My Puma.. Maximum Track Attack!!

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Went to the fast car festival at Donington Park yesterday and took part in a few track sessions, was my first time driving the car since Cadwell Park back in May and it was great to be back behind the wheel again.

The sessions I was out in I was up against some seriously quick (and expensive) machinery... at one point I was sharing the track with an Aston Martin Vulcan!! £2,000,000 car with my little Puma for company! The guy was clearing very nervous about being on track in a public session.

Any way, the day was great, the sun was shining and the car was going pretty well holding its own against everything else on track. In one session we spent 3 laps being held up by this....

19601143_10154815946088786_6138520465801298922_n.jpg


It was the Vulcan owners "toy"

I dont have any other pics of the car from the day as of yet and only one short video. My Gopro decided to stop working after about 4 minutes of recording and froze up.

Link - [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYDHjdjqESs[/youtube]
 
How are you finding that rear wing Jay? Does it help? Is it placebo? Extra downforce in the corners would help I would imagine..
 
I did wonder if it would make any difference at all but I genuinely feel it has helped the car massively through faster corners. Example 1:
Turn 1 at Rockingham... flat in the car without the wing but the car moved about a bit mid corner and never felt 100% stable, now though with the wing its easy flat and the car feels much more planted and easy to control. Just keep it pinned and make one movement on the steering wheel.

Example 2... and this is the one that convinced me it is working, flat through Craner Curves at Donington. I've driven the corner plenty of times without the wing and never really had the confidence to go flat out at the left hander, did a couple of sessions a few weeks ago and built myself up to being able to take it flat out, the wing really is helping keep the rear of the car settled in the higher speed corners. It felt nice and planted turning in and I was able to push hard through the craners and fly through the old hairpin.

Its just a shame I dont have any lap time comparisons to check if its making the times faster but, from behind the wheel it feels better.

It just need to sort the new engine out now!
 
Sounds good.. I imagine then that the S1600/S1700 rear wing should do a similar job then as I thought that had been designed for stability in corners.
 
Yeah I imagine it would be the cost and rarity of them just made it pretty much unobtainable for me... Plus I dont really like the look of them.

Next track day booked... Thinking I might take the wing off for some back to back comparisons at Blyton Park
 
The S1600/S1700 is available off the shelf or within 2 weeks usually. But I agree the cost of it makes it unobtainable for most people.

Is yours easy enough to bolt on and off in the pits?
 
Yeah I'll just take the spoiler blade out and leave the supports in place. Its just a couple of nuts and bolts to undo.
 
Prepping for the next track day on bank holiday Monday at Blyton Park has begun.

I think I've cured the long running over fueling issue, fitted the adjustable pressure reg last week and the car seems all the better for it. The old standard reg also looked a bit beyond its best.

I still have lots of other "little" jobs that I need to take car of, will hopefully get chance to work on it this weekend or next.

Very little or no progress elsewhere as we moved house mid June and we're still unpacking boxes and sorting the house out. All being well the garage will be cleared soon and I can get the car in and press on with the turbo build.
 
So this weekend could potentially be a big one....Its been about 9 weeks since I moved house and the Puma has been stored at my parents house during this time. I'm going to attempt to clear the garage and make some space to bring the car home, time to introduce the neighborhood to a track car!
 
Did a small amount of prep today to get the car ready for Blyton Park tomorrow. Nothing to major just something that should cure one issue and another to make it easier to time my sessions.

First one... adjustable pressure reg fitted and set to 2.7 bar which is the standard pressure of the Racing Puma. The car has been over fuelling for a while and the old standard reg look far past its best.


Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

I've recently bought harrys lap timer and needed a way to mount my phone in the car. After soon googling I came across https://www.upaclick.com and got hold of one their modular steering wheel systems that uses a quad lock mount to hold the phone securely in place.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Obviously it obscures the dials but i not to worried about that.... I also bought the angle bracket so I can mount my phone higher up if required.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

All for now... next, track pictures from tomorrow!
 
Hit the track again yesterday at Blyton Park on the Easter Circuit. Having never driven it before and going off what I've heard I wasnt really expecting much but, the track provided a nice challenge. Its starts very tight, narrow and twisty but opens up to be much faster and flowing around the back end of the track. The outer circuit is better but it provided a nice change.

Was also the first time I'd had chance to try out Harrys Laptimer and I was really impressed with it. A little bit confusing to start with but once I got the hand of it it became easy enough to use. My lap times started off around the 1:30's area but as I got to grips with the track and started to pick the braking points and apex's better I was able to get down to a 1:24.60 as my fastest for the day.

Getting a clear lap in provided a bit difficult as I seemed to catch everything out there pretty quickly. I only had to move aside for one car all day!

No video's from this one as my GoPro decided it didnt want to play ball and packed up.

I did buy the photo's so here's a few of them.

XSP_3292 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_3277 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_3275 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_3262 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_3214 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_3201 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_3031 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_2842 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_2791 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_2747 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_2613 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

XSP_2596 by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

I did manage to get one video... Its my brother driving the car and he was getting a bit late on the brakes and now owes me a new right front tyre!!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mUhkLy4V9M[/youtube]
 
Brian' said:
[post]364931[/post] Nice write up Jay. Good to hear that the car performed well!


Thanks, it was going well, a few areas I and the car can still improve in, I need to get on top of the tyre pressures and what works best in different conditions. I never really played about with them much so its a learning process for me.
 
d170sam said:
[post]365254[/post] Whole big pile of awesomeness right there :)

Cheers dude.

Couple of videos that I've managed to sort

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u5yXaLKUgA&t=2s[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqn-oVe-BEw[/youtube]

I think thats the year done for me in terms of track days now. I was planning on being at Rockingham this Sunday but the car is showing some signs of wear and tear and haven't got time/can't be bothered to fix them now, plus I think I've had a pretty good run this year of Rockingham, Cadwell Park, Spa, Nurburgring, Donington Park, Blyton Park and Curborough.

In other news a safety devices 6 point roll cage had been ordered ready for next years track action, I really should have fitted on years ago but I just never got round to it. I'l also hopefully have Gaz Gold coilovers on just after christmas as well. Couple of other ares for improvement will be a new drivers harness and hans device for myself.
 
moondustka said:
[post]365262[/post] What sort of track is Curborough? Looks like a sprint track?

It is indeed a sprint track, never done until Monday and I wasn't expecting much but its really good fun.
 

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