R20 BTG - 200 Cup Track Car Blog

VeiRoNv2 said:

shit thats even worse,will you try to Helicoil it?

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I’ve sent them to MS Custom Engineering. He said it would be either a helicoil, a bigger insert or a bigger bleed screw.

PITA said:

Model Y?

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Haha yep MYP

Max turned around the calipers in super quick time and they arrived today.

The damaged bleed screw on the NSR has been removed, the hole re-threaded and a larger bleed screw fitted. At the same time Max was not happy with the brake line connection so that has been rethreaded and fitted with a new male to female connection:



The OSR has been rethreaded with a helicoil:



The damage seems to have occurred when whoever powder coated them originally didn’t mask off the threads, and then whoever fitted the brake lines has just chewed through the threads and thought ‘that’ll do’.

These have all now been pressure tested.

I also got a pair of new DS2500 pads for the rear so down I went to the unit only to drop them off really.

Paul had a ramp free and I couldn’t resist getting them sorted…



Discs are a bit scabby but that’s only because they’ve been sitting outside all week in monsoon conditions. Fresh fluid has been bled through and all is good.

The ARL dust boots seem to have changed a little with the top ring no longer fitting very well (the neck seems to have got a little narrower) so we’ve used a small zip tie instead. Be aware @EthanMenace if you replace yours.



Just the MOT to be sorted Monday, then I can collect and start turning thoughts towards the Nurburgring trip a week tomorrow.

MOT passed and car is back with me.



Needs a good wash and a hoover, and going to put the OZ wheels back on for a little while to try and use those MRF tyres in Germany.

Nurburgring April 2024

Felt like I was a bit short on time getting the car ready this year, with it only just running right a week or so before the trip, and a hasty MOT checkup. But it was too late to cancel so I just took a gamble that everything would be alright on the night.

Started with washing the car on the Saturday morning (you can't take a mucky car to a track day, it just lets the side down):



Standard rig shot you've all seen before, waiting for the Hull > Rotterdam ferry.




This is the standard overnight cabin on the ship, small but clean with a toilet and shower:

@RSRowe had 'accidentally' booked the ferry for the Friday night, so I sat with all my mates and had a drink:


A pretty dull crossing really, I did some work, checked a report, did some invoicing and some email catchup, then went for dinner when we were out of range of 5G. Went back to the room and watched a movie on the iPad (Gone In 60 Seconds if you're interested) and went to bed.

No dramas at Rotterdam and rolled right through customs and on towards Nurburg. Only slightly soured by getting pulled over by the Polizei on the N258 between Ahrütte and Ahrdorf about 18km from Nurburg. They'd set up camp in a massive lay by with hidden speed traps and I was waved over to the side of the road and accused of doing 71km/h (44mph) in a 50km/h (31mph) zone with the trailer. I had no way or desire to argue, German police have zero sense of humour, they're all armed, have the personality of Robocop, I don't speak great German, he didn't speak great English, so EUR188 (EUR160 plus 'fees') later I was on my way. Here's the speeding fine system for anyone interested:



So having missed lunch and contributed EUR188 to the Christmas Party fund I arrived in a bit of a huff. Got the car unloaded and shoved the trailer to one side and tried to concentrate on having fun the next day.




To be continued...

Track Day 1 - weather perfect, track dry, did 6 laps in the morning just building up speed.



Standard Circuit Days photographer getting half the shot obscured by a barrier:




You can really see the Cup Racer front end wideeeeboi in this picture at Adenaur Forst #CAMBER. At this point my number sticker decided it was going to make a bid for freedom:



The new rear calipers and pads hadn't sorted the brake locking issue, it's still locking the rear left under hard braking. Mid morning I had this moment braking into Bergwerk:


I'm getting a really odd pedal feeling, when I hit the brakes I get an initial hard pedal bite, but as I move through the braking zone the pedal goes soft and moves (I'd guess) about a centimetre before stiffening up again. It makes it really difficult to brake consistently, brake hard, and have any confidence on the brakes whatsoever. Anything that resembles a good braking effort just results in a black line and a cloud of smoke. After this point I was modifying my braking style and losing a lot of lap time because of being so tame. My GPS data logger was playing up as well, recording the start point of the session, the end point of the session, and connecting the two together with a straight line so I haven't got any data. I do however have plenty of decent footage having sacked off the GoPro and installed a DJI Action 4 camera in its place:

Resting at the hotel between sessions:

Knocked out 12 laps on Day 1 without a single red flag or stoppage. Day 2 started even better as it was warmer and sunnier. I had a very light breakfast at the hotel before doing 3 laps in the morning. I then had a breather and had a second breakfast at Devil's Diner overlooking the car park. Was a very nice way to spend half an hour:



More laps throughout the day, I spotted the photographer at Wipperman so decided to take the social media line:



Later on he moved around to the Kleine Karussell:



Some seriously tasty kit was lapping, I lost count of how many M3/Schirmer GT/M2/GT3/GT3RS/GT4/GT4RS/GT2RS I saw. Absolute Porsche heaven.


More laps:


Acquired a Clio friend, a nice lad called Jakub from Prague who had driven 6 hours to get there, it was his first trip, so I took him for a couple of laps:

Did 22 laps overall, was probably the best Circuit Days event I've done. Not a single red flag and only minor breakdowns/incidents. It always helps when the 'more money than talent' brigade don't wipe their £150k car down the barriers at 9.30am.

Day 2 ended with dinner outside and a cold beer. Perfect.



Need to sort the rear brake issue, plus I've killed the starter motor again despite my heat shielding efforts. More engineering needed. ££.

I've been rummaging through the footage and have chopped up some clips. First, to make @RSRowe feel a little bit better about himself this is the start of our first laps. Shows the Megane just stretching its legs on the Clio and I can't keep up:


Next up, one of my favourite sections through Brunchen, Pflantzgarten 1 and into Pflantzgarten 2 for us old folks (now known as the Stefan-Bellof-S), showing the speed differential between a shit Clio and the big boys. Here I'm thinking I'm doing well keeping some decent speed up through the section but you always have to keep an eye on your mirrors as this AMG GT-R just appears out of nowhere and monsters past with a V8 rumble:


I then promised Lewie I'd upload whatever footage I had of him in the E92 M3, here he is catching me through Miss-Hit-Miss, he passes me on the run down to Adenau Bridge and then just fucks off into the distance


Then how NOT to drive on the Nurburgring, this fucking muppet in an R53 race car. In hindsight I shoud have just sent it up the inside at Metzgesfeld at the beginning of the clip but I wasn't sure if he'd seen me and I didn't want him drifting left into me. From that point onwards he just refused to move over despite me flashing some strobe lights at him (my new secret mod).


In the end a stream of faster cars caught me so I just gave up and let them bully their way through. I ended up getting him a few corners later.

This next clip sums up what I enjoy about the Nurburgring, when you can have a decent battle with a decent car and not let your ego get in the way. The clip starts with the Cayman RSR coming past me on the Döttinger Höhe straight just before the Bilstein Bridge. Clearly I'm at VMAX and it just sails past. I manage to claw some time back under braking into T13 and I'm right on his bumper. I manage to stay with him on the run through Hatzenbach. The difference in power sees him making good ground on me coming out of Quiddelbacher Höhe. I claw a little bit back as he brakes through Flugplatz and I don't, but it's not enough to reel him in completely and he pulls away again on the run to Schwedenkreuz which is the fastest part of the circuit. I pull back a lot of time over Schwedenkreuz and braking into Aremberg (in another cloud of smoke from my left rear!). He's pulling away again down through the Foxhole but by Adenaur Forst I'm right up his bumper again. Annoyingly I mis-shift into 5th instead of 3rd coming out of AF (embarrassing). Again twice the power coming out of AF into Metzgesfeld means he pulls away but I'm right back with him in the braking zone into Metzgesfeld 2. We're joined by a Hyundai i30N through Miss-Hit-Miss and he pulls right to let me through just before Wehrseifen (the slowest corner of the track). At this point we're approaching the lowest point of the circuit at Adenau Bridge and I know he's just going to want to come past me again on the uphill section afterwards as I just haven't got the power, so I signal to him I'm happy to stay behind. Sure enough, after Breidcheid he disappears up the hill. I really enjoyed this little tussle.

This is the closest I'll ever come to catching and passing a 992 GT3RS on merit. It was another RSR rental car, so clearly someone who hasn't driven it, or the circuit before. If it wasn't for me moving over and letting the E36 past through Brunchen I might JUST have had the momentum to squeeze past, instead he popped open his DRS coming out of Bellof and said 'not today Clio'. Alas, it was not to be. For now, we'll just chalk it up to an 'almost'...

It’s figured itself out now, front half of arch liners long gone, inner edge of bumper has been shaved. It won’t win any beauty contests but glad I did it, makes a big difference to front end.