Hi everyone
I had my first trackday of the year last thursday (May 5th) at Castle Combe, and wow! An excellent day and the car was, dare I say it, incredible!
Now since my first trackday in the ZS last August, I have fitted the ITG Maxogen, V.H.S Bilstein dampers and GBE 4 pot brake kit.
All I can say is all the above parts worked incredibley well, last year I found when coming out of the last chicane the car was slow to accelarate and felt restricted in the top end of the rev range, the ITG cured these issues and then some!
The car accelarated with conviction out of said chicane with the VIS ramping home the torque from 3000rpm and that lovely ITG growl! the perfect sound for the moment! lol
Now in the past the braking areas have always been somewhere I may have been over-cautious (sensible I suppose!). The ZS had standard brakes last trackday and where very good for what they are, but I knew they could be bettered and ultimatly knew I would outgrow them on track.
Next up the GBE 4 pots and 310mm discs, and they are excellent, they were immesnse lap after lap, with excellent brake pedal feeling and very consistent all day, it is a strange sensation catching other cars so quickly whilst braking, a first for me!
I did have one heart in mouth moment when I tried to brake really late into the Esses and the A.B.S kicked in and I almost had to use the old bit of track as runoff! narrowly avoided! I found the best technique was to apply the brakes first with light to medium pressure then increase as quickly as was needed.
Now the Dampers!
The body control was excellent, and the car was very planted and very quick at direction changes! I ran Kumho Ecsta sport tyres which were very good but I could feel that the chassis had twice as much to give as the tyres could! Last year I was very quick along the whole of the back of the circuit from the Esses into Bobbies, but with the cars new found cornering ability I was even quicker!
After the 1st session when back in the paddock, an Impreza owner pulled up next to me and said 'That thing can really move cant it'. Thanks, Then the owner of a Porshe 911 I overtook came over to me asking 'what engines in that?' I duly replied, he then went on to say 'I saw you in my mirrors and thought its only an MG! then after a couple of corners you were even closer then overtook! he said as well he couldnt overtake on the straights!' A very nice guy and I had quite a few tussels throughout the day!
I must admit I was surprised at how much attention the car got, I had so much positive feedback about the car and my driving!
This is said 911
Over the day I overtook another 911, I could see the guy looking in his mirrors especially out of corners to still see me there! and 2 Boxters, one of them being an 'S'.
The Boxter 'S' would'nt let me past for about 6-7 laps, I was all over him through the corners and braking areas as much as I tried to give him space! I think a touch of pride came into it! I eventually got him up the straight going into Quarry!
The car ran faultlessly with out a hiccup, I am so impressed with it! I did use ?100 of fuel tho! lol
I think I changed the image of the ZS and MG for a few last thursday! lol
Great car!