Toyota Sprint Series Round 4: Woodbridge

[PaulT]

I enjoyed driving the Celica at Teesside last time, but I've decided to sell it and concentrate on the Aygo in the Sprint Series. Great car, but not really any more fun than the Aygo and maybe slower in the corners.

There is another good entry for the race at Woodbridge this Sunday, including previous British Rally champion Jonny Milner!

Class A1

Adrian Smith - Corolla GT4

Darren Deavall - Celica GT4 ST205

Barry Charters - Celica GT4 ST205

Jonny Crisp - Celica GT4 ST205

Class A2

Jonny Milner - Celica GT4 ST205

Dave Ellen - Aristo Vertex

Russell Giddings - Celica GT4 ST205

Otis Hayes - Celica GT4 ST205

Richard Morrow - Celica GT4 ST165

Nigel Hayes - Celica ST185RC

Christian Timms - MR2 Turbo

Steve Timms - Celica ST185

Steve Lawson - MR2 SW20 turbo

Nigel Levinson - Celica GT4 ST185

Andy Bunney - Celica GT4 ST185

Adam Levinson - Celica GT4 ST185

Barry Sheldrick - Celica GT4 ST205

Simon Marsh - MR2 MK2 Turbo

Adam Pemble - Celica GT4 ST165 - (Reserve)

Kennet Climpson - Celica GT4 ST205

Chris Damper - Celica GT4 ST205 - (Reserve)

Class B

Pete Grimmer - Starlet Glanza

Gavin Mycock - Sera 1.3 Turbo

Barrie Newsome - Starlet Turbo EP82

Class C

Tim Cogman - Celica ST202

Barry Cross - Supra

Scott Briance - Celica AT200

Mike Rawlings - MR2 MK2 V6

Bob Rawlings - MR2 MK2 V6

Robert Oliver - Toyota MR2 G-LTD (reserve)

Dan Quinn - Celica ST182

Rajan Nahr - Celica AT200

Jeff Lotts - Celica ST202

Pete Betts - Supra V8

Class D

Jo Walker - MR2 MK1

Phil Cutler - MR2 MK1

David Brooks - STARLET 4AGE RWD

Brian Bales - corolla GTi AE92

Scott Lawson - MR2 Mk1

lee Chapell - Corolla GTi AE92

Class E

Joe Clifford - Auris SR180

Chris Rees - Auris SR180

Ben Miller - Auris SR180

Stav - Auris SR180

TBC - Auris SR180

Class F

Paul Thomas - Aygo

I have a score to settle after last weekend where we all booked a track session at Brands Hatch during the Autotuner show and unfortunately everybody overtook me :D Wasn't really fair to try to stop people going past on the straights, but I joined the back of the snake and managed to keep up with Bazza's very nice Supra.

Really like this photo: three great Toyotas which sadly aren't made any more. Where are the replacements?

You can catch an in-car video on You Tube where unfortunately I get overtaken near the start and again near the end

However, we have some parts coming for the car hopefully in the next few weeks which will really help on a faster circuit like Brands. Hopefully next time will be better!

Paul.

[SJandMR2]

ha ha looks fantastic you were letting them overtake werent you ;) didnt want to show em up

[Boro Sera]

Hi Paul,

Good luck at the weekend .

[BadBoyVTEC]

Turbo/supercharge it up as it will help in the straights :D or put a starlet engine in like 'aygo vvti'.

[PaulT]

Turbo/supercharge it up as it will help in the straights :D or put a starlet engine in like 'aygo vvti'.

At Brands I still had to use the brakes from time to time ... when that is no longer the case it will be time to add forced induction :D

Paul.

[zakelwe]

Turbo/supercharge it up as it will help in the straights :D or put a starlet engine in like 'aygo vvti'.

At Brands I still had to use the brakes from time to time ... when that is no longer the case it will be time to add forced induction :D

Paul.

You should have weaved like Schumacher. Not bad round the corners though, what tyres have you got fitted?

Regards

Andy

PS You are right about the old Toyota's, my favourite the Celica GT4 Carlos Sainz with pop up headlights... looks fantastic even today.

[PaulT]

You should have weaved like Schumacher. Not bad round the corners though, what tyres have you got fitted?

They are Hankook Ventus 185x55x14. Very good tyres for the money, £60 per corner.

And this is what they looked like after Woodbridge :D

It was just an excellent day. Poured with rain in the morning, but dried out completely in the afternoon so we got the best of both worlds. It was very slippery in the wet and we did get a lot of spins, although I never lost it that badly.

The Aygo was flying all day: I finished about 31st out of 46 on the provisional results with a time of 199.90 seconds, but five seconds faster and I would have been 21st! Was extremely pleased to win the Hard Charger award again when the level of competition was intense.

You can see more pictures of the day here and here, and there's more stuff on the Round 4 section of the TSS site.

For me this was the most enjoyable track day ever. All the events so far in this series have been brilliantly organised, safe and full of friendly banter and enthusiastic competition. Would just be great to see some other Aygo owners on the circuit as you can see that we are competitive even with a stock car B)

Paul.

[zakelwe]

You should have weaved like Schumacher. Not bad round the corners though, what tyres have you got fitted?

They are Hankook Ventus 185x55x14. Very good tyres for the money, £60 per corner.

And this is what they looked like after Woodbridge :D

It was just an excellent day. Poured with rain in the morning, but dried out completely in the afternoon so we got the best of both worlds. It was very slippery in the wet and we did get a lot of spins, although I never lost it that badly.

The Aygo was flying all day: I finished about 31st out of 46 on the provisional results with a time of 199.90 seconds, but five seconds faster and I would have been 21st! Was extremely pleased to win the Hard Charger award again when the level of competition was intense.

You can see more pictures of the day here and here, and there's more stuff on the Round 4 section of the TSS site.

For me this was the most enjoyable track day ever. All the events so far in this series have been brilliantly organised, safe and full of friendly banter and enthusiastic competition. Would just be great to see some other Aygo owners on the circuit as you can see that we are competitive even with a stock car B)

Paul.

You need to try a set of these like mine, you can't beat width. Not so hot in the wet they are definitely a warm weather tyre like the old A520's

http://www.zen141854.zen.co.uk/aygo5.jpg

Regarding your last paragraph although I have never raced before and now being quite old and out of practice I wouldn't mind joining you for a race or two depending on costs and what sort of equipment I need to buy ( helmet etc.) Should I give you a PM?

Regards

Andy

[MsB]

Just to say well done (again) Paul, you & the Aygo never cease to amaze us all :D & even when the track was underwater you still went well - its just so great to see you pipping the 'big boys' on times

I'm really looking forward to being up against you next season

Regarding your last paragraph although I have never raced before and now being quite old and out of practice I wouldn't mind joining you for a race or two depending on costs and what sort of equipment I need to buy ( helmet etc.) Should I give you a PM?

Regards

Andy

Hey Andy, the sprints are orgainised by Toyota Sprint Series - the last one for this season is on Oct 25th at Teeside Autodrome if you take a look here you should be able to see if theres the possibility of someone selling their space for it if you fancy having a go.

Your car just needs to have a valid MOT, no leaks & everything working (belts, brakes etc), you'll need to produce your license & MOT on the day, and buy an IOPD license (£10-15 for the year). Helmets are available to hire (think £10) if you don't want to splash out quite yet.

If you can't get a space or feel Middlesborough is a bit of a way to go, there is a sprint on 2nd November at Barkston Heath which is being organised separately thread here

[PaulT]

You need to try a set of these like mine, you can't beat width. Not so hot in the wet they are definitely a warm weather tyre like the old A520's

http://www.zen141854.zen.co.uk/aygo5.jpg

Aren't they road tyres, though? Those Hankooks have a treadwear rating of 50 and they are pretty sticky. Also have a very stiff sidewall which you don't tend to get on road rubber.

Regarding your last paragraph although I have never raced before and now being quite old and out of practice I wouldn't mind joining you for a race or two depending on costs and what sort of equipment I need to buy ( helmet etc.) Should I give you a PM?

Can pm me anytime of course, but as MsB said things are pretty straightforward if you want to get started. I don't think you will need to find somebody to sell you a place at Teesside, you could probably get a reserve slot for people who are not championship contenders.

The championship racers get first dibs at spaces for the racing, but then it is open to anybody, even people who have never raced. Usually you get the chance to sign on a couple of weeks before the race.

It will be £80 up front, £10 on the day if you need a BS helmet (not a motorcycle one) and £5 for a competition license which is an unfortunate legal requirement. Or you can pay £15 and get a license for a year instead of just a day.

The prep for your car also includes marking the tow points with a bit of tape and fitting your front towing eye. And you will need to put a bit of yellow tape round the cathode lead from the Battery. It isn't really very onerous B)

It's probably the cheapest (and least likely to result in car wear and tear) way to get started in motorsport. Plus it is backed by Toyota (we get the truck at the events) and the magazines are writing everything up, so works out to be a really good package.

If you want to go further, then in 10 minutes you can remove the back seats, boot carpet, tools and spare tyre :D As I say, I use different wheels on the track but I did the first round on the stock tyres and still didn't come last B)

Paul.

[PaulT]

I'm really looking forward to being up against you next season

Yep, that is going to be fun! I'm going to go and bait the rest of the Yaris forum before next season and see if we can drum up some more opposition. Aygos vs. Yarises would be cool :D

Paul.

[ae111sr]

Well done Paul - taking your Aygo where no Aygo has gone before :D

[aygo vvti]

Well done Paul nice driving

[PaulT]

Thanks everybody :D

The unofficial official photographer chappie has now put pictures up on his web site. Some really good pictures of everybody on there.

It's clear I need stiffer suspension in the faster corners :D

Paul.

[PaulT]

A very professional Race Video is now on You Tube.

Check out the Aygo at just after five minutes in :D

Looks like the announcement for next year's event dates will be made in the next week or so, so if anybody is thinking of racing next year then keep an eye on the Toyota Sprint Series site.

Paul.

[Wild west Drifter]

Looks good, Welll done Paul

[Zaaro]

yea, great stuff paul! thanks for posting it all up, some gd pics/coverage there

[SJandMR2]

HAha cool Vid!!

So wheres your times?

[PaulT]

HAha cool Vid!!

So wheres your times?

Here you go, SJ:

:D

Paul.

[SJandMR2]

Ha Ha Love it!! Well done, hope the boys you beat are crying

You still need some F class competition tho...hmm bring on 2009 :P

SJx

[Millerm]

@PaulT

Hi, it seems like you are having great time with your car!

Just wondering if you are already using stiffer/lowering springs? It's very unfortunate that there is hardly any information to be found about them from the different manufacturers. (Things like progressive/linear, stiffness.) They should help greatly, even while possibly compromising the damping, by resulting in less roll and thus less loss of camber.

The dynamic camber is probably the most important factor. Getting the maximum grip from the tires.

It would be great if there were some possibilities/products that would allow us to tune the alignment. Again for optimum tire contact. I'm still waiting for my aygo but would be very interested in a way to inncrease the castor. This would lead to a more possitive feel in the steering and it would oppose the loss of camber during roll. Also a increase in camber would be nice.

Would love to hear if somebody has come across anything.

[PaulT]

Hey Millerm,

For a mainly stock car, the Aygo is pretty good :D

I am using stock dampers with TTE lowering springs. Since the Aygo dampers are hard-ish anyway, the extra spring stiffness seems to work quite well plus the car is 30mm or so lower which also helps.

My dealer set the alignment to the default I guess for the TTE parts. There is quite good feedback through the steering wheel and enough self centering that if you get into a drift you can let the wheel go and it will steer in automatically. On the tighter tracks, like coned auto tests for example, you can get a good rhythm of steering in and letting go to unwind the steering on the way to opposite lock.

You are right that getting information about the performance of aftermarket parts is a chore, but if you email TTE they normally hand over the details. After a season on the track, I'd say even the TTE springs aren't stiff enough. I am hopefully going to get some replacement coilovers for the front and separate spring / damper set for the rear.

I'm not sure how the camber is set, but it probably isn't enough for the track. I used track tyres and some people reckon you need four degrees of camber to keep the tread in contact during cornering, but then I guess your braking and traction may suffer. The sidewalls on these Hankook tyres are quite stiff, though, so it takes quite a lot to cause the sidewall to bend.

Here is a cornering photo from Barkston Heath taken by the official photographer (nice pic Andrew B) ):

I think if the suspension was stiffer we would get better contact on the inside and less tyre roll on the outside. If I do get these coilovers sorted out I'll let you know how it feels.

For next year I might also try going to a 15-inch wheel and a 165mm R888 tyre instead of the 185mm 14-inch Hankook. Anything to save rotational weight really.

Paul.

[Wolds Warrior]

Hi Paul,

An old topic i realise but did you go for 15" wheels in the end?.