Suzuki Alto Works – More Track Time and a Goodbye.

It’s that time again, a New Year, another track day.

This will only be a small update. There were basically no changes to this car since the last track day, and I really wanted to focus on my skill and technique instead of just going full send like I was last time.

The one change I did do beforehand was to change the brake fluid. I had previously been using generic Dot 4 fluid, and I noticed a couple of times at the last track day, particularly when coming off the track into the pits, that the pedal went very squishy for a couple of presses. It wasn’t an issue on the track, but did indicate to me that the fluid wasn’t keeping up.

I brought the Alto into the garage, and up onto the Quickjacks

Using my vacuum bleeder, I flushed the system and drew through the new Castrol React “performance” Dot 4 fluid. I know a couple of others that have used this on the track with good results (in much heavier and faster cars than the Alto)

The vacuum bleeder is good for quickly flushing the system, but I always finish up with my one-man bleeder bottle, just to make sure I have a nice firm pedal and no air in the system.

Once that was done, I finally fixed something else that’s been bugging me for a while; I refitted the missing section of mesh in the rear bumper (to the right of the number plate)

It’s not a perfect match, I’m not sure how long It’s been off the car for, but it’s better than a gap.

The drive up was fairly uneventful this time, no one in a fancy BMW trying to blind me, and the weather was even decent.

No friends could make it this time, so we did a solo trip and picked our usual spot out early

I managed to convince my wife to hop in the passenger’s seat this time, for her first time on a track.

We started off with the usual training sessions, which were a little different this time around. They had the three exercises; a slalom (weave through cones there and back), reaction test (drive at some central cones with a light either side, which randomly light up to show you which side of the cones to go) and an “ideal line” through a corner (like a Gran Turismo license test, pairs of cones set up to guide you around the best line of the corner). Usually you would do an exercise and continue on to the next one, but this time they ran each group 3-4 times through each exercise before moving onto the next one.

Once the training sessions were done, it was time to jump into the Group 1 “slow group”, and get onto the track

I only recorded the data for the first two sessions, one with my wife in the passengers seat, and one out solo. I think I did about 3 or 4 session in total this time. Due to higher ambient temps, and having nothing to prove, I left it on low boost this time.

The first session, we did 13 laps, with a best of 1:42.76. A pretty slow, but smooth session.

Compared to the fastest low boost lap from last time (a 1:39.86), although I was down on speed on the straights I was carrying a bit more speed through the corners. My wife says this was me trying to show off, I say it was me trying not to scare her, and end my marriage by putting it sideways into the gravel.

Although she didn’t file for divorce, and she’ll still go in a car with me (mostly because I’m her ride home), one session was enough for her. Hopefully I can get her out again next trackday in something a bit more exciting than the Alto. Even better would be for her to one day be behind the wheel herself.

Pulling into the pits the new performance brake fluid was already evident. It had none of the soft pedal that it had last time, and worked well all day. After a quick cool down and some lunch

It was time to line up and get ready to give it some proper beans (Featuring old mate in his way too fast Porsche, in the wrong group, again. Unlike last time, he didn’t stay out there long, bullying the slower drivers and went out in the faster groups later)

I had some great little battles, including with one of these OG Lotus Sevens

I got back to the pits and the owner came over and jokingly commented that I was the one he just couldn’t shake. Every corner I was there, right up behind him, but he could just pull away from me on the straights. I love a good little battle where you pick a car, and see if you can stick with them.

The fastest in that session was 1:40.13. Way off my best time, but not bad for higher ambient temps (around 22-25c) and on low boost.

What is interesting though is that the cornering speeds aren’t that different from when I had a passenger, in fact, they’re almost all slower, the only gain was in straight line speed.

I know I’m heavily limited by the tyres currently as the front just starts to wash out and go wide, which is what was happening when I pushed harder, leading to understeer and slower exit speeds.

One thing I attribute the higher cornering speeds this trackday, vs the last ones, is a change in technique. I had previously been using a lot of trailbraking, where most of my braking was done before the corner, but I was still on the brakes during turn in. The reason for this was due to how the Jazz cornered in my very first trackday; you brake heavily into the corner and the back will rotate when you start to turn. The Alto on the other hand, hated the idea of rotating and this technique didn’t really work with it. Too much rear end grip I guess.

This time, I tried to make sure all my braking was done before the corner began. So going into the corner, I would be hard on the brakes in a straight line, off the brakes completely when I start turning, and then hard on the gas as soon as I could and use the LSD to pull the car through the corner. This suited the Alto a lot better, although on low boost it did struggle a little with lacking power to really pull out of the corner.

I’m looking forward to trying out new techniques in different cars/platforms in the future. I’ll be back to FWD again, It is my favourite platform, but I’m itching to try RWD or AWD and see how different it is.

Before wrapping up for the day, I was offered a ride in a GR Yaris. I have pined for these things since they came out; they’re legitimately one of the coolest cars to have been released in years. 260hp 1.6L 3 cylinder turbo, manual, AWD in a 3 door hatch.

This car broke my mind. Leon is an awesome driver, being well involved in all the local motorsport events and having spent a lot of time on the track, so I can’t discount his extensive skills, but what the car could do was beyond what my brain could comprehend as physics.

The way it gripped and pulled around corners was incredible. The big brakes shed a bunch of speed before the corner, but once into the corner it pulls around it with no fuss and then slingshots out and straight towards the next corner. We had fun chasing down and passing a bunch of cars

To say I loved that car was an understatement. If I had unlimited money and space, one of those would be the first into my garage.

Once back into the pits and the grin on my face stuck there for a while, it was time to pack up and head off. Another trackday done, and the last one in the Alto.

And with that, that brings us to a close on this chapter. I won’t sugarcoat it, the Alto is sold.

It’s bittersweet, and it’s one of the few cars I have sold that I am actually sad to see gone, but the Alto goes on to live new adventures with a new owner, who is local, so I’ll still see it around.

It was a little weird to see it at Cars and Coffee today, and know it wasn’t mine anymore

It’ll do him well, it’s an awesome little car.

We had some great times. I took that car from a barely usable ex track car in Japan, cobbled together with whatever bits the seller could find to get it through compliance, to an awesome little track ready, daily usable, dingus.

For me though, It means I can look for my next toy. Something to play with on the track again, and learn new skills and techniques. Something with a bit more power, and better parts availability locally if it all goes wrong. I have some ideas in mind, but time will tell what I actually end up with.