Oxford trackday for zoners on 27/02/09.

[Jon_Bmw]

My LSD arrives tomorrow, but i'm damned if I am fitting it till its warmed up.

Its still snowing as I look out of the window now.

[bss325i]

1. Jon_bmw: 205 gti
2. Turkey: e30 with m30b35?
3. Brian : PBMW 318
4. Mickey: PBMW 318
5. e30convert: 325i?
6. Winx
7. bss325i 318i with S50B30

Just booked it so i'm in!

See you there guys!

[Jon_Bmw]

Nice one Barry, bagsy a pax lap or 20!

8 or less places left folks.

[bss325i]

Nice one Barry, bagsy a pax lap or 20!

8 or less places left folks.

I'm sure we can sort something out!

As this is my first track day, is there any pointers or anything i will need to do/bring.

All i can think of so far is,

Helmet (Any guide lines for which type?)
Tools
Spare brake pads
Oil
Brake fluid
Fuel can
Tow rope

Do i need to tape up my headlights or anything like that?

[Theo]

Pair of spare wheels would be good.

[winx]

One of my best mates lives on a farm about 2 miles away from the airfield so any major dramas I might be able to get him to bring tools along if anyone forgets anything.
He has a number of Land Rovers so should be able to offer a tow if anyone needs one!

[Jon_Bmw]

Helmet: anything really as long is its not a mr biggles one from 1915 or something. Motorbike ones are fine. I have an motorcross one spare but its small if anyone is totally desperate on the day.

Tools: socket set, flat blade and posidrive. trolley jack to change wheels if required. I take axle stands in case of anything more serious, so you can borrow those, god forbid.

Good call on pads, oil and brake fluid. Change the brake fluid before for something semi decent, once you have boiled the fluid once, it ruins the day to be honest. Motul RBF600 is supposed to be good performance per £. I use some shite that halfords sell as racing brake bluid at <£10 per 500ml. I use this as sourcing RBF600 is hardish and requires expensive postage.

Take some spare water and a litre of coolant, if it uses more something is amiss!

Clean windscreen the day before, it makes an unbelievable difference I assure you.

We take 15litres of spare fuel and normally get through it. The car does start to misfire with anything under 1/3 of a tank though, whereas I doubt yours does.

Tow rope, yep, AA/RAC card is a good call as well.

Spare tyres? all depends on what you are using. This time we will take 4xr888, 2 full slicks and 4 wets(homeward bound tyres) Most make do with one set, but if I was you with all that power, I would take 2 spare to get you home on just in case.

Never taped up our headlights.

BOTH PARTS OF YOUR DRIVING LICENCE or you won't be doing anything.

Thats a starter anyway. We'll have a mondeo diesel with all the above crap in should anyone need anything or a tow to the main gates for recovery!

[bss325i]

Excelent stuff guys, i'm not a member of any breakdown company but i will get some sort of recovery cover sorted.

Brake fluid is comlpetly fresh ate super blue with braided lines. Front pads at the mo are wilwood fast road which have done approx 2000 miles and 12 laps of the ring but i have some EBC reds in case the ones in there are no good.

Tyre wise, do you take your spare tyre on spare rims or do they have tyre changing facilities? (wishfull thinking right?)

I have dunlop sp9000's on the front and continental sportcontact2's on the rear which have done approx 4000/2000 miles respectively.

I have contemplated chaning these for something more track orientated but with 205/50R16 front and 225/45R16 rear, this isn't cheap. I guess i should at least take 2x 15" BBS with leagl tyres for the rear just in case to get me home. The only rim i have that fits over the front brakes are the 16" hartges and i dont have spares of these. (Tyre changing facilities really would be good!)

[winx]

Mate who lives close has spoken about abingdon tyres before, if your worried you could order some new tyres and book in for 4.30pm to get them fitted?
If the worse happens I am sure we could take the wheels off and I'll pop down with you to get new rubber fitted?

[Jon_Bmw]

Sadly no tyre changing van. TBH I ought to tip off one of the local mobile fitters. They would make an absolute killing up there! Yes I take all my spare tyres in the back of the 205, then dump 'em when I get up there.

Depending on how much you enjoy it barry, its always worth looking out for part worn slicks or part worn semi's for next time. 16" is a bit of a pain though, slicks are generally 17" these days, and when they are not 17 they are 15's.

Winx's tip sounds a good one though. But I would just take a couple of 15's for the rear. You'll undoutably have some wear on the outside edges of the fronts, but nothing that will make them illegal(not over a 1/4 of the tread).

I can always lend my RAC card if I don't need it

[bss325i]

Breakdown cover now sorted.

[Jon_Bmw]

Look what just turned up:









£540 well spent? Its tiny! Although once it has a crown wheel on, it will look a bit more normal. Normally these are £690, good old group buys.

Currently it is set for some serious lock (30/60 fully interleaved), I may change it.

It will only allow for 30% of slip on acceleration and 60% of slip on deceleration. Yes that does mean 70% of lock on hard acceleration Its also fully interleaved which means it wil cut in HARD! Bang bang anyone.

It's quite a bit more than a BMW LSD, but then it is FWD.

I may change it to 30/60 lightweight so that it doesn't cut in so hard.

The other option is to opt for 45/45 with either fully interleaved or light weight preload.

Decisions!

[turkey]

Nice, makes me feel a bit better about just splashing out 500notes on an exhaust! why such simple looking things cost so much?!?

Seems like such a good bunch of guys going, glad to see we can help each other out if any problems arise!

[tomson]

Just doubled the value of the turd Jon if nothing else

[Jon_Bmw]

I was thinking 'tripled' as long as I fit it properly with some new bolts.

Book up Tom, ffs!

Turkey, there will be a lot of council activity if Tomson comes, I assure you! He'll nick any morsels of value

[Karan]

bugger this is a friday cant do fridays

[Jon_Bmw]

Bummer dude, I was looking forward to seeing the rocketship!

[turkey]

lol i better bring a chain then! should be good laugh at least, hope that means plenty of sliding too, bit off luck the marshals will forget the black flag

[bss325i]

For those who dont know me, i'll be in this turd.

[DawieM3]

Hi Guys,

Leave has been approved today and just booked so should see you all there. I will be in my track E30 M3, so come over and say hello.
I don`t mind the odd bit of extra ballast so jump in for some PX laps, can show me round. I hav`t done an airfield day before so will be a change to normal Track days.

Which is the best route to take from Essex bearing in mind the car will be on a trailer. If its a short circuit I may change and run a shorter diff. What is the length of the longest straight and what speeds are the cars getting up to on this.

Anyway a few weeks off yet so need to dig the car out from all the ice and snow.


cheers,

Dave

[bss325i]

Excelent another E30.

[Jon_Bmw]

I can't see you passing 120 IIRC so probably the shortish diff you have got. Certainly some commitment changing diff ratios for individual events! I spy a pro. The more time you spend in third or higher the quicker you'll be. We have to change into second a few times as ours lacks low end torque, in fact it lacks torque everywhere.

It will be nice to see the m3, that should go very well there with 270bhp! If we all get there a few minutes early we could try and nick the best bit of tarmac together?

For the first hour after the breifing, they will put everyone in 3 sessions that last 15 mins each, this basically spilts it all up, so that 50 cars don't try and get straight out after the briefing. Chances are I am in the first session as I booked a while ago, and as my other driver(the old man) knows the circuit, one of you can see the track layout if you want by jumping in with me? I apoligise for many a french rattle in advance!

My to do list is getting large:

1) Sort out eneven braking force and change the fluid
2) Fit LSD which sounds simple, I assure you its not.
3) Get tyreland to move some tyres around
4) Plate sunroof
5) Inspect cambelt
6) Oil change
7) Investigate slight oil leak, suspect sump.
8] Investigate 'interesting' camber on the front
9) Dodgey windscreen washer connection
10) Investigate possible duff wheel bearings

Thats before I even start finding things wrong when I start work on it. Who said trackdays were cheap!

Sod it, it will be a great day, loads of e30s which is nice, normally I am lucky if there is 1, and they have never heard of e30zone.

[Theo]

Jon your turd will be sweet with a proper diff, I was well impressed with the LSD dave fitted to his civic (RIP)

Really want to come along and blag some passenger rides, especially with Barry so I can remind him how his car wouldn't understeer with an S14!

[bss325i]

Jon your turd will be sweet with a proper diff, I was well impressed with the LSD dave fitted to his civic (RIP)

Really want to come along and blag some passenger rides, especially with Barry so I can remind him how his car wouldn't understeer with an S14!

Come up with me then. Ric is co driving mine but only for a handfull of laps.

[Jon_Bmw]

Jon your turd will be sweet with a proper diff, I was well impressed with the LSD dave fitted to his civic (RIP)

Really want to come along and blag some passenger rides, especially with Barry so I can remind him how his car wouldn't understeer with an S14!

It should be alright, as its a tranX and none of this quaife wrongness! Come up with Barry then. You know there is going to be some calamaties to keep you amused.

[Theo]

Yeah, might well take you up on that offer mate.

[bss325i]

Jon your turd will be sweet with a proper diff, I was well impressed with the LSD dave fitted to his civic (RIP)

Really want to come along and blag some passenger rides, especially with Barry so I can remind him how his car wouldn't understeer with an S14!

It should be alright, as its a tranX and none of this quaife wrongness! Come up with Barry then. You know there is going to be some calamaties to keep you amused.

Whats wrong with Quaife diffs?

[Jon_Bmw]

Nothing really, but if you lift one wheel off the ground, snap a driveshaft, you are going nowhere. They arn't as aggressive as plate diffs, which has its good and bad points I guess. They are a fit and forget solution, but many racers/trackdayers find on a FWD you can still spin the inside wheel coming out of a corner.

Plate diffs have their downsides, services after 5,000-40,000 miles depending how brutal you are using it. They can bang a bit as well depending on preload and ramp angles. On the whole they are considering better and more reliable.

[bss325i]

Nothing really, but if you lift one wheel off the ground, snap a driveshaft, you are going nowhere. They arn't as aggressive as plate diffs, which has its good and bad points I guess. They are a fit and forget solution, but many racers/trackdayers find on a FWD you can still spin the inside wheel coming out of a corner.

Plate diffs have their downsides, services after 5,000-40,000 miles depending how brutal you are using it. They can bang a bit as well depending on preload and ramp angles. On the whole they are considering better and more reliable.

A friend of mine (The guy who owns the 320iS) used to have a 2.0 focus and we fitted a koni suspension kit and a quaife ATB diff and it transformed the car.

One of the best handling FWD cars i have been in and driven. The cornering speeds in that car were insane!

[Jon_Bmw]

I don't doubt it, they are a noteable improvement over standard. The plated diffs are potentially better for tighter corners and competition(if you break a driveshaft you'll be able to carry on, although I wouldn't have thought as fast!).

The biggest difference is the adjustability though, a quaife is a sealed unit, you can't change the ramp angles(as it doesn't have any!!) or preload to best suit it to what you are doing. In the wet, you do not want a lot of decel lock for example as you will go straight on.

The fact this diff had 15-20% off, played a part as well, and I best stick up for it considering it robbed me of lots of money. With the group buy it was the same money as a Quaife unit, and these TranX's seem to hold their value. Also, on the 205 scene, they are rated slightly higher but at the end of the day its horses for courses, some people could NOT live with a diff banging on big lock and power. I can.

[bss325i]

I have heard good things about transX products on big power 4x4 Cosworths.

[march109]

I might book up BUT I and my co-driver are complete cocks and liabilities of the highest order.

I have the spanner wielding talent of a spastic tied to his best mate a spanner, and the best way to describe my co drivers driving ability is about the same stevie wonder on acid getting a hand job whilst playing an excruciatingly difficult soduku puzzle with a blunt pencil.

I kid you not.

[Brian28]

Airfield track are the best places to learn. There is always somebody slower, usually in a 20k car that they don't want to abuse/bend. Seriously, some people do trackdays in the new toy just to have a gentle play with it, no intention of revving the nadgers off just a safer place to get used to it at slightly higher speeds than on the road, then gives them more confidence when road driving that they aren't going to stick it in a hedge.

[Jon_Bmw]

I suspect there are very limited places left now, less than 3-5 at a guess. If you want to do it, book now. Colerne a week before is already fulled booked and its not as popular as Abingdon.

If you can use your rear view mirrors, turn the steering wheel and operate the peddles, you will be fine. As said, they are a very cheap way of people getting some experience of what their 'supercar' can or cannot do. Usually it can do far more than the driver can!

[bss325i]

I might book up BUT I and my co-driver are complete cocks and liabilities of the highest order.

I have the spanner wielding talent of a spastic tied to his best mate a spanner, and the best way to describe my co drivers driving ability is about the same stevie wonder on acid getting a hand job whilst playing an excruciatingly difficult soduku puzzle with a blunt pencil.

I kid you not.

That made me chuckle!

Come on Gareth, do it!