My first track day is in 9 days.....
Discussion
Hi everyone,
I've been a long time lurker on these forums but I've decided to sign up finally to seek some advice! I'll be attending my first track day on the 19th February at the Bedford GT circuit. It's being run by the guys from www.opentrack.co.uk and they were really helpful and answered all my queries regarding the day, and the prices were much more reasonable than I expected, seeing as though most motorsport events are usually way out of my price range!
I'll be driving a low mileage W-reg MX-5 1.8. It's used to being driven reasonably hard ;-) and is in good mechanical condition but I just wondered what things I should be prepared for/aware of mechanically during and after a day of track driving? I imagine brakes and tyres take a beating! Also how crowded can I expect the track to be? I'm a bit nervous about bashing into a Porsche or something if I take the wrong line into a corner!
Is anyone else here heading up to Bedford on the 19th?
Any help and advice would be great, I'm sure you were all in my shoes once!
Cheers,
Sam
I've been a long time lurker on these forums but I've decided to sign up finally to seek some advice! I'll be attending my first track day on the 19th February at the Bedford GT circuit. It's being run by the guys from www.opentrack.co.uk and they were really helpful and answered all my queries regarding the day, and the prices were much more reasonable than I expected, seeing as though most motorsport events are usually way out of my price range!
I'll be driving a low mileage W-reg MX-5 1.8. It's used to being driven reasonably hard ;-) and is in good mechanical condition but I just wondered what things I should be prepared for/aware of mechanically during and after a day of track driving? I imagine brakes and tyres take a beating! Also how crowded can I expect the track to be? I'm a bit nervous about bashing into a Porsche or something if I take the wrong line into a corner!
Is anyone else here heading up to Bedford on the 19th?
Any help and advice would be great, I'm sure you were all in my shoes once!
Cheers,
Sam
electricorchard said:
Hi everyone,
I've been a long time lurker on these forums but I've decided to sign up finally to seek some advice! I'll be attending my first track day on the 19th February at the Bedford GT circuit. It's being run by the guys from www.opentrack.co.uk and they were really helpful and answered all my queries regarding the day, and the prices were much more reasonable than I expected, seeing as though most motorsport events are usually way out of my price range!
I'll be driving a low mileage W-reg MX-5 1.8. It's used to being driven reasonably hard ;-) and is in good mechanical condition but I just wondered what things I should be prepared for/aware of mechanically during and after a day of track driving? I imagine brakes and tyres take a beating! Also how crowded can I expect the track to be? I'm a bit nervous about bashing into a Porsche or something if I take the wrong line into a corner!
Is anyone else here heading up to Bedford on the 19th?
Any help and advice would be great, I'm sure you were all in my shoes once!
Cheers,
Sam
My advice would be change the brake fluid if it hasn't been done in the last 6 months, make sure you have plenty of pad on the brakes and tread on the tyres.I've been a long time lurker on these forums but I've decided to sign up finally to seek some advice! I'll be attending my first track day on the 19th February at the Bedford GT circuit. It's being run by the guys from www.opentrack.co.uk and they were really helpful and answered all my queries regarding the day, and the prices were much more reasonable than I expected, seeing as though most motorsport events are usually way out of my price range!
I'll be driving a low mileage W-reg MX-5 1.8. It's used to being driven reasonably hard ;-) and is in good mechanical condition but I just wondered what things I should be prepared for/aware of mechanically during and after a day of track driving? I imagine brakes and tyres take a beating! Also how crowded can I expect the track to be? I'm a bit nervous about bashing into a Porsche or something if I take the wrong line into a corner!
Is anyone else here heading up to Bedford on the 19th?
Any help and advice would be great, I'm sure you were all in my shoes once!
Cheers,
Sam
Take a tyre pressure gauge and measure pressure as soon as you get back to the pits, this will be your most accurate way of getting the correct pressure in (more likely out) of the tyres. Just bear in mind when you go out the tyres will have less pressure in them once they have cooled down so make sure you do 2 or 3 warm up laps (for this time of year).
Keep an eye on oil and water levels.
start slow and build up, dont get carried away early on, mornings this time of year are very slippery as well.
If its wet be very careful the back end will go quickly on an MX5, so be smooth and progressive with all controls.
Other than that you should be fine and I guarantee if you love it you will want to upgrade bits of your car for the next one, its addictive!!!
Best of luck and let us know how you get on
Nick
flush you brake fluid and put in some race fluid if not you will boil the brakes every 5 laps or so and they'll never feel the same. also check pads for meat, you will use 1 set in a day if they are road pads, if your pads are part worn buy a set of track day/race pads, you can always put the road pads back at the end of the day.
normally i would suggest buying track day rubber but with cold wet weather like this your ok to stick with road tyres. if its hot and dry you will be peeling tread off after no time at all.
get 1 session of tuition to learn lines and it'll help if you have concerns about crashing into porsche's.
knocking someone else off track isn't normally a problem on track days because you cant over take in bends,
enjoy it is the most important and go back for more.
normally i would suggest buying track day rubber but with cold wet weather like this your ok to stick with road tyres. if its hot and dry you will be peeling tread off after no time at all.
get 1 session of tuition to learn lines and it'll help if you have concerns about crashing into porsche's.
knocking someone else off track isn't normally a problem on track days because you cant over take in bends,
enjoy it is the most important and go back for more.
I tracked my MX5 for the first time at bedford last week - I'm a 'regular' trackdayer with my other car...
Good advice above, although you'll find the MX5 isn't hard on brakes at all... I ran my car with EBC yellowstuff pads on the standard tiny 1.6 brakes with fluid of an unknown age and origin with no real problems... got a little spongy after 30mins, but I had a passenger and was running soft compound semi-slicks... if your using road tyres you should be fine as long as the pads are relatively new/good quality. I'm pretty hard on brakes normally and usually use a set of yellowstuff pads every other trackday in my other car... but the MX5 is light and realitively under-powered... Tire wear is equally low.
Fuel consumption, however, is horrendous in the little mazdas on the track (no suprise to any RX8 owner I'm sure)... almost emptied the tank in 45mins! which is about 5mpg!
Biggest recommendation for a first-timer is to book a 30min one-to-one instructor session - they are usually £25 - although they do vary in quality, even a poor one will be able to show you he best lines on the track and help push your limits a bit (or a lot). you can also let them drive and show you what your mx5 can do...
This time of year the trackdays seem to be under-booked, and at bedford they can easily run 50 cars at a time without it feeling crowded, when i was there it was more like 30 cars...
bedford is a great track - you have to be very unfortuante or do something very silly to have any kind of accident other than a harmless spin... I pretty much let anyone drive my cars on that track, my dad, my sister, some mates of mine... something I wouldn't do at Brands hatch for example!
If you search for 'bedford mx5 6th feb' you should find plenty of videos from mx5 drivers on the day I did on youtube... mine is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_tIplIaGmY gives you a feel for the circuit layout too.
Good luck!
Good advice above, although you'll find the MX5 isn't hard on brakes at all... I ran my car with EBC yellowstuff pads on the standard tiny 1.6 brakes with fluid of an unknown age and origin with no real problems... got a little spongy after 30mins, but I had a passenger and was running soft compound semi-slicks... if your using road tyres you should be fine as long as the pads are relatively new/good quality. I'm pretty hard on brakes normally and usually use a set of yellowstuff pads every other trackday in my other car... but the MX5 is light and realitively under-powered... Tire wear is equally low.
Fuel consumption, however, is horrendous in the little mazdas on the track (no suprise to any RX8 owner I'm sure)... almost emptied the tank in 45mins! which is about 5mpg!
Biggest recommendation for a first-timer is to book a 30min one-to-one instructor session - they are usually £25 - although they do vary in quality, even a poor one will be able to show you he best lines on the track and help push your limits a bit (or a lot). you can also let them drive and show you what your mx5 can do...
This time of year the trackdays seem to be under-booked, and at bedford they can easily run 50 cars at a time without it feeling crowded, when i was there it was more like 30 cars...
bedford is a great track - you have to be very unfortuante or do something very silly to have any kind of accident other than a harmless spin... I pretty much let anyone drive my cars on that track, my dad, my sister, some mates of mine... something I wouldn't do at Brands hatch for example!
If you search for 'bedford mx5 6th feb' you should find plenty of videos from mx5 drivers on the day I did on youtube... mine is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_tIplIaGmY gives you a feel for the circuit layout too.
Good luck!
I took my MK1 1.8 MX5 to Bedford on the GT circuit last Oct. Nothing to worry about really on the car as long as its servcied and well maintained. Very little brake wear on my green stuffs ans likewise on the rubber. The circuit is a bit long for Mx5's so keep you eyes open for faster cars and move to the right and clearly indicate to them that they can pass.
The only part of the track i would say be careful at is the back straight were you are right up against the armco. I locked a wheel up coming into the chicane and the car pointed at the armco but managed to get it back in line.. other than that you cant do much harm.
The only part of the track i would say be careful at is the back straight were you are right up against the armco. I locked a wheel up coming into the chicane and the car pointed at the armco but managed to get it back in line.. other than that you cant do much harm.
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