Knockhill 29th June - R26

[papps]

Alright guys,

Quick field report from a nice little 2 hour track evening at knockhill today....

Weather was wet, then drying, then wet again. R888-R proved more than capable to say the least, it seems with no standing water they are the tyre of choice for my driving style.....

Only change in the car was going to the £125 312mm Godspeed J Hook Front discs, instead of the HC Brembos - the discs were FANTASTIC, identical performance pretty much to R26.R discs, a good deal more stopping power vs HC BRembos in my experience. It was comforting to have this deadly braking force back again.....



Had one of the marshall's out for some passenger laps (was a charity event, so pax can donate for joyrides) and he couldn't believe the braking power, and he's been out in some cars as you'd imagine.....

Had the ebay cheapo laser thermo with me as well, and although I have no basis for comparison, I did take some readings after 1.5 cool down laps....

Front brake discs: 295
Front Calipers 160

Rear Discs: 145
Rear Calipers 160

All in degrees C!!!!!



Anyway, due to repeat passengers I only have 1 clip of the evening - great to see the @Ricardo cruise control bracket in action. (need to get a back up mounting position for when I have pax in)


Dampers were on full soft all night

 

[andybond]

Bloody hell ! They were hot !

 

[Ricardo]

I think I'm gonna have to treat myself to a set of those front discs

It goes well!

 

[papps]

I couldn't believe it, but chomping from 110mph down to 37mph once a minute seems to do the trick lol .

I used it after I bedded the discs in and drove for 3 miles to cool them down, and they were only 80 degrees or so, I thought that was hot LOL

 

[Ewan]

Glad to see the new discs are working for you!
Those temps are a high although according to Ferodo in a good zone for the pads

 

[papps]

Haha excellent work @Ewan I forgot to cross reference the chart!

It was encouraging that the fluid was nice and low (160) and that the brakes were still performing very well at this point.

I think Steel Glows at around 480 degrees C so that is the next target LOL

Any update on your 250 Engine progress Ewan? I don't like seeing megs in the hospital

 

[Ewan]

Not much, last time I spoke they were just about to fit the engine and see what else was going to be an issue. Will be a great car again with the new engine I hope [emoji53]

 

[papps]

I'm sure it will be mate - will be well worth it when you sit in it again!

Are you going to get this engine mapped you think, or run the standard map on it still?

 

[Ewan]

I will have to get it mapped to work with my original ecu, but plan to keep it at a safe stage 1 map I reckon [emoji6]

 

[papps]

Ahh, hadn't thought about all the intricases like that!

Sounds good, 300BHP and 340Lb off the meg 3 engine will be collateral power!.

I have a little bit of play in my steering rack (advisory on the MOT last week) but nothing major on the radar mechnically- only really to get the heating fixed and re gas the aircon - fingers crossed anyway lol

 

[Ewan]

Haha, I think I might just ask him to map it the power it was. Around 300/300 in the R26 really was about the perfect power!

The steering rack is easy to fix, just replace the bush. The guys at Rentec are experienced at doing that. These Megs get a bad rep for reliability, but I haven't really encountered anything that wasn't wear or tear.

 

[papps]

I've had them replace both of the steering rack bushes over the last 2 years, I got the impression it was maybe the rack itself?, I'll call brain and get it confirmed, if its just the TFD bushes thats needed, I may as well get it done as soon as really

The engine could well be 275BHP in std form mate!, pretty sure Mike 265 from up North said his was 293 on a dyno with a decat, when a MK2 Focus RS only made 277 (consensus BHP from factory for those actually believe it or not) on the same day. Mike's hasn't been mapped!

Do you still have the sports cat in place?

The one thing that is stopping me taking out my cat is would be the need to get the mapped tweaked again - don't know if its worth it for such a small gain really at this point.

 

[Ewan]

Didn't know you had them done already, then it could be the rack itself. If the bush has gone then the inner steering arm has vertical play which you can feel by hand. Racks aren't cheap for these cars, not sure if you can get an enhance reconditioned unit?

Am hoping it is a strong engine, but of course with it running on my ecu it will be difficult to tell.

I still have the sports cat, that's not going anywhere. Unless you are looking to go for more power or your cat is failing, it probably isn't worth replacing with a sports cat. It is meant to help with under bonnet temps (apparently).