First Track Day advice.

[hoshy]

Soo. I'm all booked in for Brands on June 14th

Wasn't sure if I wanted to put this in technical or general so, mods feel free to move as you see fit.

Wanted advice on all aspects really I'm going to throw a few hundred at the car to prep it.

Starting with brake pads and fluid - recommendations. Don't mind munching disks as they'll get replaced in the long term but need good pads for track day and road use.

Next up is engine oil. I normally rag the shit out of the car anyway so I want to go for whatever is best for protection - flush and fully synth, what about grades?

Erm what else... ah bushes. I think they pretty much all need doing not sure the best way to proceed. I thought I'd start with a full powerflex kit. Are there other bushes that I should replace also?

I guess a lot of this has been covered before but it's always good to get a fresh opinion and I wanted to chat about first track days in general too.

Tyres are ok btw - running almost new Proxes.

[JohnnyThunders]

I have no idea how to prepare but - Have a cracking day!

[Morat]

Take it easy and look out for brake fade!

[cliffybabe]

Go Hoshy, Sounds like ur gonna have fun mate

[hoshy]

cheers. I'm gonna take the extra 25quid tuition option too. I'm sure they'll be keeping a close eye on me. Slower car, no traction control, no abs, no track day experience.

Others I know who are going are driving:

150bhp Westfield
Z4 3.0
Cupra Turbo
Megan F1 225
Carrera 4

A nice mix of front, 4 and rear wheel drive.

As for brake fade - I'm hoping to mitigate some of the effects by getting the right pads and using the brakes properly. Have to do the same in karting so I'm at least aware of it.

[Karan]

hi hoshy

get some castrol srf fluid too!!
as for pads get ferodo ds2500 on the front, and u can get some for the rear too if u like or get some cheaper rears like some redstuff maybe which are better than stock

oil-----magnatec 10w40 should be ok but if u want better get some fully synth silkolene race oil, but its more expensive at about £37/5l

have fun

[Jon_Bmw]

Sorry to give the usual advice, but it really does work. Well on a heavier and more powerful car the same stuff works:

Front: Braided brake lines - Be a bit careful about what type you need to buy, they need to be able to be secured onto the strut for the MOT man but its fairly easy to knock something up in seconds if they arn't capable of this

Froddo baggins Ds2500 pads - Yes they are expensive but they don't wear excessively and you won't fade them with an IS I doubt

Discs - As you said standard stuff is ok, I think other track guys on here use some ECP discs, i can't remember which ones though.

Tyres are a good choice. You'll find the proxies heat up quite quick with longer sessions. Some people complain of the tread blocks moving, but I personally am not sure how a human can detect this

Bushes, i'll leave that to an e30 guru.

Brake fluid - You should be fine on a standard DOT 4 brake fluid, change it for new stuff before. 500mls should just do you, but get a litre and take it with you just in case!

Engine Oil - You could put fully synthetic in there, but i'd be tempted with a fresh filter and some cheap 10w40 part sythetic from vauxhall and again take the spare oil with you.

Then pack a few tools and enjoy yourself

Edit: It appears I was too slow and Karan has beaten me to it.

[hoshy]

cheers karan.

I'll get some srf - seems to be popular on the motorsport sites.

Have been looking at the ds2500 pad - any recommended supplier?

[hoshy]

hehe - cheers jon. on the engine oil I really want max protection for the engine.

[JohnnyThunders]

cheers. I'm gonna take the extra 25quid tuition option too. I'm sure they'll be keeping a close eye on me. Slower car, no traction control, no abs, no track day experience.

Others I know who are going are driving:

150bhp Westfield
Z4 3.0
Cupra Turbo
Megan F1 225
Carrera 4

A nice mix of front, 4 and rear wheel drive.

As for brake fade - I'm hoping to mitigate some of the effects by getting the right pads and using the brakes properly. Have to do the same in karting so I'm at least aware of it.

I would love to take a Westfield around a track, roots motoring at its finest.

[hoshy]

yeah johnny - I'll be out for a passenger ride for sure. He's not had it that long but having been in his 330Ci I know full well he won't be afraid to use it properly. Currently it's on a zetec 1.6 - He's already bought a 2.0 Focus ST engine to upgrade it also.

[paulg390]

Agree with the above..... concentrate on brakes (fluid, pipes and pads) and oil.
As for disks once your standard ones are shot try Black Diamond grooved (dont get ones cross drilled though).
Toyo Proxes are pretty good but if you are really pushing hard in the dry then we've found the tread starts to "shred" and wear pretty badly.. good grip for the £Â£Ã‚£ though.
Toyo R888s are supposed to be excellent - just bought a set for this weekends trip to the RIng and Spa so will let you know....
As for bushes... as long as your standard ones aren't shot you'll probably be ok for a while - then go for polybushes all round - rear esp to stop back end snaking under braking...
All just IMHO ......

[hoshy]

cheers paul.

bushes I think are pretty dead all around. shakes and rattles from the front and back over speed bumps and if I come on and off the gas quickly the judder the car you can hear it clunking - top mounts I suspect?

are braided lines really worth it ? I hear mixed views really but they're not that expensive. Hard to fit?

[datonyb]

i done castle combe about a month ago mate
i used mintex extreme pads which i didnt cook all day even with a 325
and motul rbf fluid which was outstanding for not boiling

i have to be honest and would advise against using new road tyres

you will rip them to shreds
i advise cheap/bald part worns or trackday tyres from camskill

apart from that i changed the oil and filter for genuine bmw filter and used some 5w/50 valvoline vr1 oil

lasted the full day at 6500 rpms and drove me home fine
that was with 230k miles on it

hope this helps

[hoshy]

cheers. interesting advice about the tyres. I'll look in to it.

[JimmyC]

whos organising the day mate?

could use this as a nice little shake down before first race on 16th !!

[hoshy]

it's open mate - booked through motorsportvision.co.uk 99pound evening only job.

[paulg390]

cheers paul.

are braided lines really worth it ? I hear mixed views really but they're not that expensive. Hard to fit?

Bit like insurance... you don't need it until you need it.... Two advantages sold them to me.. (1) They give you a firmer more consistent pedal as they don't bulge under massive pressure (2) and more importantly they shouldn't burst which the old rubber ones just may do (albeit not likely if in good condition) when under extreme track conditions. Doddle to fit.....

[hoshy]

yeah I wanted to ask about this. basically I need 100% faith in my brakes else I'm going to be driving miss daisy round the track and won't want to really commit to any late-braking corners. I suppose new braided lines will help. I'll also need to convince myself that the main lines and everything else is ok...

What I really don't want is one front brake to fail under heavy load. What would happen if that was the case? One wheel gets all the power and the car comes heavily destablised? or all calipers lose grip at the same time same as if you came off the brakes to early ?

[Simon13]

i have just run my toyo proxies for 20 laps of the ring. They didn't wear too bad and when i dropped the pressures after the first lap to 28psi all round they stopped screeching round every bend. They did go off but not enough to really slow me down tbh.

I think they are a great tyre but i can't see me getting alot of miles out of them now!

[m3ben05]

Brands is a great track, im sure you will have a great time!

Dont forget to give the car plenty of time to get up to temp and give it a cool down lap before coming into the pits to give everything a chance to cool down again! Also, dont use your hand brake after a session, just keep the car in gear.

Dont be worried by the other cars that are there, drive at your pace - you dont get anything for 'winning'

Other than that, just have fun!

[zimmerbimmer1]

Word of advise from a Racing driver, make sure your oil is on the top mark then add another litre of oil
as it helps with the cooling of the engine and will aid in lubricating as when you go on a track cornering
usually forces the oil to move to one side of the engine.

But remember to change oil when back home back to the original top level.

[hoshy]

cheers guys.

Si - what PSI were you at to begin with. I 32/30 standard. Was thinking up to 40 maybe for the trackday. what's everybody think ?

Ben - sounds like good advice. I'm please to be doing brands as my first track day. It's a legend of a track!

zimmerbimmer1 - that sounds very logical to me. I think I'll go for it unless anybody can see a major problem doing that?

[zimmerbimmer1]

On My 535i I left them standard at first 32 psi all round them increased to around 36 and it stuck like glue doing a 1:43 lap of donington admitingly I was not trying but the engine blew up anyway (top hose split)

[Simon13]

i started off with 32 front and 30 rear.

you need to drop the pressures not raise them as track work heats the tyres right up, so if the pressures are high ish to start with this can have a negative effect on the handling and the tyres won't work properly as the air expands and makes the psi go up

[zimmerbimmer1]

guess will reduce them next time and to think I used to race cars many moons ago

[Gwynleym10]

Word of advise from a Racing driver, make sure your oil is on the top mark then add another litre of oil
as it helps with the cooling of the engine and will aid in lubricating as when you go on a track cornering
usually forces the oil to move to one side of the engine.

But remember to change oil when back home back to the original top level.

Wouldn't this destroy all your oil seals? Putting them under extra pressure?

[datonyb]

one more tip

see if ya can drain out the tank before going and fit new petrol filter

mine suffered really badly on hard right handers towards the end of the day plenty of fuel so must have been pulling in water from bottom of tank or in the filter

[Demlotcrew]

Word of advise from a Racing driver, make sure your oil is on the top mark then add another litre of oil
as it helps with the cooling of the engine and will aid in lubricating as when you go on a track cornering
usually forces the oil to move to one side of the engine.

But remember to change oil when back home back to the original top level.

Wouldn't this destroy all your oil seals? Putting them under extra pressure?

Why?

Andrew

[maxfield]

It would just burn the oil off.

[hoshy]

c'mon andrew - enlighten us.

is it worth topping up the oil to help prevent starvation due to greater cornering forces and (I presume) lack of baffled sump.

[m3ben05]

definately worth it imo

[maxfield]

How many E30s do you know that have died from oil starvation?

It is suppose to be common for M3s but never seen or heard of it happening.

[m3ben05]

No idea about normal e30's, but i know the M3 guys that are really into their track days etc change the oil pan.

TBH iv never heard of a single one but i dont think its something that will 'kill' the engine. Surely it can make it wear excessively tho! Adding an extra half litre cant hurt, and if it ensures the engine is not damaged it has to be worth it surely?

[JimmyC]

How many E30s do you know that have died from oil starvation?

It is suppose to be common for M3s but never seen or heard of it happening.

More than I can count on both hands, mine 3 times last year on a 6 pot oil starvation is a massive problem!!

As for the fuel issues mentioned above (fuel starvation), again very common on later cars with the later fuels tanks, swril pot is the only answer

Tyre pressures, on r888s the target temp is 30psi HOT