Track Days

Discuss your favourite cars, racing or non-racing
User avatar
steelsnake00
Professional
Professional
Posts: 2136
Joined: 28 Aug 2005, 17:54
Location: Cirencester, UK

Post by steelsnake00 »

There was a signed dyno sheet posted a while back in the "what car" thread. There's also a number of images of it, though most of these are whilst it was still in respectably poor condition and before the re-spray. There was also a picture of it on the dyno which I'll try and hunt out.
As I don't have the car at the moment (coping with the new Corrado and 328iS) I can't get any more pictures until Nurburgring, if then, but I shall polish her up and present you some nice pictures of her asap!
I'm aiming to keep the outside as stock-looking as possible (besides the brakes, wheels and ride height so far) and run her as a bit of a street sleeper. There will be a new dyno graph posted as soon as she's back from MTM.
'01 Triumph TT600- Race spec everything
'94 Audi S2 Quattro- Road legal track project
User avatar
Grez~Supra_RZ-S
Valued Member
Valued Member
Posts: 3092
Joined: 02 Dec 2003, 21:46
Location: Hair Salon

Post by Grez~Supra_RZ-S »

Ill look forward to it, sounds like a bit of a monster. :)
*sig removed for being too big. limitations are 550x120px & 50kb*
Hydro_PT
NFSUnlimited Staff
NFSUnlimited Staff
Posts: 1494
Joined: 15 Nov 2007, 02:22
Location: Braga, Portugal

Re: Track Days

Post by Hydro_PT »

Finally my search on these forums gave a result. I was about to create a topic about Track Days, but since I found this really old topic, I must revive it from the past. Hope there's no problem, but I really need to share my first ever Track Day. :D

First of all, it was a free track day, so you didn't have to pay anything and could do as many laps as you wanted. Of course that being free, you would expect anyone with a car (or bike) to go there, and it happened. So the guys taking care of the track day said we couldn't go over 90 km/h on the main straight and over 70 km/h on the rest of the track. Well, that didn't happen, nobody was following the rules, everyone was trying to be faster to overtake as many cars as possible. Anyway, me and my brother drove his Volkswagen Golf III (great machine! :D ) and we started. We did about 130 km lol, and almost emptied the fuel tank. I did some 6 laps, and it's just amazing! Of course that my brother's car is not prepared for racing (almost no cars there were prepared for racing), still it was awesome to drive on the track! :D

It's really different from the normal roads, there you know you can go really fast and experience a bit of what real drivers experience without caring if there is police or pedestrians or other drivers. I was really pushing the car on the last laps, redlining it and braking late, then cornering as fast as possible. My brother did the same, so at the end his car was not in a good shape hehe, especially the brakes. :)

Unfortunately two guys crashed on the chicane (the cars were pretty much destroyed - Audi A3 and Seat Ibiza). The track was closed for the cars to be removed, and we returned home. Still, it was an amazing day that I will not forget, that's for sure. And I hope I can repeat it, even though I don't have a car that's meant to be driven in the way I drove. ;)

EDIT: This is the track btw, during the ETCC last year. Comments are in Portuguese, do don't try to understand. :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzauQeSc ... re=related
User avatar
steelsnake00
Professional
Professional
Posts: 2136
Joined: 28 Aug 2005, 17:54
Location: Cirencester, UK

Re: Track Days

Post by steelsnake00 »

The first point of call for any track-driven car is the brakes. My old S2 (mentioned earlier in this thread) was running some epic Porsche 4-pots all round, and my old CSL ran 6-pot AP's.

For the odd track day some decent lines, 5.1 fluid and fast road pads will do you, but if your hitting the track every week or two (as I was back then before my back op) you need some beefy stopping power.
'01 Triumph TT600- Race spec everything
'94 Audi S2 Quattro- Road legal track project
Hydro_PT
NFSUnlimited Staff
NFSUnlimited Staff
Posts: 1494
Joined: 15 Nov 2007, 02:22
Location: Braga, Portugal

Re: Track Days

Post by Hydro_PT »

This was really just an experience. There are more track days during the rest of the year, but you must pay, and since I don't own a car, and my brother's car is completely stock, it isn't a good idea to take it to the track. You end up ruining the entire car lol... tires, gearbox, brakes, suspension and also the engine. If you go slowly, it isn't funny or interesting, and everyone overtakes you. If you push the car (like we did), then it's great and people don't overtake you anymore, but you're also taking a street car to do something it is not supposed to do. And there's also the insurance problem. If you crash, you have to fix the car with your own money, there's no insurance money.

Track days are only good for people who has money for "good" cars, or to modify a "normal" car with better tires and brakes, at least. It's not for people like me and my brother, and for most people who was there. Those were everyday cars, that people take to work and have at home. :)

It was the first time the race track was open for everyone to go there and drive freely. I don't know if they will repeat a day like this though, since most people wasn't driving according to the imposed speed limit and there was a serious crash. I can understand the restrictions, but it doesn't make much sense to have such a nice track and don't let people go over 90 km/h on the main straight, which is almost 1000 meters long.
Post Reply

Return to “The Cars”