595 RSRs are less than £300 a set :p

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Rallye Race Car

Well it took a while but i've done it and went for the 595 RSR Tyres - £75 a corner fitted - Seems very very reasonable in comparison to the AD08 etc, and WOW!! what a difference, i've only managed to get out in the wet thus far, which supposedly isnt their strongest asset and the difference between these and the Toyo Proxes on there before is night and day!

I'm massively pleased, also gone up from a 195/45 to a 205/45 16, no rubbing regardless of how hard i throw it about and it also has that lovely slightly chubby track tyre look to boot!

Booked in to go to Bedford Autodrome on the 16th of Feb, cant wait to see how they hold up on track...



Could resist a thrash regardless of weather lol



Loving the car, also going to remove the decat - MOT is due and the decat pipe is failing (cracks around welds etc) so although as track car i think the torque curve with decat suited it, its just too much of a faff every time we come around to an MOT (It was also painfully loud and raspy)

Looking good

Decided to go back to anthracite with the front n/s wheel instead of going all white then? Good choice if so!

Haha sadly not, the white one is round the other side following the new tyres being fitted...

So its going in again on Monday for the actual MOT, oil cooler finally being plumbed in, and whatever else comes from the MOT which no doubt it will fail being old and generally oily....

The handbrake is particularly useless!?

Courtesy of Tax for this, the X5 and a service/MOT for both the wheel refurb has been put off yet again, albeit as a track car i dont look like too much of a pikey

So we were back on track on Monday last week (16th Fe @ Bedford, and following the previous outing i was suffering from oil temp issues. now the car came with an oil cooler fitted in a bracked but not plumbed in...

Oil cooler all plumbed in with Mocal thermostatic plate, oil temps on track never broke 100 (140 last October in similar conditions)




Also gave it a full oil change/service and fitted a new clutch cable. (the latter transformed the car!)

Car park, pre track:



The track day was fantastic, started off dry and the car felt amazing, the RSR's were incredibly sticky and we were faster than quite a few traditionally faster cars. Here's a few pics and a video of one of my dry laps, it was one of the first laps and turn in was a tad aggressive, definitely improved throughout the day...

Bloody LOVE this picture from a guy in the track day section on PH!:





Video:


The weather got progressively worse from lunch time onwards, however It was fantastic, really forced me to adapt my driving style, balancing understeer vs oversteer, trail braking etc, its some of the best driving i've ever done. Towards the end of the day we were keeping up with really pretty special cars, particularly the E46 M3's, one lap I caught on camera below that i'm pretty pleased with! (RSR's arent amazing in the wet so did struggle with understeer on a couple of occasions as you'll see...





Wet Video: 12 solid laps chasing this M3! (just awesome)



Overall the car was fantastic, brakes remain the best setup i've ever used, handling is agile and lively but incredibly predictable and engaging, although i am craving more straight line speed (particulary torque out of the apex) however i cant complain, clicked over 160k miles whilst on track, completing 180 miles on track and 110 miles each way to get there!

Now on the hunt for the elusive half-cage, harnesses and throttle bodies....

Thanks for reading

Chris

BTW - meant to ask you what boss you got and from where? Ta

I'm just going to bit the bullet and get a OMP wheel new as driving the car with my knees hitting the steering or with outstretched arms is a recipe for distaster.

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Turned 40 and in true cliched fashion buying one of the cars of my teenage dreams!

Thanks - so the momo one has the indicator and air bag cancel?

And the commentary makes it all the more watchable

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Turned 40 and in true cliched fashion buying one of the cars of my teenage dreams!

So...Update time, christ its been bloody ages!

Well after what seems like an eternity progress at last - Rallye Aux kit fitted & all of the aircon pipes etc all removed, along with the compressor etc...

I also stripped out all of the carpet & sound deadening which has made it very very raw, but kind of fun and it was an amazing amount of weight reduction (particularly the rear seats carpet and the bulk head sound deadening

And much more importantly, it was a real pain of a job by all accounts but my Satchshift is in, and I can confirm, utterly utterly brilliant!





As you will see I also bought a fire extinguisher as the tunnel does get very very hot after a reasonable drive so I can only imagine it could get pretty damn hot on track...

On the down side, I have found rather a lot of rust in the passenger wing and the floor on both passenger & driver foot wells (in the corners and running along the sill) so some serious welding is on the horizon i guess :-(

That said it is still so much fun to drive, so agile, lively, direct and engaging - such great cars!

So I had a full replacement set of richw bearings fitted to the existing setup which has been on the car for I'd estimate 20k miles and what a transformation! Holy crap, I mean in all dimensions, turn in, tram lining, complete lack of knocking, it's easily the best money I've spent so far in terms of impact

In other news I had the gearbox oil replaced and that has made the shift far smoother, particularly second which is useful given the speed of shift now with the Satchshift

Love this little car, just gets better and better to drive!

When are you getting that bloody odd wheel painted!? Looks brilliant, loving this thread.

Worth every penny Dan, took a mate out last night for a bit of a blast, and with the new oil etc i'd almost argue the shift is too quick for the box - its just awesome

I'll be at bedford on the 19th, you're more than welcome to come have a look