**The Thrill of Track Days: A Driver's Perspective**

As I stood behind the wheel of my Lotus, I couldn't help but feel a mix of excitement and nervousness as I prepared to take on the track. My goal for the day was to shave off precious seconds from my previous lap time, and with a proper setup, I was confident that I could achieve it.

The responsibility of being a faster car weighs heavily on me," I said, "and that's why I didn't take that corner very well." Despite this, I knew that it was essential to push myself and the car to its limits. As I made my way through the track, I couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility towards any slower cars behind me.

"I've been trying to get under 155 kilometers per hour today," I said, "and I'm happy to say that I've achieved it. The experience has been incredibly rewarding, and I'm thrilled with how the car performed." However, I knew that there was still room for improvement, and I made a mental note to work on my cornering skills.

As I took my seat in the passenger car, a Lotus with an upgraded supercharger, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement. The driver, Mark, handed me the keys, and I prepared to take the wheel once more. "This is a great opportunity to see what the car's capable of," he said.

Mark took the wheel, and I watched in awe as he effortlessly navigated the track. His confidence and skill were palpable, and it was clear that this was a car built for speed. As I watched him lap after lap, I couldn't help but feel a sense of envy towards his expertise.

As Mark finished his final lap, I took the wheel once more. The car felt incredibly predictable, and I knew that with a proper setup, we could achieve remarkable things. "I've taken about five seconds off my track time," I said, "and I'm really happy with how the car performed."

The experience of driving a track-prepared car was like nothing I had ever experienced before. The thrill of speed, the rush of adrenaline, and the sense of accomplishment that came with pushing myself to new limits were all palpable.

"I've taken about five seconds off my track time," I said, "and I'm really happy with how the car performed." However, I knew that there was still room for improvement, and I made a mental note to work on my cornering skills.

As I took in the beauty of the surrounding landscape, I couldn't help but feel grateful for this experience. The track days had been an incredible focus for me and Mark, and it was clear that we had achieved something special.

**The Importance of Track Time**

One of the things that struck me about these track days was the importance of getting to know your car's capabilities. With so many modifications and upgrades available, it can be easy to lose sight of what truly matters: driving a car on the track.

I've seen many people get caught up in the idea of shaving off precious seconds from their lap times, often at the expense of losing touch with the beauty and experience of why they're doing it in the first place," I said. "It's essential to remember that track days are not just about speed; they're about enjoying the thrill of driving a car on the track."

As Mark took the wheel once more, I couldn't help but feel a sense of envy towards his expertise. However, I knew that there was still room for improvement, and I made a mental note to work on my cornering skills.

**The Joy of Sharing Track Time with Others**

One of the highlights of these track days was getting to share them with others. From fellow drivers to crew members, everyone played a vital role in helping us achieve our goals.

I want to thank Simply Sports Cars and Lotus in Sydney for their incredible support," I said, "and to Mark for his expertise on the track." It was clear that this was a team effort, and one that had paid off in spades.

As we finished up our final lap, I couldn't help but feel grateful for this experience. The thrill of speed, the rush of adrenaline, and the sense of accomplishment that came with pushing myself to new limits were all palpable.

**The Future of Track Days**

As I looked back on these track days, I knew that they had been an incredible focus for me and Mark. We had achieved something special, and one that would stay with us for a long time.

I'm excited to see what the future holds," I said. "More track days, more testing, and more pushing ourselves to new limits. It's going to be an exciting ride."

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enin this episode of mighty car mods we are back at the track in the newly modified lotus welcome to another episode of mighty car mods we have done a supercharger upgrade on the lotus s240 but we've retained the purity using a harep supercharger which is the oem supplier of superchargers for some of the largest cars so we've retained the purity we've taken the car where it's meant to go and now we're making some excellent power now a lot of the issues that we had with this car was we found out to do with setup so that's adjustment corner weighting tyre selection rake all sorts of sort of nerdy setup stuff which we think now has been solved there was definitely some confidence issues with me after i came off the track but today the car should be set up it should be making enough power marty's main criticism because he drove it was just that it wasn't making enough power it was steering from the back and on the straight it was slow yeah it was it was just slow it didn't feel like it was steering with the front wheels so it should be fast now that we're making you know over 190 kilowatts 100 wheels i'm up from 130 which is pretty much watches on what's on the badge yeah that's about right now yeah it is it's it's as advertised so um i'm gonna go and find mark he's a race car driver and a technician and a load he's a lotus guy he's a lotus dude um and we'll have a chat with him find out what's been done since it left me and since i've left the dyno and then um we'll jump behind the wheel and get back out there and um see how we go do you know how lotus guys download data from their cars yes they don't need usb cables they just do this what does that do that allows you there just because they're i.t no no it's like the magic connection they have with their car martin increase the maturity now because we're about to be near some real sorry for everyone before i go out today i'm checking in with the lotus engineers and mechanics from sydney and then also meeting a proper race car driver mark o'connor who owns one of these cards which he rates professionally he's got some tips on the unique characteristics of driving a lotus plus explains what went wrong last time it was set up with what we call positive brakes so the front was way higher than the rear which is not how you set up a load set up the loaders with a bit of uh rake so it's a lower at the front so and we've dropped it down to a reasonable ride height as well would that have been sketchy with you driving it as well oh absolutely i wouldn't have even finished a lap i would have just come in and said no sort that out boys that's right that's terrible because i'm new to it i just i didn't know what i was meant to be feeling yeah i know i know so yeah it was you saw that video of me i saw that i saw the video i saw the fear in your eyes and i understand it perfectly i'm very confident that this will now handle like a load of should okay and it will be a much nicer thing and much more fun i still have one of these i i bought one of these to race in uh back in 0.506 there was a thing called lotus trophy i bought one to race in that and then went on a journey with the guys not unlike yours it started out as a normally aspirated car yeah and then we developed the supercharger kit that we've now fitted to this car yes was all done on my race car oh right so your car was like the development car it was yeah so we we raced at bathurst one year in in february and we're doing two minute 40 lap times and we went back in october and we're doing two minute 20s or something yeah 20 seconds off just with the supercharged kit that we put in this i think they're a pure driving they go cover the gearbox it's all about the purity all about security that's what it is well thank you so much for looking into that suspension because i know you know i really enjoyed working with richie and lee and getting the supercharged stuff in but in terms of the geometry and setup that's like way beyond my pay grade all done with strings we we use strings and rulers most accurate way to do it we don't we know like the laser gear as much so uh we get it to millimeter perfect that way was there anything not out what was that like lights were out alignment's out hot dry out everything was out yeah okay yeah good good to know so yeah no i'm looking forward to coming back in with a bigger smile on your face and thinking it was tears last time i've done a lot of track time you know different tracks and driven here you know countless times but i think you know going out with someone and getting some tips on the track would be really good yeah and some lotus specific ones are actually important you know this is a very dynamic car every little input you put into this car has an effect so um as soon as you lift the throttle or touch a brake it changes weight distribution it has a big effect on the car so so there'll be some lotus specific stuff we need to cover off today as well awesome i'm looking forward to learning it's going to be great thank you so much and we want to go about eight thousand rpm on that which then it'll start flashing red at that look at 12 volts i'm just going to go and have some fun at least for the first few years you come back with without the fear in your eyes yeah it's a smile on your face i'm inspired yes thank you so much guys and thank you for all your work on this during the week i understand it's probably been a big week so thank you awesome thanks guys thank you all right i'm back out on the track after my confidence was a bit shot last time and um i'm just out to have a bit of fun see how things go helmets on i'm ben's on thank you mate a lot more power now as well which i'm looking forward to experiencing let's get nice and warm this lap and use the gears more that's what i've learned last time i need to use more of the gears just gonna go slowly everyone's gonna pass me but that's fine just gonna get used to uh the feel of being on the track again and aim to get around um corner eight which is the one that scared me the last time it feels so much better it feels so much better like a different car this is amazing this is kind of what i was hoping for all along and now i really feel like i'm getting that experience that i wanted oh man all right increase the confidence grip feels amazing wow okay that's 200 k's an hour slowing right down for this corner because uh i'll be honest with you it scares the absolute out of me and now i'm really going to focus on using the gears more than i normally would so down to second i know from the dyno graph that i need to use more of the the power up near the red line wow it's a totally different car a totally different car there's my scary corner see if i can get around i went around that 10 kilometers an hour faster than when i spun so that is a very very good sign down into second i need to use the gears more down in the second and now limiter more gears all right i've got a little bit of traffic here unfortunately i'm gonna try and get past on the straight yes on the brakes down in the i got my mojo back people i've got my mo drive back totally predictable yes yes yes yes okay i'm back more ribs all right my scary corner off the brakes onto the power before i go in i'm accelerating around again i went around 15 kilometers faster than last time just keep it in third this time keep it in third that's it nice hug the inside down in a second now i can kick the revs up oh a little lotus i'm sorry that i didn't understand you before yes using all the track i'm going to try and take this corner even faster even faster off the brakes turn in accelerate out i went around the corner that time 20 kilometers an hour faster than last time i lost my time unfortunately but it is the uh responsibility of the faster car to slow down for any slower cars i didn't take that corn very well so so so right a lot of traffic again so didn't get a clean lap unfortunately slowly slowly reeling in this bmw m2 upgrade that's it a lot of traffic up here um one of the things about track days and maybe any kind of performance sport is you can get really hung up on the times trying to shave off a second here or a second there the problem with that is that sometimes you kind of lose the beauty and the experience of why you're doing it in the first place and so i think getting times is good when you kind of trying to go through a technical process with your car but sometimes it's good just to turn all the equipment off and just enjoy it just try and zone out kind of have that sand in the moment of your experience in life and on the track all right thanks as good a laugh i'm going to get i think everybody 154 yes my goal today was to get under a 155 and i've done it only just in very busy traffic with more seat time and a clear track there is way more potential in this car which you are about to see but for today for me a 154 is a really good start as my first time driving this car with a proper setup so much to learn so much but man i'm having so much fun i've taken about uh four or five seconds off my track time and i'm really really happy with how the car went it's very predictable it's everything i'd hoped for very happy with that thank you so much to the crew and our lotus sydney and lotus in melbourne for helping me get the car set up and um and i'm just i just can't explain in words how different the experience of a proper setup is i'm just yeah i'm just i'm absolutely stoked really really happy with that uh a 154 is as fast as i've ever been on this track if you wanted to do it on a budget i think i got the same time with a turbo uh me i said it was a 154 as well but a very different experience a different driving experience stoked absolutely stoked well i've really enjoyed doing a bunch of track days this year it's been a focus of marty and mine to try and get our cars on the track and test them more a lot of people do mods to their cars and they never actually test them we don't actually get any kind of quantitative way of knowing whether it's done anything good or bad people can lower their cars do all sorts of crazy things you actually have no way of knowing really how that affects your car's performance until you're driving hard so i'm glad that we did that i've done quite a few track days this year as has marty and i think what i'm pretty excited about now is getting back to some nuggets some good old-school nugget tree it is so much better with the upgraded supercharger and now that it's actually set up properly it just is confidence inspiring rather than confidence depleting to drive i said it quite a few times but i think it's a really good example of the setup of the change of that corner eight i was spinning out before it under 80 case an hour i've been able to add around 20 kilometers to that corner speed so really really impressed with how that went i know a lot of people have been saying that's kind of my capability of the driver but what is the car's capability so we have a treat for you if you want to see a professional that's right a professional race car driver i'm going to hand the keys over to mark lotus still a principal from down in melbourne he's going to take the car for a lap if you want to check that out you can check that out on mcmtv2 that's our second channel have a look at that then we'll be able to see what the car's capable of we can see what i'm capable of and then the goal of course is to try and decrease the distance between those two things thank you very much for watching and of course a massive thank you to uh simply sports cars and lotus in sydney um thank you boys thank you everyone and richie i give you a snuggle because of kovid maybe later and um thank you so much to you and all the crew and thanks for watching click on the thing check someone who knows how to drive and see what the car is capable of because it's freaking amazing check it outin this episode of mighty car mods we are back at the track in the newly modified lotus welcome to another episode of mighty car mods we have done a supercharger upgrade on the lotus s240 but we've retained the purity using a harep supercharger which is the oem supplier of superchargers for some of the largest cars so we've retained the purity we've taken the car where it's meant to go and now we're making some excellent power now a lot of the issues that we had with this car was we found out to do with setup so that's adjustment corner weighting tyre selection rake all sorts of sort of nerdy setup stuff which we think now has been solved there was definitely some confidence issues with me after i came off the track but today the car should be set up it should be making enough power marty's main criticism because he drove it was just that it wasn't making enough power it was steering from the back and on the straight it was slow yeah it was it was just slow it didn't feel like it was steering with the front wheels so it should be fast now that we're making you know over 190 kilowatts 100 wheels i'm up from 130 which is pretty much watches on what's on the badge yeah that's about right now yeah it is it's it's as advertised so um i'm gonna go and find mark he's a race car driver and a technician and a load he's a lotus guy he's a lotus dude um and we'll have a chat with him find out what's been done since it left me and since i've left the dyno and then um we'll jump behind the wheel and get back out there and um see how we go do you know how lotus guys download data from their cars yes they don't need usb cables they just do this what does that do that allows you there just because they're i.t no no it's like the magic connection they have with their car martin increase the maturity now because we're about to be near some real sorry for everyone before i go out today i'm checking in with the lotus engineers and mechanics from sydney and then also meeting a proper race car driver mark o'connor who owns one of these cards which he rates professionally he's got some tips on the unique characteristics of driving a lotus plus explains what went wrong last time it was set up with what we call positive brakes so the front was way higher than the rear which is not how you set up a load set up the loaders with a bit of uh rake so it's a lower at the front so and we've dropped it down to a reasonable ride height as well would that have been sketchy with you driving it as well oh absolutely i wouldn't have even finished a lap i would have just come in and said no sort that out boys that's right that's terrible because i'm new to it i just i didn't know what i was meant to be feeling yeah i know i know so yeah it was you saw that video of me i saw that i saw the video i saw the fear in your eyes and i understand it perfectly i'm very confident that this will now handle like a load of should okay and it will be a much nicer thing and much more fun i still have one of these i i bought one of these to race in uh back in 0.506 there was a thing called lotus trophy i bought one to race in that and then went on a journey with the guys not unlike yours it started out as a normally aspirated car yeah and then we developed the supercharger kit that we've now fitted to this car yes was all done on my race car oh right so your car was like the development car it was yeah so we we raced at bathurst one year in in february and we're doing two minute 40 lap times and we went back in october and we're doing two minute 20s or something yeah 20 seconds off just with the supercharged kit that we put in this i think they're a pure driving they go cover the gearbox it's all about the purity all about security that's what it is well thank you so much for looking into that suspension because i know you know i really enjoyed working with richie and lee and getting the supercharged stuff in but in terms of the geometry and setup that's like way beyond my pay grade all done with strings we we use strings and rulers most accurate way to do it we don't we know like the laser gear as much so uh we get it to millimeter perfect that way was there anything not out what was that like lights were out alignment's out hot dry out everything was out yeah okay yeah good good to know so yeah no i'm looking forward to coming back in with a bigger smile on your face and thinking it was tears last time i've done a lot of track time you know different tracks and driven here you know countless times but i think you know going out with someone and getting some tips on the track would be really good yeah and some lotus specific ones are actually important you know this is a very dynamic car every little input you put into this car has an effect so um as soon as you lift the throttle or touch a brake it changes weight distribution it has a big effect on the car so so there'll be some lotus specific stuff we need to cover off today as well awesome i'm looking forward to learning it's going to be great thank you so much and we want to go about eight thousand rpm on that which then it'll start flashing red at that look at 12 volts i'm just going to go and have some fun at least for the first few years you come back with without the fear in your eyes yeah it's a smile on your face i'm inspired yes thank you so much guys and thank you for all your work on this during the week i understand it's probably been a big week so thank you awesome thanks guys thank you all right i'm back out on the track after my confidence was a bit shot last time and um i'm just out to have a bit of fun see how things go helmets on i'm ben's on thank you mate a lot more power now as well which i'm looking forward to experiencing let's get nice and warm this lap and use the gears more that's what i've learned last time i need to use more of the gears just gonna go slowly everyone's gonna pass me but that's fine just gonna get used to uh the feel of being on the track again and aim to get around um corner eight which is the one that scared me the last time it feels so much better it feels so much better like a different car this is amazing this is kind of what i was hoping for all along and now i really feel like i'm getting that experience that i wanted oh man all right increase the confidence grip feels amazing wow okay that's 200 k's an hour slowing right down for this corner because uh i'll be honest with you it scares the absolute out of me and now i'm really going to focus on using the gears more than i normally would so down to second i know from the dyno graph that i need to use more of the the power up near the red line wow it's a totally different car a totally different car there's my scary corner see if i can get around i went around that 10 kilometers an hour faster than when i spun so that is a very very good sign down into second i need to use the gears more down in the second and now limiter more gears all right i've got a little bit of traffic here unfortunately i'm gonna try and get past on the straight yes on the brakes down in the i got my mojo back people i've got my mo drive back totally predictable yes yes yes yes okay i'm back more ribs all right my scary corner off the brakes onto the power before i go in i'm accelerating around again i went around 15 kilometers faster than last time just keep it in third this time keep it in third that's it nice hug the inside down in a second now i can kick the revs up oh a little lotus i'm sorry that i didn't understand you before yes using all the track i'm going to try and take this corner even faster even faster off the brakes turn in accelerate out i went around the corner that time 20 kilometers an hour faster than last time i lost my time unfortunately but it is the uh responsibility of the faster car to slow down for any slower cars i didn't take that corn very well so so so right a lot of traffic again so didn't get a clean lap unfortunately slowly slowly reeling in this bmw m2 upgrade that's it a lot of traffic up here um one of the things about track days and maybe any kind of performance sport is you can get really hung up on the times trying to shave off a second here or a second there the problem with that is that sometimes you kind of lose the beauty and the experience of why you're doing it in the first place and so i think getting times is good when you kind of trying to go through a technical process with your car but sometimes it's good just to turn all the equipment off and just enjoy it just try and zone out kind of have that sand in the moment of your experience in life and on the track all right thanks as good a laugh i'm going to get i think everybody 154 yes my goal today was to get under a 155 and i've done it only just in very busy traffic with more seat time and a clear track there is way more potential in this car which you are about to see but for today for me a 154 is a really good start as my first time driving this car with a proper setup so much to learn so much but man i'm having so much fun i've taken about uh four or five seconds off my track time and i'm really really happy with how the car went it's very predictable it's everything i'd hoped for very happy with that thank you so much to the crew and our lotus sydney and lotus in melbourne for helping me get the car set up and um and i'm just i just can't explain in words how different the experience of a proper setup is i'm just yeah i'm just i'm absolutely stoked really really happy with that uh a 154 is as fast as i've ever been on this track if you wanted to do it on a budget i think i got the same time with a turbo uh me i said it was a 154 as well but a very different experience a different driving experience stoked absolutely stoked well i've really enjoyed doing a bunch of track days this year it's been a focus of marty and mine to try and get our cars on the track and test them more a lot of people do mods to their cars and they never actually test them we don't actually get any kind of quantitative way of knowing whether it's done anything good or bad people can lower their cars do all sorts of crazy things you actually have no way of knowing really how that affects your car's performance until you're driving hard so i'm glad that we did that i've done quite a few track days this year as has marty and i think what i'm pretty excited about now is getting back to some nuggets some good old-school nugget tree it is so much better with the upgraded supercharger and now that it's actually set up properly it just is confidence inspiring rather than confidence depleting to drive i said it quite a few times but i think it's a really good example of the setup of the change of that corner eight i was spinning out before it under 80 case an hour i've been able to add around 20 kilometers to that corner speed so really really impressed with how that went i know a lot of people have been saying that's kind of my capability of the driver but what is the car's capability so we have a treat for you if you want to see a professional that's right a professional race car driver i'm going to hand the keys over to mark lotus still a principal from down in melbourne he's going to take the car for a lap if you want to check that out you can check that out on mcmtv2 that's our second channel have a look at that then we'll be able to see what the car's capable of we can see what i'm capable of and then the goal of course is to try and decrease the distance between those two things thank you very much for watching and of course a massive thank you to uh simply sports cars and lotus in sydney um thank you boys thank you everyone and richie i give you a snuggle because of kovid maybe later and um thank you so much to you and all the crew and thanks for watching click on the thing check someone who knows how to drive and see what the car is capable of because it's freaking amazing check it out\n"