Club Motorkhana - Sydney Motorsport park. 21.10.2017

[petew]

Off with my car club today doing a skidpan motorkhana...

mk21.10.17flags.jpg

It was a gorgeous day really. As per usual, I had by far the oldest car there. For once though, no one whined about me having a thrash in a classic. Just as well, I tend to give them lip.

mk21.10.17beetle.jpg

This is my second motorkhana in the car with new setup (drivetrain and suspension) and I'm starting to get a feel for it. Avoiding understeer on 165/80 R15s on stock rims is a challenge. So I'm using an old trick. 48psi in the rear tyres and... 25psi in the front.

At the beginning of the day we get given a sheet of tests. We did 8 across the day. This one messed me up. Overthinking and then I thought I'd screwed it up and gone the wrong direction. Turns out I hadn't, but then ruined it anyway.

mk21.10.17birthdaytest.jpg

The trick with most of the tests is to find the simple bits. So, in the test above nearly ALL the test is left hand turns. There's only 1 right hand turn. Then you memorize the shape by drawing it in the air in front of you. A friend managed to video one of the tests I got right.


[BBvideo=560,315]http://youtu.be/kGxbAzL-6ks[/BBvideo]


At the end of all 8 tests, they setup a shoot out.

mk21.10.17shootout.jpg

Two of these tests would be set up side by side. Cars would race side by side. I beat my friend's son in a new Suzuki swift, then a V6 Commodore wagon (like the GTO you guys get). I was surprised how quickly the beetle pulled away from both of them. Unfortunately, then I was lined up next to a supercharged AWD impreza. He only just had me in a straight line, but I overcooked the first turn and it was over. Still a great day. Here are the results for the first 8 tests.

mk21.10.17results.jpg

I'm 2/3s of the way down the field, but it's an improvement on last time for sure. Last time I came 9th in my class, this time it was 7th. Small gains and I am 8 seconds off the pace, but it's a lot of fun and not hard on the car. I could really do with some more front grip. Got a few plans about what to do about that. I'd like to put a better tyre on the front, but I have no idea how. Good news though, the car has plenty of power even with only 6psi of boost and the handbrake worked really well this time.

[ps2375]

Looks like fun, so they keep it wet to keep the speeds down? Reminds me of some of the smaller lots we used to Auto-x in way back.

[petew]

Looks like fun, so they keep it wet to keep the speeds down? Reminds me of some of the smaller lots we used to Auto-x in way back.

Some of it is about reducing speeds, but it also reduces wear on the vehicles dramatically. You can imagine how much a VW trans would like dumping the clutch all day on hairpins.

[doc]

cool write up. Cool car!

[Clatter]

Wow.
Looks like so much fun!

The trick to getting proper rims/tires under the front of a beetle is a narrowed beam.
That way you can run a drop spindle disk brake kit, (increased track) and not suffer from the tires rubbing.

Here, in SCCA autocross, they put you in a gnarly class alongside of cars that show up on trailers,
So check your rules beforehand.

The torsions being chopped increases their stiffness,
Same with the sway bar,
So all good for handling.

One of the best things I got was a set of adjusters for the ball joints,
Where the hole is off-center more, and allows additional camber.
Getting as much camber in front as you can is key..

Thanks for taking the time to post all of this up.
Wish they did that here..

[petew]

Hi clatter, I am by far the oldest and mostly the slowest car there. I'd do a lot to the car but it's very original and I can't stand the thought of cutting up the body or chassis too much. Which means I'm stuck with swingaxle and king-pin. I've got a few sneaky ideas as regards the front end, but narrowing or lowering is pretty much the last thing I want to do.

Love to see some pics of your car. Which class do you race in?