After the huge disappointment that was the first track outing, I made some changes and gave it another go.
Per my last update, the BRZ was now running damper adjustable Cusco shocks all round, 1.5 deg front camber, STI subframe stoppers, and Endless brake pads.
I didn’t grab a lot of photos this time, but we had an absolute cracker of a day
Blue car squad rolling again
We started the day with the training sessions, and already I could feel the car was more playful and giving me a bit more leeway before pulling back on the fun.
Once out in the actual track sessions though, is where the changes really shone.
The biggest difference was the brakes. The Endless pads are 100% a better option than the Dixcels. I was leaning very hard on them all day, with lots of late braking, and not once did they overheat, smoke or give me a firm pedal. A night and day difference from what I was having to put up with last time.
This made a huge difference in my confidence. The other change was the VSC unit, taken from a 2017 car, which was definitely giving me more freedom and not pulling power when coming out of corners like the 2012 VSC unit was. Even in standard mode it was better, but Track Mode gave me the freedom I was looking for last time.
It did still catch me at one point though, when my tyres weren’t as warm as they should’ve been, and I got a lump of liftoff oversteer before the hairpin
(some upper Muppet messed with his phone settings, so no telemetry on the videos this time 🙁 )
The Cusco shocks honestly didn’t excite me that much. Yes, if you dial them up high they get fairly firm, and it’s unpleasant on the road, but the difference on the track didnt seem to be that big. I suspect if you used anything other than stock springs with them, it might make a positive difference, but I am unable to lower the car due to my driveway. On the street I run them about 15 clicks from softest (out of 40) and on the track I was running 30/35 front/rear.
In saying that, the camber bolts set to maximum 1.5 degree negative did give a sharper turn in, I would recommend these.
My fastest time on the day was a solid 1:30.58, a huge decrease over my previous PB. A long way from my first track day in the Jazz where I got a 1:50.33
Annoyingly, there were some glitches in Racechrono (like the 153-127kph on the back straight) but the times were consistent.
Compared to my fastest last time, 1:32.21, I was now braking way later and carrying more speed on the straights (a byproduct of the VSC unit not cutting power anymore).
Last time, it looks like I had more speed in a couple of corners, since the only way to go fast was to carry as much speed around the corner as I could. If I could combine the cornering speed of having bad brakes, and the rest of the later sessions, I would’ve been pretty rapid.
Here were the two fastest laps, a 1:30.74 followed by the 1:30.58.
I did have to slow down after these though as the oil temps were getting too high (it briefly peaked at 130c before dropping – Oil pressure was holding strong considering). One mod I would recommend for regular trackday users, would be a proper air-air oil cooler as the heat exchanger does a good job getting the oil to temp quickly, keeping it stable and dropping it quickly once you back off, it just cant keep the over all temps down enough.
Over all, I had a blast. The first outing was disappointing since the brakes let me down, but this time there were no issues, just me and the car going corner to corner.
Sadly, I decided this would be the last time I track the car. I have taken it to where I wanted to, experienced what I wanted, and had my fun, so the car is for sale. Even if I still own it in January when the next trackday is, I’ll be taking the Honda instead to give that it’s turn.
