Thread: Gone Golfing
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Old 11-01-2022, 04:15 PM   #375
DaveSTi
Tri-State Post Whore
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Charlotte
Member #1591

 
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Track Day - Jefferson Circuit at Summit Point

I FINALLY DID IT!!


Over 3 years since I bought my Golf R new, I was able to take it to the track.

Since I had to drive home to Charlotte, I kept it to two 25 minute sessions out there in Novice but was promoted to Intermediate. Unfortunately, did not have time to go back out there with the Intermediate class.

As everyone who reads my novella knows, my R is not stock. My goal has been to take the USA version of the Golf R and build it to have the best OEM parts available from the ROW special models for the mk7 generation.

This meant that I created a bit of a Frankenstein R. Clubsport S parts from the 2016 Ring Record GTI, Performance Pack parts from the ROW package for the R that the USA didn't get, chassis parts to stiffen the car a bit further and tires to grip better than the factory Continentals.

So how did the car do??

What went well:

Clubsport S front chassis with factory DCC suspension set to Race mode with the front and rear chassis braces and a 24mm RSB set to full stiff on Michelin PS4S tires meant the car GRIPPED. When I did lose traction, it was in the rear of the car and SO easy to bring back in line thanks to AWD.

Front end was fixed with the Clubsport parts. It did not wash out or understeer in my hands. When I had to apply more wheel in a turn (more on that later), the front end continued to hold and dig in. Credit here to the amazing Michelin tires too.

Power-wise, could hang with everything or pull on it unless the car was tuned. For example, I ran into a tuned R and got destroyed on the straights. Then with my grip could catch them in the turn, then get destroyed on straights again. Same with tuned GTIs and a tuned GLI. I had the better chassis.

What didn't work well:

Simply put - the brakes. While I upgraded to the best that VW offered with the Clubsport S/Performance Pack rotors and uprated pads at all four corners (paired with Castrol SRF fluid), it was apparent that by the end of session one, the Novice group was killing my brakes. I had to brake so much more than I would normally due to the traffic in front of me and their braking. At one point I had to drag the pads for almost half the straight into the braking zone due to the Novice drivers ahead of me.

By the end of the first session, my brake pedal had gained a half inch of sponginess and the rotors started showing rust.

This sidelined the car for a few hours so the brakes could cool off.

Quick reason why I was promoted.

Second session I had less braking due to where I was in line and the brakes worked better. Still want more out of them but they weren't a liability.

Ended the day with rusted rotors but otherwise working brakes.

Overall:

- Major takeaway from the event is that the car feels like a Gummi bear. Tons of grip and soft. Could use more brakes and handle more power. At which point the car becomes a true dual purpose track weapon.

- My racing lines are trash. I was using a mockery of 911 lines on a FWD based AWD car. This meant I was cutting turns at the wrong time, applying power a bit late and overall just not hitting turns right. The back section of Jefferson gets a little technical and missing the first turn set me up all wrong on the next 3.

- I need more seat time. Better brakes. More time in Intermediate and keep working on my hand signals.

- Car is truly amazing all-arounder. It hit 32mpg on the drive there, averaged 12-15mpg on track, then 32 mpg for the ride home.


For pics and video from the event, check out my instagram at 19_lapiz_r
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