Luddenham was an absolute BLAST
My brother and I took the car out to Luddenham Raceway, a short 1.4km track but is really technical with a lot of off camber cornering and uphill braking which is awesome.
I went from a 1.02 down to 59.3 and my brother (the better driver) managed a 56 flat, quicker than a GT4 and 5th overall. Not bad for a stock tune but the car hardly got out of 3rd gear.
My biggest surprise were the brakes. What an upgrade and true to the budget theme of the car. I won't be needing a BBK any time soon. Really consistent and good pedal feel and pulled up hard. The Ferodo DS2500's are also an excellent pad, on the road I've had no issues with cold pads or squealing and they pull up hard on the track.
Also didn't have issues with VANOS as cleaning them seems to have done the trick.
Anyway, the big news is I have sourced a new engine with only 51,000kms so I'll be doing a swap in the coming months. Leaning towards reliability more than anything so won't be touching internals or going for high boost.
If anyone can recommend what I should do whilst the engine is out that would be appreciated. Cheers