Rachel wrote:Re: Track days
by Rachel » Wed May 10, 2017 5:41 pm
Very interested Ade, pretty flexible on dates too. What's involved?? Never done a track day before.
I'm sorry my first post wasn't very informative and rather brusque, I had written a much better one but because I'd been doing it on and off between other things, by the time I hit 'submit', my login had timed out and I lost the bloody lot
![Angry or In a Bad Mood :badmood:](./images/smilies/angry2.gif)
Hence the short, to the point replacement
Anyway, track days
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Your first one eh? What a car to do it in, you have a nice track driving 480 and I promise you it'll be quick if you drive it well
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
I wasn't so fortunate my first time but always wanted to take the 480 on track ever since I bought it and although unfortunately I never did it in my beloved blue one, the running gear has lived on to kick ass another day in this rescued one and has now had all the work and done the business, as will the old 480 one day with the Saab powertrain and you just know that's going to rule the circuit, playing with the big boys
So, onto business... All the aforementioned sessions are what's known as 'open pit lane' format, which means that once track time commences, you are free to go out and come in as you please, you can spend as much or as little time on track as you want. Trackdays are not, by their nature, competitive and timing and blatant racing are not permitted, although a little cat and mouse action is inevitable and great fun if kept in the right spirit. Everyone is there to have fun, there are normally rules about not overtaking during corners and such to keep it as safe as possible, overtaking is normally by consent of the driver in front and on a straight, if someone's been hanging off your bumper for a while, it's time to let them past. All this type of stuff will be explained in a briefing beforehand anyway.
You turn up an hour or two before you go out and register, produce your driving licence, sign a disclaimer and then onto briefing. There will normally be an opportunity to rent a garage in the pits, if there were two or more of us then this wouldn't cost much between us and we would have somewhere to leave things. I will certainly have some tools and may bring some different wheels too and you don't want unnecessary weight or clutter in the car so having a basecamp garage is a good thing. Strip the boot out and leave it all in the garage as well, added lightness = speed
Before going out on circuit there will usually be a few sighting laps at a steady pace behind a lead car to get your eye and your racing line in, after that, you're good to go
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Go and burn some rubber
![Hopping Happily :hopping:](./images/smilies/hopping.gif)
It's addictive and although the 480 is not going to be the fastest car out there, nor will it disappoint, it's gonna surprise a lot of people and your gonna have great fun doing it, the handling of a lowered 480 on track is sublime, lovely balance and still predictable and manageable on the edge of grip.
The most important thing to ensure that it is a fun day, apart from not crashing
![Nuts :nuts:](./images/smilies/nuts3.gif)
, is to make sure the car is well prepared to receive a bloody good hiding
The last thing you want is car trouble, especially if you're driving home in it
A major service should be carried out beforehand, a good quality 15w40 fully synthetic oil such as that used in the VAG 1.9TDI engine would be ideal. I read something in the books that James brought along that confirmed this was the right thing to do for "extreme driving applications" or something like that...
Gear oil wouldn't hurt if it hasn't been done for a while and the level should be checked.
Spark plugs and ignition system should be tip top, as should all other critical systems such as cooling. An easy win here is to take the nosecone off and jet wash the intercooler and the rad out so you get maximum efficiency from them while they're not caked in crap. A flush out of the cooling system and new coolant wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Fuel should ideally be 98RON or higher, you know, like Vpower. The expensive stuff
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/laugh.gif)
This will reduce the risk of knock when the engine is operating near its limits. Don't mix it with regular juice, drive it empty then put a full tank of super juice in
Brake fluid should be renewed and the brakes well bled, pads and discs should have a decent amount of meat on them, perfect world, get some nice expensive high spec ones but it just depends how far you want to go, be warned though, my solid discs cooked pretty quick out there despite being drilled and grooved and on fresh fluid although your later vented ones will be better I daresay, the car will be more than capable of outdriving its brakes if you push it hard enough. You have been warned
The only other thing to mention really I think is crankcase breathing. This is important. I fell victim to complacency with the breather setup on my engine and did not consider the ramifications of it's failure
We all know the breather setups are fragile on these cars but mine had never caused any problem and so I had never really paid it any heed so it was just totally off my radar until I realised that my newly rebuilt engine was pissing oil everywhere. I do believe that the cam cover gasket has been the weak link and seems to be the main source of oil, hopefully the pressure escaped through here and the other seals and gaskets survived. I need to get a new one soon and then see if any more oil comes back
With hindsight, the thing to do is to do what I've done as a temporary fix after the event, before you bollocks up the valve and then replace the working valve afterwards, which is to say, remove the valve on the oil separator, plug the hose to the manifold (this way boost pressure can't go near the crankcase) and reroute the breathing permanently to the compressor intake. You can put it back to normal afterwards or better still, uprate it somehow. In normal operation this valve allows breathing direct to the manifold during vacuum conditions, light load, idling etc. and reroutes it to the turbo intake in boost conditions, so as not to pressurise the crankcase.
The disadvantage of this is that you get more oil deposits in the inlet tract when breathing is like this, hence why, under vacuum (which in normal driving is a lot of the time) it puts the breathing straight to the manifold, no oil in the rest of the tract. When on track, most of your time will (or bloody ought to
![Twisted Evil :twisted:](./images/smilies/icon_twisted.gif)
) be spent under boost conditions and so, in normal operation, the valve should breath the crankcase to the compressor intake anyway, so take it out the equation so as not to damage it and oil seals in the process and temporarily divert the breathing solely to compressor inlet for your time on track.
Good tyres will help, be prepared to lose A LOT of rubber off them, especially if we go for a full day, spare set of wheels is never a bad shout on a track day.
Finally and most importantly of all, make sure it's shiny
I am happy to help or advise with any car preparations before a track day meet and could also offer to host a 'workshop meet' before the event if there was any interest, I'm sure I can find room for one or two extra 480's for a few hours so we can play with them
Almost forgot! Helmets! Mandatory! Motorcycle helmet is fine, that's what I use, if you haven't got or can't borrow one, you'll be able to hire one on the day for about £20.