After picking the car up on Friday, I was relishing going out on track. Donington had been booked for some time for yesterday, so I was itching to try the DC5 out in anger. I haven't been really impressed with it on the road, but I think that's more down to me getting used to it. There's only so much you can push a car on the road after all.
I decided to travel up on the Sunday and then stop overnight in a hotel near the circuit so I'd be fully rested. Well, that didn't work because as usual I barely slept a wink in the Premier Inn. Sad face. I was however over the moon with the 38 mpg on the way up, sat at 70-80 most of the way with no VTEC.
I didn't enjoy Donington previously, as it was a wet and miserable day and I was in an S2000, which was hard work. I wasn't sure what to expect, both about the car and the circuit. It was a foggy start and the track didn't open till around 10 am, a full hour after it should have done. I went out with Kevin up front to get some heat into the new brakes, new tyres and to get a feel for the new suspension. We did a couple of quick ish laps and came in. I had dropped the pressure's to 27 all round and the rears got up to 32 and stayed there all day. I had to do another one or two sessions to get the fronts settled to the same pressures.
Sitting behind Kevin gave me a lot of confidence, he's a very quick driver with a fair amount of experience driving on circuit as well as a lot more in a DC5 on track than I have. We were soon dropping into the 1m24's (guessing here, timing isn't allowed). Traffic ended up splitting us up, Kevin broke into the 1m23's while I remained in the 1m24-1m26 area. A few more tweaks on the car and I think I could knock a few seconds off. Kevin an I run almost identical brakes, the only difference he has AP calipers and I have Brembo, but the same pads and same discs up front. Rears are just standard discs with a basic uprated pad. He's on JDM spec Ohlins and some castor mods, I'm on B16's although my car's been mapped so I have about 20 more bhp than him. Really doesn't make that much difference on circuit to be honest!
In the afternoon I was pretty much out alone and I started to really, really enjoy the car. Much more fun than my Evo and I'd say the S2000 as well. It's also easier to drive than the S2000. I love how the back end moves around and how you can turn the car on the throttle. So far I definitely think I've made the right move.
I was hit by a gear change issue in the afternoon though, I missed 4th a few times and it turns out I've bent a rod that connects to the short shifter. After a bit of faffing about I used a wrench to hammer it straight is again. That'll need investigating further as well as some other minor issues.
So far, so good than. I had really a really good laugh yesterday and I can't wait to go back out on track.
I'll get the videos edited this week and upload the best bits stuck together.
Enjoy
