Track Day

[dlivingstone_19]

Hi,

I'm planning on doing  a Brands Hatch Taster Track day next month and seeing if you guys recommend anything to set the car up for a track.....

Set up at the moment,

Bridgestone Front 185/55/r15 and Rear 215/45/R16
Standard Brake Discs and Pads
Lowering Springs

Car handles and brakes well at the moment but I'm sure about braking heavily on a couple corners will put the car under quite a lot of stress.

Should I upgrade the brake fluid to 5.1?
Upgrade the pads?

Any input would be good?

Thanks

[Goeman]

Get super dot4 (ATE Super Blue Racing is best) and some yellowstuff pads (not listed for MR2 but parts numbers are DP41295R fronts and DP41107R for rear). There's only one big braking zone at brands and that's going into Druids.

The suspension will be fine. You'll have some body roll but nothing too bad.

The engine should be fine but make sure the oil is full and take some spare with you. McLaren and Clark Curve are one long corner and can cause oil surge (I broke my Corrado VR6's engine going round there) but plenty of oil should help with that.

The car will most likely understeer round Druids especially if it's wet. Can't help that with the narrow front tyres. If it's a one off then don't worry about it. If you're going to take up trackdays on a more regular basis then think about getting some track wheels and tyres.  

Most importantly don't let off the power in the middle of Paddock Hill bend. Lots of people end up in the gravel that way.

[dlivingstone_19]

Ok this is brilliant information.

What about tyre pressures? Keep them as standard

26 Front 32 Rear?

[Goeman]

I'm a bit lazy with tyre pressure so I don't check them much or fiddle with them. Keep them standard for starters. Tyres tend to get hot trackdays and hence the air inside gets hot and expands. This means a lot of some people run the tyres with less pressure because when they heat up the pressure will increase to approximately the desired psi. That's more applicable to track tyres which rely on head to work and have thick sidewalls to compensate for the initial lack of pressure.

Plenty of people in the paddock with have gauges and pumps if you want to change things.

[dlivingstone_19]

Ok thanks.

[dlivingstone_19]

How much should I expect a garage to charge to renew the brake fluid with super dot4?

I've driven round brands in a Single Seater so know the track but I expect the characteristics to be vastly different to my mr2. lol

Paddock hill is the best corner in the world.

[Goeman]

It depends on the hourly rate at whatever garage you use. I'd expect half an hours labour, at worst an hour. Between £20-£50 at an independent garage? Best to ask them really. If funds are tight you can probably get away without changing your pads if there's plenty of meat left on them.

If it's dry the MR2 will surprise you with how good it is. It's never going to compare to a single seater but it's got a good balance.

Paddock Hill bend is exciting. Brands would be nothing without it but even though I haven't driven it [in real life] the corkscrew at Laguna Seca looks better.

[mr-ed_smt]

Brands Hatch is a great track, the Indy circuit particularly for a car like the MR2. I've done a couple of days there and found it to be quite hard on tyres and brakes however (there aren't really any long straights to cool things off before the next corner). For the same reason you'll probably find that tyre pressures need to be set lower than you'd expect (hot tyres cause air to expand, higher running pressure) - I'd keep them standard and adjust from there. I run Yellow Stuff pads and a decent DOT 4 fluid (the later of which gets changed before and after a track day). Decent brakes will make or break (sorry  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  !) a track day. The rest of my setup is as per my sig.

Paddock Hill is terrifying the first few times - in a car as low as the MR2 you can't see the apex as you turn in, although I'd expect this was the case in a single seater too! In the dry and with warm tyres you can carry quite a lot more speed through it than you would initially think - although as Goeman says, stay committed or the lift-off on the camber will have you. You really don't want to enter the gravel sideways in a non-caged convertible. Maybe keep the roof up too. Never had the 'privilege' of doing Paddock Hill in the wet, although I can imagine its fairly scary in anything mid engined  s:? :? s:?  ! Careful on the power coming out of Druids, as their is not a lot of room either side if you overcook it. There are a number of different lines through Graham Hill which are fun to play about with (lots of run off too). You shouldn't need to brake for the Surtees/Mclaren 'S' in a stock power MR2, although I find the Clearways/Clarke Curve section quite technically challenging (balance between over/under steer) if you enter it on the wrong line/wrong speed, so keep it steady.

A good garage should be able to change pads and fluid in an hours, so budget on that. Yellow Stuffs for front and rear are about £100 delivered. Work well on the road too (in a light car) so are worth the investment IMO. On a taster session you're not going to get too much of a chance to fully learn the track, or over work the car, so I'd not put any pressure on yourself to 'perfect' anything, and just concentrate on just enjoying it  s:D s:D  !

Couldn't resist some gratuitous shots of me enjoying Brands last summer (I'm the red one!)   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  ! Was before I had a baffled sump or dedicated track tyres, so I'm on a rather worn set of T1R's!

[dlivingstone_19]

This is really useful information.

I'm upgrading my brake fluid before the track day. I'm not going to be pushing the limits of my car as I don't intend to go flat out.

If the breaks feel poor then I will invest in some better pads ready for the next track day. I'll lower the tyre pressures slightly to allow for the expanding air.

Really can't wait to get my MR-S on the track.

Any tips after coming straight off the track? Am i right in saying don't put the handbrake on?

[mr-ed_smt]

I usually do a slow(er) lap before coming in to allow air over the brakes, and let the engine begin to cool. I don't put the handbrake on either (as long as its parked somewhere where it would be safe not to). Don't lower the tyre pressure before going out for the first time - come in and adjust it if you need to. Check your oil often. Bear in mind that if breaking hard on the track, even with decent fluid you may boil it. This will necessitate a change afterwards as well, unless you like spongy grabby brakes on the road! Other than that the MR2 seems very resilient to good thrashing!

If its your first track day with other cars on the track, that is where a decent amount of your attention needs to be. Brands Indy can feel very small and crowded on a busy day, and in my experience the "strict" overtaking rules and not always strictly enforced. Just because someone shouldn't be coming up the inside of you on a corner doesn't mean they wont - just as on the road network. Drive defensively. If someone hits you on the track, its YOUR bill (for your car), no matter what the circumstances.

[dlivingstone_19]

What oil do you put in yours? Mine needs topping up

[mr-ed_smt]

I use 10w-40 ester synthetic. Gulf Competition stuff at the moment I think (it was on offer).

If you're just topping up just put whatever you have in there at the moment. No point putting in decent oil unless it's a full change.

[dlivingstone_19]

Actually forgot my oil my car took. Lol Just made sure it is topped up.

Roll on tomorrow. My mate is going to be taking some pics so I will try and upload them at some point tomorrow.

[js1mr2]

I've got a open pitlane track 'afternoon' at castle combe booked next month, I've done a trackday in two of my previous cars there including my mk2 but wasn't sure whether to spend any money on the car before hand and if so on what.

Its standard apart from decat manifold and sports exhaust, tein springs and front strut brace. It had a service last month and the rear tyres have lots of tread but fronts will probably need replacing at the end of the year. My main concern is brakes as I've never driven a car on track with standard discs/pads (used yellow stuff pads on my mk2) and don't want brake fade after a couple of laps ruining the experience. Is it worth going for yellow stuff pads or will the standard ones, which have plenty of life in them, be up to the job? And if not is it ok to fit new pads to used discs, I've had the discs for over a year but they show little sign of wear.

[Goeman]

The standard discs will be fine as long as the surface isn't pitted or anything. Standard pads are sort of alright but you will notice a decent improvement with upgrading them. I just using OEM spec pagid discs, yellowstuff pads and ATE Super Blue DOT4 and the car stops very quickly. You can't beat the yellow stuff for the money. Anything better (and they are better) like Ferodo DS2500 or Carbone Lorraine cost more than twice as much.

[js1mr2]

Wheres the cheapest place to get them from?

Best I can find is £110 a pair from EBC
 m http://www.ebcbrakeshop.co.uk/toyota_c2 ... _34426.htm m

[Goeman]

That's a reasonable price. EBC direct are about the same.
 m http://www.ebcbrakesdirect.com/search/d ... v1=car&t1= m
 m http://www.ebcbrakesdirect.com/search/d ... v1=car&t1= m

You might save £2-3 if you buy of ebay.

If you were to get something like Carbone Lorraine the front pads alone would cost more than that.

[steve b]

 m http://www.roguesystems.co.uk/pages/Pro ... spx?cat=27 m

Carbotech, worth every penny over the years of track days I have come torralissyou get what you pay for.  These make it feel like you've dropped an anchor out the back of the car and last forever.

EBC yellow are a waste of money tried them twice (was having a Homer moment) both times they lasted less than one trackday on my Mazda, set the stupid paint the put on them on fire and the pad material crumbled.

[stargazer30]

Random question here but why do you need to tape X's over your lights for track use?  Never understood that.

[steve b]

You don't never have in a deade of trackdays with different companies

[Goeman]

I've never had to do it but its meant to keep the pieces of the light together in case you smash it. Doesn't really work though.

[dlivingstone_19]

FInally got round to uploading some pictures from my track day.

Was really good. I knew the MR2 was a good handling car but on a track it suprised me. In the short session that I did the brakes never faded. Temperatures stayed perfect and the car was very reliable. I slowly built up my speed over the laps and started braking a lot later into corners near the end of my session. I do a lot of Karting and have driven a single seater around brands so was great fun to finally let the MR2 loose on a track.

I found the car lacked on power compared to some of the other cars on the track but made up on corner speed.

Here are some pictures -

[Goeman]

I'm glad to hear that you had fun and that the car was in fine fettle. Have you got the bug and hoping to do more?

[Anonymous]

Quick question for the track day people - hard top on or off?

On - safer, stiffer?
Off - lighter?

[Goeman]

To be honest it doesn't matter. I usually have my roof and windows down. It gives a good sense of speed and good visibility. I left the roof up at the trackday I did at the weekend because it was cold, I'm lazy and the inside of the car gets very dirty otherwise.

If the roof is up or hard top on then they'll make you keep your windows up so that you can't stick you're arm out of the car in a crash. I suppose with the roof on you get some added roll protection but I don't think it'll stand up to too big a crash. You're unlikely to roll the car though. I doubt you'll notice the extra stiffness with it on or the extra lightness with it off.  

I see you're in Newcastle. Teesside Autodrome have some trackdays coming up with the first one on the 10th April.
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