Track day novice

[Jake Blight]

As a complete novice I'm asking for constructive advice on do's, dont's and general etiquette of track days.. Can anyone help? It'll be Castle Coombe if I can get the car prepped in time. New tyres and brakes fitted, serviced last week and MOT in the next week or two. (I have until April to give the CQ any necessary adjustments.)

If the CQ doesn't make the grade then I may be the only Yeti on the track..

Cheers in advance

[Tom C]

Originally Posted by Jake Blight

As a complete novice I'm asking for constructive advice on do's, dont's and general etiquette of track days.. Can anyone help? It'll be Castle Coombe if I can get the car prepped in time. New tyres and brakes fitted, serviced last week and MOT in the next week or two. (I have until April to give the CQ any necessary adjustments.)

If the CQ doesn't make the grade then I may be the only Yeti on the track..

Cheers in advance

When is the track day? Only ask as hopefully should be doing a few this year and be good to see a cq out there... That said I'll be in a Renault

Castle Combe is a quick circuit and great fun, you get a briefing of where you should be on track of quicker cars are behind you (think it's on the left hand side) so you'll learn that on the day anyway (in fact I'm pretty sure they have a PDF somewhere with it on too).

You can generally go out for tuition if you wish too which is what I'll probably do soon (driven castle Combe quite a few times, but know at certain points I could improve upon)

[1781cc]

Definitely get some tuition, it will help even if its at the end of the day (as was the case with my first track day)

I would say, leave any ego at home, there will be cars faster than you, so don't try and keep up / follow braking distances.

Keep an eye on coolant and oil temperatures. If you feel the tyres going off, you don't necessarily have to come in and rest straight away, a couple of laps at a slower pace refining lines can help a lot in bringing temps down and also help you on the next hot laps to be smoother.

Finally, when you do come into the pits, let it idle for a little, then turn off but make sure you don't apply the handbrake as it can cause seizing with the heat sync, if she rolls, just put her in gear

you'll have a whale of a time, its great fun and next thing, all your thoughts turn to saving weight lol

Oh, and there is a Yeti knocking about up this neck of the woods with full coilovers, cage, baskets and serious engine mods - if you are forced into the yeti all is not lost ha ha

https://www.flickr.com/photos/opentr...7657576460435/

[Flying Frank]

Originally Posted by 1781cc

Oh, and there is a Yeti knocking about up this neck of the woods with full coilovers, cage, baskets and serious engine mods - if you are forced into the yeti all is not lost ha ha

https://www.flickr.com/photos/opentr...7657576460435/

Don't give him ideas Lee or the quattro will never get finished!!!

[Jake Blight]

Revo tune via TSR in Bridgewater is already on the cards ;-)

[Eddy]

What cq do you have ?

Do;
Stay out of the way of other faster cars, use your indicators to let them know you have seen them up your arse and will be pulling over. Use your mirrors more than on the road.
Take the first couple of laps nice and slow and gradually build you speed.
Use a good quality engine oil, some of us are using 10-60 or 15-50 fully synthetic, normal 10-40 Asda crap will be too thin after a few laps.
Watch your water and oil temps, remember there is no oil cooler on the non turbo so it will get very hot quickly.
Have a cool down lap before you go into the pits, not too slow, just avoid hard acceleration and braking.
Think about fitting a by-pass switch for the rad fan, this way you can check the fan works but also give you a chance of saving the engine if it starts to get too hot.
Pass other cars with plenty of room and give them a good distance coming into a corner, if you are faster than them try to wait until they have seen you and they are going to let you pass.
Check the wheel alignment (tracking), you will need a 4 wheel alignment place but this will make a big difference.
Do all the braking before the corners and always in a straight line, keep a steady throttle around the corner and let the car run wide.
Remove all the crap out of the car, even the CD'S and the like, the less stuff there is rattling around the better, look under the seats, you will subjecting the car to a lot of G force compared to 'normal' road driving. If it ain't bolted down leave it in the pits.

Don't;
Spend more than 15-20mis on track at a time, go into the pits and check tyre temps and just give the car a break, Re-the advise about the brakes in the pits.
Don't try to catch up with that Subaru who is faster than you, you may be as good in the corners but don't be tempted to rev the nuts of the engine to try and keep up on the straights.
Wear high heels but seriously baggy clothing, stiff shoes, watches, etc,
Brake around corners or use heavy acceleration into them. The coupe may try to under-steer a lot but if you plan well ahead and don't turn the wheel too sharp she will go around the corners as good as small Japanese rot box
Don't spend all your money on mods, tyres, go faster bits without buying something for the missus
Take spare fuel so you don't have loads in the tank around the track.
Last but not least, TAKE SOME PICTURES, or even better some video

[Jake Blight]

Thanks all, the info is all noted and taken on board. My cq is completely bog standard and has just had new brakes and a decent service. (All branded goods, I'm not an Asda/Ebay fiend for the mechanical stuff.) Even so this will be the first shakedown of the car so there won't be any heroics that's for sure. I'm 'planning' to trailer it up just to be on the safe side. As is stands there's no extra weight in the car as the interior bar the drivers seat, dashboard and headlining has all been removed. Hopefully I will be borrowing a video camera which will be fixed somewhere, otherwise the wife and I will take it in turn to stand by the side of the track somewhere safe. This is of course so long as the car passes its MOT in the coming weeks... *fingers crossed*

The day is being organised by the Guild of motoring journalists, so no public or clubs, therefore I have a feeling that I won't be the centre of attention unless I do something stupid.

Thanks again for the advice.

[1781cc]

Just a thought, if you do use a suction camera then invest in some of these as physical tethers to back up, the last thing you want is the suction cup coming lose and thrown the camera under the brake pedal!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131155978367

Besides, some tracks get precious about suction cups and if they see it will exclude you

[Jake Blight]

Originally Posted by 1781cc

Just a thought, if you do use a suction camera then invest in some of these as physical tethers to back up, the last thing you want is the suction cup coming lose and thrown the camera under the brake pedal!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131155978367

Besides, some tracks get precious about suction cups and if they see it will exclude you

[Eddy]

Cable tied to the passenger head rest can give you a good view, its nice to see the rev counter or speedo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbuVsUPM8tU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evYS...6IcLG8WiT7lJEg

The soft continental tyres would over heat after about 7 laps but did a decent enough job for standard road tyres