Karen had her first chance to try Rexy on the Silverstone FTZ type RR controlled tyres on a practice day at the Silverstone circuit. (Oooh, spooky!). As the tyres were being fitted on the wheels there and then, she went out on the first session on some road tyres.


Unfortunately, within a handful of laps, the car was spitting out its coolant again. Otherwise, Karen was happy with the performance despite the old tyres and road specification brake pads. She comfortably managed some lap times in the 1:17 bracket.


The next session saw her using a set of the Silverstone tyres. Tentatively at first, she built up confidence in them to post 1:16 times. Whilst still being very mindful of the coolant and brakes issues.

During the lunch break, Graham Poultney of XSpec suggested lowering the boost to see if that prevented coolant loss. He did a quick swap-over with some boost hosing and Karen went back out in the afternoon only having 0.6 Bar of boost instead of a peak of 1.1 Bar. The coolant was still coming out, but her lap times were still consistently in the 1:16's.


It looks like Rexy's engine is going to have to come out for an inspection of the Head Gaskets to probably replace them and figure out a root cause for the problems we're having. Here's hoping it's resolved in time for the first race meeting at Snetterton... On a lighter note, it looks like Karen's getting more at home with Rexy and a healthy engine, XSpec brake pads and further practice will see her being very competitive in the Subaru Cup!