The first proper run out

We've done a few trips out in the car but since finishing all the mechanical work and getting the car set-up on a rolling road we'd not been out for a proper drive. So on a hot sunny Sunday morning and with a friend's VX220 for company I went out for a morning's drive.

The route we took was a familiar one, A34 down to Alderley Edge, B5087 to Macclesfield, A537 up to the Cat & Fiddle Inn, then back down the A54 to Congleton. For the first time the drive out would allow us to understand how the car performed against another car and see if it behaved itself on a longer drive out.

The other car was a standard VX220 N/A which has 145 bhp, but weighing only 875kg means it has 168 bhp/ton. From a standing start the VX had a lot more low down power and the Renault appeared to be slightly sluggish in comparison, it really was apparent that if not kept above 3,500 - 4,000 rpm the Renault could not keep up with power delivery in the VX. However when the Renault was up to speed and on a twisty road and kept in the desired rev range it could easily hold it's own. In the corners the VX handled slightly better but accelerating out of the corners the Renault could pull away. It was a pretty even match with each car exploiting its strengths on each of the roads we went down.

One other thing to remember when comparing cars is that turbo cars, especially turbo cars with a large turbo and small engines can be laggy.  Driving against a normally aspirated car on the road - means we will have to thrash it to make our power work.  As already stated this is tricky to do on public roads. However on track this is much less of an issue, we are far more likely to keep our car in the power band and keep the lag to a minimum, but ultimately we will find out on the track.

Picture of the TrackBitch on A537 - Cat & Fiddle

The triangle of roads we use can be pretty busy on a Sunday however we seemed to get lucky, particularly on the final stretch towards Congleton, with no traffic on large sections of the road.

The car can be quite savage when on boost and you have to be quite careful not to mash the throttle as it can lead to the wheels spinning up (maybe some better rubber can assist with some of this). The car now handles a lot better since we have restored the axle back to its original ride height and added the GAZ adjustable shocks, however I still need to build up the confidence with the cars limitations, something I don't want to be doing on public roads. As mentioned previously it is critical to keep the car on boost and any incorrect gear changes will lead to the car bogging down and not being able to get back up to speed as quick as you might like.

Picture of the TrackBitch on A54 (note the average speed cameras now on the road)

On the trip out a couple of people even passed positive comments when seeing the car, a nod of appreciation from a biker and complements from an Audi owner who use to own one himself.

Overall the car performed very well and we're now confident that it should not embarrass itself on its first track day. We've booked Cadwell Park on Wednesday 3rd August  so we'll soon find out.