Castle Combe write-up
So, yesterday I headed over to Combe for an open pit track day organised through Javelin - which would be my first time actually driving this circuit. As a local circuit to me I've spectated at many events and been round as a passenger, but never driven it in my own car before.
I pulled up at 08:20, just in time to sign-in and get sound tested before the safety briefing. Static noise at 4,500 RPM was a whopping 80 db
I nearly got laughed out of the testing area... though little did they know
Parking back in the paddock I was surrounded by various exotica, including a GT3, this tasty
'74 RS Replica by Nur Motorsport, several caterhams of various flavours including a GSXR 1000, an M3 CSL, an M3 powered E30 coupe, Exige, Monaro VXR, 300ZX and a MINE's R34 Skyline, amongst others.
After the safety briefing where we were pre-warned, warned and warned again about the sheer number of accidents involving Quarry corner we headed out for the sighting laps before we were allowed to let rip. Having witnessed a fair number of crashes on Quarry corner myself I knew how it could easily catch you out and chose to approach with due caution all day.
After checking my tyres, levels, wheel nuts etc I headed out for the first session to get things warmed up and get settled into the track. Promising myself that I'd take it steady for at least the first session I took the first 3-4 laps nice and slow before temptation and a sense of inflated confidence got the better of me and I stamped that pedal - hard
An occasional glance at the speedo showed just shy of 140 MPH coming into Avon Rise after Folly which was a real adrenalin rush holding it flat through from Camp before stamping the brakes and down into fourth into Avon Rise, moving over the left on the brow and then down into third before entering Quarry. I tried a variety of lines in Quarry varying from taking it wide and late to hugging it really tight through to the apex, eventually settling for a middle ground somewhere in-between. It's a toughie to get exactly "right". The torque steer coming out of Quarry was a bundle of laughs as you have so much tarmac to play with, allowing me to come right over to the curb and move up into fourth before the first chicane that is the Esses.
This is a really fun part of the circuit with plenty of space for forgiveness allowing me to push into it hard, dropping into third and throwing it over both curbs as tight as I dared. This was the once place I did end up in a spin in one of the afternoon sessions after pushing my luck just a tad too much, braking too late and forcing me to enter with way too much momentum, unbalancing the car as I tried to flick it over to the second curb coming out of the chicane. Feeling the car twitch I did the stupid instinctive thing and touched the brakes... sending me round in a not-so-elegant pirouette in the middle of the track, thankfully with nothing in close proximity. With my pride slightly dented but having learned a valuable lesson, it was back into first and back on it.
Next up was Old Paddock bend, which was indisputably my favourite part of the track. Coming out of the Esses in third I'd go out slightly wide to miss the first apex, allowing me to bring it back in tight for the following curb as I feathered the throttle high in the revs and fought with the steering wheel to get it over to the correct line. On the Hammerdown it was then held flat up into fourth where I could gain some good momentum and a perfect overtaking opportunity, before it's back on the brakes quite hard for Tower corner - a deceptively steep right-hander with a later apex than you might first anticipate.
Down into third and round I then kept it in gear towards the next chicane; Bobbies - almost redlining but not enough of a run to justify changing into fourth and then back down again. A sharp stamp of the brakes before entry and it was back over the curbs, with plenty of tarmac to run out nice and wide on the exit before coming out on Westway on the approach to Camp.
This was a particularly difficult corner for me to get what I would consider perfectly correct as I found it difficult to accurately judge when exactly to finish braking and turn in for the apex. For the first few laps I was even dropping down into third though it was soon very obvious how it could be taken at higher speed and much more smoothly in fourth - allowing the car to flow much better out past the start/finish line.
After a few laps round in the morning I was surprised at just how many things I was overtaking without much effort - the car was pulling like a train and with all the uprated suspension, brakes and transmission it all came together and really felt like a nice complete package that was perfectly at home on track. Suddenly every penny spent on the car was completely justified in every sense
Keeping an eye on oil temps and mindful of my water/meth levels I would see temperatures peak at 130 Deg C with ambients of ~20°C after ~12-15 fast laps before I'd have a cool-down lap and bring it back into the paddock to cool down. An oil cooler would probably be a wise investment, though Guy at Opie Oils assures me that the Fuchs/Silkolene Pro-S is stable to 150°C
During the lunch break I left the bonnet open to let things cool down while topping up the race battery with my trickle charger and was surprised at just how much intrigue and interest it received from those that walked by, with plenty of nice compliments which made it all the more worthwhile. The Porsche owners clearly weren't used to the concept of building your own hot hatch but were very receptive to the idea after seeing it come past a few of them
The photographer also took a shining to the bonnet which apparently gave some great shots with it shimmering in the sunlight as it came past, he referred to as aliasing. I'm going to try and get hold of a few of these if I can - I forgot to catch him before I left, having far too much fun out on track.
During lunch I also had an amusing conversation with one of the organisers who asked me
"You're the driver of that blue SEAT aren't you" ...
"yes... *gulp*"
"Have you driven this track before then?"
"No, first time, why?"
"Oh.. well you certainly drive it with enthusiasm then. We've all commented how you're very ambitious out there and really going for it"
While I'm farily sure that was a friendly warning I'll take it as a back-handed compliment
Unfortunately the latter part of the day wasn't met with quite so much fun when I began noticing an all-too-familiar rasping noise near the turbo and peak boost drop by 5-6 PSI... yeap you guessed it - loose manifold bolts again!
Annoyingly it was in fact the two new 10:8 bolts we'd fitted with Nordloc washers that had worked their way loose, proving impossible to touch until the car was left to cool down. This meant that I had to tighten them as best I could without burning myself silly before each session and then go out on track sounding like a tractor on boost. Each ~10-15 laps out on track and they'd work their way loose again, joy.
So, what do you do when waiting for your Cupra to cool down, simples - take your daily 1.0 4-speed 106 out on track!
Much to the amusement/slight disbelief of the marshalls over it went for sound check before hitting the tarmac with it's 50 BHP of *ahem* raw power. Well, it had to be done... landing sub 1:50 lap times and a whopping 85 MPH into Avon Rise. Pics to follow!
Once the Cupra had been mended again it was back out on track for a couple more sessions where I battled it out with the MINE's Skyline, not knowing what power it was running. After three fast laps with it in my rear view mirror it became obvious that I couldn't keep him behind me any longer with him gradually gaining on my tail and I indicated over to let him roar past. Once back in the pits he asked a friend what the
Ibiza was running and made the comment that he had to really work to get past it which I was more than happy with when I learned it's running 600+ BHP
Not so surprisingly, the only other car out there the same time as me that did come flying past almost as if I was stood still was the GSXR 1000cc Caterham - and he really knew
how to drive it too. A very nice weapon of choice.
Towards the end of the afternoon things unfortunately went from bad to much worse. On the last lap of the day - chequered flag in sight I came through the last chicane at Bobbies and put my toe down in third only to hear a nasty crunch of metal and a sudden lack of drive. Oh, that'll be third gear rattling around in the bottom of my box then. D'oh!
Fortunately I could still engage every other gear so I limped it round for a relief lap before retiring it to the pits, with a noise closely resembling spanners in washing machine - not to mention the additional tractor-like rasp of the blowing manifold gasket. All in all a very poorly Cupra that was now in need of some TLC. Going very careful, the car was limped back to my parents house some 15 miles away where it's now sat in the garage awaiting repair. I've decided to SORN it over the winter so I can weigh up my best options to get it back to it's former glory without any time pressures. Just as well the 106 held out lol, sat there with a somewhat smug look on it's face.
So, if anyone knows of a 02J Cupra gearbox up for grabs, I'd appreciate you letting me know!
Just goes to show how things like this can and will happen when you push them hard, though for the abuse it's withstanded to date I can't exactly complain. These things happen. All in all though it really was a fantastic day and I had a massive amount of fun out there, making me feel all the work on the car really has paid off. There's no doubt I still have much to learn in the driver's seat and the car is capable of more than I can deliver but that comes with experience
With all the issues I ended up having with the car, particularly the manifold bolts I decided against getting any video footage in the end but there are a few pics floating around on different cameras that I'll try to get hold of and upload this week. I have got a couple of randoms which I'll post up in a few mins.
That's about it for now, hope you enjoyed the write-up and as always I welcome everyones comments.
