So last Saturday was my first track day with the Pagoda. The event was organized by the MBCA Virginia section (thanks Don) and took place at the NCCAR track which is very nice. When I registered for the event the green beginners' group with instructors was already fully booked but having participated to some track events while I was still leaving in Europe I was upgraded to the yellow group which is right after the green one. I was the only "vintage" car participating and other cars could be roughly separated into two groups: one were cars that had been set up for track use only. They were mostly sports cars of the eighties and nineties that had been gutted, upgraded engine and suspension and equipped with roll bars and wide slick tires. The other group were normal recent sports road cars like Porsches Carrera 4, Mercedes AMG v12 (670 hp!) etc.
The day was really fun and we started in the morning with 15mn sessions for each group and we were lapping clockwise. In the afternoon, I guess because drivers skills among yellow, blue and white group members were close enough, they had us lap on the track all together alternatively with the green beginners' group in 30mn sessions. By then we were lapping counter clockwise.
Track is very hard on cars and really reveals their weaknesses and points to what needs to be improved. I had noticed that with other cars I've owned. One may feel the car is all up to snuff for road use, but a track day will still reveal a lot. There was no exception with the Pagoda, though it came out way better than I was expecting if compared with former experiences I had with other cars.
The good:
I did not break anything and the car did not miss a beat. I've been driving it to the limit (mines and the ones of the car) session after session all day long and the car was still performing in the same way at the end of the last session as it was at the beginning of the first one. This makes me really happy. It means the car is reliable and durable even over prolonged harsh use. It means that not only the engine can take abuse all day long, but the clutch, the transmission and the rear end are up to par.
The car is well balanced. At the beginning my tire pressure revealed to be a bit too high which had the car drifting more than expected. However, this revealed quite clearly the good balance of the car as it was very easy to shift from slight oversteer to slight understeer just by modulating the position of the gas pedal while in any of the long curves.
The brakes are excellent! I am really happy with the upgrade. In the afternoon, while lapping counterclockwise, I had to slam the brakes at the end of the long straight before the hairpin, bringing the car from 115mph to a quasi-stop lap after lap. This was extremely hard on the brakes and they never missed, faded or got spongy in any way.
The car is performing well. It was obviously slower in the curves than any of the cars that were specifically set up for track use, but I could keep up with some of the normal modern sports road cars, notably a Nissan 350Z and a Porsche 996 Carrera 4 which both have a slightly more advantageous power to weight ratio than my Pagoda. In the straight acceleration the car was really doing well and I have distanced many cars including much lighter ones. I could keep up with an early Porsche 928 that has been gutted for track use, and the owner told me his engine was estimated to develop 330hp out of some dyno runs he put his car through.
What could be improved:
The car could do with less body roll. Though I have much stiffer springs in the front, the car is still taking quite some angle in the curves. This is now a bit more pronounced since I have the 215 tires because of the added grip. I had kept the stock sway bar up to now assuming the stiffer front springs would be enough to keep body roll in check. But I now realize I should fit a bigger one which should be easy enough.
The car could also do with stiffer shock absorbers on the track. I need to look for some shocks that can be adjusted without having to take them out in the process so that I can adjust them easily to the desired stiffness in a few seconds before I enter the track, and turn them back to road use adjustment while leaving the track.
As mentioned before the car is very well balanced and pretty predictable. The only exception is when entering a curve while still on the brakes: twice I was over optimistic with my speed and couldn’t slow down enough which had me enter the curve while still on the brakes. The sanction was immediate as the car threw itself sideways quite brutally. I could control it easily both times by swiftly steering into the skid. After that I was cautious to keep the car in a straight line until I could release the brakes, even if this was throwing me out of the ideal trajectory. I guess this is due to the swing axle. It should be less pronounced, more progressive and even easier to control once I fit stiffer sway bar and shocks as mass transfer will be less brutal.
People were very friendly. At the beginning they were telling me how nice it was to see a Pagoda on a track day as they were not used to see such cars in those events. Later during the day the car still drew a lot of attention, but this time due to its unexpected performance. Many came to ask and see what was under the hood. In particular during the second half of the day when all the groups were joined together, two of the fastest guys of the white group (instructors) which were driving BMWs set up for track use came to me after a session with an expression of disbelief on their faces. I had seen them catching up with me in the curvy section but I had estimated I could let them pass in the smaller straight after the long one. They were racing with each other and the one in the lead had thought he would pass me in the long straight. So he was quite surprised to see me pulling away from both of them. They were great guys and told me how much they liked the car. One of them told me that my tire pressure was too high judging by the way the car was skidding. I lowered the pressure as per his recommendations and the car indeed got a much better grip for the rest of the sessions.
The lady driving the 996 Carrera 4 also came to see what was under the hood as she was surprised to see a Pagoda keeping up with her. She really liked the car, also convened I had a bit too much body roll and encouraged me to participate to some rallycross as she said it was great to set up car suspensions.
Someone was taking pictures and I’m told they will be posted on the MBCA Virginia section website. I will try to post some of them here when they show up there.
All in all it was a great day and I came out of it very happy. It confirms the car can do what I built it for, in the spirit of the GTs of the 60s and 70s where one could use his/her GT on a track or rallye during the week end, go to work with it on the Monday and embark on a transcontinental journey during holydays. That’s exactly what my Pagoda can do. It took me to Yellowstone and back last summer, took me on the track last week end, and I did not have to turn a wrench in any of both occasions. Mind you, I don’t even have to change the tire pressure for track use as the one that works best is also the one I use on the road.
I will keep on improving the car by small steps. Next one is a bigger sway bar.
