Yesterday was my second track day. This time on the Folembray circuit (2 hrs drive). My wife and I took the leap of faith regarding the X’s reliability and drove only the X to track (and back!), but I did manage to motivate a friend with a 2016 Nissan Z350 convertible to participate to the track day event, just in case.
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The circuit is uphill from n° 1 to 3 and downhill from n° 3 to 5, with two hard braking moments, one uphill at chicane n° 2 (at about 140 kph for my X ) and one downhill before turn n° 5 (at about 160 kph), the rest is basically high speed. There were many (more then 10) Porsches, most GT3s and GT4s, a Lotus Exige, a Mustang Fastback, and three Renault Sport Clio RS, besides the latter most vehicles had easily two, three or more times the horsepower of my 1.8 16v X.
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It was raining at first but it became dry by 14h. Driving on Nankang NS2R when it’s really wet was interesting. After I did a some reconnaissance laps with my wife:
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I gradually upped the pace, learning to be gentle enough on the accelerator in the wet. I started to run at the same pace as the non GT Porsches and not much slower than the Mustang, until I lost the rear at relatively high speed in the downhill chicane n°4, overcorrected and did a 720° in the opposite sense, luckily without any cars close. So now I finally have a first-hand experience what snap-over steering is all about.
Later in the dry the high horsepower cars started to become much quicker. My friend I the Z350 had blast too, he was wise enough to start his first stint with a professional instructor. Later in the afternoon, I drove a stint behind him. I was quicker in the braking zones, the turns, and even the first part of the straights (because my exit speed was higher). The Z’s horsepower allowed him to move away on the second half of the straights.
With the new hp2 Brembo pads up front I left the brake proportioning on full (no pressure reduction in the rear, so 61%/39% F/R balance) and did not have any rear wheel lock-ups. No front lock-up either, but that is because I couldn’t bring myself to braking late enough. The Porsches GT3 and 4 started lighting-up their brake-lights at the 150m mark, I manage to improve during the afternoon to 75m, but not later. So the limit is my courage, not the X’s (new) brake system, yet.
My friend and I did have a scary moment together at the end, though. My friend slowed down for cooling but forgot to stay off the race line and turned-in at the entry of chicane n° 4 while I was passing him. I had to tighten the corner more to avoid contact, more than the available grip, which caused my second spin of the day. With the experience of the earlier event I did nothing but braking, while my friend who hadn’t seen me before, steered away. After my 360° we were side by side, both pointing in the correct direction. An experience richer, but one we will avoid in the future.
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