Given my recent thread about strange clicking noises when turning, and possibly needing to replace the front carbon ceramic brake pads due to hairline cracks (despite being nearly new)... the following may not have been my wisest decision, but nothing went wrong and it was a huge amount of fun, so all good!
Anyway, I recently drove from the UK to Barcelona and whilst I was here I managed to get in a few sessions at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which is one of my favourite tracks from watching F1 and playing various racing games. I've always wanted to drive it, so it was something I had to do whilst here.
I'm still going through most of the GoPro footage, but I've chucked some up on YouTube. Most of it is pretty boring stuff to be honest! The first day I was there I had issues with cameras and not much footage, the second day was much better footage wise but both days I was having issues with the brakes overheating every 5-6 laps and then having to do several cool-down laps.
Day 2
I had about an hour on track (2x 30min sessions). I was happier pushing a bit harder than Day 1 but despite being quicker, driving standards dropped a lot and I started overdriving the car.
Day 2 - Session 1: Having a play with a Corvette Z06
I haven't uploaded footage of the full session yet, most of it is quite boring! But this was a fun few laps, despite being pretty messy driving wise.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXPnuoT8fDI[/media]
Day 2 - Session 2
After the first few laps the brakes overheated (you can hear an alarm going off in the car). A few cool down laps to get the temperatures back down (with some power slides thrown in for the fun of it, what else can you do when going that slowly...) and then managed to get a few more laps in before the end of the session.
I'm overdriving the car a lot here, and struggling with tyres overheating. Need to reign it in a bit for next time as it seems as soon as I pick up the speed my inputs get too aggressive.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPkyNdyK3xw[/media]
And the same session but with an external, 360 degree camera. I still feel like this is a bit gimmicky, but it's at least a good angle. For some reason the rear view is a bit screwed up for the first 8 minutes, and then it sorts itself out... :shrug:
[media]https://youtu.be/EVIqNfG610k[/media]
I've got a separate video of this session with a 360 degree camera mounted outside of the car which looks pretty cool in my opinion, but the footage is taking forever to process. I'll update this in a day or two once it's uploaded.
Day 1
Footage from Day 1 came out quite over-exposed, so not great unfortunately. I had about 40 minutes on track (over 3x 30 min sessions... don't ask) and spent most of it going around at a pretty steady pace just to get used to the track.
Day 1 - Session 1
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSnMLZGMytc[/media]
Day 1 - Session 2
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A6zP_ZsoLE[/media]
Next steps
Now it's back to the UK, and to try and sort something out regarding the brake cooling before I take it back on track. Jaguar used to sell brake ducts for the carbon ceramics, but don't anymore. I'm going to see if there's something similar I can get made up that will help.
Proper track tyres would go a long way as well, but this is still a road car that occasionally goes on track, so I don't want to over-tyre it for the road. The current Michelin MPS4S' aren't the best on track, but they'll do!
Anyway, I recently drove from the UK to Barcelona and whilst I was here I managed to get in a few sessions at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which is one of my favourite tracks from watching F1 and playing various racing games. I've always wanted to drive it, so it was something I had to do whilst here.
I'm still going through most of the GoPro footage, but I've chucked some up on YouTube. Most of it is pretty boring stuff to be honest! The first day I was there I had issues with cameras and not much footage, the second day was much better footage wise but both days I was having issues with the brakes overheating every 5-6 laps and then having to do several cool-down laps.
Day 2
I had about an hour on track (2x 30min sessions). I was happier pushing a bit harder than Day 1 but despite being quicker, driving standards dropped a lot and I started overdriving the car.
Day 2 - Session 1: Having a play with a Corvette Z06
I haven't uploaded footage of the full session yet, most of it is quite boring! But this was a fun few laps, despite being pretty messy driving wise.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXPnuoT8fDI[/media]
Day 2 - Session 2
After the first few laps the brakes overheated (you can hear an alarm going off in the car). A few cool down laps to get the temperatures back down (with some power slides thrown in for the fun of it, what else can you do when going that slowly...) and then managed to get a few more laps in before the end of the session.
I'm overdriving the car a lot here, and struggling with tyres overheating. Need to reign it in a bit for next time as it seems as soon as I pick up the speed my inputs get too aggressive.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPkyNdyK3xw[/media]
And the same session but with an external, 360 degree camera. I still feel like this is a bit gimmicky, but it's at least a good angle. For some reason the rear view is a bit screwed up for the first 8 minutes, and then it sorts itself out... :shrug:
[media]https://youtu.be/EVIqNfG610k[/media]
I've got a separate video of this session with a 360 degree camera mounted outside of the car which looks pretty cool in my opinion, but the footage is taking forever to process. I'll update this in a day or two once it's uploaded.
Day 1
Footage from Day 1 came out quite over-exposed, so not great unfortunately. I had about 40 minutes on track (over 3x 30 min sessions... don't ask) and spent most of it going around at a pretty steady pace just to get used to the track.
Day 1 - Session 1
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSnMLZGMytc[/media]
Day 1 - Session 2
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A6zP_ZsoLE[/media]
Next steps
Now it's back to the UK, and to try and sort something out regarding the brake cooling before I take it back on track. Jaguar used to sell brake ducts for the carbon ceramics, but don't anymore. I'm going to see if there's something similar I can get made up that will help.
Proper track tyres would go a long way as well, but this is still a road car that occasionally goes on track, so I don't want to over-tyre it for the road. The current Michelin MPS4S' aren't the best on track, but they'll do!
