Evo IX - Paul Stokell driving event @ Lakeside Raceway

Ok so I decided i wanted to benchmark this car against others I've driven and times of cars that i knew of at Lakeside raceway. Lakeside is a great track for entry level drivers and also for the experienced.

I've enjoyed a few cars at this track but I'm far from an experienced driver. Lakeside tends to have a reputation of being unforgiving due to it being a little older and due to this safety back in the day wasn't as important as going fast. So this track suffers from very little run off and i believe due to the track being resurfaced many times, and not a huge budget for track maintenance, has quite a large lip on the edge which is up to 50 mm in places. So if you put a wheel off it makes it hard to get back on at speed & if you're in the loose stuff we all know how hard it is to stop a car on gravel or grass. The run off being very short means that more often than not, if you come off, you will hit something hard!

So knowing all of this i decided to go along to a driver training day and get the most out of the car and learn some things from some well known Aussie drivers.
So i went along to a Paul Stokell driving event to learn from the fastest guy around that track and learn form other guys that join him in the day.

The event was a half day with a early start. A quick introduction & drivers briefing then safety gear was checked and we were then put into 5 groups based on roughly what they knew of the performance in our cars.
The day is completely open to anyone with any car so there were some very diverse cars from my stock Evo to a big budget time attack Evo 9 to the older gent beside me in his VW Jetta diesel to the high powered Radical SR3. And quite a few in between.
Everyone was there to learn and have a great time that's all that mattered.

All the race cars were placed in group 1 and i was placed in group 2. There were roughly 10 cars in each group and we would all go out for three 20 minute sessions.

The communication with Paul prior to the event was great and he emailed us with how the event was run and a small guide on what to bring. Paul was able to hire us any of the safety gear we needed so i hired a lap timer and to save some upfront cost i hired a helmet. All that is required in Qld on a racetrack is that you are fully covered with cotton clothes so i wore long cargo style pants and a work wear shirt so i wouldn't get too hot in the car.

Being a guy who is usually well organised, before turning up my prior experience told me that i need a pre event check list. I hate forgetting things & as we do we get excited about the day and leave that all important spare fuel can or tool behind. So i put together this list

So when i turned up i set out all my gear, checked the wheel nut torque 65 ft-lbs, removed the rear seat base, anything loose in the car even floor mats & removed the spare wheel & boot liner. Then installed the lap timer via some race tape to the rear window & i was ready to go.

I had half a tank of fuel on board and 20L spare. We have 98RON at the pump so all good. Weather was great with a 15deg morning rising up to a 22deg sunny day.

So we all line up in the pits and we're off with 10 sec gaps between us. I take it easy on the first few laps, checking tyres, getting the car warmed up & getting used to the racing lines. They make it easy for us on this day and have marker cones for braking points, apex & exit.

So the Evo is feeling good, tyres feel ok at this speed & everything on the dash is where it should be. So after a few laps we start getting into it. My lap timer is showing me 67's & 68's, so i push on & get down to a 66 in the first 20 minutes. What i was getting used to is not being able to hear the engine or exhaust note very well with the helmet on. Also getting used to the tyres on the car & how they were sliding over the track.
Not being able to hear the engine or exhaust is a distraction for me as i find myself hitting the soft limiter on several occasions & having to look down at the tach before grabbing another gear. Nothing that a shift light cant fix though.

So when i get in from this session i immediately check my tyre pressures and they're a whopping 48psi in the front and 46psi in the rears. They tyres that are on the car are Nexen N1000 in the stock size 235/45/17. They were filled with nitrogen by my local tyre guy who was trying to sell me on the benefits when i was there making enquires about some Hankook RS3's. Anyway they were filled to 38psi and i rechecked them at the station before getting to the track. So the claims of not expanding when getting hot cant be true as a 10psi increase is very similar if not the same as O2.

So my tyres were dropped back to 38psi when hot to try to get some grip out of them.

After all the groups had been through it was time to go out again. I'm getting a good feeling for the car now, and times are falling down to high 65's. I'm feeling the outside shoulder of these tyres as soon as i turn in it tends to understeer a little before the AYC kicks in, so I'll get better tyres & some more camber. Also as soon as these tyres get up to temp they go off. I'm sliding all over the track, but I'm still confident in my ability to push on.
I have a brief look down at the speedo and its heading towards 200 before the kink, on the straight, i was lifting initially but i grew some & pushed through in later laps. The car slides through the kink at 200+ without lifting so i have to keep my line right to hit my braking marker to slow down to a 3rd gear corner. I'm using 5th down the straight, ADM Evo IX's are 6 speed, and I'm using most of it before hitting the brakes hard, down to 4th, down to 3rd and push through turns 1 & 2.

On a couple of laps I've struggled to get the car into 4th, either it's me getting used to the car at speed or it could do with some bushes to firm up the shift, so I've gone for 3rd. The first time i miss 3rd also so i hit the brakes harder & keep it straight, the run off here is short. I'm very pleased with the brake upgrade, no fade at all even after 20 minutes of this.

Steve Owen is there to lend a hand and he tells me he ran a similar Evo IX in the production car 12hr at Bathurst. I ask if he can take me for a ride with him so i can learn a few things and he's happy to.

So we head off in the next round and he gives it a 1 lap warm up before pushing on. I notice immediately his technique of slowing the car was much better then mine. Coming into turn 1 he hits the brakes that hard its effectively like a emergency braking in front of a child at any speed. The Evo handles this well, he's down 2 cogs and around the corner. He's picked up on my rubbish tyres and he's using much more road than me, so he's immediately faster. The on board timer tells me he's done a 64.3 & we're going for the next timed lap, unfortunately we're caught in traffic so he heads to the pits so i can take over.

I'm pumped, i try his techniques and i manage low 65's and then a high 64. With a best of 64.8 for the session.
I'm happy with that and it gives me a good benchmark to compare upgrades.

I cant wait for the next session.