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Man, Phillip Island is faaast! I knew from when I was there in the rain in July that it's a fast circuit, but to be able to experience corners flat out in 4th gear is another level altogether! The plan was to do the practice day on Saturday then enter the Super Sprint event on Sunday for official timing but the weather didn't quite hold up with rain closing in early Sunday morning. It did eventually pass but I'd already decided not to run the 2nd day.

We were hand timing on Saturday so it wasn't totally accurate but good enough to see how we were faring. I was running 2nd hand slicks which were not exactly fresh so they felt as good as a decent set of semi slicks - only much cheaper. We had 4 x 15 minute sessions and by the 3rd I'd gotten down to 1:59.5 with thanks to Rob Hayden for passing on some of his intimate knowledge of the more tricky sections. Pretty happy with a sub-2 minute laptime on my first dry day at the Island :-)

Big thanks to Greg Nikitiuk, Ben Socratous and Craig Webber for the shots. One of the great things about Phillip Island is the range of cars to check out between sessions. Click on any of the photos to open a larger copy in a new window.

The blue ford with the bug catcher out the bonnet is a ute which apparently has 600kw. It has a big centrifugal supercharger feeding the V8 and it went past me down the straight like I was standing still... except I was doing 200km/h!

My original flywheel weighed in at 11kg which is fine for cruising around as it ensures a smooth clutch take up and makes it practically impossible to stall. However, all the spinning inertia means the revs don't drop in the fraction of a second between gearshifts which was putting some shock through the drivetrain. It also dampens the throttle response somewhat so it was sent off to be lightened. The clutch/pressure plate went with it so the machinist could see where material could be removed. Unfortunately the courier lost the package (which has since turned up) so I bought one of these aluminium flywheels and an 850kg clutch to go with it otherwise I wouldn't have made it.

The flywheel weighs 5.5kg, so half the original but it's still very easy to drive thanks to the full-face organic clutch. I'm not into drags so I don't need anything extreme like a puck clutch. Gearshifts on the track are much smoother as the revs match better and it feels a bit more responsive, so thumbs up all round and a big thank you to Neil Griffiths for getting it back together in time!

After seeing the corners of my CF bonnet lifting last time I was at Phillip Island it was obvious bonnet pins are a must. I had a secondary bonnet restraint attached to the factory latch but still... Anyway I didn't want the standard bonnet pins as they stick out like dog's balls and they're illegal on the road so it's an invitation for Police attention. As I mentioned a couple of weeks back I bought some of these AeroCatch bonnet pins which are perfect on a CF bonnet. Nice and subtle and very well made.

I thought I'd try some aero mods and fitted an aluminium twin element wing to a spare bootlid I have. It's only a cheap wing but it damn well works as the top element was visibly bending down in the middle at speed even when on the flattest setting. The top element is on the steepest angle in this pic.

The last thing I wanted was to have the front end go light due to the downforce on the boot so Neil and I quickly made this plywood front splitter the day before I drove down. It's not ideal as it doesn't go the full width but we couldn't get plywood long enough in time (excuse the grubby appearance!)

It definitely helped though as my car always had a bit of a "nose up" attitude when under power down the straight whereas it's perfectly flat in this shot even with the extra downforce on the boot. I'm actually doing about 180km/h here :-)

Also checked regular things like oil level, tyre pressure, brake pads, bled the brakes etc to ensure it's all tip-top for a bit of a thrashing.

After the day I jotted down the strengths and weaknesses to identify what needs attention before the next outing.

4. Make a front splitter wide enough to go all the way to the edges so the air doesn't drop straight into the front tyres which are a highly turbulent area. I'll also adjust the the top element of the wing so it's even flatter than I had it to reduce some drag as rear-end grip is ample.

5. Maybe increase the front camber at the track to improve turn-in at Siberia (turn 6). If it's too hard to do it at the track I'll live with what I have as I don't want to chew out my tyres on the road.

The next trackday at Phillip Island is the weekend of the 17th & 18th of February 2007 so I have a bit of time to prepare.