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Well, the misfiring seems a tiny bit better than at snetterton (down to the lowering of the overall fuel gain in the MBE I suspect) but it still needs a major mapping session at the rolling road. Most of the time I was changing up at 7k rpm because the engine simply would not get much further than this but at least the misfiring wasn't happening much below that whereas at snet it was misbehaving earlier on in the 6 thousands. As for grip, well the other set of used slicks I put on - although over a year old - are a vast improvement on the other set that I just ditched. There is real proper grip there and I was able to get plenty of heat into them... the difference between snetterton was night and day and the car is much more composed and inspiring ! Really forgot just how wonderful the redgate to coppice section is as well.... one of the most enjoyable sections of track ever. After the dubious setup of Cadwell and Rockingham I really am starting to benefit from the cars revised ride heights and proper rake as well, everything (including my driving) is so much more composed and confidence inspiring. My noise problems obviously weren't an issue here either because it was a welcomed unsilenced day. A race GT2 in attendance was easily the loudest car i've ever heard at a trackday, actually painful on the ear drums as it shot down the main straight.
Although grip was improved the newly acquired understeer I discovered at Snet was still present but perhaps because the tyres were more substantial I was able to better define it here. Essentially on turning in the nearside loaded front tyre was squealing quite noticeably. When we checked the temperatures we saw a very obvious imbalance across the tyre with the inside being significantly hotter. The car is now lower than last year at teh front so I suspect that the camber needs looking at again. Lowering will increase the camber and its likely that the nearside front is not nice and level going into a corner and therefore not maximising available grip. In fact you can hear the screeching on the videos... on both the used slicks and the A032's. Some increased front toe could also help. Other than that, the day was just fantastic. I found myself really able to attack donnington with the new tyres on. Sadly I was never able to string everything I'd experimented with together in the afternoon because I had a wheel come off just before lunch so consequently my best laps of the day were actually down on speed in some areas so theres plenty more to come particularly in craners and turning into redgate.
Yep, a wheel coming off is not ideal. Luckily it happened here and at the old hairpin where there was run off. On the exit at 83.5mph the studs sheared off and the wheel rolled towards the tyre wall. The car went straight and I was able to control it to a safe stop. Because it was passenger side the only unfavourable contact was the towing eye with the grass and also I imagine the brake disc a little as well but teh only real damage was that the rear cycle wing was half ripped away from the body. So in the afternoon I checked the car over, fixed on a new hub and put my all round 6" rims on with Yoko A032's. Surprisingly I found these way grippier than I expected, although only on 6" and with far less braking ability than the used slicks they really weren't that bad at all and quite good fun being a less stiff malleable road tyre.
So looking at the logging, a lap of Donnington based on real mph (not over-exuberant speedo mph glanced at from the dash!) in the Duranail goes something like this. Accelerating through 4th right up to 120mph then hard on the brakes at the end of the blue triangle where the pitlane joins the track, turn into redgate in 3rd at about 66mph then squeezing through the apex to exit at around 85mph. Power up to 95mph, into 4th through hollywood hitting 113mph before easing the throttle gently and turning into Craners at around 104mph, straight back on the power you apex at around 107mph and the car scarily wiggles and you're then up to 111mph down the hill. Turn into old hairpin at 89mph, scrubbing off speed but with a minimum corner speed of about 82, exiting hard on the power in 4th up under starkeys bridge at 100mph then topping out at 113 before loosening the throttle for the final kinked approach to Mcleans. Back on the power for a brief moment to hold the car at around 100mph then hard on the brakes, into 3rd and flick the car into Mcleans at 78mph. Scubbing off 5mph or so then you are exiting at around 85mph and going into 4th momentarily up to 102mph then stabbing the brakes, slicing into coppice at just over 75mph and accelerating gradually with around 95mph showing when the car finally straightens up and hits the back straight. Under the bridge at 118mph, into 5th hitting the dreaded aerodynamic brick wall and onto 125.5mph before braking hard to 58mph then into the esses, up into 4th and hit 103mph at the start finish line. Thats all in around 1minute 17secs then and still being a real complete wimp through craners.
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