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View Full Version : jazz trackday report - thumbs up!



Andys
26-04-2005, 11:24 AM
http://www.wakefieldpark.com.au/Environments/edoras/Resources/WakefieldPark/Images/track_arial.jpg

Took my car (jazz VTi) to Wakefield again (2nd time), and managed to shave another second or so off my previous best time :D .

The Jazz is a unique track experience compared with the other more sporty cars that came. I would like to try to convince all of you to attend a track day because this car we have is a great thing. The tyre wear, brake wear, and fuel consumption is really modest for this car. Here are the facts:

1. After two track days in 2 months, the oil level is still above the "High" mark, I had no need to top it up at all. (Note: my engine has 86,000km on the clock and still going strong!)

2. Secondly, I was able to fill up my tank with BP Ultimate in Sydney the night before. I drove down to Wakefield (near goulbourn, about 200km from sydney), ran about 20-25 laps over 3 sessions, then drove home again, and pulled into my local BP again and filled up - 39L for the whole day! This level of fuel consumption for a car taken to the track is almost unheard of.

3. I have an automatic transmission and though it is a pain to select gears quickly when braking at the end of the straight, over all I'm happy with it as it means the engine is in the 5000-6000 rpm power band all the time, which is definitely where you need it to be. Whether you have auto or manual, you can come to the track no problem. (I am planning to change my transmission fluid more often than the manual specifies, though)

4. I braked pretty hard this track day (I went a bit easier last time) and suffered absolutely no brake fade and still had good brake feel during the whole day. (but they did get very hot so I did a few cool down laps each session to make sure they cooled down enough before parking.)

5. The only mods done to the car was to remove the rear seats (only 4 bolts, takes 5 minutes or less, and saves you 30kg), remove the spare tyre and tools (10kg), and the pirelli P6000 tyres on the stock rims. These tyres are very grippy and even after 2 track days have only slight amount of wear - another plus for the jazz.

I think Honda got a lot of things right with the jazz. Its strongest point is its chassis, which is strong at the base yet lightweight everywhere else. The mid-mounted fuel tank is great. The weakest point is the engine power, but I think with a lightweight, balanced car you don't need a whole lot of power to have fun even on a racetrack. It seems the jazz is both economical and very reliable. "Underclocked" springs to mind...

I hope I have convinced some of you to come to a Trackday with your Jazz. I'd be happy to help out and show you the ropes if its your first time. Next trackday with Circuit Club is on July 5th, I'll post again when its closer to the date.

- Andrew


ps.
If anyone is interested, the overall best times recorded for the day can be found here:
http://www.racetime.com.au/?event=i0507&e=g01&view=fastest

I was car number 39. For some reason the practice session results aren't listed (which is where I got my best time of 1:22.3). Unfortunately no other jazzes came.. my main competition was a worked up Toyota Echo, though it was only 1.3L it weighed in at around the 850kg mark. (The driver wasn't very experienced).

As you can see from the best laptimes, even a fairly stock jazz has the ability to be competitive with some much bigger more powerful cars which have been poorly modified and/or aren't being driven hard.

Kit
26-04-2005, 11:36 AM
Hey Andy,
good report.

Who organises these events?

I can see quite a few familiar names on that list.

TypeG
26-04-2005, 12:53 PM
man
i hope i am in Sdyney as i cant find another ppl accompany to track with me =(

ahcash
26-04-2005, 01:04 PM
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Good report. TypeG, perhaps you want to take your car up there during the break?

Q_ball
26-04-2005, 01:19 PM
im keen to take me teg out that way later in the yr!!
should b really good!
good report andys....n mad airial shot! :D

Kawasaki
26-04-2005, 01:19 PM
Jazz's will be awesome second had cars in the coming years.. I might even end up buying one :D. All they need is a bigger engine.

Andys
26-04-2005, 01:25 PM
Well, you can attend any wakefield day that is listed on their site as "Open day", but so far I have only gone to events organised by Circuit Club.

Their website: http://www.circuit-club.com

It costs a little bit more but unlike regular open days, you get accurate official timing, organised sessions with different classes (so you can run with people who are similar speed to you). Yesterday we even had a fun little competition with some prizes..

- Andrew

Andys
26-04-2005, 01:46 PM
Another anecdote: My friend brought along his Pulsar gti-r. This is an imported 2L turbo AWD nissan that is an absolute blast to drive. Where the jazz was hitting 145km/h at the end of the straight, it hits about 180. Despite the rocket acceleration I was only 1 second better in that car than the jazz, (but its not my car so I guess I need more practice in it)

Unfortunately he's missed a couple of trackdays already due to breakdowns and yesterday he only did a couple of laps before burning oil smoke started coming out of the engine bay, and he had to limp home. It made me appreciate the benefits of a simple clean design like the Jazz for easy and affordable track days.

The spoon fit seems to follow this philosophy - they changed the intake, exhaust, and then concentrated on weight reduction - thats the way to go IMO.

I mean, turbo or K20A option would make an awesome street car, but maybe isn't really in fitting with the overall theme of 'well-balanced' from Honda?

- Andrew

Tony
26-04-2005, 02:33 PM
good report! :thumbsup:

I'm trying to get the Brisbane Jazz owners to track their cars too but no one seems to be interested. :o
It's a great experience and you get to know your car alot more from track racing.

egSi
26-04-2005, 02:44 PM
good report! :thumbsup:

I'm trying to get the Brisbane Jazz owners to track their cars too but no one seems to be interested. :o
It's a great experience and you get to know your car alot more from track racing.

ill track my eg with u someday tony :o

toE
26-04-2005, 02:52 PM
Congrats on your time.
Jazz really has potential aye? :)

Tony
26-04-2005, 03:33 PM
ill track my eg with u someday tony :o

Cool mate :thumbsup: , I'm going to do the sprint race on 28th May, do you want to come along?

I'm going to invite speedcore and baboo to come as well :)

daidoidoi
26-04-2005, 05:12 PM
it maybe a stuipid question ..but why do u need to cool down the brakes before u park ??

Zimp13
26-04-2005, 05:21 PM
a well balanced car is the key.....

justinfox
26-04-2005, 05:36 PM
Sounds like you had fun, just be careful you don't step on too many toes though (quote "my main competition was a worked up Toyota Echo, though it was only 1.3L it weighed in at around the 850kg mark. (The driver wasn't very experienced)").

Kelvin's (echo owner) a good bloke and he goes out on track more often than most on these forums. In fact I can recall him racing that echo at Eastern Creek months ago and he was also on track the last couple of times I was as Wakefield which entitles him to at least a little respect, especially from seasoned tracksters like yourself who are publicly inviting newbies to join the track.

No one wants to be made to feel embarassing out on the track. It's meant to be fun, let's keep it that way.

Andys
26-04-2005, 05:49 PM
No one wants to be made to feel embarassing out on the track. It's meant to be fun, let's keep it that way.

Amen to that! I had a chat with him, he is a good bloke, but he told me he didn't feel experienced with the circuit layout at Wakefield, so I was just relaying that information -- I wasn't sure if it was the cars or the driving that made the difference between our laptimes.

By the way, it was interesting in one particular session when he followed me out onto the track. The echo was good in cornering, but seemed to fall behind during the uphill section - which I guess is a result of the jazz 1.5L vs 1.3L echo engine.

- Andrew

Andys
26-04-2005, 05:54 PM
it maybe a stuipid question ..but why do u need to cool down the brakes before u park ??

In the drivers briefing we were told you could get cracked brake rotors if you go off the track immediately and park the car. The airflow over the brakes while you are driving is the main way that brakes lose heat after heavy usage. So to be on the safe side, I did two slow laps after driving hard, using only engine braking to slow the car down... most other people on the trackday do this too..

Willxia
26-04-2005, 05:57 PM
hi andy
this is william the guy with the DC5
your bloody crazy that day, i never seen something with that little power go so fast, besides the eggbox
well i guess its the driver and not the car
thanks alot for the advice on tyres, coz i had no idea of tyre pressure at all
well i hope to see you at the next track day

supernatural
26-04-2005, 06:09 PM
i personally never seen kevin on track...but he sure does know quite a fair bit of stuff...hes not TAT experience but in my personal point of view...hes an experienced driver...i guess we are in diff levels ay...

newbie
26-04-2005, 06:35 PM
eggbox... echo has one nice car and he is one friendly and pretty humble guy about his car etc. since he has a prettie list of mods i must say...

dam son cant wait to track my civic!

sugapopcandy
26-04-2005, 06:52 PM
eggbox... echo has one nice car and he is one friendly and pretty humble guy about his car etc. since he has a prettie list of mods i must say...


:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Jus-10
26-04-2005, 07:05 PM
Nice stuff....

I would have loved to come, but my car was in the shop getting some work finished off.

Hopefully next time I will be free.

tonmasi
26-04-2005, 08:50 PM
Cool mate :thumbsup: , I'm going to do the sprint race on 28th May, do you want to come along?

I'm going to invite speedcore and baboo to come as well :)

I hope we can see somthing like this at QR one day....:rolleyes:
http://rinn.homeip.net/fit/image/20021117.jpg

spoon fit
26-04-2005, 08:57 PM
I hope we can see somthing like this at QR one day....:rolleyes:
http://rinn.homeip.net/fit/image/20021117.jpg



:eek:

Jus-10
26-04-2005, 09:28 PM
I'd be impressed if I saw that many Jazzs in one place at one time in Oz!

Petrovski has expressed interest in going to the track too so we might be able to get a couple out next time....

MRFIT
26-04-2005, 09:31 PM
hehe..... that white jazz coming last on the track is me!!!!!!

J/K

TypeG
26-04-2005, 10:08 PM
I hope we can see somthing like this at QR one day....:rolleyes:
http://rinn.homeip.net/fit/image/20021117.jpg

that's what i want man
always dreaming it will happen even we dun drive fast but we can still enjoying the time driving out car with traffic light and shit plus COPS

Dreams
26-04-2005, 10:13 PM
congrats bro, u even beat a commodore lol..

toE
26-04-2005, 11:13 PM
I'm moving this as it is more related to track experiences.

-Jimmy

petrovski
26-04-2005, 11:57 PM
im impressed :thumbsup:

well done Andy

Pete :)

egSi
27-04-2005, 06:44 AM
Cool mate :thumbsup: , I'm going to do the sprint race on 28th May, do you want to come along?

I'm going to invite speedcore and baboo to come as well :)


hmm sounds good, u got pm man :)

panda[cRx]
27-04-2005, 02:26 PM
what did you think of the actual track?

it doesnt look like its suited to jazz's too much with many straights and not to many corners. straight line speed isnt exactly the jazz's strong point :p

utility
27-04-2005, 08:48 PM
hey, this is the picture i took when u were going on the track, keep a copy if u want. i got video on ur jazz too. Well done on the track though there weren't many jazz there. well done. :cool:

utility
27-04-2005, 08:53 PM
attachment doesn't work?!

toE
27-04-2005, 09:33 PM
Only OzHonda Supporters have the benefit of using attachments.
You will have to host it somewhere else and link it.
Or upload to the gallery and link it here.

Andys
27-04-2005, 09:52 PM
']what did you think of the actual track?

it doesnt look like its suited to jazz's too much with many straights and not to many corners. straight line speed isnt exactly the jazz's strong point :p

Hehe, no kidding. But I think wakefield is one of the tightest tracks we have, the straight is actually pretty short. I was going 145km/h tops at the end of the straight, which isn't very high for a place that has no speed limits.

But its still worth going to the track.. where else can you safely see what happens when you push too hard and get a jazz sideways? :D

I personally like Wakefield, outside the main straight the corners come fairly fast, so there's alot of chance to make up time by improving your driving , cornering, braking..

- Andrew

EGG80X
28-04-2005, 09:14 PM
Hey Andy, wotsup!! I m the guy with the echo

congrat in winning the c16 class, it was a fun day

Andy was tops, fun chating with him and he offered helpful some pointers (like taking off the spare wheel and jack - improved about half a second on the last session)

Zimp13
29-04-2005, 06:31 PM
we should do this in melb as well..... phillip island..... :D

gelo
04-05-2005, 01:55 AM
hey mate
i was there on the day
drove the stock black ek4

dats a fast time for a stock vti
props to you for that

ACE888
06-07-2005, 06:42 PM
Went to Wakefield on 5 July 05 in the Jazz Vti-s CVT and it was amazing! It felt like a go-kart but only 10x more fun!

Andy and Pete were there in there Jazz! We all had a good time!

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21447&page=5&pp=12

thats my report of the day!