update.
so this exhaust leak of mine has been killing me. i decided to hell with it, i'll swap the gasket friday night, in time for the track saturday morning. this was a mistake thats for sure.
took 6 hours to get the job done. old gasket out, new gasket it, car buttoned up.
can see where it was leaking,

what a MASSIVE nightmare this job was. damn. finished at 1am, drive home from my buddies shop, got to bed around 230. up at 6AM to leave for my track day. i was not doing well lol. took some caffeine to fire me up that is for sure. too old for this no sleep shit. OH, and the leak is still leaking so thats fucking great. must be from the manifold to the turbo or something.
took this log last night, look at this boost lag, its absolutely horrible. i dont know how the BT guys live this life but it sucks so much. im used to seeing 20psi by 3200rpm. i now see 20psi at 4000rpm. car is SUPER lazy and really does suck to drive. even on track i often fall below 4000rpm, which is usually no problem but with this kind of response it sucks. go WOT, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, BOOST. no torque at all down low. car is down on power and i can feel it. suckssss
on to my saturday track day, 3.5 hours of sleep, exhaust leak, and these conditions...
it was wet and raining on and off all day. im on worn RE71r tires...still sent it anyways.
the track day was well organized and well ran. 0 issues with anyone. seemed to be a mostly VW group, with the average hp among them being 400hp. there were plenty of GTIs and golf R's. these thing make all the power with none of the mods, must be nice. lots of big brake kits around too, usually when i see those it makes me think great, im about to get shit on...
well it took me sometime to learn the wet line, which when used in the wet, provides a surprising amount of grip. like its actually usable. this was cool. keep in mind this was my first time EVER driving on track in the rain/wet. i learned a TON and it was an amazing experience.
i was running in advanced group(cant believe i signed up for advanced) and to my surprise, i was getting point bys left right and center. oh man. somethings working, my car? my tires? me? something. its like ALLLL the money i spent on the car, and on seat time has finally started to pay off or something? its always nice to hear from your pit neighbor that he was watching me take alllllllll the golfs to gapple bees first corner, and every corner after the gap grew larger and larger. where they all caught me was on the straights. dammit. need moar power, or maybe just less exhaust leak. these guys were killing me on corner exit, like killing me bad. stupid laggy shit.
temps were good all day, till the afternoon when it dried up, warmed up a little, and i was able to full send and fully slay. not sure ive used so much of the car before. hit a new PB for coolant temp and oil temp(since the new oil cooler). i had my over heat light come on at 121c coolant temp(250f) and my oil hit 260f which im not worried about. the SECOND i start doing a cool down lap, all my temps drop down right away so thats cool. recovery is quick. my brakes are a little cooked, need to check out pad life. one more track day?????????????????????? hopefully.
my pit neighbor's amazing race car Porsche 944 turbo
cool lotus race car, driver was learning, but super cool car
on to the next part of my day/weekend...built motor?
there is a local(and by local i mean in Ontario) guy parting out a full build. he had alllllllllll the nice parts but i was after his forged motor. he lived near the track(which is 2 hours 15 minutes away from me) so i decided now would be the perfect time to check it out. well i left a deposit on it so theres that. going this weekend to pull the valve cover, pull the pan, and if everything looks good, ill be taking it home. woohoo!!
ive also got a few goodies on the way, koyo rad, GV grill for allllllll the airflow(already thinking of the nasty duct i can build with that thing) and one surprise part that ill reveal when it shows up. some exciting shit for sure.
video of some live action, i spin out pretty hard in the beginning here. also spun out later in the day, spun so hard the car wouldnt start. thought something broke.