Track days?

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Discussion

200Plus Club

10,671 posts

277 months

Friday 12th June 2015
quotequote all
i'm thinking of downsizing as it happens to a cheap caterham or westy and just having fun at lower speeds and not being one of the quicker cars on track. the T70 is awesome but after 5 yrs of trackdays in it i'm ready for a change and private pilots license is also appealing as well.

200Plus Club

10,671 posts

277 months

Friday 12th June 2015
quotequote all
deadscoob said:
The kumhos are great on track, and definitely pretty bad on road. Motorway inside lanes, less than 12 degree c and heavy rain is an eye widening experience!!

But for track use, michelin ps2s are rubbish imo, still a good road tyre though.

Consider what Mark says - if you go for a 19" rear you then have the choice of michelin pilot sport cup2s, albeit in a slightly narrow width but it's a much much better all tound tyre than the kumhos.

My ideal spec for a track emphasised Ultima would have on top of standard:

Longer front wishbones
265 or 285 front tyres
Very light weight 18" front, 19" rear wheels
Full width front splitter
Side splitters/running boards
Modified front clam with vents
Opened up side pod vents
Modified rear clam with additional vents
Uprated hubs with larger bearings
Full width rear wing with elevated pylons
Tuned ls3/7 with 650hp
Short ratio gearbox, topspeed limited to 190 (pref sequential) and lsd
Gearbox cooler
Carbon disks and larger calipers
Modified rear floor with proper diffuser
Nonstandard wing mirrors so you can see properly
Porsche Motorsport driveshafts
Simple fuel system with in tank bosch 044
Decent harnesses, not the slow and difficult to adjust Williams
Obviously a quiet but free flowing exhaust so you can actually get on track days
Plumbed in fire extinguisher
Uprated air con

All the above is easy to do, other than diffuser. Would make an effective track toy
do you really need 650bhp though for trackdays in the UK in all honesty? you'll be seriously out of kilter with other cars on track with the above spec i suspect in terms of speed differential. I went in a 650bhp T70 and to be honest it was too fast for mixed trackdays with the amount of grip and braking available and the power out of corners.
also, why would the Ultima need wishbones/hubs/bearings/uprated brakes etc just for trackdays out of interest? maybe racing it, i could see, but again i'd have thought a bit OTT for your average UK trackday?


deadscoob

2,263 posts

259 months

Friday 12th June 2015
quotequote all
If there's no or very little price difference when building between standard and modified components, then it makes sense to have an upgraded part if the planned use is mainly track days. Doesn't "need" it, but they're better for it and as mentioned, if there's little or no cost difference it's worth doing, imo.

No you don't need 650hp, but you don't need an Ultima or T70 for track days either, plenty of good lower powered alternatives.

200Plus Club

10,671 posts

277 months

Friday 12th June 2015
quotequote all
deadscoob said:
If there's no or very little price difference when building between standard and modified components, then it makes sense to have an upgraded part if the planned use is mainly track days. Doesn't "need" it, but they're better for it and as mentioned, if there's little or no cost difference it's worth doing, imo.

No you don't need 650hp, but you don't need an Ultima or T70 for track days either, plenty of good lower powered alternatives.
I've always enjoyed anything rwd and 300bhp or above :-) read an interesting thread earlier about radicals and trackdays and whether they were actually useable or not