Lakeside Track / Sprint Day – First Experience

[SSEN8R VS #1081Participant Brisbane, North Side\'97 VS II HSV Senator 185i View build HERE Member since: March 16, 2015 Posts: 227]

Car: ’97 VS II HSV Senator 185i (196,000km & stock)

So since I had shocks, springs, steering bits and all bushes replaced in my VS Senator, I’ve been itching to give it a proper thrash on the track.

A friend with a 260z datto has been doing track days at Lakeside with the BMW Qld Car Club, and gave me the inside goss. So I signed up and parted with $225 for full track day.

BMW guys advised to get my car checked over, changed brake fluid and pump up the street tyres to 40+ psi cold, as street tyres have come off rims before. They also reiterated the mechanic check was important as there is no scrutineering on the day, and everyone will get grumpy if you are leaking oil over the track. Oh and you need a helmet, but nothing else extra. Mate said bring jerry can with extra fuel as there is no fuel at the track itself.

I got my car checked over my mechanic who done the suspension 3 months earlier. He said the car was in good order, but brake pads were less than 50%, so be aware of potential for brake fade. Also, he adjusted my clutch cable and asked how old it was. It’s 5 years old, so he advised I might be after a new clutch if I am unlucky.

I got the day off work (friday) and arrived at Lakeside about 7am for the 7.30 beginners track walk. I signed up for my Queensland Raceways Clubman Licence ($50/yr).

For the track walk we drove the track stopping at every corner, jumping out and discussing the race line. Doug who ran the day and worked for Qld Raceways, pointed out what seemed like every death on the track and what they did wrong… death! That was bit of a wake up call. Lakeside doesn’t really have any run off areas, so you are pretty much into the tyre wall or concrete barrier. So at the end of the track walk I got a good idea of where not to be, and some good markers to try and hit to get a good race line going. The basic thing he kept saying was to turn in late – by turning in late you won’t run off the track on the exit, then you progressively get on the gas earlier and turning earlier. They had painted a white line on the last corner onto the main straight which if you crossed 3 times, by a metre, you get a 6 month ban! This was due to a spate of people crashing into the wall which is only a couple of metres away from the edge of the track. No one has crashed into the wall since the white line was painted.

We had a driver briefing, which was as you imagined. Advised that overtaking in only allowed on the main straight and if the driver infront lets you pass. The person overtaking will get the blame if there is a crash. Then I got grouped into ‘group D’ – the beginners group. No over taking in group D. Group A had proper track cars, not road registered, that had been trailered to the track. Was surprised to hear there was some noise reistrictions – meaning you need to have a muffler and proper exhaust on your car. Oh and you had to have your windows up higher enough that you head/helmet can’t fit out of it. We also got told to take everything out of your car. They didn’t mention anything about the spare tyre, so I didn’t remove it but in hindsight the strap was coming lose so I will take it out next time.

The format of racing was rotating sessions of 5 hot laps per group, and was advised that hopefully we would get in 10-12 sessions done in the day – sweet! so potentially 50+ racing laps.

I moved my car next to pit with the other group D racers. Got chummy with bloke with VZ Monaro (slightly modded) and bloke with new BMW 335 (240kW). I had a look around, apart from a BMW Z4, I definately had the slowest car. I think the Audi R8 propably was the highest powered car in my group.

We had to put magnets with group letter on our cars and a laminated race number in the window.

The BMW car club had a MC on a microphone lining up the next group to go out and giving 5 min warnings. Group A went out first, while group B queued up.

Group D’s turn came around – I queued up 2nd last in the group with the monaro and new BMW 335 infront of me.

Went out, did our 5 hot laps, and pulled back into the pits. I was only pushing 5/10 as I was more worried about trying to get the race line right. First problem was the engine temp was getting near 90%!!!! I don’t normally have any temp probs except for really hot days being stuck in traffic with AC on, which when I turn the AC off it cools down. Obviously I didn’t have the AC on when doing my laps. So I didn’t turn the car off until the engine temp got back down to 2/3rds.

Went to the Control Tower and picked up print out of our lap times – I did a faster lap time than the monaro and new BMW, so was happy with that.

Queued up for second session, about 3 cars wanted me to go infront of them! Second session begun. I was starting to get the feel for the race line and was down shifting probably a little bit too much. Managed to get a little compression lock going from 4th to 3rd, which I have never done before. Was starting to push it to about a 7/10 – was braking a bit later and keeping on the accelerator the whole was down the straight. Then about half way through the session, my clutch pedal hit the floor…. Oh no… So I pulled off the track, luckily was near a pit entrance, and rolled into the pits. I knew straight away that was the end of my day. Once stopped I realised that I had not blown the clutch, the actual clutch pedal box had snapped so I couldn’t engage the clutch anymore. Pulled the plastic panels off and I could see the pedal bracket was snapped and hence the clutch pedal was moving in a weird direction. This was just after 11am, and the track day went until 4pm – grrrr!

Managed to get RACQ to flat bed my car back to my mechanic under the membership (no charge). Said I was spectating though. I was home by 1pm while others were still racing :(

Lap times from Lakeside Raceway track day:
Session 1:
1:19.7
1:17.3
1:15.3<span class=”text_exposed_show”>
1:14.7
1:13.6
Session 2:
1:13.2
1:13.0
1:12.1</span>

As you can see I was still making good progress. The worse bit was that the car was going great, but the clutch smell was pretty strong when I pulled into the pits after the break down.

Got the car fixed – replacement pedal box, which was reinforced with extra welds and bracing, installed. New upgraded radiator installed. New brake pads, rotors, and brake master cylinder/booster. So hopefully no brake or overheating issues. Also the clutch is still working fine.

Lakeside race track is really interesting track due to the ups and downs. I thought it looked a bit boring on paper, but I was prooven wrong. See attachment.

The BMW car club track day was really well run, very professional, and a very friendly bunch of blokes, but they did keep making jokes about my “BMW Senator”, hehe.

All booked for next track day (sat 18/4), which is only a track arvo this time ($140). It’s with the BMW car club again, but not organised by them this time, so should be plenty of different cars. Will post how I go. Hopefully don’t blow the clutch or something.

Definitely recommend giving a track day a go!

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My build thread - http://www.commodoresplus.com.au/forums/topic/vs-ii-senator-185i-1081/
My track day thread - http://www.commodoresplus.com.au/forums/topic/lakeside-track-sprint-day-second-go/
My VS brake upgrade thread - http://www.commodoresplus.com.au/forums/topic/vs-brake-upgrades/

[SSEN8R VS #1081Participant Brisbane, North Side\'97 VS II HSV Senator 185i View build HERE Member since: March 16, 2015 Posts: 227]

One other thing I will say – having a $10k car meant I wasn’t too worried about writing it off. But if I had a $50k car I may have been a little more hesitant. Another mate doesn’t want to go back cos he had a sh*t ya pants moment in his $75k car, and I think the flashes of what his missus would say freaked him out.

My build thread - http://www.commodoresplus.com.au/forums/topic/vs-ii-senator-185i-1081/
My track day thread - http://www.commodoresplus.com.au/forums/topic/lakeside-track-sprint-day-second-go/
My VS brake upgrade thread - http://www.commodoresplus.com.au/forums/topic/vs-brake-upgrades/

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

Fantastic write up mate, great read, really makes me what to have a go at this. Cheers.

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