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Category Archives: DAMAGE!
Understeering Hotness
Posted by on November 25, 2010
So a couple more pics of the two centurions:
So after my debacle with the tyre joint (they said that the setup was no good) I went out and had a play with it. Self aligned it all up, adjusted ride height and she’s all good. Well not quite:
After the first few runs the new setup was making a huge difference in driftability, and as I grew more confident I got faster and faster on the entry. Then, mid-way through about a 100k entry I hear a dull smack and the car understeers like crazy. Luckily I didn’t hit anything, but after playing with the steering a little I just limped out of the pan, into the esses and back to the lines. As I went to hop out, the door didn’t open properly. It is now hitting the door. No matter I took the targa off and jumped out the car to take a look.
Turns out the driver’s side castor rod was wound in about a thread on the chassis side, and it had come away mid-drift. Why? When I was moving the castor forward to make sure there was enough thread the bracket was rotating with the rod. I was pretty sure I had enough thread in there, so rather then pulling it all apart to fix the problem, I just let it be. She’ll be right. Well, no. So let that be a lesson to you, if you see a problem; fix it properly before you take it to the track. I was lucky I wasn’t coming onto the straight at Lala where I could’ve understeered into the concrete wall…
So after about an hour fixing that so it was threaded properly (cheers to the dude who lent me his shifters) I got back out there and finally shredded the tyres. I probably did one run too many, but here’s what the Federal 595 looks like after you completely shag it:
Changed tyres (now using a set of Admirals) and did a couple tandems with a Silvia that were really good, but then the heat started to get to it. It didn’t cause the misfire problem like the previous outing, but I finished up about 330 to give it a chance to cool down before taking it home. Exhaust temps peaked at 130 degs:
And my oil temp was getting warm too:
But still. It was a successful day, and a good end to the drift year for me. Now to start on some of the larger projects I have in store….
Immobilised In The Heat
Posted by on November 24, 2010
Okay so I finally uploaded some pics from Sunday’s Drift prac out at Tailem. Firstly though, after getting all the tension rod issues sorted (with numerous test drives up and down the street) in Mona, I went and washed it and posed:
With Lock:
There was no GG convoy headed down as SprinterBoy had better things to do then drift (=P) so I met Ratboy at the servo in TB. He’d trailered his up, and more importantly, it was the first time I could see the rear camber fix in RL:
As well as a Ratboy sticker down the side of his windscreen, he also had added another sticker over one of his boo boo’s:
However in typical Ratboy fashion, things just happen. I didn’t see it, but apparently his front bar dropped off on entry to the bowl and got caught under the car. Not even thinking about stopping, he continues, and here’s the result:
So after repairing the lip from the previous prac, now the bar is looking very worse for wear. However that’s not all. Before I could get a chance to tandem with him, I saw him roll past me in the line (my car needed some rest to cool down) and then he never moved forward again. Turns out his immobiliser had decided that it’d call it a day and stop the car. I know he was having issues with the battery mount in the remote, but that was a fairly easy fix, however this one knocked him out for the day, and even with some help from Fab’s old man they could get it to start, but it wouldn’t turn on the fuel pump… So after about an hour and a half working on it, it was time to pack up and go home. Pushing the immobilised car onto the trailer:
That’s all I have time to write, I’ll post up my exploits in the next day or two.
Ghetto Garage 