First Track day - advice needed.

[Dan320is]

Hi all,

I'm planning to do my first proper track day in january and I'm in need of some advice.

I'm tracking my 318is pictured below in my sig - I know the brakes aren't upto much at the moment so I'm going to stick some new pads in (and maybe discs) . Any advice on pad choice? as I've been told the key to the track I'm going to have a go on (Snetterton) is good braking.

And my second question is should I use the 9x16's fitted currently to the car with 215/40/16 Toyo's or should I put some 14" bottle tops on?

Thanks in advance guys

[boombang]

I rate Mintex 1155s for the money on cars over a ton, very consistent at pretty much any temp and good bite from cold.

Worth changing fluid at the same time IMHO as old fluid will boil up easier.

I'd go with the smaller wheel on a set of worn road tyres for a first track day. Something like a moulded slick is great on track, but as the grip is that much higher when they let go they can really let go, plus you might bring on oil issues and find weaknesses in the car.

There are loads of other things to bear in mind, but my top tip is to ensure fluid levels are right - especially oil level.

Not sure if there are cheap / quick mods to baffle the 318is sump out there, but that's something I'd consider doing if you are planning on a lot of trackdays. Having had Mi16 powered Peugeots die on me through oil surge, I'd rather be in a preventative position beforehand

[Dan320is]

I have friends who use larger baffled sumps on their E30 M3's, I'll probably have one made for my car if I'm going to do alot of track days. I've heard good things about those mintex pads. I did think about using a Pagid Fast Road pad for this occasion, any good?

I'm unsure whether to stick a new set of discs on aswell.....

[chrisr29]

Go for new disks. Will take less time to bed everything in, especially if your existing disks are a bit worn.

[northloop]

If it's your first track day I wouldnt go spending silly money on stuff. Get yourself a new set of fast roads pads Ferodo DS2500's or some such thing and give them a go. Make sure the car has good fluid levels and take spare with you. Just enjoy yourself, take the tuition if it's available and see if you enjoy it.

[1an]

why not just do the track day, then make your mind up, when we did a track day in a 325,standard brakes they were alright but you may find them good and maybe might not need to improve them.

[Jon_Bmw]

Because finding you have no brakes at 120mph+ is probably not that nice an experience! Even new fluid will boil on hard braking tracks/airfields. I was out for longer than normal with an instructor(free ) and I shit you not at the end of the session the pedal went straight to the floor and did absolutly nothing. Had to try and stop the car so he could get out with the handbrake, whilst trying not to let on to the instructor he was in a death trap The car had decent pads and discs which were totally fine, it was just the shite fluid that let them down. I dread to think what would have happened if we were doing 125 when they suddenly failed

Get those silly wheels off it I reckon, chuck the bottle tops on and you'll have a lot more fun. And spend 15 mins with a tutor and you'll be 10 times better and safer.

[agreen]

^ 1an is right if its the first track day,

i doubt you are gonna go to mad and you may not even like it!!!,

. . . . . . . . so before you go spending money on things give the old girl a service and just go and enjoy yourself for the first one,

as i said not gonna be going mad so should not be a problem imho

[Dan320is]

I reckon I'll change the brake fluid, stick some better pads in as the brakes aren't great anyway. If I warp the old disks then it wont matter too much. Bottle tops it is.....just fingers crossed that they wont foul the arches.

Anyone driven on Snetterton before? Tips?

[agreen]

what date you at snetterton may come along if there is a passenger side ride in it for me dude

whats your location ?

[maxfield]

Karan's done Snetterton before.

Don't forget when you change the disks, you should always change the pads too! Always a thought if you want to save a few quid.

Stick some decent fluid in and learn your/the car's limits.

[agreen]

as above i would not bother with pads check there is enough meat on them change the fluid and go . . .


as for snetterton it has the longest straight in all of the uk circuits i think and then a shapish corner, i have been there a few times and the circuit is hard on the brakes after that straight,

if its an open pit lane you can do a few laps and then come in to furthur prevent problems / overheating etc

also i think you can hire a garage there ofr an extra #£20 which is useful fir changing wheels, fueling up etc

hth

[boombang]

I would very much agree on having an instructor - well worth every penny!

Used to live up in North Wales, and nip over to Anglesey Circuit (as it was) once a month at least. Found I was doing consistent lap times just over one minute - went out with an instructor and dropped my laps down by another couple of seconds and really neatened up my lines.

When I last went to Donnington it was with Vauxhall testing the VXR range, and the whole time we had an instructor with us which was invaluable and reckon would've knocked a good 5 seconds off my laptime.

By the end of the day, I was in the Astra VXR lapping the VXR8s!

Another excellent way to start out on track (and even when you've notched up a good few days is still a great laugh) is to hire out Curborough Sprint Track for the day (up near Litchfield north east of Birmingham).
If you are a member it is mighty cheap, and another car club I am a member of does very very cheap days there.


Best bit of all now, is I'll get re-visit all those lovely circuits in a RWD car (only done Donnington in RWD!) so it'll be like starting all over again. Gutted will never get to drive the old Anglesey in RWD though, and would've been very interesting to see if could have got down below a minute in a 318is.

[orangecurry]

I reckon I'll change the brake fluid, stick some better pads in as the brakes aren't great anyway. If I warp the old disks then it wont matter too much. Bottle tops it is.....just fingers crossed that they wont foul the arches.

Anyone driven on Snetterton before? Tips?

thank god you are not on those silly wheels in your sig - bottletops with 65 profile tyres will give you some warning when grip is about to be lost.
You will need every chance possible if you've never done a circuit before, and Snets is the 2nd worst I've been on for stuffing a car.

The back straight is the longest in the UK, but brake hard before you go under the bridge, as there is a sharp left/right followed by the bomb-hole; this unsettles the car, and immediately after you are faced with the worst corner and an earth-bank with a few tyres in front (unless they've changed that section?).

I've seen a few cars stuffed in that bank.

As has been said, for your first circuit, take it easy; there's plenty to learn without trying to break the lap record.

[Jon_Bmw]

I reckon I'll change the brake fluid, stick some better pads in as the brakes aren't great anyway. If I warp the old disks then it wont matter too much. Bottle tops it is.....just fingers crossed that they wont foul the arches.

Anyone driven on Snetterton before? Tips?

thank god you are not on those silly wheels in your sig

We always agree Mr curry.



Long time no zone?

[orangecurry]

and Merry Christmas to you too

I'm just not on the zone as often; got a few things going on for the past few months that takes up time. I'll always comment on tyres/wheels if I spot the post

[Dan320is]

what date you at snetterton may come along if there is a passenger side ride in it for me dude

whats your location ?

I'm located half way between Newmarket and Ely, so Snetterton is only 30 minutes from me. The track day is on the 19th Jan, special novice event. My little bro is taking his E46 325 compact so I reckon I'll be with him on the corners but be left in his dust on the straights. You are very welcome for a passenger ride.

[billgatese30]

My little bro is taking his E46 325 compact so I reckon I'll be with him on the corners but be left in his dust on the straights. You are very welcome for a passenger ride.

Go for an instructor, and you never know, you may be able to carry enough speed onto the straights to help balence that problem a little bit more in your favour

[bam2002]

Also I dont know how stiff your fron suspension is. But Id watch your front spoiler. I have had mine rub the ground under hard breaking and starting into a corner.

I also have used stock rotors and with good pads. I went with the EBC green pads.
I replaced the brake fluids with super blue and the transmission with Redline. And made sure the rear diff was topeed off.

[Cabrio]

ideally on track day for you yellow pads....if dont drive too hard then keep original pads...otherwise when drive harder then use yellow on track but if driving to the circuit to start with use original and keep costs down

[oldbimmer]

As many have already mentioned, your first performance enhancement should be some time with an instructor..

I recently did Snetterton and was very impressed with my setup:

ATE Powerdiscs front
Standard discs rear
EBC Yellow Stuff pads front and rear
New flexible hoses (may upgrade to Goodridge braided next time)
ATE super blue fluid

I did approx 110 laps and the brakes were fine (even into the corner after the long straight)
They needed a proper warm up though before giving their best

As for wheels/tyres, I prefer 15" BBS with 205/50 (perhaps best to go for road rubber on your first outing)

[Cabrio]

Some good suppliers for these parts when you are ready...can post details of suppliers if required

[Dan320is]

Some good suppliers for these parts when you are ready...can post details of suppliers if required

Fire away Cabrio.....if this trackday is a success I aim to be attending them alot more.

[Cabrio]

DO the trackday first then I am sure there will be no shortage of people giving advice....plenty of suppliers who may offer different advice but keep the cost down to start with and then give me a PM for take it or leave advice...in the nicest possible way......go and enjoy then start worrying about how much money to blow

[Lloydie38]

I got my E30 325 from Manchester via ebay, brought it home to the Isle of Man, checked the fluid levels and went and did a track day in the wet on standard old road tyres on 14" wheels - was just the best day, non stop giggling and gave me the info on what was needed to get it to a track car.

The track car is fun but that 1st day was a real laugh learning all about the car BTW the car gave me loads of warning that it was on it's limit ...and when I exceeded it

Just Arrived to it's new home
[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... ed2005.jpg[/img][/img]
M3 not mine unfortunatly but Casper the guard dog is
[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... 3me325.jpg[/img][/img]
Sorry but yes I do own a e36
[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... d328is.jpg[/img][/img]

[Black_Potato]

1st make sure the car is sound, no knackered bushes, ball joints etc... make sure the battery is well fitted and the seat belts etc are sound.

Make sure you have a decent oil in and its filled up to the max line, a decent oil will be a fully syth and preferably 15w50 or similar as I doubt you have an oil cooler. Generally you get what you pay for with oil..

Disks/Pads/Tyres, just make sure they have plenty of meat in them as you will probably to 10-20 times the wear on track, i.e. 200 miles on track could easily equate to 2000-4000 road miles. This also goes for just about all moving components.

On the day take a big sports bag to remove every thing from the car & I mean everything that isnt bolted down.
Check tyre pressures, take a gauge and a foot pump. Also make sure you take your drivers license, both bits as you probably wont be allowed on without them.

Dont bother with expernsive upgrades day one, but when you do upgrade only try to do it once dont go for something a little better but listen to what is recommened by those who know and take the advise..

Finally, leave your ego at home, take it easy, take instruction, move out of the way of others who are faster and just enjoy

[shorty73]

1st make sure the car is sound, no knackered bushes, ball joints etc... make sure the battery is well fitted and the seat belts etc are sound.

Make sure you have a decent oil in and its filled up to the max line, a decent oil will be a fully syth and preferably 15w50 or similar as I doubt you have an oil cooler. Generally you get what you pay for with oil..

Disks/Pads/Tyres, just make sure they have plenty of meat in them as you will probably to 10-20 times the wear on track, i.e. 200 miles on track could easily equate to 2000-4000 road miles. This also goes for just about all moving components.

On the day take a big sports bag to remove every thing from the car & I mean everything that isnt bolted down.
Check tyre pressures, take a gauge and a foot pump. Also make sure you take your drivers license, both bits as you probably wont be allowed on without them.

Dont bother with expernsive upgrades day one, but when you do upgrade only try to do it once dont go for something a little better but listen to what is recommened by those who know and take the advise..

Finally, leave your ego at home, take it easy, take instruction, move out of the way of others who are faster and just enjoy

You won't get much better advice than that. Well said B P.

[Cabrio]

Ditto

[Karan]

get some ferodos on there front and rear!! as u WILL need uprated brake pads, then us e agood fluid like castrol super response (SRF is better but very expensive)

ure 16s will be great....dont waste time with 14s

snetterton is a great track to do ure first day on u will really enjoy it.

theres lots of space around the track for going off too, so no excuses for not pushing it really hard lol!!

i went off a cpl times at the end of the start finish straight at just under 100mph but there was loads off room.... I also cooked my brakes outbraking a csl on the backstraight and almost went straight off haha that was not fun at 130mph, thank god there is good runoff just in case

[Brian28]

i went off a cpl times at the end of the start finish straight at just under 100mph but there was loads off room.... I also cooked my brakes outbraking a csl on the backstraight and almost went straight off haha that was not fun at 130mph, thank god there is good runoff just in case

Sounds like the kind of driver who really understands what track days are all about, knows his limits and is really safe to share a track with . Dan there is much better advice from B_P above for your first track day. Hope it goes well

[k10]

We run pagid fast road on the front on zimmerman cross drilled disks and tried green stuff on zimmermans on the back. The green stuff appears better than the pagid pads as the rear will lock up before the front now on very heavy braking, so we are going to change the fronts to green stuff as well. We also use 5.1 brake fluid and braided hoses (Goodman).

We have never suffered excessive brake fade and we drive quite hard. I have always been impressed with the brakes. But then a lot of people claim green stuff are crap so perhaps it's a persaonal choice thing. As it's your first day just don't push that hard. If you enjoy it I'd go for saftety improvements before anything else. Buckets, harnesses, and a 1/2 or full cage from OMP etc...

[Karan]

i went off a cpl times at the end of the start finish straight at just under 100mph but there was loads off room.... I also cooked my brakes outbraking a csl on the backstraight and almost went straight off haha that was not fun at 130mph, thank god there is good runoff just in case

Sounds like the kind of driver who really understands what track days are all about, knows his limits and is really safe to share a track with . Dan there is much better advice from B_P above for your first track day. Hope it goes well

if u read between the lines u will see the point i am trying to get across is that there is NOTHING to worry about as there is lots of runoff so no need to worry about spanking it, secondly also between the lines is that u 100% need pads like ferodo ds2500s also! Ive tried most aftermarket track pads on my old e30 and found all of them bar the ferodos to actually be sufficient even on the road

as for your stupid personal attack, id rather not even dignify that with a response

[Karan]

We run pagid fast road on the front on zimmerman cross drilled disks and tried green stuff on zimmermans on the back. The green stuff appears better than the pagid pads as the rear will lock up before the front now on very heavy braking, so we are going to change the fronts to green stuff as well. We also use 5.1 brake fluid and braided hoses (Goodman).

We have never suffered excessive brake fade and we drive quite hard. I have always been impressed with the brakes. But then a lot of people claim green stuff are crap so perhaps it's a persaonal choice thing. As it's your first day just don't push that hard. If you enjoy it I'd go for saftety improvements before anything else. Buckets, harnesses, and a 1/2 or full cage from OMP etc...

personally ive found pagid better than greenstuffs (which do have better initial bite however as i think they have a lower working temp range-this may be why ure balance has been affected, particualrly on turning in and braking as the back goes light too)

u would be surprised on switching to ferodos all round.

[Cabrio]

I think he has time to do some trackdays before testing out pads as so much choice out there...I wont list all the names, colours and compounds as just ends up with willy waving....can take advice from people when you get to a track day...then its testing for personal pref....good luck

[Black_Potato]

Just a passing comment on PAGID pads....

There are two distinct ranges of pad.

PAGID Road and fast road pads are just road pads (cheap stuff found on Ebay that wont kill you if you just drive to tesco's and back), if you want the best & yes better than any Ferodo, you want to go for PAGID motorsport pads like RS 14's or RS29's if you want something with a longer life, but at around £270 a set you would expect them to be good and last ;)

To compare PAGID Motor sport pads to anything made by EBC is


Anyway, as said, make sure your car is bascially sound and then if you enjoy it and you have reached the limit of an aspect of your car upgrade the bit that your driving has surpased.