Soldato
I’ve seen full days for £700/day! Madness.
2023 Track Day Thread
- Thread starter MrKnifey
- Start date
Think my first track day of the year and first in the Caterham.
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Caterham 420R on Track at a Very Wet Curborough Sprint Course
First track day of 2023 and also my first track day in my newly acquired "Peppermint" Caterham 420R. The car is completely stock with Avon ZZS tyres. The ven...
youtu.be
Generally just take it easy and enjoy the day
Start off slow, too many people go out immediately after the sighting laps and bin it, so start of just taking everything really easy to get into the day/track smoothly, any pushing can be done later on.Look in your mirrors! Faster cars approaching can cause issues, but also remember that it's on them to pass safely on the straights, don't try and jump out their way but be aware of their presence.
Combe in general is pretty fast but also fairly simple, Quarry is the one that catches most out but it's not so much Quarry which is pretty simple but Avon Rise/the left kink beforehand, get out of shape there and you've not got much room to sort it out before Quarry, so just take that bit easy, simple... When I started out I was braking a decent amount on the uphill before turning left so I could coast over the crest/through the kink before braking into Quarry, it's only a fair bit later I started upping the speed into/over the crest/kink. Also beware Tower as it's off camber, fantastic corner, my favourite on the track, but worth noting the camber!
Soldato
Generally just take it easy and enjoy the day
Look in your mirrors! Faster cars approaching can cause issues, but also remember that it's on them to pass safely on the straights, don't try and jump out their way but be aware of their presence.
Great advice - Just to add a few little extras @M1k3H -
If you want to move out of the way just use your indicators for a second before you move over so others know what you're doing.
Check your car over for correct fluid levels (and have spare with you), tight wheel bolts/nuts, brake pad levels, tyre pressure/wear etc all before you start your first lap and then make sure you recheck them a few times through-out the day but especially after lunch before you start again and after you finish for the day before you drive home as numerous hot/cold cycles can loosen things (happened to me).
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That looks great, sadly I won't be back up in May but definitely something to consider.
That's awesome, thanks very much. Only half an hour or so far away too.
Associate
Snetterton on Friday was very wet, good time out in the car though. First time on track in 5 years so it was nice to finally be out again!
Brands Hatch on Monday was lovely weather, cool and sunny all day. Bit nervous at Paddock Hill initially, but really enjoyed it once I started pushing - rear of the car just moving around a bit.
Improved throughout the day, but only got to 0.9s faster than my 3rd lap (1st without traffic) - so seem to start quickly! Video of best lap here
Ignore the gear gauge, is right for 1/2 and part of 3rd, but then too high, so need to tweak that sometime (and improve a few other bits).
Just need to have a slightly higher entry speed into a few of the corners and carry that extra speed around the lap, it'll come with time in the car and increased confidence though I'm sure
Brands Hatch on Monday was lovely weather, cool and sunny all day. Bit nervous at Paddock Hill initially, but really enjoyed it once I started pushing - rear of the car just moving around a bit.
Improved throughout the day, but only got to 0.9s faster than my 3rd lap (1st without traffic) - so seem to start quickly! Video of best lap here
Just need to have a slightly higher entry speed into a few of the corners and carry that extra speed around the lap, it'll come with time in the car and increased confidence though I'm sure
Don't forget to empty your car of any crap in the boot, seats, door pockets, glove box etc you don't want stuff rattling and flying around.
If they offer tuition on the day then take it.
Soldato
Been a busy winter but the car is back from mapping and ready for it's first outing of the year on Sunday at Blyton.
As a summary of the winter work:
Fabricated a new turbo manifold
Re-did all of the oil/coolant lines, downpipe and boost pipe due to the new manifold moving the turbo
Re-did the chargecooler mounting (Old setup was over engineered and too heavy)
Installed a new ECU (Haltech Elite 1500) including rewiring basically everything rearward of the dashboard
Converted to coil on plug and DBW throttle
New fuel rail, injectors and pressure regulator
All new sensors in the engine bay
Even found time to tart up the cam covers
As a summary of the winter work:
Fabricated a new turbo manifold
Re-did all of the oil/coolant lines, downpipe and boost pipe due to the new manifold moving the turbo
Re-did the chargecooler mounting (Old setup was over engineered and too heavy)
Installed a new ECU (Haltech Elite 1500) including rewiring basically everything rearward of the dashboard
Converted to coil on plug and DBW throttle
New fuel rail, injectors and pressure regulator
All new sensors in the engine bay
Even found time to tart up the cam covers
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I will be at Donington tomorrow with Lotus-On-Track, do come say hello if anyone else is going! It's the national layout not GP which I'm quite looking forward to, not tried it yet and also removes those huge heavy braking zones so should be a bit kinder on the car/wallet.
Been a busy week or so for me, I done the City Car Cup Round 1 at Snetterton, had three 3rd place finishes.
Then we went to Brands Hatch, weekend just gone for the first Audi TT Cup Racing series race ever, unknown car, hardly any experience around the Track, managed to Qualify 1st, Win Race 1 with Fastest lap and 2nd Place Race 2!!
Then we went to Brands Hatch, weekend just gone for the first Audi TT Cup Racing series race ever, unknown car, hardly any experience around the Track, managed to Qualify 1st, Win Race 1 with Fastest lap and 2nd Place Race 2!!
Associate
Been a busy week or so for me, I done the City Car Cup Round 1 at Snetterton, had three 3rd place finishes.
Then we went to Brands Hatch, weekend just gone for the first Audi TT Cup Racing series race ever, unknown car, hardly any experience around the Track, managed to Qualify 1st, Win Race 1 with Fastest lap and 2nd Place Race 2!!
Good work!
Had my first race on Sunday, EnduroKa at Silverstone National. Qualified 19/41, got in for the last stint somewhere around 28th and ended up 21st 1.5 hours later, with our fastest lap of the race too. Very happy with how it all went, now a 2 month wait until Cadwell Park.... that's going to be very different to drive!
Fastest lap in race
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Soldato
KA does have the aero of a rock I suppose.
How many people are you doing it with?
How many people are you doing it with?
Associate
3 of us are the permanent team, then a guest driver each round (several for the 12h) - mainly the people who did it last year (useful to compare against!) but some others too
Soldato
Weather is looking questionable for The Ring next week. I certainly don't have the skill or experience to drive fast around that place in the wet (or in the dry, truth be told), so fingers crossed for a dry track.
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Soldato
Sorry about a load of questions. I've been looking at this with a few friends.
What's your budget roughly for the year for this and do you run the car yourselves or with a team?
Associate
No problem, happy to answer anything I can! I'm very lucky in that it's being done through work as a marketing event, and is costing me nothing apart from buying my own kit! Car is being run by a team who build and run multiple cars in the series.
From what I've heard, for an 'arrive and drive' in a 5h race you're looking at around £4.5k between 3 of you, but not completely sure.
Soldato
Just did TF on Tuesday and Weds evening at the Nurburgring.
Tuesday was 30% chance of rain and overcast, but it stayed dry apart from about 30 seconds of rain in one area.
I think that this overcast weather kept people away because it was wonderfully quiet (for TF) and I did my fastest lap which was 9:32. I'm surprised that the photographers managed to snap me lol.
Wednesday was a different story, it was sunny and the place was packed. I waited until we were about 30 minutes into the session before going out for my first lap and it was heaving, I stayed on for my second lap but rounded the first couple of twisties after the Carousel to find a car on its roof and a photographer waving a jumper at me, it must've literally just happened.
So that was that, track closed and ambulances zooming along the long straight in the opposite direction to the usual way to get to the crash site.
Tuesday was 30% chance of rain and overcast, but it stayed dry apart from about 30 seconds of rain in one area.
I think that this overcast weather kept people away because it was wonderfully quiet (for TF) and I did my fastest lap which was 9:32. I'm surprised that the photographers managed to snap me lol.
Wednesday was a different story, it was sunny and the place was packed. I waited until we were about 30 minutes into the session before going out for my first lap and it was heaving, I stayed on for my second lap but rounded the first couple of twisties after the Carousel to find a car on its roof and a photographer waving a jumper at me, it must've literally just happened.
So that was that, track closed and ambulances zooming along the long straight in the opposite direction to the usual way to get to the crash site.
Soldato
First sprint of the season at the weekend at Blyton Park. I was a little overcommitted into the final corner on my last run but still managed to set a PB
