Track weekends are the best weekends.
Earlier in June I headed up to Winton in the CR-X with the good people at EXE Crew. The track was booked for the whole weekend, perfect to lay down heaps of laps and focus on driving.
This was the first time out in the CR-X since fitting our newly developed geometry kit. After the great results testing the kit on the Civic, I was looking forward to trying it out on the similar but very different CR-X. At the front there’s extended ball joints, while at the rear we had fitted our own roll centre correcting bracket:
Picture above taken from our earlier testing write up on the kit in the EF2.
I ducked out of work early on Friday, mumbling something indistinct about PBs and roll centres to my workmates when asked for an explanation. After a bit of time spent sitting in Melbourne traffic, the long trip up to Winton passed without misadventure; The front splitter on the CR-X is close to the ground, so it’s always good to find it still attached at the end of a trip. Every dip and ripple in the Hume highway is a new adventure.
Saturday dawned cool and sunny as forecast, and initially the track was a bit cold and slick. I struggled to get back down into the 1:33s at first, but after a few laps it soon settled in with plenty of grip and lap times started to fall. By mid day I’d matched my previous 1:33.6:
Everyone’s favourite EK driver Rhys was there, seeking and finding a 1:39s PB with a little help from his friends. Here he is imparting some wisdom and modelling one of our shirts:
Saturday finished up with an encouraging few tenths improvement down to a best lap of 1:33.27 on the very last lap. Any progress is good, but data logging showed there was plenty of time to be found. Here’s the lap times from Saturday:
1:53.2740
1:40.0710
1:39.6600
1:37.0550
1:34.8590
1:50.8960
1:34.5770
1:34.5320
2:03.6470
1:40.1270
1:57.4060
1:33.7900
1:34.0080
1:33.6470
1:34.3470
1:55.7840
1:34.6300
1:44.7330
1:34.0780
1:34.3590
1:34.4940
1:34.8590
1:43.0470
1:34.1490
1:43.3600
1:33.5850
1:35.2860
1:42.0270
1:34.7620
1:33.8290
1:40.7210
1:33.2750
Sunday
Sunday provided perfect PB weather all day. With all of the preceding day spent trying all the things that didn’t work and getting comfortable with the track, I was hoping a good nights sleep would provide some inspiration and a bit more improvement.
PB Pete was there, finally breaking into the 1:33s!
David was out in his time attack spec EG. We’ve helped with some setup work on this car during the off season, and despite an unknown engine issue robbing 20km/h of straight line speed he managed to match and better his previous PB. A great result despite mechanical issues, so expect to see the times tumble next time out with full power on tap!
This nice looking EG was there too, I’m a sucker for a simple black track spec Honda:
The Hondas were well represented with this Mugen kitted DC5 cutting some brisk laps:
Aidan was there testing for World Time Attack, and ended up pipping me by just 8 thousands of a second with a 1:32.909. Expect big things out of this car and driver combo this October after Aidan had a frustrating 2016 WTAC campaign.
By the second session I was able to get into the 32s, with a new PB 1:32.917 lap. That ended up being the best I could manage all day, after a couple of spectacular offs I decided to quit while I was ahead before I hurt myself or the car. Here’s a short video with data overlay of the fastest lap captured on video, a 1:33.1:
[nz_youtube id=”Qiax5wbhn3k” width=”1200″ /]
Here’s all the lap times for Sunday:
1:49.6180
1:45.5180
1:43.3130
1:33.5570
1:34.2170
1:43.0580
1:32.9170 new PB!
1:51.8490
1:33.4120
1:46.8730
2:10.2350
1:33.1720
1:49.5210
1:58.0840
1:47.9080
Data Analysis
Here’s a comparison of the previous best 1:33.6 lap set during our May 4th test day, with the new PB of 1:32.9.
A couple of points I noticed:
- I’ve gained a bunch of time at these points, the long left hand sweeper and the esses just before the start finish. I’d put it down to better mid corner balance allowing me to stay on the throttle longer and get on it earlier at corner exit.
- I was consistently able to throttle on earlier which gave noticeable gains down the straights. The car turned better mid corner with the roll centre geometry corrected, allowing me to get it pointed down the next straight more easily.
Overall it was a great weekend, and it was encouraging to drop into the 1:32s. Like always though, it’s never enough. We’ll make a few more tweaks to see if there’s a 1:31 lap time in the car, and then it’s time to bolt on some stickier rubber and shoot for 1:29s.
Thanks to the EXE crew for putting on a great weekend, along with all the other entrants for their excellent on track behaviour. Thanks Noisy Ninja for providing the pics of the CR-X.
– Tom
