2006 Deep Black Track Shed BudgetBoltOnBuild

Croft - 06/05/22

No pictures as I tend to forget about taking photos or videos. I even took my GoPros and they sat in the BMW all day... Any photos or videos of me going around would be greatly appreciated :sweatsmile:

So. Croft. I travelled up on the Thursday afternoon as I learned my lesson from doing Oulton and back in a day last year, got myself a cheap Travelodge with plenty of parking space for the BST and Clio on the trailer. Got to the circuit on the Friday morning after convoying from the hotel with @burrellbloke and @EthanMenace in their 'not a track car trackcar'. Got set up outside their garage and went out for sighting laps. I've watched Croft on the BTCC and watched various onboard videos, all of which went out the window as I didn't recognise any of it!:tearsofjoy: I did the sighting laps on road tyres as the weather was very indecisive and I was expecting it to rain at any moment, but it didn't thankfully! After the sighting laps I changed over to the now 12 trackday old MRFs which still had plenty of meat on them, the 2 most worn going on the rear...

As a side note, while I was waiting for the BST to be repaired, I was using the Clio as a daily. Enjoyable but too much for the road in all honesty. I hit a pothole and gained a new clunky noise. The more I drove, the more regular the clunking was becoming, it was almost as loud and regular as Katie Prices headboard after a night out. Changing my wheels over at Croft was where I saw the issue (I'd also spotted oil on my trailer which made me worry a little). The top seal on the YSR coilover had popped and there was fluid everywhere. This was my clunking. I'd assumed a balljoint or bush or droplink, but turns out it was the damper! I decided at this point that it was already broken and I'd just go full send until I couldn't go full send anymore.

Turns out you only really need 3 working dampers to have a good day at Croft! Once I'd got my eye in, I was going full send all day and the car never missed a beat. The diff was working well and once I'd realised I could get on the power much earlier, I was having a whale of a time. I did have a moment while chasing @R20BTG where we caught up with a slower moving Fiesta ST150 who braked was earlier than expected, this caused Iain to get on the brakes and I'd taken a moment to realise what was going on, luckily there was a runoff road so I could avoid piling into the back of everyone's favourite build!

The Track Baguettes were in low numbers at Croft, only 2 of them showing up. I tried keeping pace with @RSRowe at one point but it was futile, he was quicker than me. I didn't even try keeping up with his mate Ben as he's as quick as Nathe! A passenger run with @R20BTG was also had, his car feels so composed and has impeccable manners on track, I wish mine felt as composed as his does!

All in all, a cracking day at Croft, run by @NickD with my only complaint being the time spent queueing to get on track, however the low traffic on track was really nice so I suppose it worked out for the best in the end!
 
Photos!
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Plans going forward are...

New coilover/damper insert.
New seat for me - After going out in Iain's with his fancy seats, I realise how basic mine are!
More lows and more aggressive setup.
Shim the rear beam to even out the camber.
More seat time to gain more confidence - Even though I was taking the back section of Croft flat out in 4th and 5th, I still find myself braking too early as I don't have 100% confidence in the car, nothing to do with the car, it's just me.
Strip some more interior out. The long term plan now is a full cage and a pair of balls big enough to run the slicks I've got sat in the garage!
 
So for a warranty claim I had to get some photos of my drippy damper. It was bad before the trackday, now it's everywhere :sweatsmile: IMG_20220511_194158.jpgIMG_20220511_194207.jpgIMG_20220511_194151.jpg

Fingers crossed YSR Europe and/or Tegiwa sort me a replacement. Thankfully they can send out individual parts as the damper tube is fully threaded so the lower section that goes into the hub just screws on.

Hopefully a nice shiny new one will be on the way soon!
 
Delivery from Tegiwa today. A nice guy called Jim sorted me out with a pair of replacement shock inserts as they call them. IMG_20220602_112907.jpg
Jacked the car up and forgot how much mess was under the arch, I wouldn't call it a light misting of oil, more a Gulf Of Mexico environmental disaster. IMG_20220602_115411.jpg
Took the relevant measurements and started stripping the car down, I was lazy and left the bottom section of the coilover in the hub and the shock insert is threaded all the way down, so it can screw out. Started out by allowing the spring to move freely and then wound the collars up the shock a little so I could wind the insert down into the bottom section. Top nut came off next allowing the whole assembly to drop down. Stripped what I could from the coilover in place and then spent what felt like an absolute eternity unscrewing the insert.
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What doesn't show here is the amount of shock oil that was in the threads and leaking from the top seal. It was shagged.

As I'd left the top mount in place and I'd been sensible with measuring everything, I could just thread the new shock into the bottom section and reassemble. Hopefully the alignment is still pretty close. Took the car out for a drive and no more knocking! Huzzah!
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Still a few bits to do, new lower arms to go on as the original balljoints and bushes are a bit past it now, I'm also going to drop the car by another 10-15mm I think, along with shimming the rear beam to correct the camber.

I think I'm going to book an evening session at Snetterton soon to see what needs doing before the next lot of parts get thrown at the car.

Also adjusted my seating position. After going for a passenger ride with @R20BTG I realised I was struggling to heel and toe properly as I was too close to the pedals. I prefer being closer to the steering wheel so I'm going to order a dished wheel with a spacer to bring the wheel closer to me while maintaining a decent amount of control over the pedals.
 
More money spent. Ordered myself a dished wheel, to be honest it's been on the cards for a long time but I finally got around to it this week. OMP boss kit and a Sabelt (to match my seats of course) SW-390 wheel in suede with a yellow centre marker.
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Everything arrived the other day but I decided today I'd fit it. Only taken an hour and that included faffing around trying to find tools, waiting the customary 10-15 minutes after disconnecting the battery etc etc...
Airbag off!
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Boss on.
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Dishy boi fitted.
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Downside is the indicator is now a very long way away... :tearsofjoy: :sweatsmile:
 
Snetterton Evening session - 21/06/22

This could have gone better... Took a half day off work to get the car loaded and ready for the evening session, should have called it a day by the time I got to the bottom of my road as the relay for my towbar had shat itself so I had no lights on the trailer! Luckily my mate Wes (mentioned before in here with the Golf R) was following me up there so he was acting as my brake lights! Got there early and watched the bikes for a bit, in the hour we were watching there was 4 red flags... Almost as good as a Sunday at Donington!

Car ran well, I did about 10-12 laps but I was getting really sweaty at this point so I pulled in. As we were coasting in to the pitlane the car started screaming at me! "OIL PRESSURE FAULT". Oh shit... Pulled into the garage and checked the oil, level was fine, no metal in it and no horrible noises so I started the car up again and the fault was gone. Sent Wes out for a session and he came in under a red flag, same thing happened again as he was coasting in. Went out as a passenger and even at the rev limit of 7800rpm, no warnings. It's very sporadic and only seems to pop up when we're heading into the pits. I'll have to keep an eye on that!

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The new YSR shock tube has solved my horrible clunking so that was worth doing for sure. Car handles beautifully as it did.

As a passenger I was watching everything Wes was doing with my car, nothing seemed out of place other than the fact he's fairly heavy handed. Suddenly the car won't go into gear. He was trying to get 2nd but it wouldn't play ball at all, we only had 3rd and 4th at this point. Back to the pits we go...
A few messages into a group chat and a few messages to Alex at AWMotorworks diagnosed a cable issue, but with time running out on the session I elected to chuck the car back together and chuck it on the trailer. The sticker came off and went onto Wes' Golf for the last 40 minutes or so.

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I tried getting it on 3 wheels but it's too soft. It's fast around Snetterton, but too soft and squidgy. I had a full 4 wheel drift around Coram at around 100mph and that was the highlight of my drive in the Golf. It's just too competent and easy to drive.

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Usual sight now...

Anyway, it got towed home and sat on the trailer until yesterday. Rolled off the trailer and started taking everything apart. Battery out, intake out and there was the problem. The cable that controls the L-R movement in the shifter had popped out of it's bracket, so it was shoved back in, tested and all gears selected fine. Couple of cable ties thrown around for good measure and tested again. All gears select fine, including reverse so I'm happy now. Then Wes popped round to say hello and suddenly I found the interior falling out of the car? Is this a common fault?
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This is all in preparation for the future plans, next year should see (funds allowing) a full weld in cage.
Parts waiting to be fitted:-
SW Motorsports footplate
Wheeler Motorsport shift relocation tower
eBay special gearknob and adapter

Planned parts for this year:-
Lightweight doorcards and pulls (stereo is out now so no need for speaker holes)
Battery relocation kit (Will order this from Nathe, along with a few other bits)
Brake ducts (see above)
Decent GoPro mounts and perhaps a remote switch for them.
Definitely need a sunstrip now as my seat is going further back and lower for easier heel and toeing.
Footplate for the passenger
Fire extinguisher & mount
Also planning on making a heatshield/intake route when the battery goes in the back.

Unsure at the moment how many of the plastics in the dash will go back in, I think the driver side lower section will go back on but the glovebox will probably stay off for now.

Roll on Cadwell in August!
 
It's very sporadic and only seems to pop up when we're heading into the pits. I'll have to keep an eye on that!

Just a thought on this, this generally is when a low pressure fault would show up.... when you're coasting with low engine revs.
Definitely worth checking the pressure switch is working, or possibly just banging a new one in if they're cheap enough.

You're running Fuchs 5w40 like me/the baguettes aren't you?
 
Ironically, I had an oil pressure fault problem at Bedford last Monday. I unplugged my oil pressure sensor and the connector was full of oil and the rest of the sensor quite rotten, given our cars are both 06, it's amusing timing.

I checked the wiring and replaced the sensor and it's not appeared since.

Mine was happening under hard cornering or heavy braking, and then would disappear for 5 or so laps.
 
Just a thought on this, this generally is when a low pressure fault would show up.... when you're coasting with low engine revs.
Definitely worth checking the pressure switch is working, or possibly just banging a new one in if they're cheap enough.

You're running Fuchs 5w40 like me/the baguettes aren't you?

Yeah it's something I'll be checking. I'm actually running 5w30 Fuchs. I guess I ordered the wrong stuff but it's been fine. Only popped up at exactly the same time so I'll chuck a new sensor in and see what happens.
 
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Reading more about your issue, how long have you been running the oil? Is this the first hot trackday you've done?

The oil pressure sensor is designed to go off around 0.6 bar, I think the "idle" oil pressure spec for the car is 1 bar when the car is hot.

It's technically possible (though I think maybe unlikely) that the oil pressure is just that tiny bit too low after a hard session on track in the heat with the lower grade of oil?

Not really a refined thought but wanted to throw it out there.
 
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