Maxem

Yes, but need to hook it up to the right gear to finalise adjustments.

John McM

It seems typical pre road/track trip to find car issues. I knew my cooling fan had a ‘ting’ noise but it was worse than I thought. A mark on the shroud, and it was clear that both alternator and fan bearings were gone. If you’re a take it in to the mechanic type of person you could be up for more than $$$$ with labour fitting a new fan and alternator, but assuming it’s just bearings the DIY cost is more like $$. While I have the bearings in my stash I don’t have the time before the trip to fit them so I broke my rule and swiped the one out of the White C4. This is a slippery slope.

Macca

Nice work Dave!

John. When will the white car be running?

Dave. Yes the guy who bought my 993 traded it for a 991 GT3RS. The dealer has lowered the price. I think it has more chance to sell in the 140's. The speculative market is definitely over for old Porsche's for a while me thinks.

John McM

Not sure, purloining its alternator and fan has set me back. I plan to have the engine off the yoke this week, fit the flywheel, transmission and clutch, then it will wait until I get back from next weekend to do the install. It will need an alternator and fan, but I have the parts so it’s a matter of time not money. In the meantime the Silver car had new kicks

Macca

Great. Not long now John. Those wheels look good on the silver car!

O2GO

I agree. I reckon thy look better on the silver C4 than they do on Herman. Albeit we haven't seen Herman on a road in a while so memories fade.

Good luck for the NITT this coming weekend. The first one I'll have missed. We're going north to brush the cobwebs off our summer toys.

John McM

Dave said the same thing. I'll put the cup 1s on Herman when he's finally back on the road. When exactly that will happen I don't know, but I hope it's sooner than later. In time for Summer would be good. It had better be before Christmas leave as house repairs beckon, like last year

Have fun up North.

Macca

Well the good news is Job done session 1 lap 5 today at Taupo. 1.49.49 Benchmarked the stock car.

My driving was pretty crap, never driven a FWD car on the track before and having to manage power to front wheels on exit was fun. I think slightly different lines for some corners needed.

I had the brake fluid and pads changed yesterday as a precaution and pleased to say they were awesome for all 5 sessions each around 17 minutes (so typical of play days) with zero fade. Ferodo DS1.11 are a good pad.

The car was super fun to drive once you got the hand if it. Box was good and never baulked. You can get the rear to rotate quite easily especially when rear tyres are cold. Roadies wore ok but obviously could enjoy more negative camber. I think with rotation 4 track days just possible in the stock set up.

The negatives. My driving improved after session 1 and the tyres got grippier but the LapTimes during the day actually fell away 0.5-1s which is more if you consider I was driving better. Everyone had the same issue even the TR86 race guys doing set up but I think the factory intercooler also struggles with heat soak and is a must do upgrade with horsepower.

Next up is Manfield. I think a 1.21 would be very good there with stock car but possibly optimistic.

Horsepower upgrades will demand R comp to get the power to the ground but expecting the two together to drop the Taupo times by 3s a lap so still thinking 1.46.00 which makes it faster than my old 993 and into well driven 997S territory. Not to bad for outlay under 40k for brand new car plus tune HP mods and track tyres and pads? Would expect Manfield in 1.19.00 territory and HD 1.17.00...

Audidude

I have found the gear shifter fine for road driving but easy to miss the middle gate on the track. Did you have the short shifter fitted?

Macca

....will throw traces up tonight. Session one vmax 188. Session 2 similar then dropping back to 183 as day got hotter. Ambient got to 21 and track to 45 starting around 16 in morning. IATs in Track ranged 42-50c which didn’t help. I think a larger charge cooler might drop those 5c

Macca

...

Macca

Greg. I didnt fit the short shift kit but I did fit the M Tech engine/gearbox mount and felt an immediate improvement on the back roads between Taupo and TeAwamutu once it was done. When you look at the OEM part its clear why. Its full of rubber vs no rubber on the constituted part. On track I had no issues with the shift at all. Infact it felt more precise than on the road, or should I say in the heat of the moment the throw didnt seem quite as long as before and felt overall good.

Here is the trace of my fastest lap. Unfortunately the start line is half way down the back straight according to aim and I haven't had time to manually correct that.

Its quite obvious the limitations of a good road tyre even when new. Maximum lateral G was around 1.22. For a new Michi Cup2 I get 1.36-1.38 and for a Z221 I get 1.38-1.40. So with a track tyre there is definitely some improvement to be had.

Heat during the day was a performance limiter. we all experienced lap times slowing during the day (The TR86 race guys setting up their car for teh coming season said they lost 1s a lap during teh day). I think with the Meganes older skool Turbo engine (low compression etc) it was even more marked. My driving improved and the tyres felt good but the times dropped off once the tarmac got above 35 and the ambient got around 20. If you are going to upgrade this engine to 320hp/450nm and use it on the track I think an intercooler makes sense.

At least the times were consistent.

I believe its possible to get into the high 45's with Z221 and Stage 2. Some driver seat time required. Thats probably ball park for a 996 GT3.

Pel

Nice to hear good reports on the brakes, how did you find the standard suspension setup? Much Roll? My package still hasn't showed up so fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Macca

Here is a comparison trace between my last time out with Focus RS (1550kg with 396bhp upgrade and 550nm 4WD). The Megane is 1390kg with 275bhp and 360nm.

With the Focus RS I was finishing off some old Michi Supersport tyres seen 10k km including 4 track days. They corded after two sessions! However you can see even the old Michis with that 4WD chassis have better lateral G!


Part of the issue with the Megane is keeping up mid corner minimum speed in the tight corners, the FWD chassis struggles most here.

Also 2/3 gear are relatively short in Megane but 4th is too long. Coming of A1 corner in 4th you stay in that gear till the back sweeper - it gets bogged down exiting A1 as the revs drop off - the tune will make a huge difference here as it will add 70nm+ of torque from 3000-5000 and help torque fill the gap making the vmax at the end of the corresponding straight significantly higher.

The Megane however shows promise. The Focus could manage a mid 46 on fresh PS4S however I think on teh same tyres the stock Megane would not be far behind and the Focus had power upgrades.

What you can see from this comaprison is that the Megane has better aero for the back straight so the vmax times arent too different given the Focus power advantage. With the tune I expect to see the Megane quicker here than the Focus.

I think the tune without stickier tyres will only give a second advantage at Taupo but with R comps that will be extended as you can get the power to the ground.

It will be interesting to revisit Taupo in a few weeks with the power upgrade on the same tyres and see if this is true. Better yet when some Z221 are fitted...

Macca

Yeah. The brakes were my key concern after the Focus which runs a similar package (but is heavier). The pad choice was limited on the Focus so I only ever had a mildly upgrades street/road pad but would have a to be very careful after about 5 laps.

The Megane brakes with the upgraded pads and fluid were without fault for 17 minute sessions. The car is 160+kg lighter and once your remove the air damns under the bumper they get some ventilation.

To be honest the suspension was not a limitation at this level. Body roll was less than focus, the dampers are well judged. I think its a very capable OEM set up for fast road and occasional track.

However. Add +45bhp and 80+nm and put sticky R comps on and reduce your lap times 3-4s and the game changes. The brakes become hammered harder due to the tyres grip and the lateral Gs increase by 20%. Vmax increases so kinetic energy through brakes at end of straight etc.

My (admittedly limited) track experience suggests when you push the car harder like above you run everything closer to the edge then limitations become more apparent (slippery slope?). I think the brakes may hold up but once you are in the low 46s the suspension may show its weaknesses and the lack of negative camber will show in accelerated front tyre shoulder wear. Then KW Clubsport will become the answer to lower COG and improve handling and camber/wear - but until then the suspension is will pass muster...