Track days.

[gordo]

Took the Calibra down to a Taupo track day with a couple of the other clubs - a side benefit of being down there to pick up a diff for the 'vette. I'd forgotten how much fun it was being back on track - last racing I did was on the Baypark venue and that's been closed nearly 20 years. We were using almost all the A1 circuit except for a slight diversion before the back hairpin, in order to keep down the entry speeds.

Quite a tricky track and my admiration for the A1 and Supercar guys has gone up by a fair bit!

Didn't break anything or go off track (bit close, though) and only mishaps were knocking off the ignition key FOUR times, and running out of petrol Oh, the ABS seems to have stopped working, for some reason ...

Any of you guys interested if another comes up?

[bulldog]

when did you go? On Monday? ABS sometimes stops working if your pads are too low or worn.

[mikuni]

There was a Euro trackday on Tuesday.

We have the oldschool trackday on the 13th of March. Absolutely hanging out for that.

[gordo]

Feb 11, 2009 22:08:55 GMT 12 bulldog said:

when did you go? On Monday? ABS sometimes stops working if your pads are too low or worn.

I suspect it's a faulty connection - light would come on occasionally if hitting a hard bump - permanently on now, though. New semi-metallics all round - no fading evident now - and light was off on the way down.
I'll pick up a set of wheel sensors from the Cally at PaP and maybe the controller - if compatable.
TBH, I'm not that worried - just annoying having it on.

[gordo]

Feb 11, 2009 22:22:13 GMT 12 mikuni said:

There was a Euro trackday on Tuesday.

We have the oldschool trackday on the 13th of March. Absolutely hanging out for that.

Bit late to comment, but I think that was the one in question.

Had another Euro track day yesterday - great fun but this time I broke the Cally - hit one of the concrete berms a bit hard and the interior mirror fell off - gave me a hell of a fright!
Shame you didn't get down, Mikuni, lots of sweet cars - including a few Audi RS variants and a Maserati (that spun ...).

Oh. still knocking off the ignition so I cut the fob off - problem solved!

[mikuni]

I would liked to have gone, there is even another trackday happening tomorrow that a mate of mine has organised, but I'm just too busy and too poor at the moment.

Gutted about the little mishap in the Calibra. I hear it was missfiring a little also? Average, I was secretly hoping you'd give Chad a little bit of a scare in his Vectra.

[gordo]

No worries about the mirror, matey, $10 tube of mirror glue and it's all sweet!
Not sure about this mis-fire I've been hearing about - think it may be down to three things. was hitting the rev limiter a few times, knocked the ignition off a few times (again) but fixed this time as I had a spare key I cut the fob off (BTW, had the same problem and solution with Chevettes, if you want to try it) and towards the end the exhaust was blowing a bit past one of the joints.
As for young master Chad and the Vectra, juries still out on that - had him behind for a bit and he couldn't/wouldn't pass and when I did let him past he wasn't really getting away from me, but then cramp set in with the left foot and had to pit. However, it would seem he still wasn't using full rev's at that point so could have been a bit quicker later in the day but we don't know. I suspect he may have a different version of events, though
Still was doing pretty well for a basically stock car against a ligher (200ish kg) and more powerful one (maybe 35ish HP) - there were also a couple of very late Astras - turbo's I think - and I was about on par with the one I was dicing with.
Overall, I think I surprised a few people, myself included. Trouble is I'm torn between making some small mod's to the Cally, such as exhaust system and manifold (which'd be around 25hp worth with little, if any, harm to general use) and pulling finger on the 'vette!
Really all comes down to $$$s, or rather the lack of, so I'll be saving for a bit.

Had a bit of a chat to 'Racing Ray' Williams, real good sort, and sorted out the problem I was having with the top hairpin