Last Thursday I took a day off from work and headed out to Fuji Speedway. I'd been itching to drive that circuit ever since coming back from Perth and that day just happened to be a perfect opportunity !
I left Tokyo at 6:30am and arrived at Fuji around 8:30am. When I got there I saw only a few cars getting prepped for the day and quickly found a spot to offload my stuff and start preparing myself.
I started NS4A at 9:30am.
It was very cold at that time, some 1-2 degrees C max. I spent about 15 minutes getting used to the car, speed and gusty winds then pulled into the pits and adjusted my tyre pressure. At that point I think there were about 5 maybe 6 cars out on a circuit so it was fairly free for everyone to do whatever they wanted. And so in the last 10 minutes of the session I pushed for the best lap and managed to get 1'09''70 which was slightly slower than my best. I don't know why perhaps I was tired or just pre-occupied but for some reason I felt hesitant when running down the main straight at over 210km/h and braking into the 1st corner. Normally I don't worry so much as I trust the car and brakes but perhaps psychologically that day I was just backing off a little bit more than usual.
In any regards, the new Project Mu's are just GREAT ! I will never go back to any other pad ! They grip, they don't fade and give you a very good confidence level to push at any point. There just isn't a better pad out there in my opinion. Coupled with freshly overhauled BREMBOs, stainless steel brake lines, they're just a perfect set ! The downside though, very dirty wheels from all the brake dust.
My 2nd and last session for the day NS4B was at 11:50am.
Somehow half of Tokyo decided to take a day off and come to Fuji. The carpark and pits were packed ! I later realised that there was a track day run simultaneously by ENDLESS (with lots of sexy girls!) hence all these people wanted to have a go and show off their skills ! Again in this session I managed a couple of 1'09s which speaks a lot for consistency (remember how long I'd been trying very hard to break 1'10s!?) but 1'08s still eludes me.
Lastly, there were a few in-experienced drivers on the circuit but one in particular stood out in a grey Mazda (as shown in the video below). I somehow felt like he was going to loose it and I was right. Sometimes people need to be realistic about their own abilities before trying to push like a pro and endanger other people's cars !
Enjoy the video !
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Mystery solved
Since about 4 months ago or around the time I replaced my stock brake lines I've been noticing very slow reduction in the brake fluid level.
I brought this observation up whenever I visited my tuner SEEKER and had the guys check brake lines for leaks as well as the master cylinder for any problems but we couldn't figure out where the fluid was going.
You may also remember my near wall experience at Tsukuba when my brakes just seized for no reason and again we assumed the low fluid level was due to the pads wearing off. There was also uneven brake pad wear and under braking I felt a difference in the force applied to each side of the car.
Well I had the BREMBO calipers inspected the other day just in case and lo and behold the rubber seals around my 4 pot cylinders in each of the front calipers were broken and slowly leaking brake fluid ! I guess that can be expected from all the racing I've been doing and the sort of heat produced during braking so it was both a relief to know what the cause was but at the same a nightmare as it's going to cost me money to have the calipers OVERHAULED!
Anyway, the car is going in to HONDA tomorrow until saturday and will come back with completely overhauled BREMBOs! The cost you ask ? 28,500 yen
See you on the track !
I brought this observation up whenever I visited my tuner SEEKER and had the guys check brake lines for leaks as well as the master cylinder for any problems but we couldn't figure out where the fluid was going.
You may also remember my near wall experience at Tsukuba when my brakes just seized for no reason and again we assumed the low fluid level was due to the pads wearing off. There was also uneven brake pad wear and under braking I felt a difference in the force applied to each side of the car.
Well I had the BREMBO calipers inspected the other day just in case and lo and behold the rubber seals around my 4 pot cylinders in each of the front calipers were broken and slowly leaking brake fluid ! I guess that can be expected from all the racing I've been doing and the sort of heat produced during braking so it was both a relief to know what the cause was but at the same a nightmare as it's going to cost me money to have the calipers OVERHAULED!
Anyway, the car is going in to HONDA tomorrow until saturday and will come back with completely overhauled BREMBOs! The cost you ask ? 28,500 yen
See you on the track !
Monday, March 1, 2010
Back from Down Under !
I'm back from Perth after my 2 week long holiday or as I'd like to call it a much needed re-charge from a very hectic life here in Japan, therefore I'll make this post short as I am exhausted from a looong flight.
Here is a video of my Tsukuba time attack session back in January.
I was on brand new NEOVA AD08s which felt really really good. Last time I had brand new tyres I wasn't so good at driving my car so I couldn't really appreciate the full potential of such tyres, but this time I made sure I made the most of it !
And here is a photo I took during my stay home. It is a place very close to where I live in Perth called Rottnest Island. If you're ever in Perth, WA, it is a must see destination !
Rod
Here is a video of my Tsukuba time attack session back in January.
I was on brand new NEOVA AD08s which felt really really good. Last time I had brand new tyres I wasn't so good at driving my car so I couldn't really appreciate the full potential of such tyres, but this time I made sure I made the most of it !
And here is a photo I took during my stay home. It is a place very close to where I live in Perth called Rottnest Island. If you're ever in Perth, WA, it is a must see destination !
Rod
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Back to Project Mu's!
A quick post as I am about to fly back to Australia for a long overdue
holiday!
My existing endless pads have ended! Yes after Tsukuba time attack in
late January which Im yet to write a blog entry about my MX72 pads on
the front are down to just a few millis! The rears are in good shape
though and will last for many more runs!
A word about MX72s! Great pad giving an excellent pedal feel and
control with amazing stopping power but not a long lasting one! They
wear off faster than my previous ones from Project Mu but at the same
time are a lot quieter and by nature of their lower friction
cooficient damage the rotor far less! I'd recommend using MX72s as
long as you're a sporadic track runner (2 sessions a month tops) and
not a frequent one like myself (4+ sessions a month)! Also if you care
about noise MX72s are for you ! if you want more bite especially under
high speed (120kmh +) braking MX72s are not for you!
holiday!
My existing endless pads have ended! Yes after Tsukuba time attack in
late January which Im yet to write a blog entry about my MX72 pads on
the front are down to just a few millis! The rears are in good shape
though and will last for many more runs!
A word about MX72s! Great pad giving an excellent pedal feel and
control with amazing stopping power but not a long lasting one! They
wear off faster than my previous ones from Project Mu but at the same
time are a lot quieter and by nature of their lower friction
cooficient damage the rotor far less! I'd recommend using MX72s as
long as you're a sporadic track runner (2 sessions a month tops) and
not a frequent one like myself (4+ sessions a month)! Also if you care
about noise MX72s are for you ! if you want more bite especially under
high speed (120kmh +) braking MX72s are not for you!
Anyway I ordered and just received HC+ front pads from Project Mu, the
same ones I'd used before switching to MX72! I'll stick with them long
term now having experienced different pads and understanding their
unique characteristics !
Btw! Check out the latest Tsukuba time on the right of this post!!
Broke 1'10"! My goal before the winter ends and upon my return from
Australia is 1'07"-1'08"! After that Ill stop chasing time and start
concentrating on consistency
I'm off to Perth now! Hopefully me boys down under let me drive one of
their race cars on some of Perths race tracks! We'll see what comes
up! At any rate Ill record video of anything remotely car related and
post it here!
Till March!!
See yas!
------------------------
Sent on the move
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Photo a Day Gallery (2010)
Happy New Year everyone !
I thought I'd kick off 2010 by introducing my "other", less prominent hobby which happens to be digital photography!
In the last 6 years I have taken a lot of photos from all of my travels and I thought I'd share them with the world in a form of a 'Photo A Day Gallery'!
Every day I will pull out a photo from my vast collection and post it on www.pbase.com/roliradr/photo_a_day/ so please check it out !
Today's photo was taken in Gifu prefecture, Japan. Enjoy !
I thought I'd kick off 2010 by introducing my "other", less prominent hobby which happens to be digital photography!
In the last 6 years I have taken a lot of photos from all of my travels and I thought I'd share them with the world in a form of a 'Photo A Day Gallery'!
Every day I will pull out a photo from my vast collection and post it on www.pbase.com/roliradr/photo_a_day/ so please check it out !
Today's photo was taken in Gifu prefecture, Japan. Enjoy !
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