It was one year ago on this very day that I first felt the draw of Tsukuba as I rounded its corners for the first time.
The circuit always daunted me. People talked about it ripping up your tires in a couple of minutes. They said that its crash barriers stole your paint, your body panels and sometimes swallowed whole cars. I was always jealous of John though when he'd take off every 6 months to drive on the circuit. How could he be brave enough? After watching him round its banks once, I was sold on the idea. After all, John was driving pretty slowly... or so it seemed in comparison to the RX-7s...
My first introduction was Kurihara-san who drove my car in group B. It was an amazing experience. The car did things I never thought it could do. He drifted on one corner when he took off DSC. It was a wild ride and while I kept banging my head off the door, it wasn't one bit scary at all. He did a 1'13 something.
I remember he let some air out of my tires after we stopped before it was my turn to go out onto the circuit alone. I'd take it easy, see what happened and how it felt. I wasn't as nervous as I'd expected I would be. Nobody forces you to drive fast and I already knew what the car could do and what DSC was for. I can't remember much from the experience. I know I had no problems with under-steer though :-)
One thing I do remember is that I had a lot of trouble braking and changing down before a corner. The back would judder as I missed blips and I was thanking the gods that I had DSC to stop it getting nasty. It was then I decided to try toe'n'heeling for the first time to sort things out. I got it right first time, and about 40% of the time after that on my first day. It's a very special feeling to get it bang on. I shall not forget that - nor the other times where I'd forget things like using the clutch, or braking :-)
One year ago, my best was 1'15.888. Nows its only 5.7 seconds faster! Have I really improved? I wonder what I'd do in my car if I was back there now. I think it would be really interesting to see. I feel I've learned so much. I think a 1'13 should be doable given the old tires and the stock suspension. I have no idea though :-) I can't actually believe that I got a 1'15.888 on my first day when I think about it. All balls me thinks. Thanks for the introduction John!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
TC2000 07/04/24 - The drift.
I go a bit carried away during this lap. My exit out of the last corner wasn't so good, understeering almost off the road and then having to flip the wheel instead of keeping things smooth. Guaranteed to slow you down! As such, I felt the need to brake that bit later into the last corner before hitting third gear and this sent the rear out of line. It was really good fun though to catch it. The Neova tires are so progressive compared to my older RE040s. A world of difference apart. I love feeling the car move around like this even thought its not the fastest way around the corner. So cool to capture these special moments on video.
TC2000 07/04/24 - John's Red Flag
A red flag is never good as it means your fun is over for a while and you have to clear off the cicuit. It's less fun of course for the person who owns the red flag. In this case, that happened to be my good friend and RX-8 head John.John was on his fastest ever lap of TC2000 when rounding the last corner, he came across an S2000 who had just spun on to his exit line. It was too early for yellow flags and too late to do much about it. That corner is pretty blind and is quite fast. A swerve to avoid the S2000 sent him into a spin and unfortunately into what must be the only unpadded wall at Tsukuba, the inside pit lane wall.
The important thing of course is that he is alright. Little bit of bruising and a large dent in the wallet is about the sum of it. Unfortunately this is the game we play. Nobody to blame. Nobody made it happen. The S2000 guy must be feeling quite bad about it but these things happen. It definitely wasn't his fault. Losing control and spinning out is part of the fun, part of learning. John will be back behind the wheel soon I think, although most likely in a different car.
Get back soon John. I'll miss you in the mean time.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
RX-8R class. 3rd place!
Got a surprise in the post today. Due to a hiccup with times on the day of the 3/31 event my time got skipped over. However, the organizers were good enough to recognize my gallant efforts and sent me this cute little trophy in the post. When I was younger I won quite a lot of cycling prizes but computers got in the way of sport after college. Its nice to win something again and claim first victory for team SDIJ! I'll have to go out and show Roxy now.
Track history
Was just going through my records and decided to count how many times I'd been at the track and pull out the best lap times. Here's what I found. It all starts in 2006...
06/04/30 TC2000 1'15.888 RX7 Meeting. First ever track day! Yeah!
06/08/22 TC2000 1'16.522 Saurus Meeting
06/10/17 TC2000 1'12.723 Saurus Meeting
06/11/16 TC2000 1'12.439 With-Me Meeting (crashed)
06/12/09 TC1000 0'53.xxx RX7 Meeting (raining)
So up until now 4/22, I've done TC2000 a total of 6 times and completed 8 track days. I see my 1st year track birthday is coming up at the end of the month!
Notes:
Crash on 11/16 was without a doubt caused by fuel starvation. The cars behaviour was such that the back just flew around beside me on the longish left after Dunlop. Initially I blamed the suspension (rear height was unbalanced), but it was definitely fuel starvation with a mix of my old hard tires (RE040s - 4 years old) thrown in there for fun. Keeping Roxy above 1/2 full from now on.
06/04/30 TC2000 1'15.888 RX7 Meeting. First ever track day! Yeah!
06/08/22 TC2000 1'16.522 Saurus Meeting
06/10/17 TC2000 1'12.723 Saurus Meeting
06/11/16 TC2000 1'12.439 With-Me Meeting (crashed)
06/12/09 TC1000 0'53.xxx RX7 Meeting (raining)
So up until now 4/22, I've done TC2000 a total of 6 times and completed 8 track days. I see my 1st year track birthday is coming up at the end of the month!
Notes:
Crash on 11/16 was without a doubt caused by fuel starvation. The cars behaviour was such that the back just flew around beside me on the longish left after Dunlop. Initially I blamed the suspension (rear height was unbalanced), but it was definitely fuel starvation with a mix of my old hard tires (RE040s - 4 years old) thrown in there for fun. Keeping Roxy above 1/2 full from now on.
More clutch
Back in the car last night for first time since getting the new clutch and fly. The clutch didn't seem that heavy at all while driving. Blipping downshifts is a little different now too. I have get my muscle memory to relearn the movement to get it back smooth again. First toe'n'heel down shift on the track should be interesting.
I'm still being followed around by the smell of clutch also. I wonder how soon I can burn through this baby... I think I've improved a little though so hopefully it won't last much longer. First big traffic jam should be where I'll finally perfect it. Hard to believe how different it is to the old clutch/fly.
Was at D-Technique last night for a pre-track lesson on TC1000. Very excited about going there again. The last time I was a total beginner turning off DSC for the first time. It was pissing rain that day and I caught my first big slide in the 8. My best time was an abysmal 53s so I guess that it up for improvement. I think I should be able to get 44 seconds or the very least 45.
Of course TC2000 is just 2 days away now. It will be my first time back on new alignment. Unfortunately the weather is forecasting rain. Either way though its gonna be good run :-)
Tom.
I'm still being followed around by the smell of clutch also. I wonder how soon I can burn through this baby... I think I've improved a little though so hopefully it won't last much longer. First big traffic jam should be where I'll finally perfect it. Hard to believe how different it is to the old clutch/fly.
Was at D-Technique last night for a pre-track lesson on TC1000. Very excited about going there again. The last time I was a total beginner turning off DSC for the first time. It was pissing rain that day and I caught my first big slide in the 8. My best time was an abysmal 53s so I guess that it up for improvement. I think I should be able to get 44 seconds or the very least 45.
Of course TC2000 is just 2 days away now. It will be my first time back on new alignment. Unfortunately the weather is forecasting rain. Either way though its gonna be good run :-)
Tom.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Next mod - a bionic leg
Picked up Roxy from Mazda tonight. Got the following:
Out on the road and into Tokyo traffic. No better test. First gear is so light now, the revs are very racey in comparison to before. There is still that low down lull before it kicks in, but boy does it rev up when you floor it. Second was crispy, that new oil feeling, the new clutch line, everything so smooth. Once you're moving the clutch is really nice. It just spring right back out at you everytime. Change - snap, change - snap.
Decided to go for a wee spin. Called over to John who wanted to see the new gauges too. He immediately noticed the flywheels ability to rev and I guess the clutch surprised him 'cause he popped it out while still in gear and almost stalled it onto a nearby pole. Lol!
Out on the road again, I headed down Meguro dori, towards Roppongi and back home. The smell of burning clutch following me about as the new disc bedded itself in. Its so hard not to burn clutch right now. The flywheel is that bit lighter that it makes starting more difficult, the clutch is that bit heavier that it's harder to feather and if you rev at all you end up taking off at 4000 rpms or so. Going to be fun in Tomei traffic jams this.
With the window open, I can also hear a vibration which sounds a little like the clutch disc biting and breaking loose when you get your start wrong and rev to highly on startup while feathering the clutch. I never heard that before, but I think its just because a) its new and b) I'm abusing it with too many revs on startup. Hard to get used to everything at once. That said, I'm not sure its 100% normal so any feedback you have is useful.
Many lights later, my left leg starts to get a little tired. It can get like this usually after a good long day of driving in a jam, but I've only been driving 30 minutes or so. Seems if I drive at all, my left calf is gonna go daikon on me. If I drive occasionally, I'm gonna have to hit the gym in order to work that muscle up. Either that or a bionic leg.
Driving around though, I was smiling. The car now revs like it should. Headers would probably make it even better but for the moment, I have a whole new car to get to know. I'm feeling a 1'09 coming on strong.
PS - John I recommend you get yourself a clutch line. Its very crisp in comparison to the old line and from driving your car the last outing I thought that your peddle felt a little like a frayed brake cable. There is some feedback in it that shouldn't be there or wasn't there on my old cable. The old one is rubber. New one is steel braided. That's gotta be better! That's my feeling anyway.
- Racing Beat flywheel installed
- Mazdaspeed clutch
- Mazdaspeed clutch line
- New clutch oil (5.1 castrol brake fluid)
- New Gear oil
Out on the road and into Tokyo traffic. No better test. First gear is so light now, the revs are very racey in comparison to before. There is still that low down lull before it kicks in, but boy does it rev up when you floor it. Second was crispy, that new oil feeling, the new clutch line, everything so smooth. Once you're moving the clutch is really nice. It just spring right back out at you everytime. Change - snap, change - snap.
Decided to go for a wee spin. Called over to John who wanted to see the new gauges too. He immediately noticed the flywheels ability to rev and I guess the clutch surprised him 'cause he popped it out while still in gear and almost stalled it onto a nearby pole. Lol!
Out on the road again, I headed down Meguro dori, towards Roppongi and back home. The smell of burning clutch following me about as the new disc bedded itself in. Its so hard not to burn clutch right now. The flywheel is that bit lighter that it makes starting more difficult, the clutch is that bit heavier that it's harder to feather and if you rev at all you end up taking off at 4000 rpms or so. Going to be fun in Tomei traffic jams this.
With the window open, I can also hear a vibration which sounds a little like the clutch disc biting and breaking loose when you get your start wrong and rev to highly on startup while feathering the clutch. I never heard that before, but I think its just because a) its new and b) I'm abusing it with too many revs on startup. Hard to get used to everything at once. That said, I'm not sure its 100% normal so any feedback you have is useful.
Many lights later, my left leg starts to get a little tired. It can get like this usually after a good long day of driving in a jam, but I've only been driving 30 minutes or so. Seems if I drive at all, my left calf is gonna go daikon on me. If I drive occasionally, I'm gonna have to hit the gym in order to work that muscle up. Either that or a bionic leg.
Driving around though, I was smiling. The car now revs like it should. Headers would probably make it even better but for the moment, I have a whole new car to get to know. I'm feeling a 1'09 coming on strong.
PS - John I recommend you get yourself a clutch line. Its very crisp in comparison to the old line and from driving your car the last outing I thought that your peddle felt a little like a frayed brake cable. There is some feedback in it that shouldn't be there or wasn't there on my old cable. The old one is rubber. New one is steel braided. That's gotta be better! That's my feeling anyway.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
New bits coming soon
Roxy is currently at the dealers having a new flywheel and clutch fitted. Nothing wrong with the old bits but the new bits add performance. The flywheel is from Racing Beat. The clutch is from Mazdaspeed. I'm also getting the Mazdaspeed clutch hose installed which should make engagement nice and crispy. I'm curious how heavy the clutch will become. Rumour has it that it's a bit of a stiffy. I should see some speed advantage out of the flywheel so it should be worth the extra pain. We will see. Roxy returns on Thursday night...
The experiment
I'm thinking its time that Roxy had a voice. Roxy is my RX-8. We live in Tokyo together. She is "lightening yellow" and loves to stretch her legs about once a month at a racing track. I started driving Roxy at the track for the first time last year and was immediately hooked.
I hope to use this blog in order to keep track of things we do together. Hopefully, there will be lots of happy posts about diminishing lap times and new parts or "bits" as we like to refer to them. Maybe someone will read this and find it useful. Who cares either way. Roxy has her place on the web!
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