Merlin's 4G Time Attack Lude

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:19 pm

Ah yes

Definitely going to cast my eye over your thread when I come to do that little chore

bristol_bb4 · Post by **bristol_bb4** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:50 pm

massive respect for the work thats gone into this mate! deffo going to be using this as reference

cant believe how uber tidy it is for a track car, top marks from me

Dino · Post by **Dino** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:38 pm

Great thread and Build up Merlin.

Looks fantastic and should now be a massive hoot on track.

You should notice a massive difference from before to now.

Polybushing is my next job.

Good effort

monkey_85 · Post by **monkey_85** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:23 pm

Looks epic!! Sum great advice for me to follow with mine

Post by **Merlin** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:54 pm

As im in India 3rdGenSteve took the car to get MOT'd for me, it obviously passed with no problems (new suspension and ball joints). I get back this Saturday

and im taking it to Knockhill on Sunday for the day. I have been waiting for months for the oppertunity to give it a good thrashing!! If it snows again im going to be propperly drokked off

Post by **Merlin** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:18 pm

26/02/12 - Knockhill Hot Hatch Day

Format - 10am-4pm 10 minute sessions
Cost - £61
Conditions - Very wet & slippery

After the disappointment of my open pit day being cancelled last month I was really up for this trackday. Unfortunately my battery warning light came on when 3rdGenSteve drove the car last week. Weirdly the CAT temp warning light came on as well even though it is earthed off

I made the "fcuk it" decision of going to the track anyway

I knew that 4th and 5th gen alternators have different plugs but wasn't sure on the exact swapping procedure, plus I wasn't going to resort to hacking up wires at 7.30 in the morning.

I got the first session before the power died. I was lining up in the pit lane for my 2nd time out (was told to put my headlights on by the marshal

) and my rev counter died, so I knew to pull aside and not go back out.

The 10 mins I was on track was great, apart from other cars driving really slowly in the wet and slippery conditions

I'll say it again - UniRoyal RainSport 2's rule! Near the end of my vid you'll see the pace of my Lude in the wet compared with an Almeria GTi, Pug 306 GTi & Golf VR6. The few clear laps I had were immense as the cornering was so flat. Since I only had a few laps I still need to get used to the car. Plus with the wet track I wasnt able to guage the at the limit handling ie what the rear toe adjustments have made (see the back end stepping out in the vid).

Check out the biiiig slide at 2.10 (im going to get a better camera)
[youtube]g6bt0HWL-g8[/youtube]

With new 16" wheels to fit my semi slicks, I cant wait to try them in the dry.

Charging the battery up before limping home.

The offending article

So a new alternator is needed before going out on track next month.

Post by **RattyMcClelland** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:17 pm

Last picture made me LOL.

Dino · Post by **Dino** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:24 pm

looks like fun out on track..... looking forward to bushing mine.

Shame to hear the alternator failed on you.

Two track days not gone well.....Gutted

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:02 pm

Had to stop the vid after 6 seconds bud! Did you do that on purpose, or was that a genuine mistake?!

I really hope it's the latter!

Ok, gonna watch the rest of the video now

EDIT: Nice driving dude

Like you said, shame you got held up at the end... And the whole alternator issue.

Next upgrade bud... New wipers

Post by **Merlin** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:10 pm

Its an honest spelling mistake! There was some trackside guttering work going on which had washed a bit of dirt on the track, hence all the crap on the windscreen

Lude Generation

Merlin's 4G Time Attack Lude

Re: Merlin's 4G Track Lude - On the road!

26/02/12 - Knockhill Hot Hatch Day

Re: Merlin's 4G Track Lude - Out on track