First return to Wakefield in about 1 year, hoping to slip into the high 1.08s but no luck.

It was a sloppy performance on my part, and I can see this easily throughout the entire track whilst watching back the footage. Need to get a bit more consistent on certain parts of my driving. It feels like I had to throw the car around, on the edge of sliding it to 'feel fast'..

The new brake setup

This was the first time at Wakefield with the bigger DC2R/Mini Cooper brake setup on the front. I've always been able to jump on the brakes towards the 50m marker and the Civic pulls up fine, so was interested to see how the new brakes would go.

Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling 100% with the brake performance which left me hesitant to push the braking. I was getting a lot of brake fade, coming back into the pits with the brakes smoking like crazy.

There was an issue with the brake pads disintegrating, a manufacturing batch issue. On the track I was getting a lot of brake fade, then coming back into the pits with smoke leaving the wheel area. I've since been supplied with replacements.

Old slicks

I tried slicks for the first time, and they were awesome! Until they debeaded after 2 sessions.. They came on the 6UL's so I thought I'd give them a shot anyways. They were about 5-7yrs old.

Noticed this material inside the barrel when removing this rim as well. Think it was brake pad material.

Tad battered after a long day. Time to look at the data, make notes, few alignment tweeks and return for another crack!

One thing you'll notice in the video below is my new Racetech seat. Firstly, what an amazing seat, so much better on the track than the Recaro! BUT, you'll see it's moving side to side SO much. I felt this a lot in the car. Tune in next post, but these Bride rails need to make their way into the bin!

:**.*** 2:15.8998 8:01.7219 1:49.0086 1:20.2404 1:27.2706 1:11.6403 1:31.4674 :**.*** 1:58.5274 10 1:21.5988 1:11.1219 1:10.8787 1:33.6062 1:29.1274 1:10.4259 1:09.8288 :**.*** 1:50.5861 1:43.6867 20 1:29.5105 1:14.1694 1:11.0534 1:11.4501 1:30.5084 1:37.1685 1:27.6751 1:10.8030 1:14.2752 :**.*** 30 2:01.0881 1:35.2943 1:18.4610 1:13.2648 1:10.8182 1:31.0565 1:36.5386 1:29.5930 1:10.8529 1:10.5206 40 :**.*** 1:53.5712 1:10.8768 1:10.9916 1:10.6278 1:10.0216 1:32.1700 1:38.1394 1:32.2573

Photographer's photos:

Weigh in

The next day we decided to take the Civic to my dads work to use the weigh bridge. I've always had in mind its around 960-980kg as I had it weighed around 960kg years ago without the cage, with interior and street trim on half a tank.

And heres the result, 980kg just under half a tank. I've never really cared about the weight, but I think it's something that can probably get looked into eventually.