R20 BTG - 200 Cup Track Car Blog

[R20BTG]

I knew the cup racer EE brackets increased caster, but I don't think I'd appreciated how much, and the knock-on effect of running 17x8J on an ET55 wheel with 225/45/17 tyres. The wheels have moved significantly further forward in the arch, and as a consequence the ride height had to be raised just to get the wheel back on. This was taken last night and was contacting with the rear of the bumper.



I was worried that the route to fitment was going to involve a dremel to the front bumper

Having slept on it, turns out the SuperPro adjustable anti rotation links can be used to pull the arm back a little bit and shave off a bit of caster. We now have lock-to-lock clearance without cutting anything, although that’s without any lateral compression. Might rub a bit, and I suspect any last trace of the arch liner will be mullered into oblivion but it’s only plastic and it’ll figure itself out.



Without even touching the top mounts, buttoning it all back together it was at 5.5 degrees of negative camber (!) with even more available (!!), so he’s taken some off and gone back to 3.1 deg as per cup racer spec.



The car has been corner weighted (haven't seen the numbers yet) and the rear ride height on one side tweaked ever so slightly to get the diagonals into a nice spec. Rear camber and toe have been left alone. We've gone back to almost parallel toe on the front, as we were conscious of changing too much all in one go.

Just waiting on the ABS sensor to arrive later today. Should be collecting tomorrow for its first drive. I'm intrigued and a little bit anxious to know what this is going to feel like!

 

[R20BTG]

Despite me giving them the RS specific part number, they've sent a non-RS specific ABS sensor with a different part number. SIGH.

I hate ordering car parts.

 

[R27WTF]

Genuine only what side you need I got some in stock


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[R20BTG]

Ordered it from RPD now, thanks though

 

[R20BTG]

All done, back on four wheels. Had a peek tonight on my way home from work but couldn’t take it away as I was on my motorbike.

First visual impressions:

- Wider track very noticeable in person
- Ride height increased for clearance, will try and lower it again once the Nurburgring has done its plastic moulding duties
- Weighed in a rather porky 1219kg with 1/3rd tank of fuel. I guess the cage is pretty heavy.
- Corner weighting dialled in nicely, the red dot shows the point of balance being central and close to the driver seat axis.

Collecting tomorrow and I’ll report back with how it feels driving it and how bad the rubbing is after I’ve given it some death.

The only job I need to do before Germany is to finish the pedal cam install (GoPro session) and run power across to it. Going to try some new angles this year.

 

[strell]

Awesome.

You can really see in those pics how it has widened the front end.

As always with cars what seems to be a fairly straightforward upgrade proves itself to have complication after complication.

We all love and hate them in equal parts!

That’s going to be a class upgrade though.

I wish I had done it to mine before I started breaking it into bits!

 

[R20BTG]

Correction to the above, it was 1219kg with just over half a tank of fuel, maybe 5/8ths of a tank. Anyway, took it home last night and here's my first bit of non-scientific feedback on how it felt.

Solid arms - noticeable, but not unbearable once moving. I took it into the office after picking it up and probably doesn't help that the courtyard where I park is cobblestone. Very uncomfortable over a surface like that, just zero play, the entire car is bouncing around at walking speed, but that's not what it is designed for. Given how hard everything was already it hasn't made a huge difference. Steering is very direct.

Roll Centre correction (EE brackets and raised rack) - no rubbing at the current ride height, couldn't really push it hard as it was rush hour traffic then got stuck behind a tractor on the A-road that I wanted to use as a test but I did manage to get up through the gears. Felt very stable through high(er) speed corners, I don't think you appreciate how fast you're going in situations like this in a track setup car, long A-road sweepers are just taken it is stride and it's not until you look in the mirror and see that everyone else is now 100 yards behind that you realise how much more speed you can carry compared to a normal road car without even trying.

I'll try and explain the sensation of the corrected roll centre, definitely feels like there's less roll (not that there was much anyway at sensible road speed) but the front end does feel different in a weird kind of way. If you can imagine that before, the weight of the car was leaning on the outside front tyre, that sensation has changed and it feels like the weight is being shared more across the front axle, more akin to the car being pulled around the corner by the inside front wheel helping out, rather than all the work being done by the outside front wheel. It'll be interesting to see how that feels at track speeds, I was nowhere near the limit of traction on the road, but it does feel a little different from the first drive.

Bump steer - hard to notice any different at road speeds, suspect that will be more of a 'riding kerbs on track' difference.

Feels like I can hear the Gripper diff creaking a bit more on low speed manoeuvring, perhaps just the noise is being transmitted through all of the solid mounts and bearings.

It might be me being paranoid, but I've got a bit of a clunk through the steering wheel when you move the wheel fast left/right, almost feels like there's a bit of slack before a clunk/engagement. It was raining when I got home last night (plus family duties!) so I didn't get chance to have a good poke around and check everything. I'm hoping it's nothing.

 

[RSRowe]

We can do a shakedown test at the Ring boulevard to make sure everything is ok

 

[Tarticmonkey]

We can do a shakedown test at the Ring boulevard to make sure everything is ok

"Verdammte englische Touristen" - some local probably

 

[S24nrc]

If you're not driving through Adenau highstreet in 1st gear are you REALLY English?

 

[R20BTG]

My paranoia turned out to be the steering column bolt down near the pedals that just needed nipping up. Less than 60 seconds with a 13mm socket and it’s not knocking any more.

Between that and the washer reservoir cap, I’ll be taking deposits for engine swaps next week.

 

[R20BTG]

Ticked off all the last remaining jobs today

- Fitted the Hero 4 Session to the underside of the steering column as a pedal camera. Fed 12v power directly to it from the globe box and through the dash.

- Added a third power point in the glove box. This now powers passenger cam, foot cam, and keeps phone charged when it is data logging.

- Took out the steering column bolt that had worked loose, added some red Loctite and retightened.

- Jacked the front end up and did a check of all the bolts that have been moved recently as part of the upgrades. All still tight. Went round with a paint pen and marked bolt positions.

- Checked all harnesses and found the anti submarine crotch straps on the passenger side had never been attached to the eyelets under the seat. Apologies to anyone who I’ve ever taken out, you only had a 4 point harness and not a 6 point.

- Checked all fluid levels.

- Visual check of pads and discs.

- Hoovered inside and washed outside.

We’re ring-ready [emoji41]

 

[S24nrc]

Does your Session work with the GoPro app? Mine will not connect for love or money but works fine otherwise.

 

[R20BTG]

I don't use the GoPro app, mainly because I have a mixture of cameras (Hero 3, Hero 8 and Session 4). Annoying as it is, I just start all the cameras manually and then synchronise everything during post-processing.

 

[RSRowe]

Not meaning to but in, but my session links up fine. Though pressing record is definitely much easier and less of a faff

 

[jimmybell]

gotta say.. with those wheels, tyres and side skirts and that stance... looking pretty bang on right now

 

[R20BTG]

Nürburgring June 2023

Being a dirty Northerner I tried the Hull to Rotterdam route for the first time and whilst it adds two nights onto the trip, I reckon it's worth doing just to avoid the hassle of M1 > M25 > M20 down to Folkestone, then the 460km (5hrs+) journey from Calais to Nürburg. I'm about 1h30m from Hull, then it's a 330km (4hr) journey from Rotterdam.

I burned through 3 tanks of diesel EACH WAY last year towing, whereas I got from my house to Nürburg on less than 1 tank this year. Mental. The Discovery 4 was amazing as usual. Podcast, AC, Haribo and it just wafts its way across the continent barely noticing the trailer on the back. As I was on my own I didn't bother sticking the second set of wheels on the tyre rack, I just stuck them on the back seats. Probably contributed to the better aerodynamics and fuel economy.

With there only being 1 crossing per day I didn't want to miss it so I got there a bit early and was one of the first at check-in with a few eager camper vans.






Got on board with a few hours to kill so I got a drink, went outside, tethered to the 5G and caught up on a bit of work.



As it's an overnight crossing, a cabin is mandatory and it wasn't too bad. Pretty clean and comfortable. After dinner I retired to the cabin and watched a movie on my iPad and hit the sack. There were a couple of questions about the car on the trailer (don't you just love the post-Brexit world), but if you follow the script of 'it's owned by me, it's road legal, I'm bringing it back, nothing will be sold' then you don't seem to need to worry about the export papers (carnet).

Uneventful run across Holland and into Germany and got to Nürburg just after lunch.



Unloaded the car, went and checked into the track day (stickers, wristband and GPS transponder) and had a handful of shakedown laps on Thursday evening's TF session

I was buzzing as the car felt mega yet again, I stuck in an 8:34 lap that evening and was well happy that I'd be sailing under 8:30 this year. Alas, that was not to be, a combination of traffic, weather and me not being in the right head space meant that 8:34 - 8:36 was about what I was lapping at consistently.

Friday morning came, and opening the curtains to be met with fog and rain and my heart sank. Had breakfast at the hotel and then did a couple of sighting laps in the wet, but I wasn't willing to push at all and just came back to wait for the sun to come up and dry the track off. It eventually did, but not before a 78 year old bloke bounced his three week old GT3 down the barriers and caused a track closure for about an hour. Then we had to put up with a really long slow zone from the Karusell to after Wipperman while they repaired the barriers.

During this time, I had a couple of decent laps jostling with Lewis Cunningham in his X85 Cup Racer. No decent times were set due to the long slow zone but it was fun nevertheless.



I'd met a friend out where who had brought his wife's relatively standard Fiesta ST out (Eibach springs and sticky tyres) and I was pretty impressed with it. It's got the legs on my car in a straight line but I'm all over it in the twisty stuff, eventually disappearing into the distance.

 

[R20BTG]

My last session before lunch was with @RSRowe in the Megane 250 Cup, we had a couple of laps together. I led the first one and Nathan stayed back for the footage, then he came through on Lap 2 and tried to clear the way for me by being a bit of a pace car. He's clearly quicker than me and lifting in a lot of places to stay with my pace, but it was fun.

Yet again, another 8:36 and 8:34.

This led to the 'all four wheels off the floor' picture at Flanzgarten which I'm chuffed about:



The only decent footage I got was these two laps, so I've stitched my footage and data together with Nathan's chase footage to get a two lap video:

After a decent morning, this is where the shit show began. I parked up and went for some lunch in the Devils Diner, and whilst I was eating the track closed. Rumours start to spread around the car park, WhatsApp messages are shared and you start to piece together what's going on. An ambulance barreling down the main straight with blue lights flashing is never a good sign. I won't post pictures on here, but an E46 M3 had a bad crash just before Adenaur Forst and ended up on the wrong side of the barrier, upside down. Apparently the occupants were OK but that took a long time to clean up. The track was closed for about 2.5 hours.

As you can imagine with such a long closure the car park was itching to get out, and when the track finally reopened about 3.15pm there was only an hour of track time left, so it was pretty busy. I got a good couple of laps in, but on Lap 3 of that session I noticed that my steering wheel wasn't pointing straight. Lifting on and off the throttle was making the car pull left and right quite significantly, so I knew something was up. By that point I'd past the exit point, and I didn't want to do another 13.6 miles with an unknown issue, so I decided to come off the track. I pulled into the marshal point at Quiddelbacher-Hohe and reversed right back into a safe spot to give the car a once over. Tyres looked ok, no visible damage but I knew it wasn't right. The marshals turned up in the E-Unit after about 5 minutes (must have seen me on CCTV), after explaining to them there was no fluid to worry about they relaxed a bit. I asked if they could let me out of the trackside gate rather than rejoin the track, mainly to avoid having to be recovered, and I limped it back to the hotel. By that time the track day was over.

Wasn't a major issue, the front right wishbone mounting bolt had vibrated loose and the whole arm was rocking back and forth. To be expected after the recent upgrades and a hell of a shakedown I'm impressed this was the only thing that I had an issue with. After sourcing an 18mm socket and reading the technical booklet on my iPad, I tightened it back up to the recommended 80Nm. Checked all other bolts, as well as the other side, and everything was good.


I then met my German mate and took him out for another three laps of Friday's TF session, but traffic was starting to build and the queue to get off the track was taking approx 10-15 minutes each time so I called it a day.

Saturday's weather was even worse, so we spent the morning spectating TF at Brunchen:



I soon got bored, and decided we needed to go for a wet lap. So I went back to the hotel and picked up the appropriate machinery for the conditions:



I also think I passed the Wipperman challenge:



Was my slowest ever lap at 20 minutes on the dot, but probably one of my most enjoyable. I was contemplating going back out in the Clio later in the day as it started to dry up, but then we heard of another massive accident. I've got pictures and video but I won't post them on here, but an M2 ended up again on the wrong side of the barrier, upside down and on fire. I think this shook me up a bit, so I didn't fancy venturing out on TF for the rest of the day. We just did a bit more spectating, went shopping, and then got on the beers:






Sunday was the day of departure so after breakfast I loaded up the car and went to spectate at Tiergarten. My mate and I heard a massive screech, followed by a delay, then a huge crunch. We went further up the track to try and find out what had caused it but couldn't see anything other than a damaged tyre barrier. We assumed that they'd hit the barrier and carried on, but we later found out that it had actually cleared the barrier and landed in the car park behind. Needless to say, the track was then closed again. Three separate accidents, all involving BMWs that ended up on the wrong side of the barrier in one weekend. Must be a new record, and it'll be interesting to see if anything comes of it in terms of upgraded barriers.

At that point I decided to call the end to the trip and headed back to Rotterdam, and on to home. Less than a tank of diesel from Nürburg back to home. The crossing wasn't great, the boat was moving a bit in the waves so I felt a bit sick by the time we got back on UK soil.

Kind of a weird trip this one, I enjoyed the laps I did, the car felt great, but I don't think I particularly got my money's worth. I'm not ashamed to say I actually missed my kids by the end of it having been away for 5 nights and I was ready for home. I don't think the big smashes did anything to lighten my mood. Still, I got home in one piece with an undamaged car which I'm thankful for, others weren't so lucky.

 

[R20BTG]

Oh yeah, almost forgot, I'm famous (skip to 12:45). It was a mistake, honest guv.

 

[S24nrc]

I had an E46 do a barrel roll about 10 seconds infront of me at Schwedenkreuz last year, was pretty harrowing driving blind into a dust cloud and being met with huge bits of car in the road. Luckily the guy was out and okay but it does bring you right back down to earth.

Also, lol at the Disco line