On the 18th August I headed out in the Sirion to Tailem Bend Motorsport Park to take part in the Hyperdrive3D portion of a mixed event. This Track Day was shared between Hyperdrive, BMW Club and Porsche Club - with each group getting 4-5 Sessions over the day. The weather was not great, Sessions 1 and 3 were dry. My first few laps of Session 2 was dry before it was red flagged due to rain / wind. Session 4 after lunch was completely wet and I made the decision to not go out in Session 5. Tailem Bend has 4 different configurations - and we were on the International Circuit.
Tailem Bend - International Circuit is a much larger circuit than Mallala - complete with a kilometer long straight that I had concerns over the Sirions new lower final drive. My concerns were put to rest, at the end of the straight I was around 7k rpm in 4th and ~160km/h. It was a windy day, so a combination of the wind, lack of power and not the most aerodynamic vehicle, meant that I couldn’t go any faster - which had the benefit of not needing to shift into 5th.
I’ve not been on this track before, so its no surprise that I was getting to know the track. Sessions 1-3 saw a steadily lower time:
- S1 2:53.19
- S2 2:48.13
- S3 2:45.54
As per last time with the GPS-based timing and RaceChrono, my theoretical best was a 2:43.50 based on the best individual sectors combined. So certainly a couple of extra seconds to be gained through consistency. One example is: the Turn 1,2,3 Complex - between my fastest actual and theoretical there are two distinct lines that can be seen (the track is very wide also).
On the theoretical best, I’ve clearly braked later and more positively reducing speed more - but then that has paid-off in higher speed through T2 and was not compromised in the tighter T3. So good info to be had from simple timing/GPS.
In Session 4 - we had a very wet session. I was enjoying finding the limits of grip in the wet as I’d never been on track when it was this wet. It did come unstuck at one point, with a spin at ~115km/h into a space with limited run off. Thankfully it stayed off the wall.
It is a long sweeping left hander, and the lap prior I could hold it flat through there. I don’t believe it was continuing to rain at the time, so approach the next lap the same - however past the apex the car snapped left very quickly. The opposite lock didn’t save it, but likely helped once the wheels bit into the grassed area as the car spun back around to the right.
Again, the benchmark time was the Protron Satria Gti - which i managed to best by 2 tenths in my Actual fastest lap. Again proving that the two cars & drivers are quite evenly matched. There were a few other cars out there with less experienced drivers (though more powerful cars) and as such the Sirion did itself proud against the competition:
- Mazda 3 MPS - 2:42.8
- Mazda RX8 - 2:47.4
- Mazda SP20 - 2:43.0
Times / Racechrono Data can be found: http://www.hyperdrive3d.com.au/pastevents/Track120/index.php
Modification-wise:
- Intake worked ‘well’ / ‘fine’ as much as I could tell.
- Second chrome trim was also cut and installed (bumper was also cut) to feed air from the front of the car to the pod filter. I believe this worked as there was a ‘dirty’ patch on the underside of the bonnet.
-LSD and rest of the package worked well.
I’m really happy with where the car is at, there isn’t much more to do other than seat time. I think the Brakes and the rear suspension will still be the area’s of focus. Perhaps some lighter rims and proper Track Semi Slicks. But so far with the increased attention on oil changes and top ups the engine is holding together. I have a Dyno Day on the 5th October, so will be good to finally see how many kilowatts I’m actually playing with!
Extra Photos:
(Final intake with support brackets etc).
