only a lot easier but it looks a lot better too. Without this bumper the MK1 is very difficult to run with a splitter and still look good. You'll notice mine is quite a bit higher, that's simply because I haven't dropped it since switching from 15'2 to 17" tyres. That's a job for the winter, it should improve the effect of the splitter quite a bit, as within reason, the lower they are to the ground the better.
By mid morning there was no real sign of a dry line appearing, it kept drizzling every so often just as the track started to dry out. The only solution, more lapping to keep the tyres warm
I noticed the AFR was going a bit lean at the top end, not quite sure why. Perhaps it's the low ambient temperatures having some odd effect ? I adjusted the fuelling map a bit to address the issue. It turned out later this was the first indication of a fault that was starting to develop.
Then the sun came out and I had a good session of lapping, calling back in the pits to swap passengers and going straight back out again. This hour alone left me buzzing. I didn't do any really fast laps, I always hit traffic just when I didn't need it but I was lapping almost continuously and the car didn't miss a beat. I was actually driving to manage the tyres, I can overheat the front's if I do long sessions and this trouble free run enabled me to really start to focus on the little things, lifting that fraction to tuck the nose in instead of relying on the diff to pull it round. They just drop the load on the tyres that little bit but over the lap it made a difference, dropping the fronts by 2degrees C compared to a lap when I just drove as usual. Overall it was slightly slower but very interesting at the same time.
Then the skies started darkening.
Then it started drizzling.
Across to the carpark and I swapped from the Slicks to the Direzzas. It didn't look like heavy rain was coming but it was wet enough that the slicks were losing temperature quicker than I could build it.
I was on the second lap on the Direzzas when it started raining heavier, they were still clearing the water and the pressures were good but the track surface was in that horrible place where it was greasy as the oils on the tarmac and the amount of water made it pretty slippery in places.
Quite a few cars decided that parking up and having something to eat was a better option.
By now it was getting quite overcast and the rain really started to fall. As we arrived at the bottom of the foxhole to standing water I knew this was my last lap on Direzzas, they are quite worn now and are down to just about the legal limit. Clearing standing water is not what they are good it with this little tread
Back into the carpark for a chat, trip to the loo and a drink to rehydrate. What I forgot was to turn off vac pump, gearbox cooler pump and headlights. By the time I came back to start the car the battery was flat.
A quick boost and I was sorted, note the front tyres are so warm they are still dry whilst the rears are still covered in water. It's just so difficult to get temperature into the rears in conditions like this.
Matt & Gav to the rescue ! They quickly swapped from the Direzzas to the Toyo RR1 tyres which are much better at clearing standing water. Fair play to them both, it was chucking it down by now and they got stuck in and swapped the wheels without complaint.
Matt added a couple of jerry cans of fuel, the hope was I could run until the end of the day without having to stop for fuel again.
By now there was quite a bit of water on the track surface and the tyres did a brilliant job of clearing the water. Obviously they can only do so much and I'm always feeling for the amount of available grip during the lap.
In conditions like this I really appreciate the photographers staying out and getting photos, they are out in all conditions and it's easy to forget that when you are sat in a warm and dry car.
I asked Gurds if he fancied a video lap so he went out with my following. Ram was my passenger. Locking up into Hatzenbach on the standing water Gurds decided to back off and crawl round. He was on AR1's and they just weren't good enough at clearing the large amount of water. There were streams running across the track in places, especially the first half and it required a lot of looking ahead to see them and ensure the wheels were straight and I was on part throttle when crossing them, it's very very easy to aquaplane in conditions like this !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aoL8b-VLv4
At 9:25 on the video above I spotted Martin taking photos and commented to Ram, my passenger that next time I'll take a bit more kerb and that should hopefully make a decent photo.
Sure enough, the next time round I took more kerb and Martin was there to capture this cracking photo
Most people had called it a day but the rain stopped falling and we were able to get 3 back to back laps in before it was the end of the day. This was the only queue I saw over the 2 days !
Neither Gurds or I had any failures over the 2 days and we were able to lap until we'd had enough. After my Ringmeisters issue this was obviously a huge relief. Running a car like this can be a bit of an emotional journey at times, I don't think I've ever felt as bad as I did in July since I crashed my old Golf back in 2007.
Today reminded me why I do this and run a modified MK2 Golf instead of something newer, the satisfaction I get from being able to lap and lap chasing M3`s and GT3`s whilst having a passenger and then doing it again and again is hard to put into words. I climb out of the car with a smile on my face, passengers who haven't been out often get out and can often hardly contain themselves, the performance of the Golf and how it actually feels on circuit is something that surprises passengers time and time again and whilst that was never the intention of the build it is most definitely a nice side effect of this journey
Apart from a self inflicted flat battery I had no real issue with the car (since this event I'd changed the aging gel battery for a new one. It now lasts far longer before running low) . The fuelling issue seemed to get slightly worse but then it started raining so I didn't use high boost anymore and it wasn't an issue. As you'll see in my Spa report, the adjustments I made were a warning of a developing issue...
After everything was tidied away we said goodbye to the rest of the helpers on the event and walked back to the guesthouse for a well deserved shower. The walk up to the Zur-Nurburg only takes around 15 minutes and we met up with the rest of the gang. We'd all had a trouble free trip and were in high spirits ! It didn't matter who you ended up sat next to, all of us were buzzing and were keen to hear about the laps we'd all had on the event.
Usually I'd post a bit about the drive home and that would be it but we had another trackday tomorrow. At Spa.....
After a couple of trouble free days during the previous 2 days on track I woke this morning looking forward to Spa with no concerns.
We had an early breakfast at the guesthouse and whilst chatting, Hilde brought out some old, original pamphlets from previous Nürburgring events. We must have spent a good 15 minutes reading through them and could have spent longer if we didn't have to get on the road. Seeing photos of the Ring from all those years ago, along with various articles and adverts from the time was a great start to the morning.
I can't recall the actual years these are from, but I've seen the cover on several photos over the years. I suspect there aren't many original copies laying around anymore. Breakfast was certainly lively but even though we were all talking about the Ring and it's history, eyes were firmly on the clock and before long it was time to head off.
It's a good 1 1/2 hour drive from Nurburg to Spa and when towing it adds another 15 minutes to that time. The rain was still falling, it was dark and yet we were all excited about the trackday ahead as we said our farewells to Hilde for another year.
Is it just me ? I suspect not ! I still get that short burst of excitement when I see the track for the first time. It's the same whichever trackday I'm attending, actually seeing the circuit makes it all seem that little bit more real. If I thought I was bad, Gav was even worse ! He's been to Spa before to watch the F1 but this was going to be his first time on the track and he was even giddier than I was.
Welcome to a damp and dreary Spa.
As always, we took the tunnel under the track to gain access to the inner paddock.
The day was being run from the new pits but before we had time to start unloading, it was time to sign on and head off for the briefing.
The day was being run by Circuit Days but as usual, Chris takes advantage of the local instructors and Roy helped during the briefing by giving some pointers on particular area to watch out for and explained that Spa carry out 'live' recoveries, the same as the Nürburgring which is something I've seen and experienced before. Whilst seeming strange if you are used to UK events where every breakdown is followed by a red flag during recovery, the European way of trying to get the car back under waved yellows means red flags are seen far less than would otherwise be the case. That means the days flow better, without the stop-start and traffic queues you'd otherwise see after a stoppage.
There were a lot of drivers I'd seen over the previous 2 days at the Ring. Like me they were of the view that a large percentage of the cost of these events is the travelling and accommodation so tagging on another trackday when you are already here made perfect sense. Well, that's how I explain it to myself anyway
After the usual sighting laps it was time for the circuit to go live and the pitlane opened. I'm not sure if it was the weather but from the minute the track went live, there was no big rush to get on track and there was no queue in the pitlane.
It had stopped raining but the track was still soaked and I went out for the first laps on the wets that were still on the car after yesterday. The plan was to get everything up to temp and then take Gav out for his first ever laps of Spa. As it's such a long lap I only did 4 laps and came back into the pits.
Gav jumped in and we went straight back out. I know I've said this before but taking someone who is enthusiastic for their first lap on a new circuit is almost as enjoyable for me as it is for them. Just watching back the drivercam and you can see how much he was enjoying the lap. That reaction is infectious and I found myself grinning along with him.
The rain had stopped but there was no dry line. It was dry enough to swap to the Direzzas. I wasn't ready to fit the Slicks just yet but the Direzzas are perfect for these conditions.
I did notice that I wasn't able to use full boost up Kemmel straight, the AFR was starting to go lean if I did. I'd had this issue at the ring but thought I'd sorted it with a tweak to the fuelling.
Thinking nothing of it I kept lapping and ran between 0.7 and 1 bar instead of using the 1.5bar map. Whilst it meant I couldn't always keep up with the quicker stuff on the straights, it made no difference anywhere else.
Like the Ring, there are loads of Porsches on these trackdays and one of the most enjoyable parts of the day for me is getting in amongst a few of them and having some close laps together. Yup, that's right, I look forward to chasing Caymans and GT3's in my MK2 Golf
We noticed a few drops of oil under the front splitter whilst checking tyre pressures. I could see some oil on the splitter so removed the bumper for a closer look.
Straight away it was obviously this was a fresh leak from the oil cooler .
I run a Setrab Proline cooler. Not only are they extremely efficient but a lot of thought has gone into the design. They have several ports for oil inlets and outlets to ensure maximum flexibility when mounting. By tapping the cooler 22mm, it allows the fitting of adapters to many common sizes, from AN12 to BSP fittings. The cooler is the same, you just buy the necessary adaptor.
The adaptor is sealed to the cooler with an O ring.
These are the original O rings from when the cooler was fitted back in 2018
It didn't take long to spot the issue.
We tried sealing the thread with PTFE tape, but as they are both parallel threads, we simply couldn't get a 100% seal and I refuse to drive on circuit if I'm losing any fluids. I've seen too many friends have accidents due to fluid loss on track.
There were several race teams setting up in the lower paddock and so I had a wander round and found a team with a selection of copper washers. They had one the perfect size and even gave me a spare. I offered to pay but the guys just waved me off "We have a box full, don't worry about it "
Whilst getting the copper to seal needs more torque on the fitting, I'm pretty confident this has fixed it permanently.
Whilst we were refitting everything it started hailing. We ended up getting soaked to the skin, but had a change of clothes so once we'd finished we all changed into dry clothes.
The circuit was fully wet by now but as the skies were clearing I left the Direzzas on and just played around a bit.
I find Spa with it's large run off areas gives me a lot of confidence to practise lift off oversteer in varying degrees. From a small lift to rotate the car on entry to a full lift to get the back sliding.
The rain stopped and the sun came out. A few laps later the standing water had gone and I was back up to speed.
Ian jumped in for a session and we followed this Porsche out of the pits. What a great few laps it was too. We were very close over the full lap, he had so much more traction out of the chicane onto the start finish that he just cruised past but everywhere else it was much closer. I followed for a couple of laps then he moved over and let me past. This was definitely the most enjoyable session of the day for me. Whilst it was still wet off line, there was enough of a drying line to be able to carry good speed through some corners. As always, the Golf was simply awesome through Pouhon and Blanchimont. They are fast corners and the Aero really makes a big difference.
You can hear Ian commenting how lean the fuelling is going on the couple of occasions when I tried running high boost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x220gLkpjlg
I'd had this issue at the Ring before I tweaked the fuelling. One of the great things of the DTAECU is that it logs fuel pressure. By looking back at the logs I can see that the fuel pressure was constant at the Ring as the revs rose. Which is how it should be.
Looking at the log after this session with Ian and it was clear the fuel pressure was falling away when I pressed the high boost button. (Yellow line). This caused the AFR to start going lean (White line)
The first thing to check was the intank fuel pump and filter. Removing the pump is relatively easy, but sadly the filter was spotless. I was hoping to find it covered in debris !
The next thing to look at was the external fuel pump This was mounted under the car in the same location as the original fuel pump. Since this issue I've moved it to a more accessible location.
I removed the pump, fitted the spare and cleaned up the earth connection to the chassis as it was showing a bit of corrosion.
I`d been explained what I was doing to Matt, and he had a look to see what I had been talking about.
Gav, for reasons known only to himself, saw this as a perfect opportunity to start messing around. As you'll see later, this was the only a taste of things to come
After refitting everything we went out for another session but the issue was the same. Hmmm, nothing more I can really do so I just left it on low boost and carried on lapping.
As the afternoon progressed the fault very quickly became worse. Instead of dropping pressure on high boost, it was now doing it on actuator pressure only. This was no longer a decrease in pressure at high revs, this was a severe drop over 4,500rpm and even with short shifting, I knew it wasn't safe to continue lapping so called it a day.
When I arrived back in the UK I fitted a new intank pump and the problem was fixed. Turned out the original intank fuel pump which was probably 30 years old had finally had enough. It had started failing the day before at the Ring which is why I needed to tweak the fuelling on the ECU. Then once it rapidly deteriorated during the afternoon at Spa until it had pretty much failed completely.
As they are so cheap, I now have a spare intank lift pump in my box of spares along with the main high pressure pump which I already carried.
There was only 45 minutes to go so whilst I wasn't thrilled with the driving being cut short, I'd still been able to complete most of the day and almost hit my usual 200 track mile target. It's not a target as such, but hitting 200+ miles is usually a sign of a day with few issues. The fact we had to stop to fix the oil leak and then try and diagnose the fuel pressure problem whilst still driving 180 miles on track helps remind me not to focus on the problem but the actual lapping instead.
Gurds had been able to lap with no problems at all. We only had a few laps together and they were in the wet. Funny how that works sometimes. You make loads of plans to lap together but just end up out of sync with each other and only realise it at the end of the day.
After packing up and dropping the car off at the guesthouse we walked up to the Pizzeria for a meal. Andy joined us and we ended up being the last group of people in the restaurant. They actually had to ask us to leave
The next morning we planned on meeting up, having a chat and a coffee before lunch then heading across to the Ferry. Gurds phoned and said his car wouldn't start and the battery was flat.
After only a few minutes with the voltmeter it was obvious the alternator wasn't charging the battery.
Whilst Gurds was removing it, we were ringing all the local garages and scrapyards trying to find a replacement. Nobody had one!
Then we realised we had a spare Golf alternator... Hmmm I wonder.
Removing the rectifier/brush pack from the BMW one, it was clear one of the brushes was completely worn away.
Whilst the Golf one wasn't identical, they were both Valeo and the brushes looked the same size.
We desoldered the brushes from both sets. We'd never had to do this before and not only are they soldered, but they are crimped too which makes disassembly tricky.
However after 30 minutes or so we'd swapped the brushes to the BMW rectifier pack, fitted it to the alternator and then started to refit that into the engine bay.
Then. Well to be perfectly honest, I don`t really know what happened. Seems like Gav's messing around the day before was infectious...
Ram looking mystified at what Gurds is doing whilst Matt and I refit the alternator.
Gav, Sahib and Keerat were happy to stand and observe.
Gav isn't particularly choosy..
It seems I'm not either
Matt spotted him out of the corner of his eye, a swift kick to the nuts was in order.
I don't really think anything I type can explain what was going on...
After the alternator was fitted, the car was started with jump leads and the alternator was putting out a stable 14.1V. Success !
We drove into Francorchamps for some lunch. To say we were in high spirits would probably be an understatement.
So after all that messing about, the trip was over and it was time to head off home and do you know what. It had been bloody fantastic !
We not only had some fantastic tracktime, but I don't think I've has as much FUN on a trip for a long long time.
Sure I had a leaking O ring and a failed intank fuel pump but after 3 consecutive days of thrashing the cars nothing had fundamentally failed. If we'd been here tomorrow a new intank pump would have fixed my Golf and Gurds had no problems. I was apprehensive before we drove out on this trip and I guess that was partly why were messing around so much this morning, the relief that I'd driven 700 miles over 3 days and had some stonking laps in the process was a huge relief and we all knew how bad it could have been after the Ringmeisters issue I had.
Once we'd driven to the Ferry we had a couple of beers in the bar. This photo sums up the trip to me, big smiles from Matt and Gav after a truly memorable few days.
Whilst driving, Matt'd downloaded the Russian F1 and we took the Pizzas and beer back to to the room to watch the race. Which was a relaxing end to the day.
Gav had never been to Spa before and as we were discussing the trip driving back to the ferry he was full of praise for it. The high speed nature of the circuit really suits the Golf and the damp had allowed me to play around a fair bit. He's comfortable enough sitting next to me that he just sits there with a big smile on his face knowing that I'm in control.
All 3 of us agreed to return to Spa in 2020, Matt enjoyed it so much that he agreed to drive across in his E36, I'd tow the Golf and we'd book on a 2 day event to make sure we had plenty of tracktime on what is my second favourite track. Sometimes I think it's my favourite, then I drive the Ring and realise it's a very close No2.
After the low oil pressure caused the main bearing failure at Ringmeisters in July, I was particularly careful preparing for this event. Not only was it a 2 day Nürburgring trip but the 3rd day was at Spa Francorchamps.
The Golf was ready several days before we were due to leave and all we had to do was load it onto the trailer before driving across to Hull for the ferry. I brought the Golf outside and parked it in the driveway whilst sorting out the trailer in the garage, that meant fitting and loading the tyre rack and attaching the jerry can box then loading up the X5 with the tools and spares. It took a few hours to get everything sorted but we were finished around 13:00, as we weren`t setting off until 15:00 that allowed plenty time for a shower and bite to eat before we set off.
I started the Golf ready to drive it onto the trailer and couldn`t get it to idle. It was misfiring, stalling and generally sounding awful ! It was fine 4 hours ago when I parked it up, what on earth had gone wrong ??
Checked the spark plugs as it definitely sounded like a misfire, swapped coil pack but no different. Plugging in the laptop load loaded the DTA software to be presented with a big red warning saying "Short on Sensor 5 Volt Wire !! - 3300mV"
The engine loom is connected to the ECU via 2 large multi-connectors. One had the high voltage and feed wires, the other the sensor returns. I unplugged the sensor connector, leaving the injectors, coilpack and crank position sensor connected. The error disappeared and as the ECU has a failsafe value for each sensor it fired up and ran smoothly.
OK, so it`s not a fundamental engine issue, but time is ticking and that ferry will not wait.
Unplugged all the underbonnet sensors and started plugging them in one-by-one. The moment I plugged in the oil pressure sensor, Matt shouted the warning reappeared.
It turned out the plastic cover on top of the sensor sits directly under the vent in the bonnet. Rainwater had been dripping on it for 4 hours and running down the cable and waterlogging the sensor.
By leaving the sensor unplugged the engine ran smoothly. What a relief !
The nagging problem to me was this was the oil pressure sensor. I had an engine failure at Ringmeisters due to low oil and now I didn`t have a sensor to warn me of low oil pressure. The accusump was working and should protect the engine, but the lack of warning didn`t feel right and I was very apprehensive about the upcoming days.
(I now carry a spare sensor in my toolkit)The Golf was driven onto the trailer, strapped down and then I had a quick shower before we set off to Hull for the overnight ferry.
This was not the relaxed start to the trip I was hoping for
Instead of being able to take it steady and have a leisurely morning I`d spent part of the faultfinding hour thinking I might not be able to attend the event with a working car.After a smooth crossing and quick disembarkation, we had a trouble free drive across Europe and saw several UK plates on the journey. Alistair was across again in convoy with his mates in his lovely E46 M3, we stopped for lunch on the way as there was no huge rush to get there.
As usual, I filled up the Golf and Jerry cans with 102ron fuel from the ARAL. Even though the engine was mapped on 98, I feel the improved knock resistance from the 102 is worth the small price premium. I don`t see any performance benefit from it, the spark table is left untouched but the extra peace of mind is worth the little bit extra. In the UK I obviously only run 98.
Trailer dropped off at the guest House and then we drove to the Milltek centre to set up for the sign on and briefing.
It took us a good couple of hours to get all the packs completed ready for the drivers to arrive. We set up a mini production line, Claire, Karin, Matt, Gav and I, worked really well and efficiently together. I think we finished the last pack 10 minutes before the sign on officially started, although we'd had drivers turning up for the last hour hoping to get signed on.
With sign on in full swing the room quickly filled as people often met up for the first time in months and spent the time waiting for the briefing catching up
Darren gave the briefing as usual and when he asked if there were any first timers on the event, only 2 or 3 hands went up. It seemed so long ago that I drove my first lap of the Ring and it must be very exciting for those people to be just beginning the journey that for many of us has become such a large part of our lives.
There was an evening track-walk planned and Gav joined Ian & Jude on it. The coach has a guide who explains parts of the track whilst driving and then they stop at certain point to explain things in more detail
Gav. At Ex-Muhle "Nige, it`s so steep ! You just can`t appreciate when driving how steep it actually is " I`ve walked the whole track a couple if times over the years and I agree. When you are driving you simply can't appreciate all the bumps and the gradients involved. The walk up kesselchen is FAR longer than it feels when you driving at 130mph and above that's for sure.
It soon became dark and the tour was over. Back to the guesthouse and after a quick shower we went for the evening meal at the Pizzeria in Nurburg.
No beers here as I`m driving tomorrow so soft drinks are absolutely fine. Whilst I like a beer or 2, when I'm driving on track the next day I stick to juice. Pizzas weren't bad actually and I'd happily go there again. Good service, nice food and within walking distance to the guesthouse.
Day 1
Alarm was set for 06:00 but yet again I woke well before it went off. Sent a message to the whatsapp group and the number of immediate replies showed I wasn't the only one excited to be here and wide awake well before 06:00
First job was to unload the Golf and park the trailer in the overflow carpark. Gurds drove his down from the guesthouse and then we wandered around for an hour talking to other drivers.
At 08:00 the track open for the 1 hour of sighting laps. These aren`t the usual follow-my-leader type, but simply a way for people to drive the circuit at reduced pace, not overtaking anyone just to refamiliarise themselves with the track. We always speak to the drivers to remind them of this and the fact that when it goes open pitlane it`s overtaking on the left hand side only.
Gav came out with me for the first sighting lap, Gurds followed and I made a point of driving the correct lines but doing it in an exaggerated way so he could see what we`d talked about beforehand. If it was a wide entry, I made it really wide which afterwards he said helped a lot.
I then followed him for a lap so I could see his lines and discuss them afterwards. His overall lines were good but there was definitely some fine tuning that could help. Turning in too early and not running all the way to the outside on the exit was the main area for improvement. That's simply because he hasn't done as many laps as me and is still unsure of certain parts of the circuit and it's something I've seen time and time again with relatively inexperienced Ring drivers. Even if like Gurds they have done plenty of UK stuff, the ring is different and they often subconsciously leave a little bit of extra margin but not running out on a corner exit. All that actually does is make the exit tighter and loads the car up more. I did the same when I first started coming here back in 2005.
My old windscreen washer hose had perished and I only noticed a few days before the trip, so we used some clear hose we had in the garage. It lasted 2 sighting laps before the heat from the Turbo melted it
The weather forecast was decent so I removed the hose and managed without for the rest of the trip.The track was live and it was time to begin lapping at speed. I started off with 2 laps, came in to adjust the tyre pressures and went straight back out for another 2. That`s 4 laps out of the way in the first 3/4 of an hour and no problems to report. The low pressure oil switch hadn`t alarmed so even though I didn't know the exact oil pressure, I knew it wasn't dangerously low at any time. The Accusump was working, the display on my dash showing the accusump capacity and when it was active was working well.
Matt was free and came out for another 2 laps. I think this is the happiest I've been with the Golf for some time. It felt absolutely fantastic.
I'm still not using all the braking capacity I have available but I was definitely improving, so much so that even Matt said I was braking harder than usualWe had a short rain shower that made the tarmac damp so I used the opportunity to pop across to the carpark to fill with fuel and adjust the fuelling.
Once everything was up to temperature, the injector table and boost curve needed a mild tweak. I find that when everything gets hot I sometimes need to adjust the settings a little after any modifications. I never need to touch them again but this was the first time with the new turbo in hot weather as using full boost for sustained periods is something I can't do in the UK. The straights simply aren't long enough. Map adjusted and it was time to get back out on track.
Gav jumped in for a couple of laps and whilst damp in a few places it was rapidly drying and at the end of the second lap a Porsche and Ferrari tagged onto the back of me. I moved across exiting Adenauer Forst as I thought they may have been quicker but they moved to the right, indicating that they wanted to follow.
By Weirseifen the Porsche wanted to go past so I let him by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVe3qmHeLHE
Approaching Breidscheid I moved to let the Ferrari by but he was happy to follow.
What followed was one of those laps. I didn't know the driver so I didn't follow as close as I would with someone I knew but it was still great fun and seeing his exhaust glowing cherry red at the top of Kesselchen made it obvious he was pressing on too.
By the end of the lap Gav was absolutely buzzing he said "Nige, if I don't get another lap this trip I'll be happy. That was amazing ! We were chasing a new Porsche GT3 in a MK2 Golf. This is AWESOME
!"Matt came out for another couple of laps, he asked if there was anything niggling me, I was delighted to reply that there wasn't a single issue. The car was running perfectly.
It started drizzling again so back on with the Direzzas for a while. It was one of those days, dry one lap and damp the next. I often leave the slicks on until it's raining heavily but in places there was just a bit too much standing water so for the sake of a quick wheel change I swapped when necessary.
After the laps we pulled into the carpark where I wanted to give it a quick check over.
The Golf has been burning oil for quite some time now. New valve stem seals didn't fix it and there is no noticeable smoke from the exhaust. It definitely isn't external so whilst annoying, I know I'm not putting oil on the circuit. What it does mean is that I need to top it up every so often.
Parked up next to a lovely Lamborghini and popped the bonnet. A crowd quickly formed as often happens, the first question was "What's broken ?" Nothing ! It's fine !
I don't think anyone believed me until I pointed out the oil lever was 1/3 way down from max and all it needed was a few hundred ml to top it up
Everytime I'm on a trackday with mates we end up being on track out of sync with each other so Gurds and I made a conscious effort to do a lap together.
Where else do you see so many GT3RS's together and being driven hard on circuit !. Admittedly here they are taking a break between laps.
I took Karin out for a lap and as we were over halfway round when the Tyre pressure monitoring system started beeping. The front left was showing 16psi so I backed off. By the end of the lap it was 12psi so I knew I had a puncture. This lap alone made it a very worthwhile £25. Without the warning I wouldn't have known and could easily have had a complete tyre failure. The warning alarm gave me sufficient warning to slow down and drive back nice and steady.
It was late afternoon and I'd been lapping all day with zero engine or other issues. I'm sure everyone who spoke to me could hear the relief in my voice after the disastrous Ringmeisters trip.
Matt was in with me doing a couple of laps on the bounce and we caught Ali near the end of the lap. Rather than pass we sat behind him for a chase lap and it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable one too. My line into Miss-Hit-Miss wasn't ideal and we had a bit of a moment midway through the corner. Not what you want at all !
The driver cam wasn't working again so I overlaid some data instead showing the various temperatures of water, air and oil. As you'll see they are extremely stable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj4xX2JBkxI
Everytime I have a lap like this I see the appeal of these M3's, they are so good ! Even though they were released 20 years ago, the design still looks clean and with a bit of modification they are proper track weapons too.
After one more lap it was the end of the day. I had absolutely nothing that needed doing. I don't think I can adequately convey what a relief that was.
The first few laps of the day were spent with me watching the accusump operation as much as the track, seeing it working and knowing that was maintaining the oil level was a big relief and by mid morning I just concentrated on driving. I didn`t use high boost that often, I'm still aware of the CV joint weakness so just kept lapping and lapping.Over 20 laps completed and not a single issue.
After a quick shower we headed down to the Comfy Corner for the group meal. I know we do this every trip but as I`ve said many time, that`s because we always have fantastic food with a great atmosphere. Why wouldn't we go back
We usually call it a night somewhere between 22:00 and 23:00, whilst I'd like to stay late there is no point spoiling the driving tomorrow by being over tired.
Day 2
Unloaded the car in a wet carpark. It had rained quite heavily overnight and the forecast for today was changeable. It made me even happier I'd had the quick laps in the dry yesterday.
Gurds and I gave the windscreens a clean and then went out for the sighting laps.
This was to be Ram's first EVER driving lap of the Ring ! We'd agreed it made sense to do it on the sighting laps, he wouldn't feel under pressure from other cars and could follow me.
Sahib had been in my passenger seat and I'd talked him round the entire lap, explaining braking points, gearchanges, late apex corners and unsettling bumps. My voice was hoarse by the end of it but he found it informative.
The usual post-lap debrief whilst I borrowed the tyre compressor to set my pressures as they'd dropped overnight.
As the forecast was for rain I went out straight away with the intention of making the most of the damp conditions and get in as many laps as possible before the heavens opened.
The tarmac still had that sheen you get when it's greasy so whilst I had to be careful, I still pressed on. The biggest indicator on photos is the lack of sidewall flex compared to a committed lap in the dry.
The bodykit on Gurd's car means fitting a splitter is not only a lot easier but it looks a lot better too. Without this bumper the MK1 is very difficult to run with a splitter and still look good. You'll notice mine is quite a bit higher, that's simply because I haven't dropped it since switching from 15'2 to 17" tyres. That's a job for the winter, it should improve the effect of the splitter quite a bit, as within reason, the lower they are to the ground the better.
By mid morning there was no real sign of a dry line appearing, it kept drizzling every so often just as the track started to dry out. The only solution, more lapping to keep the tyres warm
I noticed the AFR was going a bit lean at the top end, not quite sure why. Perhaps it's the low ambient temperatures having some odd effect ? I adjusted the fuelling map a bit to address the issue. It turned out later this was the first indication of a fault that was starting to develop.
Then the sun came out and I had a good session of lapping, calling back in the pits to swap passengers and going straight back out again. This hour alone left me buzzing. I didn't do any really fast laps, I always hit traffic just when I didn't need it but I was lapping almost continuously and the car didn't miss a beat. I was actually driving to manage the tyres, I can overheat the front's if I do long sessions and this trouble free run enabled me to really start to focus on the little things, lifting that fraction to tuck the nose in instead of relying on the diff to pull it round. They just drop the load on the tyres that little bit but over the lap it made a difference, dropping the fronts by 2degrees C compared to a lap when I just drove as usual. Overall it was slightly slower but very interesting at the same time.
Then the skies started darkening.
Then it started drizzling.
Across to the carpark and I swapped from the Slicks to the Direzzas. It didn't look like heavy rain was coming but it was wet enough that the slicks were losing temperature quicker than I could build it.
I was on the second lap on the Direzzas when it started raining heavier, they were still clearing the water and the pressures were good but the track surface was in that horrible place where it was greasy as the oils on the tarmac and the amount of water made it pretty slippery in places.
Quite a few cars decided that parking up and having something to eat was a better option.
By now it was getting quite overcast and the rain really started to fall. As we arrived at the bottom of the foxhole to standing water I knew this was my last lap on Direzzas, they are quite worn now and are down to just about the legal limit. Clearing standing water is not what they are good it with this little tread
Back into the carpark for a chat, trip to the loo and a drink to rehydrate. What I forgot was to turn off vac pump, gearbox cooler pump and headlights. By the time I came back to start the car the battery was flat.
A quick boost and I was sorted, note the front tyres are so warm they are still dry whilst the rears are still covered in water. It's just so difficult to get temperature into the rears in conditions like this.
Matt & Gav to the rescue ! They quickly swapped from the Direzzas to the Toyo RR1 tyres which are much better at clearing standing water. Fair play to them both, it was chucking it down by now and they got stuck in and swapped the wheels without complaint.
Matt added a couple of jerry cans of fuel, the hope was I could run until the end of the day without having to stop for fuel again.
By now there was quite a bit of water on the track surface and the tyres did a brilliant job of clearing the water. Obviously they can only do so much and I'm always feeling for the amount of available grip during the lap.
In conditions like this I really appreciate the photographers staying out and getting photos, they are out in all conditions and it's easy to forget that when you are sat in a warm and dry car.
I asked Gurds if he fancied a video lap so he went out with my following. Ram was my passenger. Locking up into Hatzenbach on the standing water Gurds decided to back off and crawl round. He was on AR1's and they just weren't good enough at clearing the large amount of water. There were streams running across the track in places, especially the first half and it required a lot of looking ahead to see them and ensure the wheels were straight and I was on part throttle when crossing them, it's very very easy to aquaplane in conditions like this !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aoL8b-VLv4
At 9:25 on the video above I spotted Martin taking photos and commented to Ram, my passenger that next time I'll take a bit more kerb and that should hopefully make a decent photo.
Sure enough, the next time round I took more kerb and Martin was there to capture this cracking photo
Most people had called it a day but the rain stopped falling and we were able to get 3 back to back laps in before it was the end of the day. This was the only queue I saw over the 2 days !
Neither Gurds or I had any failures over the 2 days and we were able to lap until we'd had enough. After my Ringmeisters issue this was obviously a huge relief. Running a car like this can be a bit of an emotional journey at times, I don't think I've ever felt as bad as I did in July since I crashed my old Golf back in 2007.
Today reminded me why I do this and run a modified MK2 Golf instead of something newer, the satisfaction I get from being able to lap and lap chasing M3`s and GT3`s whilst having a passenger and then doing it again and again is hard to put into words. I climb out of the car with a smile on my face, passengers who haven't been out often get out and can often hardly contain themselves, the performance of the Golf and how it actually feels on circuit is something that surprises passengers time and time again and whilst that was never the intention of the build it is most definitely a nice side effect of this journey
Apart from a self inflicted flat battery I had no real issue with the car (since this event I'd changed the aging gel battery for a new one. It now lasts far longer before running low) . The fuelling issue seemed to get slightly worse but then it started raining so I didn't use high boost anymore and it wasn't an issue. As you'll see in my Spa report, the adjustments I made were a warning of a developing issue...
After everything was tidied away we said goodbye to the rest of the helpers on the event and walked back to the guesthouse for a well deserved shower. The walk up to the Zur-Nurburg only takes around 15 minutes and we met up with the rest of the gang. We'd all had a trouble free trip and were in high spirits ! It didn't matter who you ended up sat next to, all of us were buzzing and were keen to hear about the laps we'd all had on the event.
Usually I'd post a bit about the drive home and that would be it but we had another trackday tomorrow. At Spa.....
Day 3 SPA Francorchamps
After a couple of trouble free days during the previous 2 days on track I woke this morning looking forward to Spa with no concerns.
We had an early breakfast at the guesthouse and whilst chatting, Hilde brought out some old, original pamphlets from previous Nürburgring events. We must have spent a good 15 minutes reading through them and could have spent longer if we didn't have to get on the road. Seeing photos of the Ring from all those years ago, along with various articles and adverts from the time was a great start to the morning.
I can't recall the actual years these are from, but I've seen the cover on several photos over the years. I suspect there aren't many original copies laying around anymore. Breakfast was certainly lively but even though we were all talking about the Ring and it's history, eyes were firmly on the clock and before long it was time to head off.
It's a good 1 1/2 hour drive from Nurburg to Spa and when towing it adds another 15 minutes to that time. The rain was still falling, it was dark and yet we were all excited about the trackday ahead as we said our farewells to Hilde for another year.
Is it just me ? I suspect not ! I still get that short burst of excitement when I see the track for the first time. It's the same whichever trackday I'm attending, actually seeing the circuit makes it all seem that little bit more real. If I thought I was bad, Gav was even worse ! He's been to Spa before to watch the F1 but this was going to be his first time on the track and he was even giddier than I was.
Welcome to a damp and dreary Spa.
As always, we took the tunnel under the track to gain access to the inner paddock.
The day was being run from the new pits but before we had time to start unloading, it was time to sign on and head off for the briefing.
The day was being run by Circuit Days but as usual, Chris takes advantage of the local instructors and Roy helped during the briefing by giving some pointers on particular area to watch out for and explained that Spa carry out 'live' recoveries, the same as the Nürburgring which is something I've seen and experienced before. Whilst seeming strange if you are used to UK events where every breakdown is followed by a red flag during recovery, the European way of trying to get the car back under waved yellows means red flags are seen far less than would otherwise be the case. That means the days flow better, without the stop-start and traffic queues you'd otherwise see after a stoppage.
There were a lot of drivers I'd seen over the previous 2 days at the Ring. Like me they were of the view that a large percentage of the cost of these events is the travelling and accommodation so tagging on another trackday when you are already here made perfect sense. Well, that's how I explain it to myself anyway
After the usual sighting laps it was time for the circuit to go live and the pitlane opened. I'm not sure if it was the weather but from the minute the track went live, there was no big rush to get on track and there was no queue in the pitlane.
It had stopped raining but the track was still soaked and I went out for the first laps on the wets that were still on the car after yesterday. The plan was to get everything up to temp and then take Gav out for his first ever laps of Spa. As it's such a long lap I only did 4 laps and came back into the pits.
Gav jumped in and we went straight back out. I know I've said this before but taking someone who is enthusiastic for their first lap on a new circuit is almost as enjoyable for me as it is for them. Just watching back the drivercam and you can see how much he was enjoying the lap. That reaction is infectious and I found myself grinning along with him.
The rain had stopped but there was no dry line. It was dry enough to swap to the Direzzas. I wasn't ready to fit the Slicks just yet but the Direzzas are perfect for these conditions.
I did notice that I wasn't able to use full boost up Kemmel straight, the AFR was starting to go lean if I did.
I'd had this issue at the ring but thought I'd sorted it with a tweak to the fuelling.Thinking nothing of it I kept lapping and ran between 0.7 and 1 bar instead of using the 1.5bar map. Whilst it meant I couldn't always keep up with the quicker stuff on the straights, it made no difference anywhere else.
Like the Ring, there are loads of Porsches on these trackdays and one of the most enjoyable parts of the day for me is getting in amongst a few of them and having some close laps together. Yup, that's right, I look forward to chasing Caymans and GT3's in my MK2 Golf
We noticed a few drops of oil under the front splitter whilst checking tyre pressures. I could see some oil on the splitter so removed the bumper for a closer look.
Straight away it was obviously this was a fresh leak from the oil cooler .
I run a Setrab Proline cooler. Not only are they extremely efficient but a lot of thought has gone into the design. They have several ports for oil inlets and outlets to ensure maximum flexibility when mounting. By tapping the cooler 22mm, it allows the fitting of adapters to many common sizes, from AN12 to BSP fittings. The cooler is the same, you just buy the necessary adaptor.
The adaptor is sealed to the cooler with an O ring.
These are the original O rings from when the cooler was fitted back in 2018
It didn't take long to spot the issue.
We tried sealing the thread with PTFE tape, but as they are both parallel threads, we simply couldn't get a 100% seal and I refuse to drive on circuit if I'm losing any fluids. I've seen too many friends have accidents due to fluid loss on track.
There were several race teams setting up in the lower paddock and so I had a wander round and found a team with a selection of copper washers. They had one the perfect size and even gave me a spare. I offered to pay but the guys just waved me off "We have a box full, don't worry about it "
Whilst getting the copper to seal needs more torque on the fitting, I'm pretty confident this has fixed it permanently.
Whilst we were refitting everything it started hailing. We ended up getting soaked to the skin, but had a change of clothes so once we'd finished we all changed into dry clothes.
The circuit was fully wet by now but as the skies were clearing I left the Direzzas on and just played around a bit.
I find Spa with it's large run off areas gives me a lot of confidence to practise lift off oversteer in varying degrees. From a small lift to rotate the car on entry to a full lift to get the back sliding.
The rain stopped and the sun came out. A few laps later the standing water had gone and I was back up to speed.
Ian jumped in for a session and we followed this Porsche out of the pits. What a great few laps it was too. We were very close over the full lap, he had so much more traction out of the chicane onto the start finish that he just cruised past but everywhere else it was much closer. I followed for a couple of laps then he moved over and let me past. This was definitely the most enjoyable session of the day for me. Whilst it was still wet off line, there was enough of a drying line to be able to carry good speed through some corners. As always, the Golf was simply awesome through Pouhon and Blanchimont. They are fast corners and the Aero really makes a big difference.
You can hear Ian commenting how lean the fuelling is going on the couple of occasions when I tried running high boost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x220gLkpjlg
I'd had this issue at the Ring before I tweaked the fuelling. One of the great things of the DTAECU is that it logs fuel pressure. By looking back at the logs I can see that the fuel pressure was constant at the Ring as the revs rose. Which is how it should be.
Looking at the log after this session with Ian and it was clear the fuel pressure was falling away when I pressed the high boost button. (Yellow line). This caused the AFR to start going lean (White line)
The first thing to check was the intank fuel pump and filter. Removing the pump is relatively easy, but sadly the filter was spotless. I was hoping to find it covered in debris !
The next thing to look at was the external fuel pump This was mounted under the car in the same location as the original fuel pump. Since this issue I've moved it to a more accessible location.
I removed the pump, fitted the spare and cleaned up the earth connection to the chassis as it was showing a bit of corrosion.
I`d been explained what I was doing to Matt, and he had a look to see what I had been talking about.
Gav, for reasons known only to himself, saw this as a perfect opportunity to start messing around. As you'll see later, this was the only a taste of things to come
After refitting everything we went out for another session but the issue was the same. Hmmm, nothing more I can really do so I just left it on low boost and carried on lapping.
As the afternoon progressed the fault very quickly became worse. Instead of dropping pressure on high boost, it was now doing it on actuator pressure only. This was no longer a decrease in pressure at high revs, this was a severe drop over 4,500rpm and even with short shifting, I knew it wasn't safe to continue lapping so called it a day.
When I arrived back in the UK I fitted a new intank pump and the problem was fixed. Turned out the original intank fuel pump which was probably 30 years old had finally had enough. It had started failing the day before at the Ring which is why I needed to tweak the fuelling on the ECU. Then once it rapidly deteriorated during the afternoon at Spa until it had pretty much failed completely.
As they are so cheap, I now have a spare intank lift pump in my box of spares along with the main high pressure pump which I already carried.
There was only 45 minutes to go so whilst I wasn't thrilled with the driving being cut short, I'd still been able to complete most of the day and almost hit my usual 200 track mile target. It's not a target as such, but hitting 200+ miles is usually a sign of a day with few issues. The fact we had to stop to fix the oil leak and then try and diagnose the fuel pressure problem whilst still driving 180 miles on track helps remind me not to focus on the problem but the actual lapping instead.
Gurds had been able to lap with no problems at all. We only had a few laps together and they were in the wet. Funny how that works sometimes. You make loads of plans to lap together but just end up out of sync with each other and only realise it at the end of the day.
After packing up and dropping the car off at the guesthouse we walked up to the Pizzeria for a meal. Andy joined us and we ended up being the last group of people in the restaurant. They actually had to ask us to leave
The next morning we planned on meeting up, having a chat and a coffee before lunch then heading across to the Ferry. Gurds phoned and said his car wouldn't start and the battery was flat.
After only a few minutes with the voltmeter it was obvious the alternator wasn't charging the battery.
Whilst Gurds was removing it, we were ringing all the local garages and scrapyards trying to find a replacement. Nobody had one!
Then we realised we had a spare Golf alternator... Hmmm I wonder.
Removing the rectifier/brush pack from the BMW one, it was clear one of the brushes was completely worn away.
Whilst the Golf one wasn't identical, they were both Valeo and the brushes looked the same size.
We desoldered the brushes from both sets. We'd never had to do this before and not only are they soldered, but they are crimped too which makes disassembly tricky.
However after 30 minutes or so we'd swapped the brushes to the BMW rectifier pack, fitted it to the alternator and then started to refit that into the engine bay.
Then. Well to be perfectly honest, I don`t really know what happened. Seems like Gav's messing around the day before was infectious...
Ram looking mystified at what Gurds is doing whilst Matt and I refit the alternator.
Gav, Sahib and Keerat were happy to stand and observe.
Gav isn't particularly choosy..
It seems I'm not either
Matt spotted him out of the corner of his eye, a swift kick to the nuts was in order.
I don't really think anything I type can explain what was going on...
After the alternator was fitted, the car was started with jump leads and the alternator was putting out a stable 14.1V. Success !
We drove into Francorchamps for some lunch. To say we were in high spirits would probably be an understatement.
So after all that messing about, the trip was over and it was time to head off home and do you know what. It had been bloody fantastic !
We not only had some fantastic tracktime, but I don't think I've has as much FUN on a trip for a long long time.
Sure I had a leaking O ring and a failed intank fuel pump but after 3 consecutive days of thrashing the cars nothing had fundamentally failed. If we'd been here tomorrow a new intank pump would have fixed my Golf and Gurds had no problems. I was apprehensive before we drove out on this trip and I guess that was partly why were messing around so much this morning, the relief that I'd driven 700 miles over 3 days and had some stonking laps in the process was a huge relief and we all knew how bad it could have been after the Ringmeisters issue I had.
Once we'd driven to the Ferry we had a couple of beers in the bar. This photo sums up the trip to me, big smiles from Matt and Gav after a truly memorable few days.
Whilst driving, Matt'd downloaded the Russian F1 and we took the Pizzas and beer back to to the room to watch the race. Which was a relaxing end to the day.
Gav had never been to Spa before and as we were discussing the trip driving back to the ferry he was full of praise for it. The high speed nature of the circuit really suits the Golf and the damp had allowed me to play around a fair bit. He's comfortable enough sitting next to me that he just sits there with a big smile on his face knowing that I'm in control.
All 3 of us agreed to return to Spa in 2020, Matt enjoyed it so much that he agreed to drive across in his E36, I'd tow the Golf and we'd book on a 2 day event to make sure we had plenty of tracktime on what is my second favourite track. Sometimes I think it's my favourite, then I drive the Ring and realise it's a very close No2.
Cylon2007 said:
Great reads that really enjoyed it 
Thank you tozerman said:
A really good read as always.
Thanks for taking the time to post.
(I really must do Spa one day)
Thanks for the reply. Yes, you really must do Spa. It`s fantastic !Thanks for taking the time to post.
(I really must do Spa one day)
PGNSagaris said:
Thank you Nige. Just love reading these.
Feedback, however brief is always appreciated. I know this is a very long one and I was tempted to split it into 2, but I thought that people would either read it, skim it or close it, regardless of whether I put it all in one post RSbandit said:
Great read Nige a reminder of better times...let's hope Prime goes ahead in July already lost the Circuit days double in April!
Fingers crossed ! I've missed the Javelin double header in April. I have no idea when (if ?) we'll be back out on track this year
Glad to hear you had a good trip, enjoy reading your reports, last visit I for me was 2012 at both, kids and moving north (better roads though) has prevented me doing racing or track days the last few years. Once the kids are a bit older, 3 or 4 years will restart, miss it a lot.
Fingers crossed you can get out there agin at some point this year!
Fingers crossed you can get out there agin at some point this year!
Thank you Nigel. I finished my book last night so I didn't have one tonight. This was almost as long but more interesting, including the pics.
Always great to combine Ring and Spa. I managed to do a morning at Spa and the afternoon at the Ring once, with diluvien rainfall at lunch time for the liaison between the two....
Always great to combine Ring and Spa. I managed to do a morning at Spa and the afternoon at the Ring once, with diluvien rainfall at lunch time for the liaison between the two....
CedricN said:
Always enjoy your reports, they are among the best! Im glad it worked so well, three days at those fast circuits is tough on the engine for sure.
I run my setrab without the adapters and orings. I have tredo washers only and it works great so far
Fredo washers. Good shout. I actually prefer that idea to the copper washer.I run my setrab without the adapters and orings. I have tredo washers only and it works great so far
I may be tempting fate here, but the engine is holding up surprisingly well. The oil starvation issue at Ringmeisters was my fault but apart from that it's been very reliable. Now I'm in control of the water / oil temps I can do long sessions with no issues (so far....)
VTECMatt said:
Glad to hear you had a good trip, enjoy reading your reports, last visit I for me was 2012 at both, kids and moving north (better roads though) has prevented me doing racing or track days the last few years. Once the kids are a bit older, 3 or 4 years will restart, miss it a lot.
Fingers crossed you can get out there agin at some point this year!
Blimey, so long ? How time flies !Fingers crossed you can get out there agin at some point this year!
I'm hoping to get out again this year but who knows.
nickfrog said:
Thank you Nigel. I finished my book last night so I didn't have one tonight. This was almost as long but more interesting, including the pics.
Always great to combine Ring and Spa. I managed to do a morning at Spa and the afternoon at the Ring once, with diluvien rainfall at lunch time for the liaison between the two....
Your book must have been pretty dull then Always great to combine Ring and Spa. I managed to do a morning at Spa and the afternoon at the Ring once, with diluvien rainfall at lunch time for the liaison between the two....
Seriously though, thanks
Thanks for taking the time to write your most recent report. Been a while since my last Ring trip, enjoyed living it through your account.
And your car development is top, inspiring me to get at my track project once the neighbors on both side are done with their virus, currently shy to go out there.
And your car development is top, inspiring me to get at my track project once the neighbors on both side are done with their virus, currently shy to go out there.
Thanks for posting your report, really Let’s you live the experience, I always enjoy reading them. Spa is a magical place,me and my brother have done the trip 3 times for trackdays, driving down in the cars we use on track. After reading this we really must put together a spares pack, currently for the mk3 megane it comprises of a set of slicks, a trolley jack, small tool kit and a wing and a prayer! We did have an injector issue a few years back but we were able to limp to a Renault dealer 30 miles away who fixed it on the spot under warranty. The cars a little older now so we must get ourselves more organised.
Looking forward to better times so we can get a trip booked....
Looking forward to better times so we can get a trip booked....
Thanks Nige, great report. Another very enjoyable read.
Glad you had almost trouble free events Modified cars with a mix of old and new parts will always come up with something, either due to age or exceeding design parameters and failing unavoidable unless you build it all new from the ground up (like Alex/Robert's Irmscher e36 M3 GTR build) at arguably x 10 the cost, and even then there is no guarantees.
Hum
Glad you had almost trouble free events
Modified cars with a mix of old and new parts will always come up with something, either due to age or exceeding design parameters and failing unavoidable unless you build it all new from the ground up (like Alex/Robert's Irmscher e36 M3 GTR build) at arguably x 10 the cost, and even then there is no guarantees.Hum
Edited by Humour on Sunday 3rd May 15:10
Bright Halo said:
That was a great read, thank you.
Pleased to hear you enjoyed it.Humour said:
Thanks Nige, great report. Another very enjoyable read.
Glad you had almost trouble free events Modified cars with a mix of old and new parts will always come up with something, either due to age or exceeding design parameters and failing unavoidable unless you build it all new from the ground up (like Alex/Robert's Irmscher e36 M3 GTR build) at arguably x 10 the cost, and even then there is no guarantees.
Hum
That's a discussion I've had many times with a lot of people.The ones who are negative point out it keeps breaking. The rest understand it's an old car that is being pushed way beyond what it was designed for. Whilst I accept there will be issues, things breaking is annoying, it loses tracktime and at the end of the day that's why I've driven to a trackday. I have engineered out as much as I can but the lift pump had never given me cause for concern, it was one of those 'invisible' components that has worked without issue and then suddenly didn'tGlad you had almost trouble free events
Modified cars with a mix of old and new parts will always come up with something, either due to age or exceeding design parameters and failing unavoidable unless you build it all new from the ground up (like Alex/Robert's Irmscher e36 M3 GTR build) at arguably x 10 the cost, and even then there is no guarantees.Hum
As you say, unless you build from the ground up replacing everything with new you'll never be sure and even then, components sometimes just fail. I've spoken to the recovery people at the ring whilst they were loading the Golf a few times and every single nurburgring track there are breakdowns of new cars, not just old ones. Sometimes it's a simple thing, others it isn't
At the end of the day we are pushing cars hard on track, things get hot and stressed more than anywhere else and sometimes, things just break.
It's still irritating when it does though
narbles said:
Great read thank you for sharing this. Your post really ought to be getting more attention like some of the reader's cars do though!
Thanks. These reports aren't everyone's cup of tea. I get that. I've shared what I've done to my Golf since the day I bought the shell, so for me this is like an ongoing diary. If people like reading it, that's a bonus
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