First track day, any advice
Discussion
Hi all I’m going to my first track day on Sunday at RAF Odiham and I was wondering if anyone out there could give me some advice. do I just go flat out and not worry about going off the track, do I play it safe and stick to my limits, should I push myself and see what the car and myself can handle or should I be a big girl and just drive like normal just a bit quicker. Also do I need to do anything to the car.
any help would be great.
any help would be great.
Ozmira said:
Hi all I’m going to my first track day on Sunday at RAF Odiham and I was wondering if anyone out there could give me some advice. do I just go flat out and not worry about going off the track, do I play it safe and stick to my limits, should I push myself and see what the car and myself can handle or should I be a big girl and just drive like normal just a bit quicker. Also do I need to do anything to the car.
any help would be great.
I will be there on sunday in my tuscan, have done a few trackdays before, so happy to pass on my experiences. I would say give the car a good check over, fluid levels, pad thickness, tighten the wheel nuts. I take a gauge and reduce the pressures a bit once the tires are upto temp as the gain psi when hot and you end up floating around on 36 psi ballons before you know it. But this time of year and being cold should be less of an issue. Get everything out of the interior that is not bolted down, i have two fire extingushers behind my passenger seat incase of fire. Helmet and long sleeves are a given. any help would be great.
Anyway see you there sunday, hoping its like today for the weather
Only done a few track days myself but had an instructor with me which is best upgrade money can buy (IMHO). Am by no means proficient and there are a lot better drivers on here than me but here's a few things helped me
First few laps take things nice and easy let the car warm up properly, let your brakes and tyres warm up. Also gives you chance to learn the circuit if you haven't been round before.
As you become more familiar look for your racing lines, your aiming to hit the top of your apex's through the bends and accelerate through the corner. Nice and smooth squeezing the trigger. Always look for your exit point which will be 10-20 meters in front of you down the track, fix it in your sights and aim the nose at it.
Try and make sure you do all your breaking in a straight line before you turn in, this includes big gear change downs, remember you can easily lock the rear tyres with a big change down at last minute. The biggest problem I had was changing your mind set from how you'd drive quickly on the road to how you do it on a track, basically your hauling ass down the straights and then practically standing on the breaks, changing gears smoothly, keeping your revs up and balancing the car with your steering, throttle and some clutch control...sooo much to think about and all in a few fractions of a second.
Take things at your own pace, there will be other drivers on the track with faster or slower cars, let the faster ones past you and slower ones pass, always when its safe to do so. It can be really tempting to shoot down the inside of a line of slow cars breaking for a corner, but remember they'll turn in on you so resist the opportunity and wait for the straight.
If you do spin or come off don’t panic, it happens.
Anyone on there driving like a t*t stay away let them pass, it an't a race and it an't worth breaking your cerbie cus a 'nova' wants to pass you, let em go.
As you become more confident you can experiment with different breaking points, throttle balances, how to correct under and oversteer, racing lines, heel n toe etc etc
Most of all have fun, it’s a great rush and I'm sure you'll love it.
Oh if have an incar camera or can borrow one then its helpful to record your day from the cabin, you can watch it later and next time you go you will remember what works for you
Hope this helps a bit
Rich
First few laps take things nice and easy let the car warm up properly, let your brakes and tyres warm up. Also gives you chance to learn the circuit if you haven't been round before.
As you become more familiar look for your racing lines, your aiming to hit the top of your apex's through the bends and accelerate through the corner. Nice and smooth squeezing the trigger. Always look for your exit point which will be 10-20 meters in front of you down the track, fix it in your sights and aim the nose at it.
Try and make sure you do all your breaking in a straight line before you turn in, this includes big gear change downs, remember you can easily lock the rear tyres with a big change down at last minute. The biggest problem I had was changing your mind set from how you'd drive quickly on the road to how you do it on a track, basically your hauling ass down the straights and then practically standing on the breaks, changing gears smoothly, keeping your revs up and balancing the car with your steering, throttle and some clutch control...sooo much to think about and all in a few fractions of a second.
Take things at your own pace, there will be other drivers on the track with faster or slower cars, let the faster ones past you and slower ones pass, always when its safe to do so. It can be really tempting to shoot down the inside of a line of slow cars breaking for a corner, but remember they'll turn in on you so resist the opportunity and wait for the straight.
If you do spin or come off don’t panic, it happens.
Anyone on there driving like a t*t stay away let them pass, it an't a race and it an't worth breaking your cerbie cus a 'nova' wants to pass you, let em go.
As you become more confident you can experiment with different breaking points, throttle balances, how to correct under and oversteer, racing lines, heel n toe etc etc
Most of all have fun, it’s a great rush and I'm sure you'll love it.
Oh if have an incar camera or can borrow one then its helpful to record your day from the cabin, you can watch it later and next time you go you will remember what works for you
Hope this helps a bit
Rich
Ozmira said:
Hi all I’m going to my first track day on Sunday at RAF Odiham and I was wondering if anyone out there could give me some advice. do I just go flat out and not worry about going off the track, do I play it safe and stick to my limits, should I push myself and see what the car and myself can handle or should I be a big girl and just drive like normal just a bit quicker. Also do I need to do anything to the car.
any help would be great.
A few suggestions:any help would be great.
Take warm clothes, airfields are pretty bleak this time of year!!
Airfields tend to have drains buried at intervals just off the tarmac.
Take fuel, even if it's just enough to get you to a garage. You'll be amazed how quickly the needle drops.
Fill oil to top line on dipstick or maybe a couple of mm above. Should help out with oil surging.
HTH
Start steady and get faster to find your own, the car and the limits of the track.
It spun at Cadwell (in practice) through hall bends because i was pushing to early without finding the limits of the car and the conditions of the track. I was lucky and held it well, no damage done and laughed it off, but it could have easily resulted in my car smashed and the poor evo which stopped about a foot from my passenger door being smashed too.
It spun at Cadwell (in practice) through hall bends because i was pushing to early without finding the limits of the car and the conditions of the track. I was lucky and held it well, no damage done and laughed it off, but it could have easily resulted in my car smashed and the poor evo which stopped about a foot from my passenger door being smashed too.
Don't get too carried away, remember to give the car (and you) a rest regularly. I'd say one warm up out lap which can also be your sighter lap, 4 fast laps, then one warm down slow lap where you keep off the brakes as much as you can so they cool steadily. That doesn't sound very much but it's plenty in a session.
What's your paintwork like because it will be chipped to hell at an airbase session. So if its good, get something over the paintwork to protect it. I've seen people with anything from masking tape to bubble wrap taped over the front end (and don't forget your mirrors) and I wish I'd done something to protect mine.
On the same theme, try to keep a reasonable distance between you and the car in front, it will give you plenty of time if you misjudge braking etc and keep you out of the way of flying stones.
And lastly, two things to remember
What's your paintwork like because it will be chipped to hell at an airbase session. So if its good, get something over the paintwork to protect it. I've seen people with anything from masking tape to bubble wrap taped over the front end (and don't forget your mirrors) and I wish I'd done something to protect mine.
On the same theme, try to keep a reasonable distance between you and the car in front, it will give you plenty of time if you misjudge braking etc and keep you out of the way of flying stones.
And lastly, two things to remember
- its not a race
- enjoy yourself and get plenty of memories
Barreti said:
because it will be chipped to hell at an airbase session
Why will it be chipped to hell? This is an active airbase with a very real approach to FOD (Foreign Object Damage). The runway and peritracks are swept regularly and there are probably a lot less stones than on the roads. Our aircraft are far more valuable than any car and we like to keep them that way. A civilian airfied driving day might be completely different as they don't have jet engined aircraft to worry about. You car and paintwork will be fine (assuming you don't have any unwanted coming-togethers with anything!)Gassing Station | General TVR Stuff & Gossip | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff