Track days in an F-Type
Discussion
Not an F-type but I took my XKR on track last year. Prep-wise, just ensure the car is in good order, brakes have plenty of life, oil in good condition and at the correct level, no leaks, tyre condition good.
Make sure you do a slower lap or two to warm up, then limit yourself to a few "hot" laps at a time, then do a cooldown lap before coming in. When you come to a stop, if your car is an automatic then just put it in P and release the brakes, don't hold it on the brakes and don't apply the park brake as the discs and pads will be very hot. Allow the engine to idle at least a minute or two to cool down.
How you'll find it will depend on the tyres and brakes you've got, in my case these were the limiting factor. Road tyres and brake pads, discs and fluid aren't designed to cope with lap after lap of driving at maximum attack hence the need to do short stints at a time and allow cooling. The XKR is also a fairly big, heavy car; I went to Knockhill which is relatively short and twisty, so while I was sailing past things like Caterhams and Clio Sports on the straights they were catching me in the bends.
I expect you'd get on a bit better in an F-type, though.
Make sure you do a slower lap or two to warm up, then limit yourself to a few "hot" laps at a time, then do a cooldown lap before coming in. When you come to a stop, if your car is an automatic then just put it in P and release the brakes, don't hold it on the brakes and don't apply the park brake as the discs and pads will be very hot. Allow the engine to idle at least a minute or two to cool down.
How you'll find it will depend on the tyres and brakes you've got, in my case these were the limiting factor. Road tyres and brake pads, discs and fluid aren't designed to cope with lap after lap of driving at maximum attack hence the need to do short stints at a time and allow cooling. The XKR is also a fairly big, heavy car; I went to Knockhill which is relatively short and twisty, so while I was sailing past things like Caterhams and Clio Sports on the straights they were catching me in the bends.
I expect you'd get on a bit better in an F-type, though.
I took mine to Destination Nurburgring 14 last month - fully standard car.
Really good advice from 8Bit above regarding cooling the car down etc.
The only prep I did was torquing the wheel nuts up and a visual check to make sure that all was well. The car is fantastic on track, the steering communicates well and the brakes (standard) are brilliant with no sign of fade at all. Only things to bear in mind are the same as taking any car on track when you're not familiar with it - build up slowly and always leave a margin for error. It's usually someone else that's trying to get you into trouble. The most important thing is to have fun!!
Really good advice from 8Bit above regarding cooling the car down etc.
The only prep I did was torquing the wheel nuts up and a visual check to make sure that all was well. The car is fantastic on track, the steering communicates well and the brakes (standard) are brilliant with no sign of fade at all. Only things to bear in mind are the same as taking any car on track when you're not familiar with it - build up slowly and always leave a margin for error. It's usually someone else that's trying to get you into trouble. The most important thing is to have fun!!
I did the Jag track day a couple of years back in open-topped V6S & V8S cars. The V8 was obviously the best sounding and immense in a straight line. The V6 was more nimble around the corners. But considering they were "bashed" all day, they stood up very well. The only recomendation from the instructor was to pop it on neutral when stationary rather than hold the brakes, as you'll end up with pad-transfer to the disks causing judder. The V6 exhaust noise gets tiring too. I test drove a Coupe S a few months back, and it became tedious within 2 minutes, and it wasn't on loud either.
Edited by fatboy b on Wednesday 1st June 10:17
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