Another Track Day

2015 started off kinda good to me. Early in the new year, I have another opportunity to have a go in the famed Sepang International Circuit (SIC).

Yup, its another open track day for the track junkies. I grab this window of opportunity to test out the newly added items to the Altis right at the end of 2014.

I have the brakes uprated from the original calipers to the brake kit from a Golf R MK6 armed with Ferodo Racing brake pads.

I have also junked the original absorbers which is already at its end of service life for a pair of coilover kit from BC Racing. Its a V1 series with 8k rated spring rate for front pair and a 5k rated spring rate for the rear pair. Damping is 30 way adjustable.

On top of that, I have the previously used Kumho KU36 donuts swapped with a new fresh set of Hankook RS3 rubbers.

A perfect time indeed to get those items tested out and see if I can improve on my previous time which is just right below 3.00 mins per lap done in a completely stock car with Kumho KU36 tyres and uprated brake pads on stock calipers and disc.

Taking a break after one of the many laps.

Safety car is deployed due to some mishap.

At the end of my session, my best time as captured by the Race Chrono app is as below.

A good 6 seconds improvement even with traffic on track.

All this done without any power mods apart from an air intake kit.

This gives me a renewed confidence that I should be able to hit 2.50 per lap (without power mods) if I am to further improve on my braking, throttle time and also racing lines. Time will tell on this.

All in all, I had a good fun session learning more about the capability of the car.

A final shot of the Altis after the track session.

VW Jetta MK6 in Sepang International Circuit

I never felt so much at home then in the tracks of Sepang International Circuit.

After finding out how the car would feel during a recent event here, I've finally gotten the chance to test out the "Altis" on the famous tarmac of Sepang International Circuit. Not once but twice actually.

The first time the "Altis" entered Sepang, I did not do any adjustment whatsoever to the car like tyre pressure and such and the car is entered as it is, in its very condition it arrived.

After spending a good 70% of the session learning the car, I then go into "time attack" mode for the final quarter of the session.
Managed 3:05 with the car in moderate to slightly heavy traffic condition.

Not much comment on the time as I need a reference time to base on for future track reference.

It was a good session as I get valuable personal data on how the car behaves and what improvements need to be done.

A couple of months later, I have another opportunity to run the Jetta in the track again and this time, the only "tuning" I did was to check the before and after reading of the tyres and the pressure is adjusted accordingly before each run.

Same thing follows, the first 70% of the session is spent getting the readings and correcting it accordingly. The final 30% is spend on "time attack" mode.

Frankly I can feel the improvement just on playing with the tyre pressure alone. I got more traction and the car ESP kicks in much later allowing me more throttle time.

This time I managed to bring the car below 3 mins to 2:59.47.

This particular session also did confirmed what exactly needed to be done.

A group pic after the second session.

Although the timing is not based on Sepang transponder, but I have the chance to do a cross-checked as the Lancer above is running on a transponder and I have the opportunity to cross check the app reading with the transponder reading.

The difference is only 2 hundredth of a second.

Now bring on the 2:50 barrier for this car.

Private Track Day

Had a "private" track day at SIC for the whole of today's afternoon.

Why "private"?
Because I literally have the whole track to myself.

Was invited for this by one of my club members and I somewhat agree to go with the condition, if there is no traffic I will participate.

When I arrive at the track today, there is not a single soul to be seen and I quickly pay up and jump into my car and then bring it out on the track.

It was a very fun session except for the horrible time of 3:04s that I posted.
My personal best is 2:55s
Maybe I am not being serious or I am out of touch lately?
Hmmm....

More about this later as I am so damn tired now after an eventful day.



Adios !!