Members Track car discussion thread.

[NigeP]

Seems quite a few on here have track cars, how about a thread where we have a bit of info on our car and general track car discussions ?

I bought a MK2 Golf. Took it to the Ring and crashed it

Bought a shell

Stripped the original and transferred a lot of parts over, replacing others.

5 weeks later it was back at the ring.

The last 5 years have been a development of the car, all done by myself, quite a bit of trial and error but along the way I have heard LOADS
The car has done over 1,000 laps of the ring, Spa, Hockenheim and most UK circuits.

Development has been a large part of the fun

Engine failure from K-Jet injection fault

DIY Alignment

2-wheels sometimes

MANY sets of tyres & brake components

one brush with the armco

Circuit `clearance adjustments`

DIY ITB`s and Megasquirt ECU (~175HP)

Broken steering rack was exciting...

Quaife LSD

Suspension changes .
Before

After

Aero is always being modified

From proof-of-concept

To on-track removal

To the current setup.

That sums up 6 years of development in a few photos and words

What about you ? What do you drive, is it a road / track car or specific track toy ?

 

[Maccy]

Looks fantastic mate, welcome along to the forums btw

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

The golf looks awesome mate, Which MS are you running?
I'm in the process of MSing a '72 beetle using Honda VFR ITB's batch fired injection and wasted spark.

 

[Skeeter]

Wow, thats going to make my effort look pathetic now...

I drive a Clio 172 as a track toy. I bought it as a daily driver to be a bit more exciting than the Mondeo it replaced. Having moved house and job I now get the train to work so I don't need it on the road so it slowly started moving into track spec.

Fully standard when I bought it

First track day was with an almost standard car, but I did replace the brake pads and fluid. There was quite a lot of body roll . It was also done on Toyo T1R tyres :

So next up was a set of 15" wheels that came with Michelin PE2 tyres, a Whiteline ARB and some track day number plates. Back to Bedford again:

The 15" wheels gave it a comedy ride height, so it was time for some new springs (Eibach Sportlines) and Cup shocks all round. The end result was a car that was crashy and horrible on the road, but great fun on track. Good job the only real driving it does is to and from tracks. I also added the vital styling upgrades of a screwed on Skoda Fabia splitter and some rather lairy wing mirrors . Bedford for the 3rd time, and with some shiny new Federal RSR tyres. Grippy grippy!

New discs and pads after that as a pad disintegrated at 120mph at the end of the long straight! Off to Rockingham to test out the new pads. Great stopping distances, but warped another set of discs , even with my ghetto brake cooling ducts (duct tape, some ducting, and a cut up watering can ):

Then my most recent day at Castle Combe. The yellow mirrors faded so it adopted stealth mode. Another set of discs warped too!

And thats is. Its now parked up at home with no Tax, no Insurance and no MOT. The disks are warped, the front calipers are sticking, the fluid needs changing and a rear shock is leaking. It needs fixing and a good tidy up before the spring when I will be back out again. I think were planning an early Bedford day, and then I want to get over to Brands Hatch too. I just need to find the motivation to go out in the cold and fix it.

Hopefuly the GF will get used to us having 1 car and let me strip the interior too

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Great thread idea, loving the pics already

 

[NigeP]

Wow, thats going to make my effort look pathetic now...

Remember my build is over 6 years worth condensed into 1 post. My intention wasn`t to start with a `beat this`, just to give an idea of the car.

I always struggle to get past Clios on track, they are light, powerful and make a great base.

 

[Clarkey]

It's my daily driver also, not sure if it qualifies as a track car or not but I've done a couple of days in it so why not.

328i Sport individual..

Bought it.

Took it for a spin in Wales..

Decided that the Hella lights had to go, and that the Nurburgring affiliation on the standard Bilstein suspension means nothing, the car drives like a boat, had to do something with the suspension.

HSDs on

Alignment, a never ending game, I have over 10 setups on their computer now lol.

Took it and did some drifting at Santa pod, pot holes + drifting = bad times.

Wore out the tyres, decided to go for something a touch more serious while still being sensible for daily use. Yoko AD08 went on, more suspension tuning and alignment happened after this.

2 days after, I underestimated the importance of warming said tyres up, went sideways into a kerb, smashed another lower arm, driveshaft, bent subframe. All these parts were replaced and some new bushes put in.

First trackday in it, fast and sideways, lots of fun.

Brakes were useless, so in went some betters pads and fluid, these proved to be good, fade be gone, now I can stand on the brakes as deep as I dare lap after lap with no worries.

Also changed ARBs since last time, there's another thread about this saga.

I wasn't all that fond of the car to begin with, but now it's pretty capable and I love the fact that the engine is totally untouched but I can take the fight to much more potent machinery with it.

 

[HummuH1]

Corrado G60 Turbo. Did my first year of SMRC racing this year as well as many track-days, great fun.

Plans for winter are to further reduce weight and get the suspension /geometry sorted.

 

[Simon]

That Corrado looks ace


I have a old Honda S2000 that I drive everyday and its also pretty good on a track despite really being setup for bumpy country lanes that form my daily commute.

 

[sovietspybob]

Got this as my daily driver a year or so back,

Did a few track days with it pretty much standard

Munched through several sets of tyres

Got another car for daily duties so decided i could make it more focused so..

Decided i needed some better suspension

Wore out some brake pads in spectacular fashion on a local track evening...

Spent lots of time under the car

It now sits nicely and handles like a dream

One lap at my local track

I've thrashed it for almost 2 years now and its been faultless and 'im looking forward to many more track days in it!

 

[Housey]

Here's mine.

Sitting in my garage at present, needs work on it but she will be out next year. Flipping epic fun when running mind and put simply I need miles in it. So much more fun than running my expensive roads cars.

 

[Skeeter]

I really wish I wasn't to big for MX5s

Remember my build is over 6 years worth condensed into 1 post. My intention wasn`t to start with a `beat this`, just to give an idea of the car.

I always struggle to get past Clios on track, they are light, powerful and make a great base.

Clios are a popular track car, and rightly so. There is always a handful of them at pretty much any track day. Power mods are a bit pointless as the engine is already at the top end of what it can do, so the money is better spent on suspension and then fuel and tyres .

Wheres alexisonfire?

This thread is making me want to strip my interior!

 

[alexisonfire]

I forgot to pay my hosting bill, so my server is down atm = no photos online

Will post something up when its back online.

Strip it skeeter, makes the car feel sooooo much faster, better than any engine modification!

 

[Skeeter]

Theres 2 things stopping me at the moment (well, 3, if you include the GF not letting me). I can't really afford buckets, so stripping seems a bit pointless if its just the rear seats. And I quite like having the back seats and parcel shelf in to keep all my tools and things hidden if I stay over night somewhere before a track day.

I'll have a think about it.

 

[shoes]

I really wish I wasn't to big for MX5s

Too tall or too fat?

I'm tall and fat and fit in mine just dine

 

[shoes]

Here's mine.

Any idea how much weight you stripped out before adding the roll cage?

 

[Skeeter]

Too tall or too fat?

I'm tall and fat and fit in mine just dine

Both

Its my legs that are the problem, there too dam long. Having sat in a few my left leg gets jammed in between the steering wheel and the centre console meaning I cant turn the wheel and don't have the room to lift my foot on and off the clutch.

 

[Clarkey]

Both

Its my legs that are the problem, there too dam long. Having sat in a few my left leg gets jammed in between the steering wheel and the centre console meaning I cant turn the wheel and don't have the room to lift my foot on and off the clutch.

Low down seat and dished steering wheel, problem solved

 

[Skeeter]

Low down seat and dished steering wheel, problem solved

Probably, but its a lot to invest in a car before being able to use it. The best thing about the Clio was that all I needed to do to take it on track was screw the front tow eye in.

 

[alexisonfire]

Bought the car 2 years ago with no attention of actually turning it into a track car. I wanted a quick b road car, with the odd track day per year as standard. Yeah right, like that would last.......

The car when i first got it

First thing i did was get rid of the corroded stock exhaust for a scorpion RS192 decatted full system

Had the car dyno'd, it made 176bhp standard, happy with that!

Did a trackday at bedford the next day with the car completely standard. The car performed great but after getting it on track it was clear some things needed sorting before the next. The brakes were terrible on track, after 10 minutes they were cooked, brake fluid needed changing, they just felt extremely uninspiring. Next was the suspension, the car needed stiffer damping and a lower CoG. Body roll was hilarious, as was the wheel cocking.

Got some ktec racing coilovers

How the car looked after

Car got featured in a RS calender.

The standard wheels were too heavy for track stuff and the tyres far too expensive, so i got some 15" 2118's.

Gave the engine bay a quick spruce up and lick of paint

Next up was to fix the issues with the brakes. Ordered some brembo HC and DS2500 pads all round, as well as some braided hoses and high temp fluid.

The stripping got a little more serious, everything removed apart from the dash. Fitted some buckets and harnesses, the drivers seat didn't last for very long though, it was impossible to drive in on the road so replaced it with a carbon fibre imola s.

Did Snetterton, really enjoyed this track reflecting back, bomb hole and coram curve are epic fun I was running Toyo R1R, and while they were a good balance between road and track tyre, i decided i needed to get some proper track tyres.

Next got some R888, but decided to go back to the 595RSR as they performed better on the clio.
Might need changing...interesting in the wet

Car failed its MOT on worn topmounts, so i treated it to some solid spherical bearing top mounts and strut brace. Its actually connected to the coilovers unlike cheap struts that just fix to the strut tower, fantastic bit of kit.

Got rubber? Poly bushes all round and whiteline rear ARB (best thing i've done to the car btw)

Revisiting an old photo spot! Hoping for another calender feature

Car at brands hatch, car performed absolutely amazingly round this circuit in the wet, it was proper quick.
Having some fun with an E92 M3:

Bought some bits and pieces for a centre control panel (got everything just need to get it fitted now!)

Did Silverstone international, car didn't perform to well here. At the time i was only running the front solid top mounts and strut with no rear ARB. This resulted in the car understeering horribly, it was just too stiff at the front. Didn't think much of the track either, its clear its a proper F1 circuit, my car was just far too slow for this type of circuit. That didn't stop me needing to nudge M3's out the way though

Fitted some proper track pads...amazing!

Made my own induction setup ( with some inspiration )

Gave the car a major service and fitted some catcam 438's and custom remap.

Car now does this

Did a trackday at blyton park recently, fantastic little track. First outting since the cams and boy was the car good.

How the car stands at the moment

Just recently refreshed all the brakes again, next up is new suspension. Not sure if im going KW or Gaz yet!