What Track Day Car for £27k?

[RobM77]

CABC said:

RobM77 said:

REALIST123 said:

That does sound odd

I've never experienced any of those disappointments on a track day, especially the passengers just jumping in.

Yes, there is the odd pillock in a C63 or something blasting down the straights and blocking in the corners but they're usually put straight fairly quickly or sent home by the organisers.

I'm surprised, but glad that my experiences are in a minority.

I agree with your second comment. Most track days seem to have a few super saloons that turn up (M3, RS4, C63 etc), lap really slowly, and then go home at lunch time I'm completely serious - happens all the time!

i don't mind the super saloons. it's fun chasing them down. to be fair they're often just turning up to try their road car out on track, a natural thing to do. by lunchtime they've enjoyed unfettered acceleration and realise the limitations of heavy road cars on track, and of course their tyres are probably quite worn! They've paid up but left early, all good. many are friendly enough too.
however, the race teams turn up en masse, with entourages, ignore the rules and strut around in nomex all day. I think they should be charged double.

In defence to those race teams, sometimes it's their only opportunity for track time. Brands GP for example hosts several races each year along with several track days, but no testing. They should obviously follow the rules though and be courteous on track...

[james_gt3rs]

RobM77 said:

I'm surprised, but glad that my experiences are in a minority.

Which organiser was this with? I've experience the blue flag problem but not the nicking garages, unfriendly atmosphere etc...

[RobM77]

james_gt3rs said:

RobM77 said:

I'm surprised, but glad that my experiences are in a minority.

Which organiser was this with? I've experience the blue flag problem but not the nicking garages, unfriendly atmosphere etc...

I don't wish to name and shame (plus it's against PH rules), but this is with multiple organisers. What I can say is that they were all circuit organised days, not club days. I should also say that in all instances of garage stealing, the organisers had put my name on the garage very clearly.

[RossP]

Certainly not my trackday experiences either.

If someone nicks your garage tell them to move (or ask the organisers to tell them to move).

I usually go with some mates but have always found the vast majority to be decent car loving folk. Those who do hold you up are usually dealt with by the organiser (you can always point it out to the organiser).

Never had a randomer jump in my car.

[nickfrog]

Ahbefive said:

Is 1500kgs 1.7t? Well who'd have thunk it?

It's certainly more fun than a megane R26 on track but also much heavier on consumables. Great for a 30min session or 2 but too pricey to run in terms of consumables for full sessions.

My mistake (and yours) the official EU weight is 1599kg. Which would explain the toll it takes on tyres/pads for track use, even on "taster" sessions. It would really not be the right tool for a proper track day. Which to be fair, it's not designed to be.

[e46m3c]

My tiger is great bang for buck. Got a trailer too if needed

282 bhp and 590kg

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

[Ahbefive]

nickfrog said:

My mistake (and yours) the official EU weight is 1599kg.

Well no, just your mistake, the figure quoted is with an 80kg driver and full fluids unlike the figures most (all?) other manufacturers give which are net of these.

As far as I know it is not heavy on pads (where did you hear that?)

It seems only to be heavy on tyres due to being drifted around Silverstone which it just loves to do. It's the way it wants to be driven in track mode which is why I have increased wear on the tyres, if I could drive the megane like that it would be a pretty similar story. Driven briskly like a fwd car and within the limits of adhesion I haven't had any issues with tyre wear but obviously this will be much more pronounced than a lighter car.

The Tiger above would surely make an awesome track car.

Edited by Ahbefive on Tuesday 5th September 19:44

[nickfrog]

Ahbefive said:

nickfrog said:

My mistake (and yours) the official EU weight is 1599kg.

Well no, just your mistake, the figure quoted is with an 80kg driver and full fluids unlike the figures most (all?) other manufacturers give which are net of these.

As far as I know it is not heavy on pads (where did you hear that?)

It seems only to be heavy on tyres due to being drifted around Silverstone which it just loves to do. It's the way it wants to be driven in track mode which is why I have increased wear on the tyres, if I could drive the megane like that it would be a pretty similar story. Driven briskly like a fwd car and within the limits of adhesion I haven't had any issues with tyre wear but obviously this will be much more pronounced than a lighter car.

There are two ways of quoting weight, DIN and EU. The Focus' EU is 1599kgs (although Ford are very discreet about this particular metric...). It's DIN is 1524kgs. EU does include 75kgs driver and seems to have become the norm for manufacturers, including Ford. Neither is quite as low as 1500kgs sadly.

For proper track use this is fairly heavy either way. When the car was launched, they were around track days and couldn't cope with much more than 3/4 hots laps or would cook their (road) pads before their front tyres, I have seen this several times, even at Spa. This is to be expected. This is normal for a road car. They all do it. Not seen many FRS on track anymore lately.

Even a 150kgs weight delta makes a massive difference on track. For road use, probably not though.

Drifting is generally not allowed on track days in this country btw, for obvious reasons. I wouldn't class a couple of taster sessions on Silverstone National as a track day though, they must have had dispensation.

MSV do the occasional drift only day though, that might be your best bet although the FRS might not feel quite in its element there either.

Edited by nickfrog on Friday 8th September 05:12

[Ahbefive]

For me I will happily class 4x 30 min sessions and all associated bits as a track day, just as I do a Morning or Evening open pit lane as we often get pretty much the same 2hours or so of track time into either. On a full day open pit we only ever end up doing 3 hours max on track anyway. Not as hardcore as you if you are lapping it all day, must be very hard on your car if you are, probably much more suited to caterhams etc.

We often turn up, watch some action, have a briefing, have some food, a session, look at some cars, a session, watch some action, have some lunch, watch some action, another session etc. If we can fill up a day with car stuff including a couple of hours of driving then thats a decent trackday for us. You can call it what you like.

Drifting may not generally be "allowed" as neither is overtaking cars on bends which everyone does when a car is obviously letting people by. As far as I can tell doing things in a respectful, controlled manner without other cars in close proximity will result in them not feeling the need to reprimand you.

I think the megane is going soon though, great car though it has been but fwd is a bit too......hard to describe but I guess not so much bland as a bit understeery at the limit and I think awd and rwd give more options when really pushing it. Also as you say 150kgs makes a bit of a difference and a megane is a bit too tubby for extended track use too.

Edited by Ahbefive on Friday 8th September 06:28