Track day starter..

[llGARFIELDll]

Afternoon AO's

I was wandering if by any chance track day regulars or even novices could give me a second of their time to educate me slightly.

The Background:

My previous 2 cars have been of the slow (family) car genre and so having owned my Alfa 147 for a month now I am absolutely loving it. (I own an 147 2.0 TS Lusso Selespeed.)

Last year I moved to Norwich which is 5/10 miles down the road from Snetterton raceway which my colleagues at work have been trying to get me driving on various track days ever since. I now have the Alfa so will be looking to take them up on the offer.

The Questions:

1/. I look to modify the Alfa tastefully and for performance only (no lairy bodykits and big can exhausts) Should i be looking into anything in particular for my model before attending track days? Upon research it appears a good full stainless exhaust system and carbon enclosed cold feed induction kit would be a good start, am i correct?

2/. Suspension and Alloy upgrades necessary straight away? (my previous car had an awful lot of time put into its alloy / adjustable coilover suspension set up being correct, however previously for being extremely low and not for performance)

3/. Will i kill a set of tyres / brakes on a track day? will the car require a big service afterwards?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[jonnogtv]

Mate, I would say just get out there and enjoy it!!

Others might disagree with me here, my track day experience is limited to a few laps of the Nurburgring, but.......

My opinion is that nothing is really necessary as long as your car is in good condition and has been well maintained. Obviously there are upgrades you can do to your car to make it better on the track but as for most people money is the big deciding factor! Also weather or not you will be using the car on the road or just having it a a track day toy.

For me upgrading the brakes would be my first port of call. Standard pads will fade pretty quickly under hard braking and before you know it you will be hurtling towards a corner with your brake pedal to the floor and the car will have no intention of stopping! There are plenty of threads about brake choice on here so have a look through and decide for yourself.

The next thing I you could do is buy a set of lightweight alloys and fit semi slick tyres (like toyo r888's) You could just throw these on when you are heading to the track.

After this the sky is the limit and the amount of money you want to spend is the only limiting factor!!

[llGARFIELDll]

Originally Posted by jonnogtv

Mate, I would say just get out there and enjoy it!!

Others might disagree with me here, my track day experience is limited to a few laps of the Nurburgring, but.......

My opinion is that nothing is really necessary as long as your car is in good condition and has been well maintained. Obviously there are upgrades you can do to your car to make it better on the track but as for most people money is the big deciding factor! Also weather or not you will be using the car on the road or just having it a a track day toy.

For me upgrading the brakes would be my first port of call. Standard pads will fade pretty quickly under hard braking and before you know it you will be hurtling towards a corner with your brake pedal to the floor and the car will have no intention of stopping! There are plenty of threads about brake choice on here so have a look through and decide for yourself.

The next thing I you could do is buy a set of lightweight alloys and fit semi slick tyres (like toyo r888's) You could just throw these on when you are heading to the track.

After this the sky is the limit and the amount of money you want to spend is the only limiting factor!!

Thats the third or fourth time I have heard the Toyo 888's quoted for me as a reccomendation. Will have to look into these.

Im currently looking to buy some lightweight alloys at the moment but im struggling to find the style of alloy i want in a lightweight 5x100/5x98 fitment!!

Thanks for the reply

[LJ_GTA]

Trackdays are great fun quite a few of us done a taster session at brands hatch in january and we all really enjoyed it before you go spending a load of money on doing things to your car (this is what i done anyway) have a 'health check' done on your car so you can make sure there's nothing wrong/worn out before you start (wouldnt want to damage the car in any way) then go for a blast around the track and see what your car is like to start off with & then you can see for yourself what you would like to change on it to improve it. Also that way you will notice the changes and can justify spending money on the car depending how you will drive on the 1st time you may want to makes sure the brakes can cope with the abuse you will give them, i did get a bit of fade but gave them less of a beating on the next few corners so they could cool a bit and that helped. It does get a bit worrying when the middle pedal doesnt do what its supposed to

Ill have a look for the pictures thread from when we done it

[llGARFIELDll]

Originally Posted by LJ_GTA

Trackdays are great fun quite a few of us done a taster session at brands hatch in january and we all really enjoyed it before you go spending a load of money on doing things to your car (this is what i done anyway) have a 'health check' done on your car so you can make sure there's nothing wrong/worn out before you start (wouldnt want to damage the car in any way) then go for a blast around the track and see what your car is like to start off with & then you can see for yourself what you would like to change on it to improve it. Also that way you will notice the changes and can justify spending money on the car depending how you will drive on the 1st time you may want to makes sure the brakes can cope with the abuse you will give them, i did get a bit of fade but gave them less of a beating on the next few corners so they could cool a bit and that helped. It does get a bit worrying when the middle pedal doesnt do what its supposed to

Ill have a look for the pictures thread from when we done it

Thats great thanks, I recently had the car checked as being a reasonably new car I wanted to make sure, the cambelt needed doing so I had this done on the warranty from the garage but now its all running well!! (Very well - I love it!)

I think I need to take it on a track day standard then judging by what people are saying.

[LJ_GTA]

The other good thing about trackdays is you can go as fast or slow as you like and as long as you let faster cars overtake then nobody gets annoyed etc. Heres the photo thread of brands hatch

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/meets...01-2011-a.html

(Im no trackday expert BTW, ive only done this 1 )

[llGARFIELDll]

Originally Posted by LJ_GTA

The other good thing about trackdays is you can go as fast or slow as you like and as long as you let faster cars overtake then nobody gets annoyed etc. Heres the photo thread of brands hatch

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/meets...01-2011-a.html

(Im no trackday expert BTW, ive only done this 1 )

thanks for the pictures, nice to see some Alfas on track, ive recently been looking at the 147cup photos they look ace!!

The Alfa Blue shown in those photos is beautiful!! cant wait to get mine having a go!!

The only experience ive had to date of on track driving are the 6 ""supercars"" ive taken out on track of which I loved the Lambourghini hence the love of the selespeed gearbox by the end of the first day (of 3) I had pretty much got to a comfortable stage so that i could drive those cars hard and test myself!

[SediciRich]

Brakes and Tyres,
Brakes and tyres

Written twice for a reason, ignore any engine changes except an oil change before. Most stories I hear of novices on track with road cars is the brakes failed, usually due to old brake fluid or pads that are not suitable for the heat. Any high performance race brake fuild will do, and ferodo DS2500 pads, dont be fooled by drilled and grooved discs you dont need them, the pads make the difference.

Tyres R888, or silverstone tyres trackday tyres. Get another set of OE alfa wheels smallest that will fit your car (smaller tyres cost less), you dont need any aftermarket alloys, a good set of used alfa rims will do the job.

[llGARFIELDll]

Originally Posted by SediciRich

Brakes and Tyres,
Brakes and tyres

Written twice for a reason, ignore any engine changes except an oil change before. Most stories I hear of novices on track with road cars is the brakes failed, usually due to old brake fluid or pads that are not suitable for the heat. Any high performance race brake fuild will do, and ferodo DS2500 pads, dont be fooled by drilled and grooved discs you dont need them, the pads make the difference.

Tyres R888, or silverstone tyres trackday tyres. Get another set of OE alfa wheels smallest that will fit your car (smaller tyres cost less), you dont need any aftermarket alloys, a good set of used alfa rims will do the job.

Do you work for National brakes and tyres lol only joking, thanks for the advice!

[will01]

i have heard that 888's are very hard to get hold of now, and is it right there are only a couple of suppliers in the uk now?
i heard apparently a special license is needed to sell them or some sort???

but anyway yes from my experience on track tyres No.1, then brakes, good service, best way to make a good track car is make a reliable one (harder than you might think)
only then would i take the car to the next step ie cage, suspension inc arb's etc

but the main ting is to have fun

[llGARFIELDll]

I really appreciate everyones help with this one, the car has recently been serviced and on reflection I think now that a few items such as brake fluid and oil could have been upgraded before driving the car hard but we will see. Im looking forward to experiencing track time in my own car rather than a "supercar" and I look forward to posting pictures for you all

Thanks again

[LJ_GTA]

Good luck, hope you enjoy it

[SediciRich]

Originally Posted by llGARFIELDll

Do you work for National brakes and tyres lol only joking, thanks for the advice!

Ha ha, no just raced and done plenty of trackdays. Think demon tweeks more then National will be the course. Have fun!!

[Pud237]

Originally Posted by SediciRich

Brakes and Tyres,
Brakes and tyres

+1

[E500 TAT]

Originally Posted by will01

i have heard that 888's are very hard to get hold of now, and is it right there are only a couple of suppliers in the uk now?
i heard apparently a special license is needed to sell them or some sort???

but anyway yes from my experience on track tyres No.1, then brakes, good service, best way to make a good track car is make a reliable one (harder than you might think)
only then would i take the car to the next step ie cage, suspension inc arb's etc

but the main ting is to have fun

Just to clarify as this is the internet and some people take all as gospel, it's not hard to get hold of 888's and you do not need a licence to sell them.

Toyo at one time would let anyone (trade) have an account with them and this lead to everyman and his dog selling them, undercutting everyone else' dog. i used to buy mine from reyland motorsport, he'd take your money, order the tyres and have them sent direct to your home address, making little profit but moving quite a few tyres.

So toyo had a cull and appointed just 10 dealers nationwide to sell them, put the prices up so they were the same price everywere and that was about this time last year.

There are new laws about to come in, 2012 i think were tyres will have to have some kind of noise rating for enviromental purpouses (sp) and it's doubtfull the 888's will pass this so it may be difficult to buy them after that, unless they are for 'off road use', that'll probably be how they'll get around it, it'll probably be 'not ok' to sell them but still legal to 'use them' sort of thing.

[will01]

coolio, i only asked as i been into a few local tyre suppliers and all have said the same thing?
i was enquiring for my wee cousins and their track car

[George K]

I had heard that although 888 and their like are road legal at present, they may fail proposed new EU regulations relating to standing water and aquaplaning. Where this puts them in terms of MSA rules, I don't know - at present they are list 1B.