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Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Posts: 4020 Reg: 04-2006
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Sunday, April 03, 2016 - 07:39 am, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
I have just got home from the Victorian Time Attack event at Phillip Island. What an event! What a track! What a long trek. A bit of honesty up front: I didn’t do a great job of driving and running the car. I forgot quite a few fundamental things because of all the hype and self-pressure. I’ll cover those shortly.
Those that have been following the build will know that I was still working on the car less than 24 hours from departure. It wasn’t planned like that, but that is how it worked out. By the time I got to Phillip Island I was just going to be happy to run the car without a major fault. The front aero had revisions, the side skirts and rear diffuser were brand new. I was trying new brake ducting, and of course the turbos, intake and exhaust piping, and the tune were all untested.
On arrival at PI, we had to push the cars through scrutineering as the local rule says no race engines start before 9am. This is where I began to realise some of the problems with being a 1 man show. Lucky the Time Attack fraternity are pretty close and I had more help than I needed getting the car into and out of scrutiny. Scrutineers are a funny bunch, and I am under instructions to remove the brand new roll cage padding if I go back “because it can catch fire”. I also bought a brand new fire extinguisher from the parts guys because my bottle was made in 2010. Never mind the rule that fire extinguishers under 1Kg don’t have expiry dates according to CAMS. The irony is the new one doesn’t even have a date. I was the second car through scrutiny and the second fire extinguisher sold. I think they ran out at 0730…
The drivers brief was full of horror stories and I was left in no doubt that I was going to die at some stage during the event. I had to do a couple of sighting laps as a newby, but unfortunately they did not drive on a racing line so I had to figure it out myself. I guess this was a time attack competition and they expected guys to know what they were doing.
Before I was ready my group were called. There were three groups with each session lasting 20 minutes. I went out and got into it slowly working up from a 2:03 lap. This is where I made my first fundamental error: I did not follow my normal track day procedure. I never checked my shock absorber settings. I didn’t fill out my setup sheet. And I did not set up the gopro so it worked from the remote, among other things. I ended up with a 1:55 in the first session. Tyre pressures went up more than expected (9psi) which caught me out also.
The second session rolled around before I had time to process the first. Kurt and Michelle had arrived by now, and we checked the fuel and realised the tank was about 1/3 full after 6 hard laps, two sighters and the in and out laps. Bugger. A quick splash and dash and I went out again. This set the tone for the day with frantic activity between sessions. The camera was still on from the first session, which was another silly error. Because I went out late I only got four fast laps, but on the upside all the traffic was on the other side of the track. I managed a 1:52.7.
Third session was much like the second. I barely had time to gather my thoughts, take some tyre temps and pressures and look for any massive issues. I managed to get the track mapped in the RacePak but did not get the sectors in. At least I could get a lap time on the dash this session. I hit traffic many times and had to abort the first three laps. Lap 4 I managed a 1:51 compromised by an overtaking move. It was the only clean-ish lap I got. I did not know at the time but looking at the segments in the data the 1:51 would have been a 1:48 if I had not slowed up through Turns 3/4/5 when I had to deal with the slower car.
Over lunch there was a pit walk. The cars were pushed into pit lane for the crowd to come through. I put in a bit of effort with a homemade placard with all the specs, removing the boot and propping the bonnet open so people could get a good look, car show style. I also stood in the lane and talked to people the entire time. I met a bunch of new and interesting people and it probably contributed to me winning the “Promoter’s Choice” award. Over lunch the fuel point was open, however we discovered they did not have e85. This was a problem as I was more than half way through my 120L. The promoter got wind of this and at some stage two extra jerries of e85 found their way into my garage with a note that we could sort it out at the end of the day.
Session 4 was plagued by traffic. I constantly kept stumbling across another car warming up or cooling down. After coming in, I made the realisation I had no idea of the shock settings. Three were on full hard, and the left rear was almost on full soft. This was a face palm moment. I adjusted the rears, dumped another 20L of fuel in and got ready to go out. By this stage I had the tyres at 35psi hot and left them alone.
Session 5 I went out first and went hard from the start. I never let up, and managed 5 decent laps in a row, managing the traffic much better. The first lap was a 1:50.34. The second was a 1:50 .24. I made mistakes on the following three laps, but they were 1:51, 1:51 and 1:53 and still an improvement over the start of the day. When I came in there was a bit of a panic as my lap timer was no longer on the side of the car. I was worried my 1:50’s would not count. The Dorian was found on the side of the track and appears to have come off right at the end of the session. Phew. Around this time I sprained my right ankle at the control tower and had it taped up by the medics. It was one of those days.
Session 6 was the last timed session. I knew I was not being brave enough through turn 1, 3 and 8/9. I focussed on these areas and trying to get through faster. I started entering T1 at 185kph and managed an exit of T1 at 175kph. To be honest I still think this is 10 – 15 kph to slow. I ended up getting through T8 flat in 5th at about 185kph, but never got T9 “lukey Heights” right.
Session 7 was not timed and was more for the crowd. I only got one good lap and did not improve.
All in all, I had a great time. I have a long list of things that need to improve, and ideas for the future. The new turbo combo has been proven, as I was only 10kph slower on the main straight than Blaise (awesome name!) in the Rx-7 who came third outright and fastest RWD.
It is a pity NSW Time Attack just got cancelled, as I planned to enter that as well. I need to get the car to Wakefield to a track I know and see how she goes.
