1st Track Day

[kenmorton]

Well I'm very glad to report that my bonnet catch performed brilliantly today on my 1st track day in the Phantom at the Anglesey coastal circuit.
Other things that performed as well or better than expected included the tyres and my upgraded brakes - modulation was excellent and once up to temperature only moderate brake pedal pressure was needed to really wash the speed off. Tyre grip was also spot on so braking could be left really late with only very very occasional lock ups. Engine and gearbox were also faultless though I would have liked the engine to have been mapped properly with the new boost valve rather than my guestimate but couldn't get any earlier than the 30th July.
Things that still require some ongoing work is the rear suspension, after reducing the length of the passenger side drive shaft i thought I had solved the problem of it bottoming out in the tripode joint on right hand bends but it reappeared with the much greater stress of driving on track. This has got to be down to the engine/gearbox having too much latteral movement on the mounts or the de dion axle not having a suficiently rigid lateral fixing point.
The other area for major improvement is the driver. Reasonable first attempt but plenty of room for improvement. I was pushing on as hard as my bravery pills would allow (took a new line across the grass once) but I didn't want to stack my pride and joy into a barrier on it's first outing especially as it had to drive me back the 100 miles home after the event.