Starting to do track days - some questions/advice needed

[sunbeam alpine]

I've been offered a free car (Alfa 75 2.0 Twin Spark), and I'm thinking of just using it for track days, i.e. not taxing/insuring it etc. (I already have several fun cars which are road legal).

To start I'd probably just strip out a lot of the interior and give it a go. I sell agricultural machinery, so I've got a fully-equipped mobile workshop in a Fiat Ducato van, and a car trailer to move it about.

I have a couple of questions if some kind soul could give advice.

Can I do basic track days with a car like that? (i.e. no tax/MOT etc.) Obviously I will be making sure that the car is mechanically sound, but how can a track day organiser check this?

Do I need third-party insurance? (can you get insurance just for track days?) Not worried about the car itself - I can repair/throw it away, and I've got very good access to Alfa parts.

Also any suggestions for good tracks for beginners? Preferably in southern England - I'm actually based in Belgium, but I also have a house in Wiltshire (quite close to Castle Combe) so that could be an option.

Thanks in advance!

[sunbeam alpine]

Thanks for the replies so far!

I will check with our local keuring (MOT) centre whether it's possible to carry out a technical control on a car which isn't registered.

Regarding brakes/fluid - I'm used to swapping discs/pads and fluid, plus the kind of fun cars I have rely on carrying speed into corners and not too much braking - I don't have huge amounts of horsepower to play with!

[sunbeam alpine]

iguana said:

If you are based in Belgium you have some ace tracks on your doorstep- Spa,Zandvoort, Nurburgring, Zolder isn't top notch like the last 3 but better than Combe & v easy to access in Belgium,plus a whole host of French & Germany locations.

It's usually a lot lot easier & cheaper to register & MOT a track car in UK than EU. You won't easily get a road legal caged track car legal in Belgium, half cage is less grief.

Thanks for your reply.

You may have misunderstood the meaning of my post - I don't want to register the car. What I would like to do is strip it out and trailer it to track days. What I don't want to do is turn up and end up in some specialised class with people who know what they're doing - I don't want to get in their way! If I get the taste for it I can always spend some money on improving it later.

This doesn't mean I want to turn up with a wreck and drive like a loony. I have a well-equipped garage and can make sure that the car is both safe and mechanically sound.

I already have 10 cars on the road, including 5 classic Alfas, at least 2 of which would be ideal for track use - a 1973 Bertone 1750 GTV and a 1993 155 Q4, which was made for circuit driving. The 155 was tha Alfa Romeo France press car, which had less than 20,000 km when I bought it 2 years ago, and which I use enthusiastically, but sparingly. I don't want to subject them to track use as I'd hate to break them!

Regarding tracks over here, I drove round Zandvoort a couple of years back as part of the Alfa Romeo 100 year celebration - more of a procession than at speed. The Spa website doesn't seem to offer many open days (unless I'm missing something), and the Nurburgring doesn't seem to me the place to start! (Certainly given the threads on here regarding possible costs of an accident!). I'd forgotten about Zolder - will take a look.

The UK seems to have a lot more in terms of organised track day activity (and I'm British, and have several places in Southern England I can use as a base), so I thought it might be a better place to start.

Are there any websites I should be looking at?

Edited by sunbeam alpine on Monday 20th July 09:44

[sunbeam alpine]

Thanks for all the replies!

To update the thread -

1. The free car was in a much worse state than I expected (big surprise!) so that's a non-starter.

2. I've found a good-looking track-prepared 75 for a very reasonable price. Has a cage, fire extinguisher system, harnesses, kill switch outside etc.

3. It's impossible to MOT the car in Belgium, but the car is in immaculate condition, prepared by a specialist garage. I note that some track days require thus, but in practice, how much would this limit the track days I could do?