Estoril Experience Day 2017-02-12 - The 3rd Track Day

And there we went! Raining a lot when I left the garage waiting for the tow truck. Funny to see the rain evaporating when it touched the exhaust pipe. The trip to the track was uneventful, the credentials office almost empty and, after unloading, off I went for the briefing (without which I wouldn't be allowed on track). As we got to the track the rain stopped. And that was wonderful!

As before, had RaceChrono Pro running on the phone to capture speed and GPS positioning and the SJ4000 cam on my rollbar. At home I then copied the videos to the phone, tried to synch them with the data and produced the videos below.

1st leg - 9h00 to 9h20 a.m.
The track was very wet. I was very afraid of having an accident and even more of having someone crash into me. It was my first time driving a rear-wheel drive car on a wet surface. Drove very carefully and let everyone pass me. Very slow times. Did 4 laps, being the fastest 3:49:32 and getting to 133,8Km/h as top speed. Still had one trip outside the track and a small slide (fortunately was going slow).

Noticed that the electrical gremlins continue. So, I still can't see the gear I'm on, it jumps as crazy. Also, forgot to move the dash from miles to kilometers so was getting "odd" speed readings.

Don't watch the video, it's boring :)

Before 2nd leg went around with friends and gave a small drive to a young boy, son of one of them.

2nd leg - 11h30 to 11h50 a.m.
Track was getting dry, the weather continued to be good and I got a bit more confident. As that happens I accelerate more and notice that the car is not going over around 150km/h. Is starts to stutter and will not go further. This happens as it reaches higher revs, but not yet in the red. I think it happened on all gears but on the lower ones I would up-shift and "problem solved" but nothing I could do in 6th...

Anyway, still afraid, still letting everyone pass. Don't want to ruin anyone's fun and, specially, don't want anyone crashing on me! 5 laps with a best time of 3:12:73 and top speed of 151,7Km/h.

A bit after the 2nd leg my wife, kids and mother-in-law arrived to have lunch with me. After that I gave a drive to each one of the kids.

They staid to see my 3rd leg.

3rd leg - 14h20 to 14h40
Well... As I was about to start I noticed the SJ4000 battery was out of juice. Even with wi-fi turned off, the battery only lasts for 1h. So I left it charging from a USB powerbank and went on track without video. As the family was watching, I have a fly-by on the straight.

I did 3 laps before the session was red-flagged due to a car that got trapped and broke an upright on a sand trap. Best lap was 3:11:35 and max speed was 151,1Km/h.

4th leg - 16h50 to 17h10
Last leg and I felt a lot more confident. Maybe it was because if something broke I wouldn't lose other legs. Maybe it was because of what I had already driven. Although the car was stuck around 150km/h, I was happier.

5 laps with a best time of 2:55:40 and max speed of 155,2Km/h. Even on the best lap I got out of correct trajectory to let others pass.

Aftermatch
Got rain on the way home. Dried the car and disconnected the battery. I have work to do on it. Try to see about the electrical gremlins: besides the gears, my indicators are not working (but the emergency 4-blinking does!). The limit at 150Km/h may be because the fuel I used was bought in the UK in May 2015... Almost 2 years old! Probably also have the carbs a bit clogged with dirt. So I need to drain whatever is left of fuel on the tank (I added 10L of 95 octane fuel) and clean the carbs. I was told to use always 98 octane not only for performance but also because it doesn't decay, so no carbs issues... So, these two things are my objectives to achieve before the next track day. Specially the carbs cleaning.

Talking of next track day... Two days after the track day, on Tuesday, they opened up the enrolment for the next one, on the 8th April. I signed up on Friday for a full-day. They already had some half-day options full!

So... :) Objective: