"Phantom" fabia II vRS estate

[sharkrider]

You have some skills Dave...I'm happy with my result bearing in mind mine was the one with the least amount of power (exc. CitiGo) and it was my second track day...

you did great Matty! just look at some of the machinery you beat! AND it was higher than I was first time out there last year

[BossFox]

REALLY happy with 5th place... (fiesta was DQ for hitting cones)  I dare say I was the fastest car with an UNMODIFIED engine looks good for the CTHE!

 

better brakes and a FARB and I will go faster

 

Real shame Taylor clipped one cone on turn 12 on his final hot lap as for his first time ever on track he was flying, considering it's a completely stock car with one factory backed modification.

[Toxicvrs]

Real shame Taylor clipped one cone on turn 12 on his final hot lap as for his first time ever on track he was flying, considering it's a completely stock car.

That is very impressive IMO first time really driving the car at all and on track too and he's fifth

[Slotty]

you did great Matty! just look at some of the machinery you beat! AND it was higher than I was first time out there last year

Thanks Dave, I'm really happy with the result, I think all handling mods were worth it.

 

Now I just need to find some decent track friendly rubber and I might be able to knock few secs off next year.

[sharkrider]

Real shame Taylor clipped one cone on turn 12 on his final hot lap as for his first time ever on track he was flying, considering it's a completely stock car with one factory backed modification.

its still a remap, intake ect  :P I dare say I would have gone faster with an extra 20-30bhp! lol... I'm still maintaining the fastest with an unmodified engine

 but yes, very impressive for a stock car... and for first time out

 

what was MORE impressive was your time in it in the earlier session but then I daresay you'd get a couple of seconds extra out of mine if you were driving

[sharkrider]

oh, and another thing..... my XDS is now off permenently..... much better that way on the track, while on the road , its an impressive bit of tech on the exit of a wet roundabout ect .... all it does on the track is heat up the front pads, and give you a nasty knocking as it operates.... with it off, I could feel the wheelspin , and feed the power in accordingly, gave me much better control out of the corners, and reduced the heat in the front pads...

 

the gearbox acts differently too... if the car is spinning its wheels, it doesn't change up, and holds it on the rev limiter... again, better control

[BossFox]

Interesting altering the XDS makes such a difference Dave.

[sharkrider]

I noticed at the national meet (especially the LONG left hander) that I could feel it grabbing the brakes of the nearside wheel, it means you just plant the throttle....... (and the brakes heat up!)

 

at how fast I turned it off at the beginning, and it was MUCH better to feed the power in and control it on the throttle yourself, I think you may even get faster corner exits if you can control the power understeer....

 

as with the fiesta , I'm sure it went much better with the ESP off.... you cant do that in the vRS, although it lets you slide in the fabia, its still there, and still nannying , you can feel the ESP interfering at times, I wish I could turn that off completley for track too!

 

at least I now have control of the throttle and power! lol.... I'll have to bring the MX5 one of these days

[MartynVRS]

Tempted to turn mine completely off too. Pretty sure mine is on fairly strong and the brake assist is too much.

[sharkrider]

I'll be putting a vid up on the track day thread richard/Martyn shortly (uploading now!) and you can hear how the gearbox holds the gear on the limeter instead of changing up! that makes a real difference, lets me change up when I want!

[BossFox]

I'll be putting a vid up on the track day thread richard/Martyn shortly (uploading now!) and you can hear how the gearbox holds the gear on the limeter instead of changing up! that makes a real difference, lets me change up when I want!

 

Couldn't you manually over ride it?

[MartynVRS]

I noticed it's too much when I push a bit hard on my commute and brakes were overheating way too quick. I know standard pads were crap but still. When I changed them one side was a good bit lower than the other. Must be from attacking roundabouts too hard and it braking the inside wheel. The Swift I've been driving lately lets me control everything it can do and the end result was a slightly quicker time to get home. That doesn't sound like much but when it's over 50 miles and it's 50bhp down on power. All down to me being able to modulate and use the power as I want to and adjust cornering through throttle input which has never been great on the Fabia.

Can you remember what settings I'd need to change and where?

[sharkrider]

its under ABS, and the new CTHE has about five settings, from off to strong... I think the CAVE has values 0-1-2 .....

 

and yes Boss, I could change up[ by pulling the paddle, no problem. vid is up in the track day thread

[sharkrider]

I'll put it here too ...

 

[Sparkly]

Great work Dave, definitely agree that no XDS is a plus and that on a well sorted car like yours XDS doesn't bring enough benefits compared to the downside of brakes heating.

I also worry about the added stresses on the car, it feels rather harsh as a system. I always worried it might produce a similar problem to what happened on Sy's car

[sharkrider]

indeed, it does feel harsh enough to possibly cause damage when on track!

 

you needn't worry about that with haldex though

[Sparkly]

indeed, it does feel harsh enough to possibly cause damage when on track!

 

you needn't worry about that with haldex though

I'll have plenty to worry about trying to coax 2 tonnes of Czech Luxo-Barge into going around corners and stopping.

[Jabozuma]

I'll have plenty to worry about trying to coax 2 tonnes of Czech Luxo-Barge into going around corners and stopping.

 

Yeti vRS'esque diet programme beckoning?

[Sparkly]

Mispost

[sharkrider]

aparantly the spark plugs are not up to the job, mine have desintegrated..... being replaced like for like under warrenty, they wont let me replace with a modified part under warrenty :(

 

 

plug 4 clearly has no electrode left (look at the gap!) and the others are vaporising... look at plug 2!

 

some upgrades will be needed I think!

 

Bear in mind I have not touched this engine! its not modified, and have never run a tuning box!

[BossFox]

Bizarre, no amount of hard driving on a stock engine should cause that.

Should all be within Skoda/VAG testing.

[Toxicvrs]

Bizarre, no amount of hard driving on a stock engine should cause that.

Should all be within Skoda/VAG testing.

Exactly it should've shown up in testing as surely they should've done some serious under load testing

[Dark_Hero]

Is this another nail in the coffin for the 1.4 tsi?

They look royally fubar'd Dave.

NGk iridium were good plugs. It's been 4 years since I've owned a petrol, so they may have moved on since

[Th3Grinch]

They look goosed! Need to check mine out now.

[sharkrider]

Bizarre, no amount of hard driving on a stock engine should cause that.

Should all be within Skoda/VAG testing.

 

 

Exactly it should've shown up in testing as surely they should've done some serious under load testing

 

indeed guys, I'm thinking NGK have some quaity issues, because I treated my previous car the same, and changed the plugs at 40k , and they were fine! (and I ran a tuning box on that one, giving 200bhp! did 144mph through Germany to the ring  ect ect)

Is this another nail in the coffin for the 1.4 tsi?

They look royally fubar'd Dave.

NGk iridium were good plugs. It's been 4 years since I've owned a petrol, so they may have moved on since

mmm irridium 7's may have to go in at the 30k service....

 

They look goosed! Need to check mine out now.

its a good idea!