Tyre pressures for a Track Day

[Chambers68]

Done my first trackday last week at Snetterton in my 987 Boxster Spyder and checked tyre pressures after a few laps and the pressures had risen to about 36psi from 30psi. My question is should I have let air out if the tyres to maintain the recommended 30/31psi or just carried on at the higher temps. I carried on but have a feeling I should have dropped the pressures.

Any advice would be welcome and taken on board on my next trackday.

Thanks.

[Martian O]

Yep, drop the pressures.

Don't forget to pump them up again before you leave the circuit.

Check this guide out.

[NNH]

I tend to start the day at standard pressures, then bleed off air as required to keep the pressures slightly above nominal cold pressures. On my 2008 2.7 Cayman, that means about 33 front, 38 rear. On my old 996, it just meant frantically bleeding the rears every time I came in to try and keep the heavy lump from pushing the pressures above 50!
At Marham the other week, the back end was getting a little skittish by the end of Sunday, so I pumped up the fronts a couple of psi to balance out the car and make sure that any off-piste moments would involve looking through the windscreen rather than the mirror.

[spyderman8]

I drop pressures but tend to leave the fronts a few PSI high (986).

Edited by spyderman8 on Sunday 5th May 17:33

[craigjm]

Its a good idea to bleed them down to 30/31

[David Hype]

Just buy yourself a good Michelin Rapid Tyre Inflator that works of your 12v supply in the dash. Its one of the best bits of kit to carry with you to a track day. You can play around with pressures to hearts content and make sure that they are okay to travel home on too.

With one of these at home you never need to visit those awful petrol station ones...

HTH

[r1flyguy1]

Pain in the ass if you have TPMS unless you can live with the warning on the dash

[Chambers68]

Thanks for all the advice. Bet I didn't do the tyres or my lap times any favours leaving them and not dropping the temps.

How long do you have to wait for them to cool down before driving home though? I checked the pressures about 40 mins after coming off track before going back out and they were still hot and 6psi over cold recommended levels.

[craigjm]

r1flyguy1 said:

Pain in the ass if you have TPMS unless you can live with the warning on the dash

Why? high pressure is the issue on a track and TPMS only warns of low pressure or sudden loss.

[blackmamba]

Chambers68 said:

Thanks for all the advice. Bet I didn't do the tyres or my lap times any favours leaving them and not dropping the temps.

How long do you have to wait for them to cool down before driving home though? I checked the pressures about 40 mins after coming off track before going back out and they were still hot and 6psi over cold recommended levels.

Once you have done a session or two at your normal track speed, the pressures should stabilise. You will definitely help your tyres and lap times if you run at the right pressure!

Ideally remember approx. how much you have let out of the tyres and put the same in before you leave. This will give you roughly the right pressures for the drive home and you shouldn't need to wait for them to cool. Good idea to reset them cold the following day when they have cooled fully (this can take several hours so overnight really).

[r1flyguy1]

craigjm said:

r1flyguy1 said:

Pain in the ass if you have TPMS unless you can live with the warning on the dash

Why? high pressure is the issue on a track and TPMS only warns of low pressure or sudden loss.

OK, so if you reduce the pressure in your tyres when they are running hot, it shouldn't warn you ??????

I dropped my at Rockingham as they were cooking and I had the warnings of low pressure!!

Tell me what I am doing wrong???

[craigjm]

r1flyguy1 said:

OK, so if you reduce the pressure in your tyres when they are running hot, it shouldn't warn you ??????

I dropped my at Rockingham as they were cooking and I had the warnings of low pressure!!

Tell me what I am doing wrong???

Mine doesn't warn until the pressure falls below 25

[r1flyguy1]

craigjm said:

r1flyguy1 said:

OK, so if you reduce the pressure in your tyres when they are running hot, it shouldn't warn you ??????

I dropped my at Rockingham as they were cooking and I had the warnings of low pressure!!

Tell me what I am doing wrong???

Mine doesn't warn until the pressure falls below 25

The fronts are only 33 to start with so dropping 5psi on a short track is not hard to do, but granted, I didn't know that, if mine is the same.