V8V S – Track day kit

[Swiss_Toni]

Good day all,

I’ve been reading the forum for sometime now and I’ve found quite informative.

I may be getting close to buying a 2012 V8V S or going down the classic route with a DB6.

I was hoping to get a bit of insight on a couple of things.

I plan to do a few track days and was wonder if anyone did a “harness bar” for fitting 4 / 5 point harness? I’ve had poke around a GT4 and no mounting points immediately jump out.

As well does any one know if Pagid do brake pads for the S model?

Is there a good source (not Aston prices) for the GT4 wheels? I believe the fronts are 18x10 and the rears 18x11 manufactured by OZ

On a purely frivolous cosmetic question, does any one do a carbon fibre facia – centre consol – door pull package?

Greg

[robgt]

Dear God!

[V8 Animal]

NO

[George H]

Instead of butchering a V8VS, would an N24 not be a more sensible route to go down? That already has harnesses etc. You wouldn't lose half as much either when it comes to resale.

[Swiss_Toni]

The whole idea of a harness bar is not to butcher anything. I have a mate who has one in his 993 and it simply bolts into some existing hard points. After the initial installation of some unobtrusive and nicely machined brackets, it can be removed and installed in about 15 minutes.

It would be nice to have a GT4, but this and the N24 are not road legal in Switzerland.

[JohnG1]

Swiss_Toni said:

On a purely frivolous cosmetic question, does any one do a carbon fibre facia – centre consol – door pull package?

You could try Sarah Maynard. Not cheap..

[mikey k]

Swiss_Toni said:

The whole idea of a harness bar is not to butcher anything. I have a mate who has one in his 993 and it simply bolts into some existing hard points. After the initial installation of some unobtrusive and nicely machined brackets, it can be removed and installed in about 15 minutes.

It would be nice to have a GT4, but this and the N24 are not road legal in Switzerland.

You need to get a MUCH closer look at a GT4 or N24 to see how the harnesses are mounted. OR use one of these;

http://www.cg-lock.co.uk/

I used one in my last car for track days and it works very very well, with out the cost and hassle of a harness/cage.

I doubt Pagids have a pad fitment for the S, that size fronts have only recently be introduced to the Vantage and don't appear on any other car in the range AFAIK

On the OZ's you will need the PCD & offset as well, there are a fair few OZ dealers in the UK that could soruce them.

Don't listen to the doubters about tracking the S.
It's very capable

Edited by mikey k on Wednesday 21st December 10:05

[Ice27]

JohnG1 said:

You could try Sarah Maynard. Not cheap..

Try these... http://www.thevantagecollection.com/
Not cheap either!!

[Swiss_Toni]

Thanks for the links and info.

Any further info on the track related items would be most helpful.

[MartinV12]

Hi Toni,

Just fitting a harness bar is not sufficient, you would have to change the seats (e.g. for Recaro Pole Positions) as well because the original AM bucket seats available in the V8VS don't have seat bealt guides. That also means disabling the airbag light/error due to the missing side airbags which are located in the standard seats.

Also installing a harnessbar is not a trivial task if there are no joints available from the factory.

Given the assumption that you want to use the car for both everyday and trackdays, I think you won't be happy in the end. Do a few trackdays and you will find out that you would want to change camber, toe, brake pads, maybe bushes, hoses and so on to get real fun with the car.

Changing all that forth and back on each trackday becomes a huge hassle.

My advise: Keep the Vantage for pure road use and get yourself nice good track tool.

[EpsomJames]

MartinV12 said:

My advise: Keep the Vantage for pure road use and get yourself nice good track tool.

Or buy an N24 for track work and trailer it/transport it to and from each circuit. I'd think this would be a lot of fun and much better circuit car than the Vantage S.

And you could probably buy another older V8V for the road with the change.

[JohnG1]

Just my 2p....

I would buy the cheapest V8V I could find that was in decent mechanical condition. Then give it to Bamford Rose and get them to transmogrify into a monster.

Then buy a second hand ff rangie to tow it to the track...

[Swiss_Toni]

I already have a serious Ultima for track work, this is more for the times that I'd like something a bit simpler or do a tour with some track days thrown in.

I have to say, I did think about buy an older one and getting the BR treatment, but you really can't modify cars much in Switzerland without masive paperwork and costs.

[With these feet]

N24/GT4 use a cross brace on the roll cage for the mounting of the shoulder straps. IIRC the roll cage is fitted then the roof goes on, followed by rear 1/4's.. There are additional holes made in the floor for the crutch straps and centre lap mounts.
IMO most of the braces that fit across behind the seats into road cars should be banned as they certainly wouldnt stand a big impact. Ive witnessed a GT4 Vantage have a 17g impact, wreck a £1000 seat and £300 harness and the driver hopped out. Then raced the car the following day I would not believe that one of those bars could hold up to a big incident.

Im sure the "s" would be fun on the circuit but it sounds to me youre looking for more than 10-15 minute runs every half hour. Soon as you start sticking race wheels on (PM me if you want to buy some!), followed by slicks, then you, as someone already stated, will require a different geometry set up, bigger discs with better pads, brake cooling (essential) etc etc etc.

Is there an issue in Switzerland with cars that have been SVA'd? What would stop you from keeping one (N24) registered in the UK and drive it over there? I know of a 4.7 man GT4/N24 for reasonable money... :O

[mikey k]

With these feet said:

IMO most of the braces that fit across behind the seats into road cars should be banned as they certainly wouldnt stand a big impact.

Not an opinion, they kill - actually fact - pictures removed as too graphic

http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2896572

[Swiss_Toni]

Interesting comments on the harness bars, very much food for thought.

Someone has mentioned to me an option for 1/2 cage, though I don't have any details yet. I also don't want start chopping big holes in things.

Steve, I've PM you on the wheels. Brake cooling and better fluid is already on the cards.

Any changes to a car Switzerland is big hassle. Very very far away from the ablitiy to drive your sofa down the street in the UK. The N24 and GT4 are not road legal in Switzerland and I already have track car where there is no chance to get it registered forthe road.

Options and ideas are what I'm looking for but I'm afraid I not a park and polish kind of guy.

[Mr Noble]

Have to agree with Mikey on this.

Just get the CG click lock thing and a good neck support and only drive at 9 tenths if there is anything hard to hit.

I've found over the years (6 years of racing and many tracked cars) that its better to drive nice road cars on track in standard form. It's huge fun and pretty cheap. Once you start "doing stuff" to make it better for the track, it immediately becomes less good on the road and if you're anything like me, they you just end up wanting to do more and more stuff to it, until you've ruined the resale value and end up making it into a race car (which is no bad thing)

[mikey k]

I'd run a mile from the harness bar, I will post a couple links to after market cage maker when I am at a PC.
We are catching up with you on aftermarket parts, there are some big changes to the scope of our MOT test this year

[mikey k]

As promised;

These two are specialists and well thought of in custom fabrication of roll cages

http://www.therollcagepeople.com/index.html

http://www.customcages.co.uk/homepage

These guys have retrofitted roll cages to Astons

http://www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk/index.htm

These guys are very well know but don't list any Aston, they may custm build one for you?

http://www.safetydevices.com/motorsport/products/r...

Last option is to contact prodrive and see if they can "modify" a GT4 cage to be retrofittable?

[With these feet]

If youre pushing a road car hard on a circuit that you feel the need for a cage, then you ought to look at a track car.