I went out to Oran Park for a private practice day today. They had the South circuit open (so not the full GP track that the V8 Supercars run), and so I finally got a free run on the track.
It certainly is exciting, especially compared to Eastern Creek and Wakefield Park. The track's altitude keeps changing abruptly, so weight shifting is even more prevalent here than on other tracks. Coupled with the fact that the walls get quite close in places, and it means you're always on your toes.
The Z33 doesn't do too badly on the circuit. The track's a lot tighter than EC and WP, so in some turns you do wish Nissan had used more aluminium and shaved some mass off.
In my first session while learning the track, I did the entire track bar the main straight in 3rd gear, which did mean that I fell off the powerband at times. The VQ35DE does have a wonderful spread of torque so I didn't flounder anywhere, but out of some corners I did notice that I didn't have as much punch as I should have.
In the second session I managed to work it out and use the gears a bit more. I found that punch I was looking for. Recaro is a 2nd gear turn so you can get power going up the slope to get on to the main straight. I also found I was carrying more pace by short shifting into 4th before the dogleg since the VQ35 tails off too much in the top-end.
Anyway, I did time myself on 2 laps in my second session and got around 53.85 seconds. I'm not too unimpressed with that. Unlike my last Wakefield Park visit I was pushing my tyres a lot harder and so I'm getting the benefits of the compromises I've had to make with them.
I've fallen in love with semi-slicks. Those RS-V04s stuck like **** to carpet, and it took around 15 minutes of hammering it on a track that I'd say is just as tight as Wakefield Park before the rear overheated and started squirming on me.
One of my friends in his S15 200SX (which makes about the same power at the wheels as my car and better suspension) would monster me in the straights, but as soon as we hit the bends he disappeared from my rear view mirror.
Mind you, with such highs also come the lows. The front tyres are dead (you can only just make out the tread pattern on them). The rear tyres are not legal, although they still have visible tread. and I think the stupendous amount of grip also made my brake pads work harder than they would since I can stand on them without lockup, and now I have no rear pads and I was scraping the disc all the way home.
It means I'll finally be able to put those Ferodo DS2500s in and give everyone a review. As for tyre choice....can anyone recommend a good street tyre for our car? I'm not sure if I'll get semi slicks again as my only tyre, since I've only had a couple of months use out of them and they can be quite a pain in the backside on the street.
However, if I do decide to get another set of semis they will be the Yokohama Advan A048R's. One of the other guys there today in a Porsche 996 (actually, he's the guy that beat Dean Evans around EC at the supersprint Motor let him take their loaner Z33 on, and his car is a lot less modified than they said in the article) had a set on the rear, and the tyres were head and shoulders above the Dunlop DZ02G's he'd been running previously and my Falken RS-V04's.
They provided better grip, had a longer life, wore a lot more evenly with less marbling, and evidently had stiffer sidewalls since the marbling that was there was not as close to the edge of the tyre.
EDIT: I meant dogleg, not flip flop
It certainly is exciting, especially compared to Eastern Creek and Wakefield Park. The track's altitude keeps changing abruptly, so weight shifting is even more prevalent here than on other tracks. Coupled with the fact that the walls get quite close in places, and it means you're always on your toes.
The Z33 doesn't do too badly on the circuit. The track's a lot tighter than EC and WP, so in some turns you do wish Nissan had used more aluminium and shaved some mass off.
In my first session while learning the track, I did the entire track bar the main straight in 3rd gear, which did mean that I fell off the powerband at times. The VQ35DE does have a wonderful spread of torque so I didn't flounder anywhere, but out of some corners I did notice that I didn't have as much punch as I should have.
In the second session I managed to work it out and use the gears a bit more. I found that punch I was looking for. Recaro is a 2nd gear turn so you can get power going up the slope to get on to the main straight. I also found I was carrying more pace by short shifting into 4th before the dogleg since the VQ35 tails off too much in the top-end.
Anyway, I did time myself on 2 laps in my second session and got around 53.85 seconds. I'm not too unimpressed with that. Unlike my last Wakefield Park visit I was pushing my tyres a lot harder and so I'm getting the benefits of the compromises I've had to make with them.
I've fallen in love with semi-slicks. Those RS-V04s stuck like **** to carpet, and it took around 15 minutes of hammering it on a track that I'd say is just as tight as Wakefield Park before the rear overheated and started squirming on me.
One of my friends in his S15 200SX (which makes about the same power at the wheels as my car and better suspension) would monster me in the straights, but as soon as we hit the bends he disappeared from my rear view mirror.
Mind you, with such highs also come the lows. The front tyres are dead (you can only just make out the tread pattern on them). The rear tyres are not legal, although they still have visible tread. and I think the stupendous amount of grip also made my brake pads work harder than they would since I can stand on them without lockup, and now I have no rear pads and I was scraping the disc all the way home.
It means I'll finally be able to put those Ferodo DS2500s in and give everyone a review. As for tyre choice....can anyone recommend a good street tyre for our car? I'm not sure if I'll get semi slicks again as my only tyre, since I've only had a couple of months use out of them and they can be quite a pain in the backside on the street.
However, if I do decide to get another set of semis they will be the Yokohama Advan A048R's. One of the other guys there today in a Porsche 996 (actually, he's the guy that beat Dean Evans around EC at the supersprint Motor let him take their loaner Z33 on, and his car is a lot less modified than they said in the article) had a set on the rear, and the tyres were head and shoulders above the Dunlop DZ02G's he'd been running previously and my Falken RS-V04's.
They provided better grip, had a longer life, wore a lot more evenly with less marbling, and evidently had stiffer sidewalls since the marbling that was there was not as close to the edge of the tyre.
EDIT: I meant dogleg, not flip flop
