First Track Day

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Discussion

balders118

Original Poster:

5,842 posts

167 months

Sunday 23rd September 2012
quotequote all
As the title says I am considering my first track day. Seeing as I have not done this before I hope this kind of thread doesn't pop up in this forum al the time, if that's the case I apologise.

Firstly, It'll be Keevil on Oct 20th if I go ahead with it. Being an airfeild with big run off etc I assume this is a good idea for a beginner. Is this a kind of track I could enjoy in a standard ford puma? Obviously the puma is great fun on the road and it thrives on twisty country lanes but on a track I feel it might be too down on power to really enjoy myself as it is so much more open.

As far as insurane goes, do most people get it? If I decided it was something I needed it would probably tip the balance over to not worth doing in the puma, so I don't plan on getting any. Are there a lot of crashes on track days? Thw way I'm looking at it is I do fairly regular hoons with PHers on the roads where we drive spiritidly through the Dales/Moors etc, when on the track I'd employ the same level of restraint in how hard I push taking it easy and not driving at 10/10ths.

Any advice?

Herman Toothrot

6,702 posts

197 months

Sunday 23rd September 2012
quotequote all
I'd say majority don't have insurance for track. I've never had any cover in the various cars i've used over the years. Accidents, in 9 years of about 8 track days a year I've seen one, a Cosworth + armco at Castle Combe.

Puma will be fine, remember its not a race.

Bitofbully

394 posts

138 months

Sunday 23rd September 2012
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Driving fast on track is safer than driving fast on the road - there's nobody coming the other way for a start, and if you do have an off, tracks have more run-off than most roads before you hit something.

However, I did see a coming together at Castle Combe earlier this year - an MX5 and an Elise clashed in a chicane - but that's incredibly rare and by driving sensibly you can pretty much eliminate all chances of a clash.

balders118

Original Poster:

5,842 posts

167 months

Sunday 23rd September 2012
quotequote all
Herman Toothrot said:
I'd say majority don't have insurance for track. I've never had any cover in the various cars i've used over the years. Accidents, in 9 years of about 8 track days a year I've seen one, a Cosworth + armco at Castle Combe.

Puma will be fine, remember its not a race.
Good to know crashes aren't all that common.

Yeah, I'm not worried that I won't be able to keep up with other cars, I'm well aware it'll be one of the lowest hp cars out there, I was just concerend that on a track that is very wide the puma would just feel very slow and not a lot of fun.

Bitofbully

394 posts

138 months

Sunday 23rd September 2012
quotequote all
Don't worry about the straight bits - there will always be someone faster - concentrate on the bendy bits, I've caught and passed a Westfield through twisty bits in a car with half the power and twice the weight.

Get some instruction early in the day and you'll be passing or keeping up with some much more serious machinery.

Are you going with Motorsport Events? - their instructors, in my experience, are very good.

Evangelion

7,640 posts

177 months

Monday 24th September 2012
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Bitofbully, I was in the MX-5 you saw crash at Combe this year. Driver was on his first track day and had never heard of brakes! So we spun in the first chicane, and just as we were about to move away again the Lotus came round straight into us. I still don't understand why he didn't just use the escape road. Anyway he hit us right in the A-pillar, his car virtually exploded and didn't move at all from that point except on a low loader, probably a write-off. Ours after a bit of fettling to get the bodywork away from the front right tyre, was driven back to the paddock, and home afterwards. Just needed a new door and front wing, and a bit of patching up on the rear wing.

I saw a worse smash there a month ago, here's the thread on it complete with video:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

balders118

Original Poster:

5,842 posts

167 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Bitofbully said:
Don't worry about the straight bits - there will always be someone faster - concentrate on the bendy bits, I've caught and passed a Westfield through twisty bits in a car with half the power and twice the weight.

Get some instruction early in the day and you'll be passing or keeping up with some much more serious machinery.

Are you going with Motorsport Events? - their instructors, in my experience, are very good.
I've not booked anything yet. I saw it on the trackdays website after a google search,

How much would you expect to pay for instructors?

AdiT

1,025 posts

156 months

Monday 24th September 2012
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Usually £20 to £30 for a session (20mins) altough some trackday organisers include it free.

turbobob

6 posts

138 months

Monday 24th September 2012
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I am taking my M3 down in a month or so! Hope the back end can handle the winter weather!

magooagain

9,909 posts

169 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Take your time,get some tuition if its on offer and enjoy.
Most importantly is making sure your car is well prepaired for the track. Tyres,tyres and tyres make sure they are up to it ! If you have a towing eye ,put it in. Pop some good quality fast road and track pads in the brakes and bed them in well before your track day. Good luck and enjoy.

motco

15,919 posts

245 months

Monday 24th September 2012
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magooagain said:
Take your time,get some tuition if its on offer and enjoy.
Most importantly is making sure your car is well prepaired for the track. Tyres,tyres and tyres make sure they are up to it ! If you have a towing eye ,put it in. Pop some good quality fast road and track pads in the brakes and bed them in well before your track day. Good luck and enjoy.
Very good advice.
, especially about brakes. I have a Westfield and never have brake trouble even after extended driving, but last December, because it was too damned cold for the Westfield, I took my BMW Z3. No problems with handling despite its oft-quoted shortcomings, but the brakes were overheating almost immediately. It weighs a good few hundred kg more than the Westfield and all that energy has to be got rid of somehow. My son's Z4M Coupé has progressed through OEM pads and fluid to Dot5 and Bluestuff in order to survive a trackday with a pedal that doesn't hit the carpet.

Have a good time, I am sure you will. I will second the endorsement of MSE but sadly for you they area SW England company.

balders118

Original Poster:

5,842 posts

167 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
motco said:
magooagain said:
Take your time,get some tuition if its on offer and enjoy.
Most importantly is making sure your car is well prepaired for the track. Tyres,tyres and tyres make sure they are up to it ! If you have a towing eye ,put it in. Pop some good quality fast road and track pads in the brakes and bed them in well before your track day. Good luck and enjoy.
Very good advice.
, especially about brakes. I have a Westfield and never have brake trouble even after extended driving, but last December, because it was too damned cold for the Westfield, I took my BMW Z3. No problems with handling despite its oft-quoted shortcomings, but the brakes were overheating almost immediately. It weighs a good few hundred kg more than the Westfield and all that energy has to be got rid of somehow. My son's Z4M Coupé has progressed through OEM pads and fluid to Dot5 and Bluestuff in order to survive a trackday with a pedal that doesn't hit the carpet.

Have a good time, I am sure you will. I will second the endorsement of MSE but sadly for you they area SW England company.
Thanks for the advice. My brakes could do with a refresh anyway I think, must be coming up 40k miles since it's had new pads. Also the bushes (standard puma stuff) could do with freshening up, could be worth spending a few pennies before I go.

With regards to MSE, I plan on doing a trackday when I'm down visiting my family in Surrey so my brother can come along too, so SW england will be doable smile

motco

15,919 posts

245 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
balders118 said:
motco said:
magooagain said:
Take your time,get some tuition if its on offer and enjoy.
Most importantly is making sure your car is well prepaired for the track. Tyres,tyres and tyres make sure they are up to it ! If you have a towing eye ,put it in. Pop some good quality fast road and track pads in the brakes and bed them in well before your track day. Good luck and enjoy.
Very good advice.
, especially about brakes. I have a Westfield and never have brake trouble even after extended driving, but last December, because it was too damned cold for the Westfield, I took my BMW Z3. No problems with handling despite its oft-quoted shortcomings, but the brakes were overheating almost immediately. It weighs a good few hundred kg more than the Westfield and all that energy has to be got rid of somehow. My son's Z4M Coupé has progressed through OEM pads and fluid to Dot5 and Bluestuff in order to survive a trackday with a pedal that doesn't hit the carpet.

Have a good time, I am sure you will. I will second the endorsement of MSE but sadly for you they area SW England company.
Thanks for the advice. My brakes could do with a refresh anyway I think, must be coming up 40k miles since it's had new pads. Also the bushes (standard puma stuff) could do with freshening up, could be worth spending a few pennies before I go.

With regards to MSE, I plan on doing a trackday when I'm down visiting my family in Surrey so my brother can come along too, so SW england will be doable smile
In that case Abingdon is the best track they run in my view, but a bit farther afield is Hullavington which is good too. These are airfields and as such have loads of run-off space with few barriers. There are some earth banks so be careful near them and never go onto the grass sideways!

Andy_vx

305 posts

184 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
balders118 said:
As the title says I am considering my first track day. Seeing as I have not done this before I hope this kind of thread doesn't pop up in this forum al the time, if that's the case I apologise.

Firstly, It'll be Keevil on Oct 20th if I go ahead with it. Being an airfeild with big run off etc I assume this is a good idea for a beginner. Is this a kind of track I could enjoy in a standard ford puma? Obviously the puma is great fun on the road and it thrives on twisty country lanes but on a track I feel it might be too down on power to really enjoy myself as it is so much more open.

As far as insurane goes, do most people get it? If I decided it was something I needed it would probably tip the balance over to not worth doing in the puma, so I don't plan on getting any. Are there a lot of crashes on track days? Thw way I'm looking at it is I do fairly regular hoons with PHers on the roads where we drive spiritidly through the Dales/Moors etc, when on the track I'd employ the same level of restraint in how hard I push taking it easy and not driving at 10/10ths.

Any advice?
Hi, i'm looking to do the same thing as you! i'm attending this track day at Keevil too with a member on the VX220 forum. i'm still a novice as i've only done 1 track day at Hullavington in a vx220 N/A i'll be doing Keevil in my new turbo VX which is more of a handful! Hullavington was brilliant with lots of run off and no barriers. people complain about track surface being bad at airfeilds but Hullavington was fine and i've heard Keevil is the same. Very cheap day out at £109! i learnt so much on my first track day as it was raining i loved every second though. no one was being stupid and people respected each other and got out of each others way, there was no racing and i felt like i could go at my own pace. I spun it once which i thought wasn't too bad for my first drive in a RWD car in the rain lol i did 200 miles altogether!used lots of fuel, brake pads and had to top the oil back up, the yres weren't too bad though.

I hope to see you at Keevil, look out for me in the blue VX220! Enjoy.

Edited by Andy_vx on Monday 24th September 23:57

Zed Ed

1,103 posts

182 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
quotequote all
Insurance not likely to be pricey for the puma.

Seen a few damaged cars on trackdays.

Your call

Bitofbully

394 posts

138 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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Zed Ed said:
Insurance not likely to be pricey for the puma.

Seen a few damaged cars on trackdays.

Your call
Insurance will be pointless on a Puma as the premium will be a very large percentage of the market value, and the excess is highly likely to exceed the market value.

V800MJH

503 posts

156 months

Tuesday 2nd October 2012
quotequote all
An airfield is a great place to start in my opinion.

Your puma will be fine, just remember not to over do it. It's a road car and it's not built for endless laps of track abuse.

After a couple of laps come in check your tyre pressures and build up your speed gradually throughout the day. Your brakes will get extremely hot, so I'd recommend coming in after say 10 minutes to let them cool off for half hour or so...

It's not a race, so just enjoy yourself and take it steady. Just make sure to do warm up and cool down laps if you really want to be as kind to the car as possible.

Enjoy

Evangelion

7,640 posts

177 months

Tuesday 2nd October 2012
quotequote all
I zero the mileometer in the pitlane while I'm waiting to go out, then when it gets up to 10 miles, finiush the lap, do a slowing down lap and come in.

Don't forget to open the bonnet to aid cooling while you're parked, and don't use the handbrake. After turning the engine off, leave it in gear.

Effortless

197 posts

194 months

Sunday 7th October 2012
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Evangelion said:
I zero the mileometer in the pitlane while I'm waiting to go out, then when it gets up to 10 miles, finiush the lap, do a slowing down lap and come in.

Don't forget to open the bonnet to aid cooling while you're parked, and don't use the handbrake. After turning the engine off, leave it in gear.
Sounds like good advice ( not that I'm an expert).

I've just done my first track day ( or rather, my first track 20 minutes).

I booked through MSV at Brands on the Indie circuit, £25 for 20 minutes. Good drivers briefing, braking points, turn-in points and apexes all helpfully indicated with cones for muppets like me. Instructors were very friendly, and seemed very competent.

The session was in a torrential downpour, and I have to say I think I preferred it that way... I'm a bit of a pussy on track, I'm driving my own car which I have to use for for work for 30,000 miles a year, so I don't want to trash it, either on the Armco, other cars, or wear out brakes, engine or tyres. In the wet I had a lot of fun, the track was incredibly slippery, but the tail wagging every corner was great fun. In other words, a lot of fun was had at relatively slow and safe speeds.



And if you're new to all of this, I have to say that 20 minutes is probably more than enough for a start. Plenty of lines, acceleration, gear changes, braking, turn-in, mirrors, flags etc etc to think about and to concentrate on. I will be doing a few more of the 20 minute taster sessions before I graduate to an evening or full day.

Cheers,
Effortless.

Evangelion

7,640 posts

177 months

Sunday 7th October 2012
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Glad to hear that you enjoyed it.

WARNING: you'll be hooked now!