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Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.

pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Aug 19, 2018 19:20:25 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Aug 17, 2018 14:38:53 GMT georgeb said: Please keep these coming, I love 'em. Thank you. I will Aug 17, 2018 19:42:14 GMT petervdv said: That said, i am not sure i could sit next to you without needing clean pants. It really is a quick car and well balanced and credits to you it is not chequebook speed. Peter I love taking first timers out on circuit and when I do I drive whilst chatting to them all the way round, explaining what I`m doing and keeping it safe and calm Aug 19, 2018 10:12:28 GMT darrenh said: Enjoyed reading and watching again :-) I like the grass roots analytical content, that's not meant to sound insulting as I know there is a fair amount of money and tech in the car. What I mean is you aren't a highly funded race outfit with team of engineers, it's a mass produced car with lots of extraordinary touches. Because of that that it makes it accessible, entertaining and relevant to many of us. One thing tweaked my ear when you said about longer 5th gear, engine revs dropping to area with more torque, yet actually losing speed. The answer is simpler than it seems, gears multiply torque. crucially the long 5th will have reduced torque at the wheels. You will almost always find you have more torque at the wheels at higher rpm in shorter gear, even though engine torque is significantly less. I'm also aware we are two years behind so apologies if this is irrelevant :-D That`s the problem with it being behind. I`m catching up, but some things I`m posting have been improved since. You are right and I went back to the standard 5th later. Thanks for the positive post, I know a lot of what I`m doing is informed trial and error, but I simply don`t have a huge budget compared to a race team or years of experience to call on. A lot of what I`m doing is completely new to me and quite a bit hasn`t been done on a MK2 Golf before, so I can`t copy anyone else. That the fun bit to be fair


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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Aug 24, 2018 6:18:40 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	October 2016 I`ve been very fortunate to be able to take out passengers who are part of Mission Motorsport. Mission Motorsport’s aim: “The Aim of Mission Motorsport is to aid in the recovery and rehabilitation of those affected by military operations, by providing opportunities through Motorsport.” One of the ways they engage with people is to run events where People like me take their cars is give passenger lap experiences to people new to the Charity. Not only does this open the door on circuit driving but it`s a platform for Mission Motorsport to explain what they do to people in person and let people already involved in the Charity talk to those who could benefit from it. The whole point of these days is to turn blokes' lights back on. Help them, connect them with opportunities that can enhance their recoveries. Race, Retrain, Recover. Blyton was an entry 'experience' event. I was delighted to be invited so I loaded up the Golf and drove across, and unloaded ready for the day. I`d only had a few days off work since returning from DN16 so I made a new splitter and replaced the bumper but the mangled side skirt had to stay. The passenger side looked alright though We were given a briefing by one of the founders of the Charity, Jim Cameron and Richard the owner of Blyton park who explained to us the importance of talking to the passengers and making them feel at ease. We were also told in no uncertain terms that having an `off` was not something that should be happening today... I went out for a couple of laps by myself just to get some heat into the tyres and check everything was OK. The rest of the morning was spent taking people out for 4 laps, back in, swap passengers and straight back out again. It was a privilege to be able to take out Jon-Allan Butterworth for a session. He is the first British serviceman injured in Iraq to win Paralympic gold nine years after he lost his arm following a rocket attack in Basra. Not only that but he`s a really nice bloke too as was every since person I met throughout the day. Whilst strapping people in and during the laps I was talking to the passengers and it was humbling listening to their stories and what they`d been through. No incar video from this event, it isn`t appropriate for me to be posting the discussions we had online but Isabel was there taking photos from trackside. Whilst I`d gone for a bite to eat, a sticker was applied. Yes Mr Boulder, I know it was you At lunchtime Jim presented Richard with a Thank You for all the incredible support Blyton Park has given Mission Motorsport since it started. No, it wasn`t the McLaren As the day drew to a close I had a few people come up to me and ask if I could take them out again. I was more than happy to do this and they certainly enjoyed themselves ! The day finished leaving me with some unexpected emotions. Not only was it an opportunity to help such a worth cause but I came away feeling a little guilty that I felt so good afterwards after seeing the reaction on the passengers faces after talking to them and taking them for laps. I was doing this for someone else and the point of the day was that THEY came away having enjoyed the experience but as I told Lou that evening, it was one of the most rewarding days driving the Golf I`ve ever had.


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darrenh Posted hell of a lot Posts: 6,655	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.darrenh @darrenh
	Aug 24, 2018 9:34:15 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	That sounds awesome and something I'd like to get involved with (he says, with track car stored mostly in boxes) Blyton is a cool track though, plenty of run off, done it 3 times now and 2 of them were in standard mk2 shopping models
	1989 Astra Merit estate 1991 Astra GTE 16v group A build 1982 land rover 88 sw

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georgeb Posted hell of a lot Posts: 7,864	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.georgeb @georgeb
	Aug 24, 2018 12:21:29 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Double win when you can help other folk by doing what you love. Nice tale.
	1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE Letter from Manila

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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Sept 4, 2018 4:30:23 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Standard front wheel bearings are fine for road use but can often fail when put under the loads of a track car. The increased temperatures can cause the standard grease to break down and the bearing fails shortly afterwards. My front wheel bearings were failing after a few months due to the loads and heat from the brake system. I use Genuine SKF bearings but the grease was the issue.Since I started repacking the bearings this way, they are now lasting several years before needing replacement. By stripping the bearing, removing the old grease and repacking with an uprated grease the bearings have lasted 2 years and are still going strong. A very worthwhile modification in my experience. I use SKF VKBA 1358 front bearings but I believe any SKF wheel bearing can be stripped the same way. Bearing, Grease, Sharp blade, Small screwdriver, Thinners, a tub and soft brush. Slide the blade vertically between the edge of the seal and the external housing Carefully lay the blade flat to lift the outside lip of the seal. Don`t push it in too far, you want to remove the outer seal and not touch the inner one at this point. Slide a thin screwdriver into the gap and gently prise the seal upwards Push the screwdriver under the seal and lift. You can see the lip seal coming away from the inner race. The outer seal ready for removal Outer seal removed and placed to one side Next to be removed is the inner seal Taking care not to damage the lip seal, insert the thin screwdriver between the inner race and the seal Lay the screwdriver flat and the seal pops out Remove the seal exposing the bearing cage and balls Place the seal to one side Use 2 fingers into the centre of the inner race and push outwards Whilst applying outwards force simply lift out the inner race Inner race removed One inner race, cage and balls removed. Flip over the bearing and repeat the above procedure to fully strip the bearing Lift off the cage and balls from the inner race Wipe off excess grease Clean the inner and outer race with thinners and a soft brush Clean the bearings and race with a brush and thinners or similar solvent You can unclip each ball from the cage, clean the cage and ball and refit them. I did that on one bearing then tried another without removing the balls. I removed the balls afterwards to inspect and there was no grease left in the cage so I don`t bother removing them when cleaning now as it makes no difference. I use Redline CV2 grease on my wheel bearings and CV Joints. This has a higher temperature rating than standard and is suitable for bearings and CV`s. Pack the bearings with grease, pushing it into the ball and cage area Ensure all the surfaces are coated Hold the inner race between 2 fingers again The lower into the inner race DO NOT OVERGREASE THE BEARING. Packing it tightly with a load of grease is not a good thing and it will over pressurise when the grease is hot. Just look back at the original grease as it came from SKF, they don`t pack it tightly with grease and neither should you. Clip the inner shield back into place The outer cover is then replaced Flip over the bearing Refit the other half and then fit the seal To ensure the inside and outside lip seals are in place lay the screwdriver flat and with gentle pressure on the seal rotate the bearing. This pushes the seal into the groove in the outer race. This isn`t always needed but I do it just to be sure. If you aren`t fitting it straight away put it back in the bag and then you have a repacked bearing ready to fit when needed.


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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Sept 6, 2018 7:23:18 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Silverstone December 2016 I booked on this Trackday in 2015 but due to a failed output flange I only managed THREE laps ! This was the failure that ended the day early in 2015 They worked out at being the most expensive laps per £ I`ve ever done and not something I wanted to repeat. I gave the Golf a good going over and everything seemed to be in order before this event and it was loaded up in plenty of time with no jobs outstanding. Matt and I finished work and drove down to the Premier Inn near Silverstone and adjacent to the Green Man inn. He had the sofa pull out bed. Went into the Pub and had a good chat with Jordan and his mates whilst waiting for our food to arrive. They`d driven down earlier and we spent a good hour or so catching up. Woke up and made the short journey to a very foggy Silverstone and it was obvious we wouldn`t be getting on track straight away. Unloaded the Golf. You couldn`t see the length of the paddock and everyone soon realised the start would be delayed Signed on in the chilly pit garage Went for a wander around the paddock and returned to find a small gathering around the Golf. The skirt and wing are still damaged from the tyre blowout and that prompted quite a lot of discussion. Darren gave the briefing and explained the rules for the day and why the start was delayed. The circuit did tell us they`d try and give us as much tracktime as possible once the fog lifted. One chap asked how many people were on the day as it seemed busy in the briefing. Darren replied there were enough to make the day profitable but few enough to give us good tracktime. He was correct. When the track was live there was hardly any waiting in the pitlane and there was plenty of room on track. The only issue was after a Red flag when everyone came into the pits and queued to get out. It was mid morning by the time the track opened and we went out for the sighting lap. As soon as we pulled onto the circuit I knew something was amiss. The water temp skyrocketed and was almost in the red ! I shifted into 5th and cruised round, then the red flags came out. Some muppet had put his car into the gravel on the 2nd corner on the first sighting lap. Sheesh. Back into the pits to see what on earth was going on with the water temp. I`d replaced the water pump after DN16 as it had been squealing. Bonnet open and the water could be seen to be returning into the expansion tank as usual so I knew the pump was working. Initially I wondered if the thermostat had somehow stuck closed. That was something I hoped wasn`t the case as it`s a pain to access. The strange thing was I`d left the car idling at home after changing the thermostat and it got to temp and sat there quite happily so I knew the pump was working ok. It turned out to be a massive airlock ! Revved the engine and it suddenly let out a large gurgle and the level dropped out of the bottom of the expansion tank. Put in a few litres of water and it was back to normal and never gave me an issue again. I`ve refilled the system loads of times and never had this before. I`d brought the car up to temp in the driveway and it was fine at idle but as soon as I put some load on the engine the lack of water in the system showed itself. We fitted the R1R`s as it was far too greasy for the Cups and went out for the first session. Everything seemed OK apart from the clutch was sticking. It didn`t seem to be fully engaging and it was difficult to change gear. I ended up rev-matching as much as possible but I wasn`t able to Heal and Toe properly. The track was still slippery and I tried several lines in search of grip. Stace was there in his Mini race car and we went our for a few laps with me following. The Mini turns in far better than the Golf in the damp and that`s pretty clear on this video. What I`ve found is the plate diff has made turning in worse in the wet / damp . But it isn`t really an an issue in the dry. The previous ATB was `open` on deceleration but the Kaaz is a /65 which means when you lift off, the plates are pushed apart activating the clutches in the diff. The makes the car far more stable under braking but induces understeer on corner entry as the front axle is effectively locked. If I just mash the throttle it still spins up both wheels and understeers as you`d expect. What I need to do is apply just enough throttle to neither load or unload the diff so it becomes `open` but not too much to introduce too much understeer. Not ideal and quite tricky on bumps but something I didn`t experience at the Nurburgring as it was dry. The fact it`s much harder to do the required fine on/off throttle modulation in a Turbo car as it dumps boost through the BOV makes it much trickier. I suspect in an N/A car it will be easier to modulate in these sorts of conditions with a plate diff. The issue of part throttle control is something I noticed on my first session after fitting the Turbo and whilst I`m used to it now and can usually drive around it, I sometimes find it irritating. Not irritating enough to go back to N/A though.... If you go into a corner a little too fast, previously just lifting off would tuck the nose it but that isn`t the case now and it`s something I hadnt`t expected to be as noticeable as it was at Silverstone. I`ll be modifying the ARB mountings over the winter so in the damp / wet I can quickly disconnect one end of the ARB to allow the front end to roll a bit more but reduce understeer. At the moment it isn`t something I can do and I think that would help this issue a little. Simon let us share his garage which was most appreciated ! He has a high power Supra and Silverstone gave a graphic example of just what difference power makes when you have opportunity to use it However it doesn`t always go so quickly in the corners The long straights meant I could carry out some tests on the boost delivery. I was running a `damp` boost map which just means there is less midrange boost which reduces the chances of wheelspin when conditions are tricky. It`s a dead simple change, I just click a `Load Wet Map` button on the phone in the car and it changes the Solenoid duty cycle map to be more progressive. If it dries out I click `Load Dry Map` and it reverts to the slightly more aggressive mid range delivery. I also tested some new setting on the Boost Button which give me an instant 1.1Bar at the press of a button, regardless of which delivery map I`m using.. They didn`t work ! The oscillation is just as bad as before. This is purely down to the limitations of the Megasquirt 1 Closed loop control. I can only check it when on track and always forget to test several setting out on a day. I must get this fixed and will aim to do so next year. [/URL] The circuit were true to their word and didn`t stop for lunch which gave us an extra hour of trackime to replace the missing hour due to the fog. Can`t fault them for that at all ! It was drying out so I decided to fit the worn Cups. The idea was to wear them out at Silverstone but they are so low I obviously couldn`t run them when it was damp. Whilst they are down to the wear markers and no good at displacing water, they are still good enough in the dry. I`d taken spare wheels with Cups mounted incase these wore out but that never happened. Whilst I was fitting them Polay made sure the passenger seat was his for his long awaited session in the Pinderwagen ! He`s been waiting for a couple of years and circumstances have meant he just never had the opportunity. This time he made sure nobody else was getting in that seat before him. We went out for a few laps and then had to pit again. Did a short session with Karan and the clutch was getting worse making engaging gears tricky. Had a bit of an issue with a driver who thought the overtaking rules meant moving to the right then nailing it with almost 400HP under his right foot, but otherwise an enjoyable session. As everything was fine, Polay jumped in again. He had a great few laps and came away with a huge grin on his face. This sort of reaction is what I enjoy the most about trackdays. Taking people out for a session and them coming in beaming at the end of it is hugely satisfying. I was experiencing a slight misfire on high boost. I`ve had this before when I was running Copper spark plugs. Switching to Iridium had solved it but the symptoms were the same. A slight hesitation / miss at high boost. I removed all 4 plugs, they were in good condition More pleasing was the colouring was spot on Checking the Gap and the issue was obvious. All 4 had opened up slightly to 0.031" Regapped to 0.025", went back out and the misfire had gone. I hadn`t checked them for a while so I`ll make sure I don`t leave it as long next time. Everything was going well apart from the clutch. That was getting harder and harder to engage. When I started the car in the pits, even with the clutch fully depressed the gears crunched when selecting 1st and the car started creeping forwards. I was changing gear with minimal clutch use on track. So long as I rev matched and applied light pressure on the gearlever it was pretty easy. I ould slot into gear once the revs were correct. Obviously this meant I could not Heal&Toe but I was only using 3rd and 4th anyway. I tried a full lap in 4th but it just bogged down on the slower 3rd gear corners. George had been around for a lot of the day socialising and I took him out for a session at the end of the day. All was going well until we were going down hanger straight and I tried using the clutch to go from 3rd to 4th. The pedal operated as usual but the clutch wouldn`t disengage. I freewheeled off into the `Wing` pit entry and stopped by the marshall point. Explained I hadn`t dropped any fluid, but I had no drive. The marshall was absolutely fine and asked if I wouldn`t mind waiting until the end of the day. It was 15:55 and the day was due to end at 16:00 so it was no big issue to wait and spectate for 5 minutes. The gravel was already there, nothing to do with me ! One positive meant I could get a photo of the Golf and Wing building whilst we waited. The track closed and we were towed back the wrong way around the circuit. It was a little strange seeing the circuit car going the opposite way. The beauty of having the steering pump and Servo powered electrically meant I could brake and steer just as easily as when driving which makes being towed a lot easier. Don`t get me wrong, I don`t want to get towed.. There were plenty people around to help me push the Golf onto the trailer which was appreciated. All strapped down and a steady drive back up the M1. Gearbox removed the next day and the reason for not being able to disengage the clutch was pretty obvious. The friction plate was in pieces ! Overall a very enjoyable day and much more successful that 2015 although I still ended up with a broken car at the end of it. This time I only lost 5 minutes of tracktime, last year I only had 5 minutes... The circuit couldn`t have done more to open the track as soon as possible, work thorough lunch and as late as daylight allowed to give us as much tracktime as they could. The diff made it trickier in the damp as I explained earlier but I can address that with modifying the ARB so that can be disconnected in the wet/damp and finally addressing the roll centre correction by adding some balljoint extenders. Neither are particularly major issues and I will sort them over the winter.


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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Sept 13, 2018 19:15:48 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	After the manifold fracture back in 2015 I braced the downpipe to help reduce stress on the Turbo / Manifold. I`ve often seen braces supporting the Turbo mounted on the cylinder head and I was keen to try something similar. A manifold cracking where the collector joins the Turbo flange is a common failure point if the Turbo is unbraced. It`s exactly what happened to mine and whilst I believe the repair I carried out is far stronger than the initial design, I wanted to reduce the chances of it happening again. The important thing was to have it solidly mounted so I chose these 2 studs on the Cylinder head By extending the stud I brought it above the top of the rocker cover. Using a few different sizes of Stainless rod / pipe I fabricated a small brace. The mounts to the rocker cover studs are a large flat stainless washer with some thinwall stainless tube welded to it. I can fit a 10mm socket inside the tube to tighten the holding down nut. The single leg triangulated the brace from the rear of the cylinder head. I had to be able to unbolt the single `leg` to allow it to clear the rocker cover breather tubes, the single 6mm bolt fastened it together I secured the brace to the Turbo by using a couple of M8 Spherical joints. These were spaced to be 2 mm longer than the distance between the Turbo and brace mounts. This would ensure there was some pressure onto the sphericals, rather than them just hanging there doing nothing. I`d have preferred to mount the spherical closer to the centre of the bearing or exhaust housing but unfortunately this Turbo doesn`t have anywhere suitable to secure it from. Once it was all bolted down, tapping the brace with a hammer resulted in a satisfying `thunk` confirming everything was bolted together tightly. The problem with doing these sort of modifications is testing if they actually work. Several years ago I tested and proved the effectiveness of the flat floor using some very accurate pressure gauges which showed a reduction in the underfloor pressure with the flat floor installed. I`m fortunate that in my daily job I carry out Vibration Monitoring of rotating equipment, usually motors, pump, fans and gearboxes but the principle of detecting imbalance, looseness or wear is still the same. I took some very accurate readings at a fixed RPM point with and without the brace fitted. I`ve tried to simplify the results to make them easier to understand. WITHOUT the brace, the Turbo housing was accelerating from one position to another (vibrating) at a peak of 0.35 m/s2 WITH the brace that reduced to a peak of only 0.19 m/s2 Without the Brace the Housing was moving at 10mm/s, WITH that dropped to 8mm/s at peak but there was a significant reduction in other peaks across the spectrum. This explains it as simply as I can. The higher the peaks on the graph, the more vibration there is. The lower the peaks the less vibration. Not only have the large peaks reduced but the underlying base vibration is significantly reduced all the way up the scale.


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acidburn Part of things Posts: 149	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.acidburn @acidburn
	Oct 9, 2018 1:11:45 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	How did I miss these updates, for some reason I did not get any notifications. You was lucky with the blow out at the ring, that could have been way worse and at least you are both safe and it was not too much to get it back up and running. I have been looking lately at golfs as I've had nearly 100 cars since 2000 but no golfs (apart from a mk3 tdi I had for a few hours before scrapping it for someone) So I'm thinking I might have to get one to store away till I get a chance to work on it once the 944 is done.
	Porsche 944

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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Oct 10, 2018 8:01:22 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apologies for my slacking. I`ll get more posts here soon. January 2017 The first trackday of 2017 and I was keen to get back on track. I`d done a lot of work to the car over the winter and needed to test it. Arrived to a very cold and wet Oulton Parkso left the Golf on the trailer and signed on then had the briefing before unloading. The day was a sell out but it didn`t seem particularly busy at all. It had stopped raining but it was bloody cold. It wasn`t snowing which was obviously a bonus ! I hope the low trailer tyre wasn`t a sign of things to come. ! Blew it back up and checked this morning, it`s lost 10psi so obviously a slow puncture. One of the winter `upgrades` was to swap from Megasquirt 1 to Megasquirt 2 by swapping the ECU which was very kindly supplied by Alex Flower. I`d hoped it would be a simple case of transposing the fueling table with minor tweaks. Sadly this wasn`t the case and when I put my foot down on the sighting laps the AFR dropped to under 10 ! Far too rich and we drove the rest of those laps with gentle throttle to avoid bore-wash. An unexpected issue was the momentary loss of crank signal at 6,500rpm. It was as if we`d hit the soft rev limiter. Back into the paddock and a quick tweak to the fueling table. We`d taken the Laptop expecting to make adjustments so it was no big deal. Back out again and the fuelling was much better but the issue of 6,500 rev limit was still there. The limit was set to 7,400 but there was something odd causing it to cutout at 6,500. Every Yellow line is where the ECU lost RPM sync momentarily. This has never happened before today. Circuit Days have started giving out free photos for 2017. Whilst they are watermarked you can still buy the high resolution unwatermarked version if you wish. Nick was out braving the weather and got some great shots which were waiting in my inbox by the time I arrived back home ! Lou was also on the Pitwall taking some pictures. The wet really shows the Aero having an effect as the spray from the Golf is always significant as it leaves a large plume behind. There is a large amount from the centre of the diffuser on this photo. As it was still damp we disconnected the ARB. The standard Golf ARB isn`t particularly easy to disconnect as it sits above the Wishbone meaning if you do disconnect it the ARB will hit the wishbone. I`ve modified the mounts so one end can be disconnected easily and without fouling whilst driving. We removed one end and went back out. I was hoping this would reduce the off power understeer in the damp I`m experiencing with the plate Diff and whilst it made a small improvement sadly it wasn`t as much as I`d hoped. I needed more steering lock for each corner, the car rolled more but apex speed was marginally improved. In the wet I`ll disconnect it but it was a small improvement rather than the large one I was hoping for. The 6,500 limit was becoming irritating and we knew it was an ECU related issue. Fortunately I`d taken a spare ECU. Many thanks to Gurds for sending me his ECU for a spare. We were concerned there could be an issue with the change to MS2 so he loaned me his incase I had issues so I could swap over and keep driving. Back out again with the ARB reconnected and the engine revved cleanly to 7,200rpm once Gurds`s ECU was fitted. Nick had moved vantage points and it had stopped raining. Ian was out in the MX5T and finding the conditions a little tricky at times. It was time to start taking other people out so Dave jumped in. He`s a good friend and went to Blyton last year. He was keen to experience a `proper` circuit as he called it and commented that the gradients made a big difference. It was still wet so I showed him the difference between the dry and wet line. He was amazed how not taking the dry line could yield so much grip ! Simon was out in the Supra and tagged onto the back of me for a chase lap. I completely outbraked myself into Lodge and had to tiptoe round the outside. As I`m typing this, I`ve just realised both my outbraking moments at Oulton were with Dave in the passenger seat Lunchtime was approaching and I saw the Marshall had the chequered flag ready for the next time round so sat behind Chris in the 595. It`s a nimble little thing that`s for sure ! Went into the cafe for lunch and to warm up. As usual, I couldn`t finish the large portion but it was good to relax and talk about how the morning had gone and make sure we had a clear plan of what to do after lunch.. Back out after lunch and it was slowly drying but still too wet for Cups. The R1R`s were only going up a couple of a psi and the tread wasn`t starting to overheat at all. I swapped the CPU in my ECU and fitted that just to confirm the rpm sync loss wasn`t an ECU specific issue. It was fine all afternoon so I was confident it wasn`t the actual ECU itself causing the drop out but either a sensor fault, wiring issue or MS2 issue. Whilst I was doing that, Cat stuck on a load of wool tufts she had prepared last night whilst the audience watched. I`ve added a pair of front canards I made and I wanted to see the effect they made to the airflow around the front wing and wheel arch. I made a mistake and didn`t put any wool further back down the side of the car to see what was happening further downstream. I need to do that another time Once done I went out whilst Lou took some photos from the pitwall. I then came into the pits, removed the Canard and Matt took some photos so I could compare the difference. The most noticeable difference is the air flows almost vertically upwards at the front of the wing, directly above the canard. Much more so than with it removed. It needed more wool around the splitter under the canard and along the side skirt but I didn`t realise that until looking at the photos afterwards. Luke enjoyed himself but didn`t realise he needed to SHOUT to make himself heard. He kept talking in a normal voice and I had to keep telling him he needed to speak louder as I coudln`t hear a word he was saying as the car is so loud. Apparently, when I`m on a trackday and have something I need to get done I can be quite focussed. I had a few people come up to talk and whilst I had time for brief chat, I was conscious of the time and may have appeared to be a bit `off`. This always happens and I feel bad about it later. I think I must have done it to Neal 3 or 4 times through the day. So much so that he asked Matt "Is he always like this?" `Yeah...` I took Cat out for a session as it was starting to dry. There was almost a dry line everywhere and after a couple of laps I felt a clunk from the front when I braked. Struggled to stop for the next corner so came back to the pits without touching the brakes at all. Removed the wheel and it was immediately obviously what had happened The friction material had come away from the backing plate. On the inner pad it had gone completely, allowing the pad to wedge between the caliper and the disc. On the outer pad it had broken off but was trapped in place. The nearside pads were the same They were Pagid RS29`s. Is this common ? Certainly a new one on me ! I`d taken a spare set of part worn Performance Friction PF08`s which are for instances such as these. They are already bedded in so I can go straight back out and don`t need to worry about the brakes. Matt and I fitted them whilst people had a nosey around the car. Back out again with Cat for a much better session. A nice dry line was appearing but it was still slippery off line. A decent session and I was pretty happy with it although the steering was particularly twitchy. Not quite sure what caused the change but I`ll check the alignment incase something has moved. The new style sticker hadn`t come loose but it clearly showed the amount of grime covering the car in just a few hours on track And then Dave jumped in for another lap. I wanted him to experience a lap in the drier conditions as it had been so wet in the morning. The boost map was still very mild, peaking at only 0.9Bar with a low midrange for good traction. The effect of the diff causing the understeer was reducing as it dried out but even going round Island bend, if I was off the throttle it would push wide but as soon as I applied throttle it started tucking back in. Both Matt and I agreed that in the damp the Golf was better with the Quaife but in the dry it was better with the plate diff so long as I drive accordingly. I`d bought a new helmet at Autosport and have ordered a Hans device. Neal very kindly loaned me his and whilst it wasn`t particularly comfortable it didn`t restrict me head movements as much as I`d feared. I tried a Schroth one at Autosport and that sat better on my shoulders. Enough Diff&Hans talk.Lets talk about my off into the gravel instead... I passed the white car after he ran wide through cascades. Put me to the left before turning into island bend. I tried to keep it tight, which is why I touched the kerb on the left but even though I was slower than before, by around 4mph, my line was compromised and I still washed out. I saw the cars ahead but couldn`t lift mid corner, I had to wait until I was straight. That put the front right on the damp and I believe that locked slightly. The inset video in the corner is from a couple of laps earlier that was 4mph faster but I stopped in time. It`s there to show I could take island at that speed, just not on the line I took whilst catching a slower car... I would still have been able to stop but the 2 cars in front were slower than I was expecting and I didn`t want to risk turning in as I was shedding speed incase the car was still there. I felt the Gravel straight on was the better option rather than hitting a innocent driver. I accelerate midway round Island, that is to reduce the understeer and keep the rear planted. Whilst I wanted to lift off earlier I knew from previous experience it would unsettle the rear and also run wide. I stood on the brakes and locked up at the last seconds, but it was far too late. The bottom line is I didn`t anticipate the speed of the 2 cars ahead. I should have realised the closing speed was high and slowed accordingly but I was concentrating on the car I was passing and the resulting line I knew would be compromised though Island. This caused a Red flag and as I`ve said before, I absolutely HATE doing that. The Marshalls arrived in under 2 minutes from me entering the Gravel which is a superb response. It`s good to know that IF you are ever in need of attention due to an incident on circuit, the Doctor can be there in minutes. Apparently I`d "made it a long way into the gravel !". As a result, the pickup also ended up getting stuck They needed the large flatbed to tow out the recovery truck AND the Golf at the same time. The Doctor and the Marshalls were brilliant. Having an off is something non of us want to do but their were extremely professional and didn`t even use the opportunity to take the mickey... Steve came over when I returned to the Pits and asked what my excuse was.... My reply of "Driver error I`m afraid" was met with a `You need to tell me more than that !`.. Dave had a good laugh about it, particularly as Ian had taken him out and had a moment too. Dave wanted me to pass on a message to Ian and Rich Great mates you have. So friendly and to take me out too was great. Please thank them when you see them next time. And to come off the track in different places was very thoughtfull of you all to show me different areas of the track you don't always see I think that`s why we get on so well. He`s just as sarcastic as I am... Matt jumped in with me for the last 5 minutes after I`d removed a load of gravel and had a quick check around to ensure there was no gravel lodged anywhere it shouldn`t be and that the steering arms were undamaged. Happily I saw the chequered flag whilst lapping in a car with no issues apart from some gravel rattling around that I`m sure I will be finding for weeks... I had a lot of things to test and whilst not all were as successful as I`d like, I`d taken spares just incase there were issues which meant I was still able to keep driving. I only managed 145miles on circuit but with the amount of stops to change things I was delighted with that. I`ll cover the winter jobs I did in another post later. Next outing is Rockingham in March so I should have plenty time to get it ready for then.
	Last Edit: Oct 10, 2018 8:03:56 GMT by pinderwagen

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ZXRob Europe Posts: 1,200	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.ZXRob @mk3rob
	Oct 10, 2018 16:31:15 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	I have thoroughly been enjoying following this thread. I really love the detail that you go into and aporec the time and effort you put into it. I hope one day to see the car live at the ring. I live not far away so maybe next year!
	My Flickr....Check out some terrible photos! www.flickr.com/photos/bowlingracecardriver/ "I'll keep listening to the great Joe Strummer 'cos through music we can live for ever" Drives.. 1984 Ford Escort Laser forum.retro-rides.org/thread/209843/1984-laser-daily-driver-wheels

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acidburn Part of things Posts: 149	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.acidburn @acidburn
	Oct 14, 2018 3:33:05 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	does the hans stand for head and neck support? I've heard of stuff like that before. Really enjoying following your progress. When you switched from mega squirt 1 to 2, did you have a completely brand new ecu or just upgrade yours? wasn't sure if you had both then if one failed you could revert to the other so you can keep going on track. You was lucky with the brakes, I've had a few issues in the past rear drum wheel cylinder burst loosing pressure/fluid Porsche brake bolts coming loose/falling out so the caliper was fine when I was driving forward just a clicking noise but when I stopped to investigate I could not reverse the car as the caliper was twisting and the brake was locking on. pads breaking down and material falling apart. Total brake failure Its never a good time and I'm lucky my issues have not been more serious with just time/money being all that is lost. Mine was on the road when those happened at various times where as you are on the track and at much higher speeds. What calipers do you run front/back?
	Porsche 944

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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Oct 14, 2018 6:54:19 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Oct 14, 2018 3:33:05 GMT acidburn said: does the hans stand for head and neck support? I've heard of stuff like that before. Really enjoying following your progress. When you switched from mega squirt 1 to 2, did you have a completely brand new ecu or just upgrade yours? wasn't sure if you had both then if one failed you could revert to the other so you can keep going on track. You was lucky with the brakes, I've had a few issues in the past rear drum wheel cylinder burst loosing pressure/fluid Porsche brake bolts coming loose/falling out so the caliper was fine when I was driving forward just a clicking noise but when I stopped to investigate I could not reverse the car as the caliper was twisting and the brake was locking on. pads breaking down and material falling apart. Total brake failure Its never a good time and I'm lucky my issues have not been more serious with just time/money being all that is lost. Mine was on the road when those happened at various times where as you are on the track and at much higher speeds. What calipers do you run front/back? yes, it is Head And Neck Support MS1 to MS2 is simply replacing the CPU. The hardware is identical its the actual CPU itself that is replaced. I run HiSpec RX15 6 piston calipers at the fron and standard MK4 Golf ones at the rear. As mine is now used soley on track, any issues I get always happen on track and I can`t shake it down on the road which is pain at times.


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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Oct 14, 2018 9:04:19 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	The last installment meant quite a bit for me here and for a variety of reasons. -It's the first time I'd been back to the 'ring in over 5 years. It' surprising what you forget over that time. I can thank RetroWarwicK for that offer. -It's also the only time I've driven another car over there. In this case it was a Rent-A-Race-Car Clio 220 Trophy. It softened my expectations of a hot hatch and oddly had me later preferring it to a Fiesta ST, which I didn't expect! -I forgot alot about the first time I went to the 'ring until I read this post. The Lindehoff is the first pint I had over at the 'ring. It was before he hit the 'ring in a couple of days time. All of us were aprehensive about tackling the Green Hell, but also had the excitement of doing it simultaneously! Back then the cars consisted of y 205 GTi, a friend's S2000, a friend's dad's XJS 5.3 V12 and another mate's C70 T5 GT 6 speed. The latter had a wirning harness failure at the 'ring just has we pulled into the Forsthaus guesthouse, a stone's throw away from the 'ring. He would end up repairing a good chunk of his wiring harness in the Guesthaus car park over the course of a few days. That was dedication to the cause. It's not really something I've seen until I came across yourself at the 'ring and with a handful of people at trackdays. I still remember driving past your Golf wondering why the session had been flagged! We thought you were lucky considering how bad the damaged looked, with no wing etc.! Aug 17, 2018 19:42:14 GMT petervdv said: Also enjoyed it. Do no know where this ends when you are succesfully chasing Aston Martins V8. I do not know much about racing but looking at the in board pictures, one can see that the Golf is very stable and balanced and you can see on the dashboard that you use the thottle earlier when coming out of a curve. That said, i am not sure i could sit next to you without needing clean pants. It really is a quick car and well balanced and credits to you it is not chequebook speed. Peter I do get your passenger comments Peter . I've been out with a few drivers over the years at various trackdays and the 'ring. Quite a few I do find troubling to settle myself with; I'm always on edge, wondering about the brown pants and 'what if". Nigel from my perspective really knows his way around the 'ring and is certainly a very smooth operator behind the wheel. After T13 I was fairly comfortable with him, and really enjoyed the privilege of being taken out for a passenger lap in the Pinderwagon. There are not many drivers where I feel at ease as a passenger either .
	Last Edit: Oct 17, 2018 0:46:28 GMT by ChasR '79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Oct 21, 2018 8:32:12 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Oct 14, 2018 9:04:19 GMT ChasR said: I've been out with a few drivers over the years at various trackdays and the 'ring. Quite a few I do find troubling to settle myself with; I'm always on edge, wondering about the brown pants and 'what if". Nigel from my perspective really knows his way around the 'ring and is certainly a very smooth operator behind the wheel. After T13 I was fairly comfortable with him, and really enjoyed the privilege of being taken out for a passenger lap in the Pinderwagon. There are not many drivers where I feel at ease as a passenger either . Thank you ! I didn`t know you were a nervous passenger. Feb 2017 I wanted to move the rear wing rearwards and up into the clearer airflow. Previous supports were 3mm Aluminium but I increased the size to 4mm as I wanted them to be stronger due to the increased leverage from the longer supports. The new wing location isn`t to give more rear grip, but hopefully by being in cleaner air it can be run at less of an angle and still give similar results due to them being more effective when mounted in cleaner air. I made a template out of the black plastic I use for the door cards and when pressing on it to simulate load, the single rear stay bent first so I added the extra diagonal to triangulate it better. Not exactly cutting edge stress analysis but enough to see what bent first Draw outline onto 4mm plate Duplicate outline for 2nd support Using a washer, position so it just touches the 2 lines and draw around the internal hole. This allows marking of the centre of the hole to be drilled to make the internal corner a radius instead of a sharp angle. Centre punch the middle of the circle Pilot drill every hole Drill with larger bit to just touch straight lines Cut out internal triangles using angle grinder and 1mm cutting disc Use various flat and round files then emery paper to smooth the cut edges Repeat for the 2nd support Lay supports over each other to confirm both are the same Move one slightly just to check both are identical Bend ends that will bolt to rear tailgate and spray in etch primer after preparation Spray Matt Black and mount.


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acidburn Part of things Posts: 149	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.acidburn @acidburn
	Nov 4, 2018 21:37:49 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Hmmm strange why I don't get replies on here anymore for this thread, I was enjoying following your progress. What happened to the drivers door trim? Surprised you've not removed them for the small little weight reduction
	Porsche 944

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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Nov 20, 2018 21:01:40 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Feb 2017 The problem with adding a flat floor and side skirts to aid Aero on the car means jacking the car becomes tricky. I had to drive the Golf onto some wood so I could slide the jack under the skirt and lift from a jacking point on the flat floor but that wasn`t ideal, also the flat floor started to deform unless the jack was positioned perfectly. The easiest way is to add some sill jacking points. I used the opportunity to address the cage footplate issue, when I first fitted the rollcage, I didn`t fully understand the need for plates welded under the `foot box` and it had been bugging me for a while. I`ve done both sides and you`ll see some photos from the drivers side and some from the passenger side. This is simply because I forgot to take all the necessary photos on one side... Matt`s E36 comes with these jacking points from the factory but when lifting it using 22mm rod, we found they weren`t up to the job and bent over time. I bought some 42mm od 3mm wall tube and some 35mm Solid rod which slides into the tube nice and snugly. Drilled from the outside with a 44mm holesaw after checking and double checking ! The paint was then ground off the surrounding area Looking through the hole you can see the outer visible sill, the centre section and the inner Some 3mm plate was shaped and welded to the floor, this will eventually support the cage foot. Cut another piece of 3mm plate and weld it vertically onto the inner sill. I then redrilled the hole from the outside, cutting through the fresh 3mm plate A 3mm plate was then welded on the outer sill This time I drilled through from the inside out Because I`d already fabricated the side-skirts I fitted that and drilled from the inside again which is far easier than trying to cut a hole afterwards as I did on the passenger side.. The tube was left too long as I can cut it later. The hole at this point required tidying up with a small file. The skirt was removed and I sprayed ZG-90 Cold Galvanizing Zinc paint everywhere I could get to inside the sills. I also have half a litre of this which is applied by brush but for areas like this the aerosol is better. You can see the paint between the layers. Some plate was welded over the end of the tube to stop water getting inside and then it was welded to the inner 3mm plate whilst ensuring it was horizontal first. Then the outside of the tube was welded up. If the tube wasn`t incorporated into the cage foot, that would be finished but I now needed to cover it up. Used some cardboard to make a template Traced onto 3mm plate Cutout and folded into shape then offered into place Welded the seams from the outside Decent penetration The box was tacked to the roll cage tube and then pulled away from the sill using a ratchet strap. This pulled it away enough to be able to weld the tricky area between the tube and the sill. Welded the rest of the tube to the box With the strap removed and the tube wedged back into place using a length of timber I had to weld the back of the box using a mirror but I`m pretty happy how it turned out !. Box welded to plates then timber removed Welding between the tube and the sill was tricky due to the size of my gas nozzle but I managed to get it done with a good weld. Primer and top coat applied. With footrest and cage padding fitted External tube after first coat of black. After 2nd coat and skirt fitted. Mesh still to fit in the opening of the wing vent. Some 10mm plate was cut into a circle and welded to the 35mm bar. The welder was struggling with this ! I painted it yellow as it should make it easier to find and also stop people walking into it without realising it`s there.. Rod inserted into the tube and the car lifted. with the weight distribution of the Golf, this lifts the rear wheel at the same time so I don`t need to fit a tube further back. I also have a longer piece of Rod which has enough clearance to get an axle stand between the round plate and the car. The next step is to make some tubular axle stands than can be integrated into the lifting rod. I`ll add photos when they are finished. A few showing the longer rod and jack at full height This is the jack at full lift and showing the disc sat in the jack, it doesn`t slide out at all.
	Last Edit: Nov 20, 2018 21:06:23 GMT by pinderwagen

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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Nov 26, 2018 7:47:43 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	FEB 2017 At the end of 2016 I had a weird intermittent electrical misfiring issue and I was 100% it was wiring related. I`d rewired the ECU loom earlier last year but still retained part of the original loom for certain parts of the wiring. This time I removed everything ECU related and wired it all up independently to a new set of relays and fuses. I can disconnect the car loom which means I won`t have wipers, brake lights etc but I can run the engine and IF I have an issue in the future it will make it easier to diagnose if I have an issue with the Car loom or ECU Loom. Bought a load of wire. All the colours and gauge I needed. I also wanted a wiring diagram that not only covered all the standard wiring but covered the extra circuits and connectors I`d added so I redrew the entire ECU wiring loom. By having the loom in electronic format I can zoom in and out and also hide unwanted layers. For example, this is the Injector supply and trigger circuit only. It makes it much easier to follow. This is the Boost control layer DB37 connector held in a vice whilst I soldered the individual wires to it. To enable the loom to be built off the car, I added connectors to every wires that I needed to connect to a fixed point. This is to the boost control solenoid for example You can`t do this sort of job without a ratchet crimp tool, assorted crimps and various sizes of heatshrink. Every crimp was electrically tested and then pulling the wire hard to ensure it was physically secure. Obviously I wasn`t going to reuse any old connectors so I bought new crimp connectors for the injectors, Crank Position Sensor, TPS, Water temp and coilpack connections. Clicked into place I wanted to be able to access and remove the ECU easily so installed 4 rivnuts into the floor Test fit 4-rubber bobbins to the ECU Bobbins screwed into the Rivnuts ECU Mounted to the Bobbins. I know it`s overkill, but I ran the main injector feed in a thicker gauge wire and then short tails to each ECU Heatshrink with internal Glue was used on EVERY joint. New connectors fitted. New feed and triggers to the Coilpack plug with new connectors. The ECU loom was built off the car and only required plugging in, a 12V fused feed to the Coilpack and Injectors and Ground connection and the 2 multi-plugs to other components. The ECU Fuses and Fuelpump relays. I have a 70A relay to the secondary pump and 40A for the lift pump. The wires are all long enough to enable the board to be lifted into the footwell for easy testing when diagnosing an issue. The multi connectors are fiddly but easy when you`ve done a few. Camera 12V to 5V USB converters. Ancillary relay board and fuse. For Power Steering pump, VAC Pump and cooling fan. I used the opportunity to replace the Isolator switch with an FIA one that not only cuts the 12V from the battery but Earths everything through a resistor once isolated which is to stop the alternator back-feeding the loom. Just needs labels for the relays The previous loom had short tails going to the dash switches. Whilst his was nice and tidy, it meant it was difficult to remove a switch and test without unplugging it. The new tails were left much longer. They need tucking out of the way but it makes removing switches to test far easier. The ECU relay/Fuse board, Ancillary Relay Board and switches all have long wires to enable easy testing but are fastened up behind the dash when in use. ECU in place, Fuseboard in place. This is obviously just waiting to be kicked by a passenger.. Cover and footrest in place. Not only tidy everything up but stop any accidental damage from passengers. This was tested at Oulton and even though I ran over some aggressive kerbs to highlight any connection issues I didn`t have a single problem all day. Fingers crossed that`s the end of the wiring problems..


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gess Part of things Posts: 220	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.gess @gess
	Nov 26, 2018 8:19:14 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Impressive work on the wiring. It seems so easy when other people are doing it, but I Know that it takes quite some time to do it properly, soldering and shrinking. You are not worried that the extra weight of the wires will slow you down? :-)


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georgeb Posted hell of a lot Posts: 7,864	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.georgeb @georgeb
	Nov 26, 2018 12:43:43 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Nov 26, 2018 7:47:43 GMT pinderwagen said: Bought a load of wire. All the colours and gauge I needed. Lost me here, and I've got a bloody P38!
	1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE Letter from Manila

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pinderwagen Part of things Posts: 153	Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo Trackcar with Aero.The Pinderwagen.pinderwagen @pinderwagen
	Dec 12, 2018 7:28:09 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	March 2017. Sorry chaps, I`m slacking with these updates Our Northloop `season opener` trackday had been planned since December and we had over 20 cars booked on the event. Not only is it a trackday but it`s a good chance to meet up with friends at the same time. A group of 20 of us went out on Friday evening for a meal and a beer. What a great start to a trackday. Woke before the alarm. As usual... Breakfast in the hotel then a short drive to the circuit. We were one of the first there. At Oulton I`d had the misfire when I tested the Megasquirt 2 CPU so was keen to sort it. A MASSIVE thank you to Gurds who spent the time replicating the fault and then tried many filter combinations until he found the ones that removed the phantom triggers. He sent me the necessary settings and I added them to the ECU. After noise testing I drove through the tunnel, nailed it in 1st and it revved straight round to 7,300rpm. No hint of a misfire ! Everything unloaded and then to the briefing during which Steve mentionedhow slippy it would be many times. I`m sure people thought he was exaggerating. Knowing the ECU was fixed was a big weight of my mind and I queued up for the sighting laps knowing everything was working. I was on the new Pirelli rain tyres, not because it was raining but because I wanted to scrub them in so that if I ever needed them in the rain I would have already worn off the release agent. Rockingham, is the slippiest surface I`ve ever driven in the wet and several people span on the sighting laps. Grahamwho is a regular trackday driver span on the first corner of the first sighting lap. Grippy it was not.Fuelling was still rich and it smoked on acceleration at 4,000rpm. We were both looking at the AFR which dropped to 10.2 at this point. No issue, we just changed the fuelling table after these laps. Came in after the sighting laps, checked tyre pressures and then went straight out for 2 laps to get the tyres cleaned up and check the boost delivery and fuelling. Absolutely no issues whatsoever apart from the front screen started misting in the corners. We were coming back in to swap the wheels anyway so Matt applied the Anti-fog at the same time. The beauty of a large group going together is you can book out 8 adjacent garages which made chatting to mates between sessions dead simple. I fitted the Pilot Sport Cups, they were an old set I wanted to kill off before getting some better ones put on the rims before the Nurburgring in April. First lap out and they were sliding everywhere and I had that tricky couple of laps where I was trying to get heat into old tyres but not sliding everywhere. As soon as them started warming up they were fine. Simon also swapped onto better tyres at the same time. Because we were all next to each other, there were several `coffee stations` in the garages, various people had brought tea, coffee, biscuits etc and it meant you could have a cuppa and a chat between sessions which added to the relaxed atmosphere of the day. Unfortunately, nobody brought any Milk ! Gurds very kindly popped out and bought 8 pints . [img src="pinderwagen.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/172D-1024x768.jpg" style="max-width:100%;"] Matt and I queued to go out again and whilst I was struggling to get my helmet on and connect to the Hans, Adam snapped a quick photo. Believe it or not I don`t always look this happy but it`s rare you don`t see me with a smile on my face when I`m on a trackday The circuit was open and there were no queues whatsoever. I spotted Nick taking photos so purposefully took a bit of Kerb By now the track was drying out and I was able to press on a bit. Gurds had turned up for some passenger laps so I took him out. It was his first time since I`d fitted the plate diff and it was interesting to hear his thoughts. Traction was good but the lack of ball joint extenders to correct the roll centre seemed particularly noticeable at Rockingham. Perhaps it`s the slower corners and change of direction ? I`m not sure but it was particularly noticeable here. The Golf was incredibly stable through the high speed corners and I was able to close up on cars that had pulled away in the slower bits. There was a good dry line starting to appear now and I was able to start pressing on even more. I always find the rain helps show up what the airflow is doing. The inner `scoop` is ducting air into the brake ducts but is causing some turbulence on the outside of it which is flowing all the way out to the end plates. Not a big issue, just interesting to me Back in, checked the tyre pressures and the front right was at 44psi. Yeah, that`ll be why it was understeering more and more as the session went on. Between sessions I parked in the garage and gave everything a once over. A couple of fuelling tweaks to the ECU map but only fine tuning as we`d done most of it at Oulton. I don`t often make the time to look round other cars but as we were all in the same garage I did it much more than usual. Lou went out for a lap with Steve in the Caterham and really enjoyed it too ! It was just before lunch and Lou asked if I`d take her out. She rarely comes out for a session but when she asks I always take her out. What followed was a session that she won`t forget in a hurry. I still don`t fully understand why, but she did not enjoy it at ALL! I`ve never seen anyone so relieved to see the chequered flag waved for lunch A selection of sandwiches and snacks for lunch and then some cake. Unfortunately we hadn`t brought a knife so had to use the teaspoon handle instead. Layout changed after lunch to the same one the BTCC use and one I prefer. Some people prefer the one they ran in the morning but I really don`t like the chicane on the banking on that configuration. There was a massive variety of cars in our garages from a 400+HP S14 to a Bog standard V reg MX5 The sun was out and the circuit was dry Cat jumped in for a session Once the tyres had warmed up I was able to press on and try a few different techniques, in particular left foot braking. I still don`t have the necessary finesse to do this properly but the only way to improve is to keep doing it and I was much better by the end of the day. I`d taken Ian out and a few others and then Chris asked if he could jump in for a session as he hadn`t been out with me for years. Ian jumped in with Alastair in the Elise and Ste&Karan also planned to go out. Was it finally going to happen ? Al, Ste and me all on track in working cars at the SAME TIME !!?? It did and oh what fun it was too ! I was in the lead for the first few laps then let Alastair past so I could follow him. Ste tagged onto the back of me and then I let him past to follow. It was a fantastic session and the differences between the cars was really apparent. The Elises had a noticeable advantage out of the slower corners. I simply couldn`t live with them. The last chicane onto the banking was where I really struggled to keep up too, apart from one lap when I went through it just right and kept up with Alastair. Then we got tot he banking and I reeled them both in every lap. The Aero was working and the Golf was absolutely planted through there. Then I braked for Deene hairpin and the pedal went to the floor ! It had felt a little bit soft the lap before but not that bad. Basically I`d boiled the brake fluid. What`s particularly frustrating is that I have new fluid at home and had already planned to flush it after this trackday before I went to the Nurburgring in a month ! Lesson learned, Rockingham is hard on brakes and in future I`ll ensure the fluid is in good condition. After a cruise round the banking I came back into the pits where we all parked up to discuss the session. You know it was a good one when everyone is talking at once. It has taken us a few years to all be on track together but it was worth it. The day could have finished right then and I`d have been happy. Matt jumped in for another session where we were watching the boost control and fuelling. The Fuel was almost spot on but it was overboosting slightly. Then Cat hopped into the passenger seat for the last session. No particular drama until the next to last lap when I came across Rich exiting the pits. Quite simply, he hadn`t seen me at all and started moving towards the outside of the track. I thought he was going to stop but he just kept coming. Well, until I flew past at just under 130MPH.... He came across straight after and couldn`t stop apologising. I can understand why it happened, whilst he knew he wasn`t supposed to move across after exiting the pits, the Golf isn`t a particularly bright colour and as you can`t run with the headlights lit on UK trackdays it can blend in a bit. Especially somewhere as grey as Rockingham. Daytime running lights would certainly have helped in this scenario. Fortunately no harm done but it was a timely reminder of what could happen.. I ran open loop boost control before lunch then switched to closed loop after. Running closed loop gave a noticeable urgency straight after a gearchange and I wasn`t quite sure why. Looking at the data afterwards it was obvious. Open loop simply sets the boody solenoid duty at a fixed percentage for the revs, in this case 34% What the closed loop control does is set that to 100% until the boost is within 0.2Bar of target when it switches to PID control. This gives maximum spool and reduces the time to reach target. The green trace is steeper on closed loop control. After the target is reached it oscillates a little but I can tune that out at the Ring in April. Over the entire afternoon session peak revs were 7385rpm with zero misfires and peak boost was 1.3Bar instead of the usual 0.9 to 1.0 This was overshoot from the boost controland whilst I know I could turn up the boost, I`ll stick to the 1.0Bar that I know works reliably for a while Day over and it was time to load up. Tools and tyres onto the trailer first and by then the garages were empty as just about everyone else had left. By the time we`d packed up and were about to leave, everyone else had already gone. Tyres were well worn and I`m quite happy to bin them now A steady drive home gave me time to think about the day in more detail.Apart from a brake fluid flush the Golf could have done a trackday tomorrow. This is most pleasing. The only other issue is the roll centre correction which I`m already on with and that will be sorted before Germany anyway. The boost control needs minor tweaking but that`s an ongoing thing anyway. The day was a complete success. Not only was the Golf faultless but the people there made it a great event and when pretty much everyone was asking "when is the next one !?" whilst packing up, you know it went well. A final thanks to Neil, Gary, Nick and Martin for their photos. Without them there wouldn`t be any of the Golf on track and not as many in the paddock which would make this report a much shorter and less interesting one.
	Last Edit: Dec 12, 2018 7:31:32 GMT by pinderwagen

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