Track days

[redeye83]

I was thinking of getting a car for trackday use but seen as never done one before just wanted to know the sort of thing would need to do for it and the cost of doing each day?
Any info and help appreciated

[16v_paddy]

Well a mk1 clio is a good start :P

All you need is a car in good mechanical condition as our clios are pretty capable track machines straight out the box.
From what I've seen (not lots like as I'm relatively new to track days too) they cost from about £150 to about £250 and in some cases more than that but personally I wouldn't want to pay more than that.

A good tip would be to go to a track day & have a look around & speak to people doing it for yourself. If you're available, this saturday (19th) there will be a few members from here on track at Bedford Autodrome, come & have a chat & a passenger ride to see what all the fuss is about :wink:

[redeye83]

Would love to come along but it's over a 3 hour journey for me and got a bit on this wkend

[ThRaXaIR]

hello again, look out for some airfield trackdays there alot cheaper in some cases like 90 quid. good place to start and to be fair think i prefer them.

[redeye83]

Oh nice one. Any places you'd recommend and any advise you could give?

[chip]

Tyres are a big cost if you want to run anything decent, things like 888 are upto about 100 quid a corner now, and if you run normal road tyres and drive really hard so you are sliding the car about on them then generally they'll get ripped to shreds fairly quickly.

Airfield days are harsher on tyres than racetrack days.

Dont forget to budget for fuel to and from, and a tank of fuel or more at the trackday itself.

Total cost per trackday IME once you take everything into account (brake pads you get through fairly quickly etc) is around 400 quid

[16v_paddy]

Don't be too alarmed by that £400 figure though as it doesn't neccessarily all have to be in 1 hit, with a bit of forward planning you can spread it out a bit :wink:

[chip]

Don't be too alarmed by that £400 figure though as it doesn't neccessarily all have to be in 1 hit, with a bit of forward planning you can spread it out a bit :wink:

I dont think its ever in one hit really, as you nearly always pay for the trackday in advance, and then the fuel on the day, and then replace the tyres you wrecked at a later date :)

I tend to have a budget of around 500 a month for trackdays and trackday related stuff, and it sort of averages out over the year.

Worth always keeping an eye out for secondhand tyres and buy them when they are cheap rather than when you need them, that can give big savings in the long run.

Depends how many trackdays you do though what approach you take, I'll ALWAYS buy tyres that are good value, even though ive got about 40 trackday suitable tyres (some wet, some dry etc) knocking around at the moment in various stages of wear, which would be a ludicrous amount to build up for someone who only does a couple of trackdays a year, but i typically do about 12-15 of them a year so 10 sets of tyres isnt actually that many as some of those will only have 1 trackday left in them and some are wet ones etc and Ive got a couple of different sizes as some are for different cars etc.

[16v_paddy]

Used R888's is how I roll 8) sod paying for them things new :shock:

[chip]

Best bargain Ive had tyre wise recently was a load of nearly Michelin Pilot Sport cups for 35 quid a corner 8)

Managed to get 16 of them into my Corsa as it was the only vehicle I had handy to collect them with, lol

[chip]

nearly new*

fecking edit button cunt bollocks wank toss

[16v_paddy]

:rofl1:

[Coops]

rock the rtoc national day, good cheap intro to track days and meet a lot of like minded folks :-)

[stevie_b]

Make sure your car is in top mechanical order. A track day puts stresses and strains on the car that you couldn't imagine approaching on the road. There is nothing worse than paying an entry fee and finding out that your car has given up the ghost just a few laps in - they don't refund any of the entry fee and getting home after waiting hours for a low loader to arrive is no laugh either, and generally the track is a long way from home and takes ages to get back home at 50 mph on a lorry. I have done it enough times!

Get some decent pads for the front brakes, as these are usually one of the first things you find lacking when on track, and either check that there is plenty of meat on them or take a spare set with you and be prepared to change them at the track. Take a good set of tools too so minor issues can be sorted without ruining your day, although with luck you will be able to borrow something off someone else if you are stuck it is generally a fairly friendly bunch of people attendng. Buy the best lid you can afford. Keep an eye on your mirrors so you don't get in the way of other cars at the track, who will undoubtedly be quicker than you if it is your first time out.

As suggested above, having a spare set of wheels with tyres that are below the legal limit for road use is a good way to reduce costs as these can be picked up cheaply and worn down to almost nothing on the track, whereas a set of new road tyres will wear down to the legal limit quite quickly and need replacing if you want to drive to and from the track on them. Junk any extra weight you can by taking out anything you don't need or is easily removable - parcel shelf, rear seats, spare wheel, etc. as the weight of the car has a direct impact on the rate at which you will wear things out.

In terms of costs, depending what car you run, and including wear on the components that need replacing over a few track days, petrol to and from the venue, etc. I reckon a track day ends up costing between £250 and £1000 a time.

[2 live]

^^^ some good advice there mate.

also try changing the brake fluid too, brakes get hot, fluid boils, brakes fade then stop working.....not what you want coming into a tight bend at 90mph....


could also try a renosport day, if you decide to go with a clio. usually cheaper than a normal trackday, free tuition, and you get to go out in some of the top end in renos current range of rs models.

is also worth getting a bit of tuition too when you get there.

[northy]

http://www.williamsclio.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=412243#412243

[redeye83]

Thanks for the advise guys. I was thinking of using a 16v er with a Williams engine in it. Hopefully gettin it this wkend. So any last advise you have got at all as it is about 4 hours away from me.

[chip]

Providing its in good order, thats a perfect starting point for a trackday car really.

Worth widetracking (see how dkrevs has done it)

[Laine_16v]

Got a feeling bedford is going to rape my wallet on Saturday.

[16v_paddy]

Got a feeling bedford is going to rape my wallet on Saturday.

If I were you I'd be more concerned about being violated somewhere other than one wallet & that's on the night before :twisted: