Straightened out

Yesterday was a hell of a day !
I had 2 appointments to attend to, the 1st of them was with Wheels World to have my alignment corrected and the new tyres fitted and the 2nd one was with GoGear Racing Services to have my car scrutineered before saturday's sprint event.

In the morning I went to get my car from the garage and it wouldn't start. All I was getting was ticking / clicking sounds but no turning. First I thought it was the alarm system somehow short circuiting my wiring but then I had a quick check of the battery and it was flat ! I hadn't driven the car for over 4 weeks so the bloody alarm drained the battery completely. Not having any means of jumpstarting the car I frantically called my dad to see if he had a charger available and guess what ? He did and so after about 30 mins of charging the car finally started !

I drove to Wheels World and the guy there took over the car immediately and started with the alignment.

The very first thing that struck me was how high-tech their alignment workspace was. They have a dedicated ramp, perfectly levelled and fully adjustable in all 4 corners.

They then attach what I call spiders to each and every wheel, connect them up to each other and the computer system nearby and off they go.

The level of precision is amazing ! The computer display tells them of any change occuring as a result of adjusting any of the angles across any of the 4 wheels until they get it right.

The mechanic there was so experienced that he breezed right through the initial setup and all the subsequent adjustments.

My 'before' setup was strange. First of all my camber on the left side was about half a degree off from my camber on the right. One could speculate that was caused by the height adjustments after the car's journey from Japan to Australia. My toe in front and rear was off also but only marginally.

While all that was happening I was relaxing in their lounge drinking water and watching Daytona on their TV.
After about an hour all was done, adjusted and it was time for the new tyres to go on.

New tyres anyone ? Take your pick !

I had the tyres inflated with air as opposed to nitrogen but from talking to the guys I learnt that when you use nitrogen air pressure is more stable and doesn't flactuate as much with an increasing temperature as normal air. Anyway for $5/tyre it's a steal but not this time.

John, who is the owner of the shop and the sole distributor of ADVAN racing wheels in Western Australia gave me a nice before/after printout of my alignment and charged me a nominal amount for the job.

My most immediate reaction after leaving their shop was 'why is the car driving in a straight line' ? It felt much better than before so let's hope it handles as well on the track where it matters.

After all that at 3pm I drove to have my car scrutineered by Ivan Tan from GoGear Racing Services. The car passed without issues although he suggested something I'd already noticed which was the front disc rotors beginning to crack a little and so sooner rather than later will have to be replaced. He also had some concerns about the seatbelts I've been using but after seeing me sit in my usual racing position he concluded that those JDM recaro seats are actually fine and no issue with the seatbelts really existed.

So...

This saturday from 7am, class 5A (under 2L road registered). Forecast says a few showers and under 20C. My goal is NOT to come last. Anything else is a bonus.

Till then
- Rod