I took her back to the nurburgring today with some mates for the fist time since started modifying her

Did 8 laps so thought id say how the mods done so far held up.

1st- Handling

AP Coilovers.

Ive had them fitted for a fair while now and have covered about 5000 miles with them. this is my review from before http://briskoda.net/maintenance-performance/review-ap-coilovers/138926/.

Since then i have done two seperate track days. One at woodbridge airfield, where i thought they held up just fine giving much improved hadling and today at the nurburgring.

I had my reservations about how good the damping would be on them with the bumpy undulating track As i have noticed high speed damping(autobahn high speed!!) is abit bouncy.

But they did not dissapoint. I dropped the suspension quite alot prior to going there and had no issues with grounding or spring travel, and i am looking forward to the cornerweight session results next month at the ring.

2nd-Engine

Bluefin stage 1

Now ive got some issues with chasing figures, complements of driving autobahns all the time but today at the ring I was more than impressed.

I went with a fleet of friends with cars comprising of Corsa VXR, Golf GTI Ed30, 2 focus ST's, and an Astra VXR, all completely standard except mine, which out of the bends and especially the straights outdragged the others with ease. (The Corsa VXR was untouchable in and out of the bends though)

I also found exiting the 2nd gear corners in 3rd helped with the traction and yet she still pulled very hard. So much so that I am happy to keep the power where it is for the moment and concentrate on other issues.

3rd- Engine

Code Red air Intake and duct.

I purchased this off Dan_the_v8man for tidy sum. the main reason i bought it was that the silicone hosing matched my paintwork, but it has made a massive difference to the engine.

You can hear the air being rammed into the filter which makes an addictive noise when you lift off the accelerator. Pick up is much stronger than before.

My only issue would be with the heat shield (supplied with the kit), which i believe Dan_the_v8man had to cut to fit in place, apart from that I am very happy with it.

see the attachment for a Pic

As for figures gained I am not sure, however when I go back to plymouth next I shall pop in and get her Dyno'd again as that is where the 241bhp 249Ibft was tested and see what difference it made

4th- Brakes

Zero sixty discs, tarox strada pads, Oem brake fluid and brake hoses.

Had these on for around 6000 miles now, and my opinion for around town i that they are sharp and offer good feel. however on track they suffer.

I had one issue with vibrations a couple months ago, but it turned out to be residue from the pad, which cam off after a series of harsh stops StopTech : Balanced Brake Upgrades#

Today on the ring though I thought my brakes were horrendous, and I lost a massive amount of confidence in the car when approaching corners, so I ended up braking really early. Also I had alot of not very nice feedback like vibration and snatching in the steering wheel when braking hard.(guessing warped discs)

And after only one lap, the brake pedal travel was quite scary and the brakes were practically non existant. It took around an hour for them to regain any feel.(plus i drove round the local roads after the lap slowly to help cool them for about 30 minutes).

To get aroud this I stopped hammering it down the straights and concentrated more on from than speed.Not a bad thing really

Normally id say that this could be down to standard bake fluid and hoses, but I have driven here before with standard discs and pads, and although i had fade then it was not as bad as today.

I found them to be fine around woodbridge airfield, but I think the nurburgring was just to much for them.

Overall

After seing how well the engine coped with the other cars Im going to put the bhp chasing on hold for the time being.

The problems i found were from understeer and traction out of corners(although easily controlable) and the brakes.

So this is where my money is going towards now.

RARB and suspension setup is already booked in for next month.

As for the brakes, I am going to uprate the brake fluid , fit stainless hoses all round, Im going back to oem discs but fitting DS2500 pads all round.

Then ill be saving up for a big brake conversion.

Edited 5 April, 200917 yr by simonskerton

heres a pic of the code red air intake

what about a lsd?

traction wasnt too much of an issue, , so the Rarb and walk should increase my traction. but in the long term I willl definately look into an LSD

some updates here

review on Bluefin stage 2 can be found here:

http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/bluefin-stage-2-fitted-3-dp-cat/151142/#post1758210

review on AP coilovers can be found here

http://briskoda.net/maintenance-performance/review-ap-coilovers/138926/

Eibach Anti Roll Bars

had these fitted for 7 months now and i think they are probably my best suspension modification. Roll is very much reduced, especially in fast direction changes, the whole feel of the car was improved.

Initially JKM set them both on stiff, however i have since changed the front bar to its softer setting and it is much improved on turn in now. Reccommend trying, took 20 minutes to change.

Whiteline Anti Lift Kit

had this fitted today and i am mega mega impressed. The steering feels so much sharper and quicker, there is even more grip than before, also the steering feels a little heavier which i like. Im contemplating having a little more negative camber added to the rear as i did get a little bit oversteer when thrashing ealier, but ill see how it copes at the ring tomorrow. over all very very impressed with it.

Just the H2sport top mounts to fit now, then the diff and were alll go for track days:thumbup:

Forgot to mention, the VW tech who fitted it and test drove it, said he thoguht the car handled awesome and was very well setup, I was chuffed to bits with that especially when he mentioned he has a VW R32

Edited 14 August, 200916 yr by simonskerton