Barbagallo Circuit - WASCC Tuning Day - March 21st 2011

After more than 3 months of circuit absence (!!) I finally managed to get out there and stretch my legs !
I left home at 8am and drove some 40kms north to the circuit. The weather was quite cool (high 20s) but very windy and so after finding a decent pit spot I unpacked and began to prepare my car.

I wanted today to be about pure practice and no so much about time attack but since it was a Monday and only a few cars on the circuit I had plenty of room to experiment.

Firstly the car was a little bit lighter with the removal of rear seats and trim. Unfortunately I couldn't remove the front passenger seat in fear of getting pulled over by cops and slapped with a fine. Perhaps next time ...
All that weight removed allowed me to run a slightly softer settings on my rear damper and it worked a treat !

Today was also the first time driving with the new REDLINE lightweight shockproof gear oil (see earlier posts) ! The oil was a pleasant surprise. I was amazed how easy it was to change gears, how quiet the changes were and how smooth downshifting was. It is a pretty good oil ! I remember back in Japan how painful the original Honda gear oil was and what a world of difference it was to move to OMEGA. Now I feel the same way about REDLINE and looks like I am going to stick with it (for now at least).

PROJECT MU HC-CS pads worked really well today (!) as well ! This is the 2nd time they've been used on this circuit and i am about 50% into the pad. I am liking this pad a lot so I am going to get another set this week from Japan.

Now for the driving. I was a bit apprehensive today and taking it easy, concentrating more on experimenting with different racing line and breaking points. Didn't break any records although recorded consistent 1'12''s throughout the day. One thing was driving me nuts though and this is a dejavu from my days in japan, a bloody annoying rattle or some kind of vibration coming from near the exhaust manifold. I had this problem before where I used to snap a bolt from the exhaust manifold cover every time I hit Fuji Speedway. Later on we found out this was due to a broken engine mount but after checking it today all the bolts were there so something else must be at play. I am planning on dedicating a day sometime this or next week to get under the car and check things out. I hope it's something minor but time will tell.

Other than that the wind died down by mid afternoon and a few more cars rocked up. My friend Mikey showed up and drove another friend's CRX recording a commandable time of 1'11''! It was good to see a Honda Civic EG there also ! Overall a nice albeit hot day and a lot of fun !

Big thanks to Cameron for taking the photos on the day !
In-car footage coming soon ...

-Rod