Race report from Phillip Island 25th/26th April

Ross Nicol

GT40s Supporter
Our first State race meeting at Phillip Island at the weekend was a bit up and down for me. Preparation on the car started 2 weeks ago when I tried to prepare the Lotus Europa for a Club day at Winton. It all went wrong on Saturday afternoon when I couldn't complete the installation of some new front Calipers (due to not having the correct plumbing) and after considering taking the 40 and not being able to find my race license at 4am I admitted defeat.Of course I found the license later that night but this debacle proved I needed to prepare for Phillip Island much earlier. So I managed to con Andrew East into driving for many miles to come and help me set up the suspension on Sunday the 19th. We spent the whole day on it and I was shocked to find how far out it was.

Right rear 5.5mm Toe in
Left rear 1mm Toe out
Right front 1mm Toe out
left front 5mm Toe out

Yep and I had raced it like that at 2 meetings in NZ with that set up.I can't blame anyone but myself as Russ Noble offered me the string lines and I said no it's ok. I did notice it turned in one direction a lot better than the other. Anyway I will check the setup before all future meetings.
Andrew and I set to work and finished up with.

Right rear 3.1° neg camber, 2mm Toe in
Left rear 3.1° neg camber, 1.5mm Toe in
Right front 4.1° neg camber, 1mm Toe out
Left front 3.9° neg camber, 1mm Toe out

We double checked the results before finishing and I wrote down all the numbers.
This left me with the rest of the week to change the oil, bleed the brakes and check pads, plus lots of other little jobs.
I have never been happy with the oil change procedure because merely draining the dry sump tank and refilling it with fresh oil always left a lot of old black oil in the engine and I thought there must be a way to flush the old oil out.So here is my new procedure. Drain the tank (as usual) fill with fresh oil, dismantle the tank return line and run the engine while draining old oil into tray. Top up tank as necessary. When fresh oil appears at drain point reconnect to tank. Replace filter.
I managed to complete all jobs by friday evening and loaded the car on the trailer before getting home for a relaxing night.
Up at 6am and on the road to Phillip Island at 6.30am.
Arrived at 7.45am and all preparation/paperwork completed on time. I was feeling relaxed, although I was missing Russ Noble's helping hands and good humour. The track was dry when we got out for qualifying and it wasn't long before I recognised how good the handling was. Turn in was good in both directions and the steering actually didn't feel heavy. I thought mmm maybe I didn't get the suspension set up right after the scrub radius changes. Anyway as normal I didn't push hard enough and only qualified in 13th place and behind a 240z by a tenth of a sec.
Race 1 on Sat afternoon and I fluffed the start a little as the red lights went out fairly quickly. I did jump the 240z and a few others until I came up on the back of Robin Bailey's MGB V8. It was good to be up on his tail as I knew he had qualified a couple of secs faster than me. He had all sorts of trouble with rear grip but we were neck and neck down the straight. Later Robin admitted to having 380hp which I'd say is pretty close to what I have at the moment. Anyway I had a lot of fun monstering our club vice president from behind all through the race, even though we were slowing each other down to 1min 49sec laps. Finished 10th
Sunday dawned and as promised rain and lots of gale force wind. Phillip Island is on the Southern coast looking out to Bass Strait and when it's cold and wet only an idiot wouln't have a garage. Yep you guessed it that idiot was me. Anyway just before the 2nd race on Sun morning the executive decision was made to change to wet tyres and I got my clothes wet in completing this task. Luckily I was able to change into my dry driving suit. Got off the start line ok and shot up behind the front guys but as we rounded Southern loop a P.... car 2 spots in front lost it and after a dab on the brakes I found myself doing the same thing. I ended up doing a 180 and onto the grass rejoining the rear of the grid. The car was handling well in the wet and I managed to pull back a few places and even a P.... driver who was slow in the wet. I nearly got past him but monstered him for about 3 laps before he crossed the line just in front of me in 9th place.
The last race 10 laps on Sunday afternoon turned out to be an 'if only' affair as My tyre choice proved to be very wrong. I was on slicks and as we sat on the dummy grid down came the rain. Several cars dived in on the parade lap to change tyres and didn't make the start but ended up a wise move. I started with only 2 cars ahead of me and was going ok but the rain got heavier and I was aquaplaning a lot. I completed 8 laps and finally had a tank slapping episode which shot me off the track and into the kitty litter. I was quite impressed though as I had set a lap time equivalent to a P.... driver and he was on wet tyres. I'm hoping to get the good motor in before the year is out as now I feel confident the handling is ready for it. Got absolutely soaked loading up for the trip home so drove all the way with the heater on high. Great fun motor racing isn't it. Next meeting Sandown 22nd/23rd May.
Ross
 

Keith

Moderator
Cheers Ross, thanks for the update. Can't wait for the race motor now. Just think, all you'll need is a two tier diffuser and you'll be uncatchable!

Good luck mate,,

Keith
 

Pete McCluskey.

Lifetime Supporter
Souds like you had a lot of fun...not. PI in the wet with the wind howling in from the Antartic can be a miserable place.
Today in Brissy it is fine and clear.Top temp will get to 27c...Maybe you should think of moving north mate?:lipsrsealed:
 
The weather migh be warmer but how do the tracks compare, you have to go a long way to find a track as good as PI (Despite the rain)

Iain
 

Pete McCluskey.

Lifetime Supporter
The weather migh be warmer but how do the tracks compare, you have to go a long way to find a track as good as PI (Despite the rain)

Iain
I can't argue with that, the island is one of my favourite tracks for both bikes and cars. On the other hand QLD raceway AKA the paper clip is pretty boring.
 

Malcolm

Supporter
Great to hear you are still at it Ross. And that the P..... cars are still the villains of the peice! All race tracks are bad places to be when it rains and blows hard.
 

Ron Earp

Admin
Sounds like a great time, nice report! Vids?

You re-learned the axiom about checking your setup each time. Same axiom I re-learned this past weekend too and it cost me.

Enjoy reading the reports and keep them up. Got a couple coming out myself today.
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Excellent Ross!!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

For those of you who are curious where Philip Island is in relationship to everything (as I was) - check this link;
Phillip Island - Google Maps

Ross - Curious about your setup.
How far out from the axle centerline do you measure your toe settings?
The setup as you found them would have been a very VERY wicked car to drive regardless of track conditions..
Wet conditions must have been like looking straight into the Devil's eyes and spitting on him..
 

Ross Nicol

GT40s Supporter
Hi Randy
I take toe measurements by measuring back from a string line to the wheel rim. Yes the car was an absolute dream to drive, after the suspension set up. The more I drive it the more I learn too. Wet weather driving is great for testing your car control, however on slicks in pouring rain was probably pushing the envelope a bit far. The only time I felt a little scared was when I lost it in turn one, the walls are not far from the track there and no kitty litter to slow you down. I think I was getting a bit cheeky and was taunting the car to see how fast I could go as the track got more water logged. One word of warning, when a 40 lets go at the rear it goes so quick you don't have a lot of time to catch it before the inevitable spin. I found the steering input (opposite lock) required to catch an oversteer, was very small and when I finally spun out, it was because I had over corrected. Funny thing is I knew I was gone the moment I put that correction on the steering. Sure enough the sling back the other way was fierce and the car went straight off, with quite a bit of momentum too.
Ross:thumbsup:
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Hi Ross,

Precisely where I do my Toe measurements at.. I find that there are many schools of thought here in what is supposed to be the "correct" place to measure toe..

In the handling of your Forty -

You've described exactly the handling of a Cobra. I raced a Factory Five Challenge car (Cobra replica) for a few years and it would do the exact same thing..
You had to be on-your-game when you were pushing the car hard (which we're supposed to do the whole race right?) .. When she'd start to stick her tail out - you have to be quick with the counter steer, but also ready to catch her when she'd get nasty and pop back in the opposite direction.
Many times I would find myself just letting go of the firm grip I had on the wheel and letting the castor angle spin the wheel back to center and then grasping it once again to finish counter steering in the opposite direction...
Great fun if you're not in the wet or serious traffic... :stunned:

In the wet the Cobra was like riding bare-back on a seriously ticked off wart-hog...
Nothing you could do with any of the inputs was "right" and you literally had to cajole it around the track gently - pushing it a little harder each time corner-by-corner as if you were trying to not allow the beast to know it was being made to go faster...
Nothing pleased me more in a rain race with that car more than seeing the Checkers fly at the end of it all - position meant very little. Being able to drive it into the trailer meant a lot..

Soldier on my friend!
 

Ross Nicol

GT40s Supporter
Sorry guys I didn't have the camera in the car for this meeting. I've got a fair bit of in car video from NZ which I'm currently making into a DVD movie. I was only going to do enough copies for my sponsors but I'd make the DVD available to anyone for a fee to cover postage and other out of pocket expenses. I've found the firewire output on my camera doesn't work so I'm having to borrow one to get the video onto the computer. The owners just got it back off me so delays are inevitable.
Ross:thumbsup:
 
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