Starting trackdays - mods within budget

[Bomberharris]

Hi,

Looking to do trackdays on a regular basis, apart from stripping car of weight which i dont want to do as prefer a 'sleeper' look.

What mods are worth doing? Within a limited budget front strut brace? ( not sure of term ) also the strut brace under the rear of the car?

Is there a good place to buy these second hand?

I imagine shocks or suspension would help, but again where i live its very bumpy so nothing too 'focused'

Thank you in advance

[Typhoons]

Tyres, brakes, suspension. Spend money on other things after that. Loosing weight is free, so have a go at that too.

[Gilhooligan]

Theres a crazy amount you can do to an mx5 but I would say suspension would be top of the list along with a proper four wheels alignment. Then you can look at other areas like chassis bracing, although the mx5's benefit more from lower chassis bracing. I put a strut brace on mine and didnt really notice a difference.
A supportive seat and harnesses are a lot more important than people think. Cheaper option is to get a CG lock to hold you in.

[MX-5 Lazza]

As above, lower bracing will tighten the car up. Front strut brace - well some like them but they generally don't do a lot. Having said that, Mazda always fitted them to the sportier models and they wouldn't bother if they didn't feel the need...
Seats with more lateral support, especially around the shoulders are very helpful.

Personally I wouldn't bother with lightening (or "adding lightness" as Colin Chapman would have said). Unless you can properly strip it out you aren't going to be able to remove enough weight to make any real difference on an average track day. Yes, every little bit helps but unless you can lap consistently within a tenth of a second them removing even 20Kg isn't going to make any difference at all.

After that, the obvious things are suspension, tyres etc. but I'd just take it out a few times first to see how it feels and see what you feel needs to change yourself. I suspect it will be seats first, followed by suspension, then bracing etc.

[Bomberharris]

Thank you,

My mx5 does handle very badly, and when i did a 'track day' it was letting go and spinning very easily...............in the wet even woret and at low speeds.

[Raify]

In terms of spend versus reward, I think the list should be:

1. 4 wheel alignment. A proper set up from WIM.
2. Driver training.
3. Tyres. Good ones, but not too grippy!
4. Brakes. Braided hoses and fluid upgrade

All of those things can be done relatively cheaply. The next level of spend is:

1. Suspension
2. Harnesses
3. Roll cage

There's not really that much point busting your gut to save weight. It is a steel chassis underneath after all.

[Bomberharris]

Thank you,

Luckly my 1996 N 1.8 Mk1 (65,000 miles) has a Ginetta Roll Cage fitted. I might put it into WIM to do alignment fit rear lower brace and lower front brace and see if any bushes need replacing as i get a 'clonk' if turn or come off a curb.

Tyre wise, when i first done the trackday it handled so badly i took into pits and was looking for a M & S symbol on the sidewall!!!

Thank you for aiding my learning curve

[JamesHayward]

The best trackday mod I made was the suspension. What felt stiff on the road was quite sloppy on track, with tons of body roll. Gaz Gold Pro's sorted that right out and worth every penny. Totally transformed the car. A decent set of brake pads is important too.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Raify said:

1. Suspension
2. Harnesses
3. Roll cage

Fair call but I'd just like to add that you shouldn't fit harnesses if you don't have a proper roll bars. If you have a roll without roll bars you don't want to be strapped into your seat bolt-upright.

[sbird]

This is the order that I modified my track car:
- brakes
- tyres
(waited about a year)
- bucket seats
- harnesses & rollbar
- suspension
(plenty of tuition and guidance all through the proces)

Good brakes and tyres are essential. You want tyres that are progressive rather than out-and-out grippy. Brakes that work on the fist and last lap make a huge difference to confidence.

The suspension is handy, but you feel what your car is dong until you can keep still. You can still corner a car hard on crappy suspension, if you have the right talent.

My road car (a mk3) has good suspension, but has normal seatbelts and leather seats. The car goes into the corner well and planted, with little drama. I still suffer from body roll, but it's my arse sliding over the seat....

[Flatinfourth]

Strut braces can work very well on a car with struts... The MX5 does not!

The strut top mounting (on a car with struts!) is the top steering swivel, and bears a lot of load including the weight of the car leaning on the outside wheel in a corner, the strut brace shares the load with the other strut tower... The MX5 does none of the above!!!!!!

[furtive]

I've never bothered.

It's just fine left standard

[MX-5 Lazza]

Flatinfourth said:

Strut braces can work very well on a car with struts... The MX5 does not!

The strut top mounting (on a car with struts!) is the top steering swivel, and bears a lot of load including the weight of the car leaning on the outside wheel in a corner, the strut brace shares the load with the other strut tower... The MX5 does none of the above!!!!!!

All true BUT the MX5 chassis, especially the older cars, isn't that stiff and a strut brace can help stiffen it up a bit. The under-chassis & seat-belt tower braces are more important though.

[Flatinfourth]

It really sounds as if I ought to get on with building a Mk2/2.5 demonstrator, to illustrate a few things, including the benefit of a proper geometry set-up, good lightweight bracing where it IS needed, and also a proper differential, and absolutely NO money wasted on so called go faster bits that have no effect. Anyone have a VVT mot fail lying around anywhere?!

[HughS47]

Raify said:

In terms of spend versus reward, I think the list should be:

1. 4 wheel alignment. A proper set up from WIM.
2. Driver training.
3. Tyres. Good ones, but not too grippy!
4. Brakes. Braided hoses and fluid upgrade

I agree with this. Suspension geometry will make huge differences - especially if you're finding the car very unpredictable at the limit. £25 lessons at trackdays are well worth it and will have you going much quicker in no time.

Brake pads have always been the first thing to give up on me at trackdays - the yellowstuff pads we have fitted to our machine are better than the tyres (which now give up first). Our next spend will be on suspension geometry and bucket seats (to stop us having to cling to the door handles as a passenger).

[mondayo]

Flatinfourth said:

Strut braces can work very well on a car with struts... The MX5 does not!

The strut top mounting (on a car with struts!) is the top steering swivel, and bears a lot of load including the weight of the car leaning on the outside wheel in a corner, the strut brace shares the load with the other strut tower... The MX5 does none of the above!!!!!!

Someone who successfully races and works on MX5's told me the same as this....get some good tyres and wheels and forget about strut braces; they're a waste of time.

[sbird]

Flatinfourth said:

It really sounds as if I ought to get on with building a Mk2/2.5 demonstrator, to illustrate a few things, including the benefit of a proper geometry set-up, good lightweight bracing where it IS needed, and also a proper differential, and absolutely NO money wasted on so called go faster bits that have no effect. Anyone have a VVT mot fail lying around anywhere?!

No, but I've got a Mk2 with a proper geometry setup, a Torsen and no pointless go-faster stuff (not even a K&N). I haven't got any extra bracing though. I think it illustrates the points nicely, and I'm always happy to show a doubter what a reasonably well sorted mk2 feels like.

Out of interest, where would you add bracing to the Mk2?

[Henry Fiddleton]

Hi Chaps,

Got my first trackday at Brand Sept 3rd.

My Mk2.5 S-Vt is totally stock - using the session to see where the weaknesses are and build up them from there (or get shot of the car if its too much).

Is it worth changing the pads to uprated pads before the TD- if so, any tips around the £80 mark?

Happy enough to put some EBC yellow stuff for example.

Currently has super blue fluid.

EDITED to add: from my past track experiance (+ 2 year ago) I am a heavy braker..

Thanks,
Kam

Edited by Henry Fiddleton on Thursday 22 August 12:31

[MX-5 Lazza]

Brands isn't a heavy braking circuit, there's only really one hard braking point and that's uphill so a stock MX5 won't have any problems on standard pads.
Have fun!

[Henry Fiddleton]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Brands isn't a heavy braking circuit, there's only really one hard braking point and that's uphill so a stock MX5 won't have any problems on standard pads.
Have fun!

Cheers- should be fun, first time out in any car on track for 2 years!

(Must remember im not the man I once was in youth).