I\'m planning to do a few trackdays this year (japfest is one) as its silly having a car like the RX7 and not doing the odd track day. My question is now the Re-Worx have upgraded my brakes I\'m going to book it into Wheels in Motion to get the tracking dead right and wondered if there is any advantage in getting the car corner weighted, as quite a few of you here use your cars on the track is there any advantage?
We have to assume then that the car is on platforms ? if this is correct and lowered the yes.
I would say - not really. Trackdays aren\'t supposed to be competitive, so why mess about to try and shave off a tenth when you will often get held up by some clown in a fiesta anyway? It\'s very easy to delay and delay going to the track until the car is "just right" - thats just missing out on fun you could be having now!
Personally, I\'d just go out there end enjoy yourself, and not worry about fiddling with the car unless you are unhappy with its behaviour. If it rolls a bit in the corners, crashes on the bumpstops, wants to plow on etc. then start to think about diagnosing a specific problem.
Unless you have adjustable ARBs then there is little or no point in getting the car corner weighted.
In answer to your question yes there is an advantage, but probably not one that you are going to see on your first track day. Which track are you going to go to?
Thanks for the replies, I\'ll just get the tracking done in that case. First I\'m going to try one at RAF Odiham then Japfest
One other question I\'m running Toyo T1r\'s tyres at the moment are the R888\'s suitable for a lot of road use.
I\'m on 888s, they are dire in standing water, fantastic in the dry. The rubber also goes off if exposed to very low temperatures so they need to be indoors in the very cold weather.
If you\'ve only one set of wheels and no where to store the car indoors then i\'d stick with the Toyo road tyres.
Mines on standard 16" wheels so I bought another set of old rims for about £100 which I run with some cheap wet weather tyres so I can move the car about in the winter and keep the R888s indoors.
Whist I feel checking corner weights is not a bad idea as weight in the wrong place can give erratic handling, i.e. you can find it can induce over steer on say a right hand corner or understeer in a left, but if we are talking about a road car with all the main components of the car in much the same place as production then you will probably not gain from this and waste money.
However this money will be much better spent on having the geometry set up properly as many people get all wrapped up in springs, dampers and roll bars and yet they miss the basics of making sure all the wheels are pointing in the correct directions and angles to start with !
If you really want to start getting serious at the track how pressures vary and condition of tyres is a good place to start other than of course "the seat of your pants"
Hope this helps
Quote from: David Wiltshire;668719First I\'m going to try one at RAF Odiham t
When/what is this?
Echoing what\'s already been said, you won\'t find much benefit by corner weighting your car.
Simply make sure all the wheels are pointing in the right direction - set the tracking as per the workshop manual and have a good check to make sure all your suspension and steering parts are well held on and in a good condition. If you think you\'ve noticed a bit of play on a track rod end, now\'s the time to investigate it, otherwise sod\'s law says you\'ll end up in a field on your track day because of it!
RAF Odiham is a nice venue with plenty of room. A good place to start doing track days I must say. I went there once with a customer in a Subaru and would recommend it. Is it the RMA day you\'re doing? If so, again good choice, nice chaps & very helpful to newbies but will come down on you like a ton of bricks if you act the fool!
My day job is a track day instructor, and I\'ve taught many 100s of people everything from the basics to finding 10th\'s. I\'m confident I could teach you in one day what would take you 6 months to learn by yourself on your own. As I speak I\'m available on the RMA day (but that could change soon) so get in contact, you certainly won\'t regret it!
I was planning to make an appointment with Wheels in Motion to get the tracking sorted, in fact I was about to go there when my engine blew. Yes it is RMA (the name of my company RMA Roofing which is just a coincidence) on April 18th as the Hampshire Jap car club are going there so I may well book this now. I have done a few track days with the Lotus Club at Thruxton but have used the cars provided. Re-Worx have done the polybushes, suspension and just about everything else so the car only needs tracking as the final part of the preparation.
Clive made a very valid point that you can spend all the money in the world on suspension set up....if your pressures are wrong this will affect the handling really badly!
Best thing you can spend your money on now is learning to drive! You will get far better value for money getting taught how to drive than trying to pedal an extra 100bhp round the track.
Have fun....dont get target fixation.....nor falling for peer pressure, but most importantly start the day slowly and increase your speed gradularly....too many people try to go first from the gecko...you will get sensory overload and either crash or just come away feeling you didn\'t get that much out of the day.
Hi David, sorry my first post was short and a little curt, I keep forgetting that this forum draws in sensible replies.
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I must and will echo the replies from the guys that really know what they are talking about. Suspension is a pet subject with me as when I was racing I did not have the deep pockets of my competitors to build mega horsepower engines, so I had to out handle them. I still carry that ethos today with my track day cars.
However with that said, an instructor is a good way to go, even when I go to a track I haven’t driven before I take instruction to get the right lines, in fact the first two or three laps I give the instructor the hot seat, it is all very well going out in his car, but that doesn’t really relate to yours. ( assuming you are brave enough to let someone else drive your pride and joy).
Main thing is to have fun and enjoy, as you are just down the road from me I will give you a shout the next time I am at my local track Goodwood and you are welcome to a couple of laps with me.
Thank you alll for the very helpful and constructive replies to my post, I\'m not going out on the track to prove or be better than anyone else from the offset just to enjoy my car whilst I still have the reflexes etc to be able to do it. It\'s just been the case on trackdays before I\'ve used the track car provided so when its your own pride and joy another factor comes into the equation as well. I think I\'ll pop the car down to Re-Worx before each trackday just so they can give it the once over for peace of mind. Thanks Laurenzo let me know and I\'ll be there.
Timed out so one more thing raceralexuk if I were to ask the other guys on HJC to chip in could you tell me how much it would cost for you to come down?
David,
Why not come up to a track day at Combe? I can teach you everything you need to know, and we are going to be testing our new car shortly so you can come out for laps in that too.
Quote from: AtomicRex;668873David,
Why not come up to a track day at Combe? I can teach you everything you need to know, and we are going to be testing our new car shortly so you can come out for laps in that too.
Tell me when and I\'ll be there
Quote from: David Wiltshire;668839Timed out so one more thing raceralexuk if I were to ask the other guys on HJC to chip in could you tell me how much it would cost for you to come down?
I prefer not to have more than four customers on one track day, otherwise I feel I\'m spreading my attention and time out too thinly. Just by nature it turns into a case of me sitting there saying "brake, turn in.. throttle, brake, turn in.. throttle" instead of getting down to the nitty details. If you\'ve had instruction with the Lotus Club that\'s usually how it turns out - more the instructors reigning you in than teaching you anything of substance.
If there are more than four of you I have willing instructor friends who could also tag along.
Shoot me an email to AHodgkinsonRacing@hotmail.co.uk (AHodgkinsonRacing@hotmail.co.uk) and I\'d be happy to tell you the cost.
Quote from: David Wiltshire;668877Tell me when and I\'ll be there
Drop me an email with your phone number and I will chat about what I can do with you. You will see a difference :)
For some reason my computer won\'t allow me to e-mail out on the links you have both provided. If you could e-mail me at david.wiltshire@btopenworld.com (david.wiltshire@btopenworld.com) then I can just click reply which I know does work thanks.
Dave, Denmead Tyres just down the road from you have four wheel laser geom equip. had mine done there about 18 months ago was about £120 irc ?
Take them the reading(s) you want and they\'ll set it to that. Nice guys there and you can watch and wait.(Best £120 you spend on the car).camber, castor and toe, front & rear all sorted.
hi i do a lot of this sort of thing so i am biased but it really is very important to optimise all of the suspension, corner speed is everything to performance on a track have a look at my site
//www.steeralign.co.uk then motorsport
brakes !!!!!!!!!!!!! fresh good fluid, and decent pads or two laps and its all over, do not understimate how hard the brakes work on the track ,
Quote from: tinker-27;669527brakes !!!!!!!!!!!!! fresh good fluid, and decent pads or two laps and its all over, do not understimate how hard the brakes work on the track ,
Spot on!
And a thorough check for ANY fluid leaks - nothing will make you less popular than dropping slippy stuff on track.
Yes, Mr Fiesta XR2, I\'m looking at you dropping all your coolant on the braking zone into the hairpin at Knockhill:Grrr
I think the re-vamped brakes should be up to it.