First Track Day advice.

[ScottEgg]

Hoshy,
If this is your very first track day then I would recommend just the simple stuff like brake pads, oil, water, tyres. Bushes, suspension changes and all that can wait. Until recently I had a Westfield that i used for track days but sold it and replaced it with the E30 sport. I then had a day at Donnigton having just put new pads on it and the car was absolutely great, not as fast as the Westy but full of communciation, fast enough and definately confidence inspiring. My car would benefit from new bushes, better brakes, stiffer suspension etc as would everyone elses however I reckon it would be better for you to put the money into several track days first to learn the car, see if you enjoy it and only then start thinking about modifying it. Owning the Westy did teach me something; There are people who pile money into their machines only to look at them and there are those who just drive 'em.

Just enjoy it.
Scott

[hoshy]

Hoshy,
If this is your very first track day then I would recommend just the simple stuff like brake pads, oil, water, tyres. Bushes, suspension changes and all that can wait. Until recently I had a Westfield that i used for track days but sold it and replaced it with the E30 sport. I then had a day at Donnigton having just put new pads on it and the car was absolutely great, not as fast as the Westy but full of communciation, fast enough and definately confidence inspiring. My car would benefit from new bushes, better brakes, stiffer suspension etc as would everyone elses however I reckon it would be better for you to put the money into several track days first to learn the car, see if you enjoy it and only then start thinking about modifying it. Owning the Westy did teach me something; There are people who pile money into their machines only to look at them and there are those who just drive 'em.

Just enjoy it.
Scott

cheers mate. I hear what you're saying. Only reason bushes are on the list is that from my experience driving the car on the road I know they're on their way out.

Don't want to actually MOD the car just get it up to scratch.

I'm sure I will enjoy it!

[dave525]

check wheel nuts after every session.dont try to go too fast at first if its your first time.learn the track,its easy to get over confident and have problems.track work is really hard on your car so check it first.its a real bummer if something breaks which you could have avoided.having said all that its fantastic fun so have a great day!

[hoshy]

cheers dave

[badnews]

well some good advise here but dont get stuck on ideas that you need the best brakes oil tyres ect. it's your first time on track look for the line plan early for this and take your time. late and hard braking slows and upsets the car and makes it hard to drive smooth and with the e30 smooth is the key. i do lots of tdays with mine mostly donno and croft and they are mint.
sideways is slow lol i can hussle the old dog and get in at 1:30 or play around sideways get black flaged around 1:40. if you brake late be prepaired for the off stearing is slow so catching the drift is tricky to say the least lol. as for oil go to the top mark and no more tyres i run 28psi when hot, i run dunlop road legal semi slicks on the front and yokos on the rear it give's good turn in and enough slip on the rear for some fun
so a few pics of my old goat doing it's best and worst lol


oh yea last bit of advise have fun and be safe

[hoshy]

hehe - cheers. hopefully I won't be recreating your little off...

in the end i've just gone for decent set pads and fluid.

[Davenotouring]

Oooooh, I've been in that gravel! Bottom of the Craners?

Just my back wheels though, so I drove off.

[hoshy]

Just my back wheels though, so I drove off.

keep your FWD wrongness off my thread pls.

[chief]

check wheel nuts after every session

after 32 laps silverstone GP circuit last september
back of truck with 11 wheel nuts on my wagon and 1 wheel in boot

[mrLEE30]

For info lowering tyre pressures allows the tyre to flex more, thus causing more heat and over heating. rasing the pressure allows them to flex less and they should run cooler. 30ish psi is about right but check it after two or three faster laps, never try to set your tyre pressures when cold, normally i would run the fronts lower slightly than the rears...... but all this is of little or no use if you cannot drive.

I am a part time instructor here at the Bahrain circuit and i find EVERYTIME without fail... those that go out on the track and try to drive as fast as possible from the start do not improve and normally cook their brakes/tyres/engine etc etc by mid day. those that go out, listen to the tuition, and drive slowly at first concentrating on technique not speed are ALWAYS the ones who are the best drivers (does not mean quickest by the way) at the end of a day.

Take you time, learn to heal and toe on downshift (your transmission and diff and rear tyres will thank you for it) if you dont know how the instructor will (or should) tell you its not hard, but also to get the best out of the day get down to a carting shop and buy the cheapest pair of carting shoes (or driving shoes )you can find, the wrong shoes will make good track day driving much harder, my second recommmednation is to buy a pair of gloves, again nothing flashy but they will help (plus you will feel more like a racing driver!!)

learn slow and drive to the techniques taught to you, learn the lines, brake straight and you will have a good time, improve your driving skills to no end and hopefully not end up with car in the kitty litter or worse

finally if you can be bothered, remove the rear seat, passenger seat get rid of everything in the boot incuding spare tyre and jack (but you normally must fit the front towing eye so make sure you have that), loose as much weight from the car as possible also you dont want things flying around the cabin/boot, take tools and spare oil/water/and loads of duct tape leave all them in the pits if thats possible.

most of all..enjoy it!

[hoshy]

cheers mr. lee.

Can't wait now.. one week and two days to go!

[hoshy]

Thanks for all the advice ppl. Yesterday I did the track day - the iS was amazing - even in the damp she held very well, the slip diff was a bonus here I think.

Only changed the brakes in the end. the DS2500s worked well although there was not huge amounts of heavy braking on brands..

I took the "honour" of first off the track - lol. nothing bad at all - just the back end in the kitty litter about 60% around druids. was damp and I either ran out of lock, or ran out of skill - I suspect the latter::D

Unfortunately I ruined my clutch. knew it was on it's way but didn't have time to change it... bugger. got a new one fitted today though after my mate and his mum's volvo towed me from brands to kingston.. an interesting journey

Will put some pics up as soon as I get them from others at the track day.

Was three other e30s there. PAH (which I recognise but forget who owns) another black 4 door and a miltek prepped 320. didn't see them out on track though unfortunately.

Mate also took me out in his Z4 - an impressive machine! Other mate in the westfield stuggled lots with the damp

[mrLEE30]

or ran out of skill - I suspect the latter

i do like honesty!! Glad you enjoyed it, and now you have a pretty good idea of what you need to do on your car to prep for the next time. Did you go out with an instructor? Did he teach you anything or just sit there?

[Falkster]

When I did my first trackday I made sure my oil level was just above the max line, I used ferodo pads but the best thing I did was to invest in some Colway formula 2 tyres that cost me 150 quid for the set....they were fantastic! I used them at both Donington and Mallory. I can honestly say that they were the reason why I was lapping much faster than E30 M3s that had sorted suspension/brakes etc!