First full track day, are semi slicks a good idea?

[clarko74]

I did a taster track day session in November and needless to say had a throughly good time so I'm going back for more. I'm booked up for a Novice only track day at Brands Hatch in March.

I would say that my e30 is set up reasonably well for fast road driving but is by no means a track car. My suspension setup is: Eibach springs, B8s, H&R ARBs, offset control arm bushes, e46 cab rear top mounts, z3m (I think) diff bush, adjustable toe/camber reaar beam with void filled OEM bushes, all other bushes are OEM and have been replaced in the last few years. The engine is a healthy M20B25 (High comp with motronic 1.3) with BBTB, BTB manifold and chip. It's also got an e46 rack, LSD and I am in the process of upgrading to E34 540i front brakes.

I recently saw a set of secondhand R888s that were going for a very good price not far from me and I couldn't resist so bought them. Since then I have been doing a bit of research into semi slicks and am wondering if as this will be my first full track day would it be wise to run these or my usual road tyres (Continental Sport Contact 2) as I am sure that the tyres will be able to perform better than I will on track? Will I get the most out of the R888s or would it be best to save them for next time when I am more experienced?

I have also read that in order to get the best out of semi slicks and to reduce the wear rate on them that a fair amount of negative camber is required. My e30 has standard front top mounts and therefore standard camber. If I use R888s with this set up am I going to wear the tyres out prematurely? Would it be wise to invest in some adjustable top mounts? And with standard struts rather than coilovers how much can camber increased and will this be enough?

Should have considered all this prior to buying the tyres really but there we go...

Cheers,

Adrian

[Demlotcrew]

My advice would be, get the top mounts, adjust camber as necessary on the day. Used R888's can be very nasty, you will need to heat/scrub them really well before pushing the car. Also depends on what compound they are.

Issue with your setup and R tyres is that your setup is way too soft, the roll and delayed dynamic weight shift will be epicly difficult to drive in anything but perfect dry conditions.

[DanThe]

As above, the worst part will be getting them up to temperature, especially the rears

[clarko74]

Cheers for the replies, maybe I'll leave them in the garage until I've stiffened the suspension up a bit then.

They are the GG compound, which I believe is the hardest? Is it possible to tell visually if they are 'very nasty'? They look like this:

[Theo]

I would definitely use them, they don't need much warming up and they look to be in pretty good nick. Enjoy!

[Altrezia]

You'll be fine. They're more road tyre than slick.

[Jon_Bmw]

They have hardly been used and never on a track I would say!

Cooking the brakes if pre 4 pot caliper might be a concern.

[milescook]

Remember pressures, around 25/26 psi cold Is the figure I hear quoted and I use. Most important factor of the tyres / day!

[Demlotcrew]

Those look to be hardly used, you should be ok, but as I said, even new tyres which have not been used for a while need to be scrubbed in, in fact any tyre needs to be scrubbed at every track event before they are fully up to performance.

[Mikey_Boy]

Yep - agree with the view that those tyres look in good shape. Have a look on the sidewall as well, there should be a 4 digit number in an oval, something like '3612' which is my example would mean they were manufactured in week 36 of 2012. You can then gauge the age of your tyres. If they are 5 years old or younger, they should be good to go - if they are 5 years old or older, give yourself a good few laps to warm them through.

Most important thing on any trackday is to go as fast as you are comfortable with, learn the lines (ideally through tuition) and then (and ONLY then) build your speed as your confidence grows.

R888s are a good tyre but not ideal in the damp and cold - might be worthwhile saving these for a spring or summer trackday when they will be much better...?

Either way, enjoy!!