Track Day participation

TrackDamo

Hi All,

Do any of you attend social track days?

Looking for some experiences/stories both good and bad.

Thanks,
Damo

hi_im_fil

I've done maybe 10 trackdays over the years, both grip and drift. Well worth doing to let you learn the limits of a car. It can get quite expensive by the time you factor in towing, petrol, consumables and the cost of the trackday itself. Some were costing me the bones of 500 for the day all included.

TrackDamo

hi_im_fil wrote: »

I've done maybe 10 trackdays over the years, both grip and drift. Well worth doing to let you learn the limits of a car. It can get quite expensive by the time you factor in towing, petrol, consumables and the cost of the trackday itself. Some were costing me the bones of 500 for the day all included.

Thanks Fil.
How did you get in to it?

I'm involved in the Trackday culture, interested to see how people enter in to the scene (outside of those I know).

hi_im_fil

I was on a few car forums for years and always wanted to do a trackday. Once I had a car worthy of taking on track I kept an eye out for any trackdays coming up. Simple as that really.

shietpilot

I went to one of the Autoheroes track days for the grip session. Very cheap and very good fun

tossy

Did the 'ring in my bora (daily driver) years ago, was great fun and also the scariest thing i've ever done.

I wouldn't put a daily around the likes of Mondello though it's a very harsh track way harder on a car than the likes of the 'ring. Mondello in a track car though is some craic, i've been around it a few times in a track car. Highly recommended and i've been threatening to buy one for years but i don't have the work space or skills to maintain one and keep one.

shietpilot

tossy wrote: »

Did the 'ring in my bora (daily driver) years ago, was great fun and also the scariest thing i've ever done.

I wouldn't put a daily around the likes of Mondello though it's a very harsh track way harder on a car than the likes of the 'ring. Mondello in a track car though is some craic, i've been around it a few times in a track car. Highly recommended and i've been threatening to buy one for years but i don't have the work space or skills to maintain one and keep one.

In what way do you find Mondello harsher? The ring is fairly bumpy and the kerbs are really steep there unlike Mondello.

easygoing39

The ring has a flow to it,Mondello is all stop/start.Mondello never really gets going,as its corner into corner,even the straight isn't that long.Because of all the corners youre accelerating and then braking all the time,plus you have to use 2nd and 3 rd a lot,reving the engine hard.

I prefer Kirko as it only has the 2nd gear hairpin,but Donington is my favourite,lovely flow,and on the club circuit you only have to use 3,4 and 5 gears,very easy on the car.I've also done many a lap around Croft (again only 1 2nd gear hairpin) and C Coombe,which like Donno is 3,4 and 5 only.
I got into the scene in 1995 and did them bigtime till the money ran out in 2009.As you can see from above I don't like Mondello and so took the car mainly to the tracks I've mentioned.
Trackskills up north were great,very friendly,the days in England were the best,big BHP cars well driven and organisers who ran the trackdays better than some race meetings Ive been to.

Don't even get me started on Mondello,too expensive,always late starting and marshals who hadn't a clue.Plus do you remember you had to send in a picture of youre car before the trackday and Ian would decide whether it was "good" enough to be let enter????If you were a toser in a M3 who never did a trackday in youre life you were in,if you were me with a fully track prepared hothatch with 8 years trackday experience it was a "No".
Yes a long time ago,but I've a long memory!!!
Because of that I still find it hard to do a trackday there,although the Backroads.ie trackdays look very very good.
Rant over.

I done the trackdays for the buzz and the craic in the pits.Plus I got all the speed out of my system on track,so when on the road,even as a young lad I never acted the goat speeding around the town.In fact I never got hassle or speeding fines from the guards.

Henry Ford III

I did a few in the UK in the MkII Escort RS2000 years ago. All open pit lane airfield days. Great fun and the best way to learn advanced car control.

easygoing39

@ Lightning ,I see your a Mod so please understand I don't want to get into a verbal fight with you but if you reread my post you will see I'm well aware of what the Mondello track is like and I never mentioned drag racing!!I clearly stated why Mondello is harder on cars than the ring and went on to give examples of other tracks I've 1st hand experience of doing track days on that are also easy on the car.

As for Ian and his judgeing a car by the picture entry procedure,Mondello were only doing trackdays for about a year at this stage,I was doing trackdays 8 years,so really,I had more experience of track days than Mondello at this stage.I never had any trouble when I turned up to do trackdays in the north Ireland or the 3 tracks in England that I mentioned.In fact back in the 1990's,every car including mine had to be scrutinized before it was cleared to be let on track when we went to the English tracks.My car had passed being safe to be on track at many many trackdays over the years,yet Ian could judge by a picture that it wasn't safe for Mondello????? Give me a break will ya!!

I've been around the trackday scene since 1995,please give me some credit. Nothing I've said is untrue and Im not looking for a ban or anything.

shietpilot

LIGHTNING wrote: »

If you have seen some of the absolute pieces of junk that people bring to trackday's you will understand that a track needs some quality control. This is for the safety of others, the driver and also to look out for the track.

If Ian didn't let somebody in I would trust his judgement. He has been doing this a long time and its not about how expensive a car is either! Delays usually happen due to events outside the tracks control.

Does this still happen? I did a track day in a diesel and nobody had any issues

Jesus.

tossy wrote: »

Did the 'ring in my bora (daily driver) years ago, was great fun and also the scariest thing i've ever done.

Was that because it was a slow car and pushing it to its limit was dodgy? Like if you were driving a top end Motor built for speed, you could be going nearly twice as fast but it wouldn't feel scary???

Dartz

shietpilot wrote: »

I went to one of the Autoheroes track days for the grip session. Very cheap and very good fun

Did a grip session last December in the Rex. Though 'grip' is a bit of an oxymoron for that one. The Loop was basically a pond at that stage.

Still cooked the brakes despite the ABS or TCS taking one look at my driving after a lap and going 'Nope'.

The Autohereos were great for a taste.

tossy

Jesus. wrote: »

Was that because it was a slow car and pushing it to its limit was dodgy? Like if you were driving a top end Motor built for speed, you could be going nearly twice as fast but it wouldn't feel scary???

My bora wasn't slow lol Nor was it at it's limit.

The golden rule of places like the ring though is there is always something faster. The two things that made it most scary were Motorbikes and idiots who thought they were Racing drivers.

Jesus.

Was your Bora souped up or something Tossy? I know from pushing my own heaps to the limit down the years that they can feel pretty unstable at full speed

tossy

Jesus. wrote: »

Was your Bora souped up or something Tossy? I know from pushing my own heaps to the limit down the years that they can feel pretty unstable at full speed

Yeah it was souped up a little, right at home one the 'ring and bombing down the Autobahn at 140 mph

YbFocus

Mondello is a great technical track after my few track days, really takes patience to get fast or even near it in the technical bits
Mondello would be my first calling for anyone trying to start trackdays in Ireland!

@Dartz - Pity you were such a rolling roadblock that day

s14driftking

Yup I've done a lot of travkdays over the yrs from grip to drift. Perfer the drift to be honest. I've done Mondello bishops court and tynagh. Most important facto on any day out is setting the car up right and gearing it right. I had my road car out a few times and yes it's fun but u can't beat a proberly set up track car. Biggest problems I've ever had on track was setting my brakes on fire. For anyone thinking of doing it get out and do it it's a great experience.
The car I have for it now is the lowest powered car I've ever had on track but it's one of the most fun and best set up cars and would and has shocked a lot of more powerful cars. I haven't done s grip track day in it yet but would like to try one soon. Most of Mondello in it is think would be 3rd 4th and 5th possible6th on the main straight.

Golfgorfield

s14driftking wrote: »

Yup I've done a lot of travkdays over the yrs from grip to drift. Perfer the drift to be honest. I've done Mondello bishops court and tynagh. Most important facto on any day out is setting the car up right and gearing it right. I had my road car out a few times and yes it's fun but u can't beat a proberly set up track car. Biggest problems I've ever had on track was setting my brakes on fire. For anyone thinking of doing it get out and do it it's a great experience.
The car I have for it now is the lowest powered car I've ever had on track but it's one of the most fun and best set up cars and would and has shocked a lot of more powerful cars. I haven't done s grip track day in it yet but would like to try one soon. Most of Mondello in it is think would be 3rd 4th and 5th possible6th on the main straight.

5th or 6th on the main straight in Mondello???

What on earth are you driving???

Drummerboy08

Golfgorfield wrote: »

5th or 6th on the main straight in Mondello???

What on earth are you driving???

Something that's geared for around 120mph by the looks of it!!!

jay48

Mondello do 20 minute sessions for €30 if you want to get a taste of being on track and don't want to jump straight into a full trackday . Bring your licence a lid (you can rent one afaik) and talk to one of the instructors before you go out and they'll do a few laps with you in the passenger seat of the mazda .

Edit - reread your post - I've been doing bike trackdays for years and thought I'd have a go on four wheels . I done an octane day and the odd 20 minute session , personally I'll be sticking to the bike days , much less hassle , put petrol in and away you go , after 20 minutes in the car the clutch was slipping , the brakes were cooking . I don't mind going out for the odd 20 minute session from time to time but couldn't see myself getting a track car .

quadrifoglio verde

tossy wrote: »

My bora wasn't slow lol Nor was it at it's limit.

The golden rule of places like the ring though is there is always something faster. The two things that made it most scary were Motorbikes and idiots who thought they were Racing drivers.

Agreed, I was scared ****less on my first lap.
No amount of YouTube videos can prepare you for the ring.
The change in gradient of the track is just startling. Then you want to take the racing line but you can't because there's a stripped out e90 m3 or a 911 gt3 rs on your rear going faster. You're forced into taking the wrong line at possibly the wrong speed for that bend because something came out of nowhere. You've to constantly check your mirrors. I had a green lambo pass me on the carousel, now that was scary. However as its a German tolled road, as he was going faster I was in the wrong lane and had to get out of his way

Then you have the local in their caddy, who has drove more laps on that track than you've had dinners, they know every bend and which kerbs they can use for more speed.

Then you've got the lunatics who don't know the track but think they know it and get caught out at adenauer forest, kallenhard or brunchen. Look at every single touristenfahrten at the ring. The amount of people who go off here is just frightening

Then you've the motorcyclists and you know if you hit them, they're dead. And there's lots of them

Then you have damage to the track. A crash on the ring can set you back 4 or 5 figures and that's just ring fines etc. It could run to much much more if you crash into someone else or cause them to crash

Then you have your own car. You don't want to write it off. You want to travel home in it, or in our case to Prague and then home. You definitely don't want to join the bongard club, that's for sure

I think I drove faster on the rural French roads than I did on the ring, but Christ I'm itching to go back again
It's petrol head heaven and your 180000 mile battered Alfa can park side by side with a brand new porsche and no one bats an eye lid.
Everyone is treated as equal no matter how big their wallet. Except the idiot who closes the track. No one likes him :pac:

wonski

Did the Porsche experience at Mondello and it was fun Guys up there are sound and encouraging.
Now it is different than what the OP asked for, but Mondello is a good setup and worth a trip.

tossy

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

Agreed, I was scared ****less on my first lap.
No amount of YouTube videos can prepare you for the ring.
The change in gradient of the track is just startling. Then you want to take the racing line but you can't because there's a stripped out e90 m3 or a 911 gt3 rs on your rear going faster. You're forced into taking the wrong line at possibly the wrong speed for that bend because something came out of nowhere. You've to constantly check your mirrors

On the way up to the 'ring we met an EVO x on a flat bad coming down a total right off, on the first bend of my first lap there were yellow flags due to a car loosing fluids, there was a 911 beached on the carousel - you learn pretty quickly the 'ring can bite back. Then a few days after we left a motorcyclist was killed there Due to another idiot dumping the contents of his sump and not stopping to warn other traffic. The one thing that strikes me about the tourist videos on youtube is the amount of drivers who are first on the scene of a crash and keep driving - dreadful carry on.

You are right about doing it in your own car though, you need to get back home or finish your road trip. We did 3,300 (i think) miles in all, most of them after the 'ring. The 3 cars we had with us never missed a beat apart from a split boost pipe and a failed ignition coil.

TrailerBob

tossy wrote: »

You are right about doing it in your own car though, you need to get back home or finish your road trip. We did 3,300 (i think) miles in all, most of them after the 'ring. The 3 cars we had with us never missed a beat apart from a split boost pipe and a failed ignition coil.

That's the main issue with a road vehicle on a track, I had to put a clutch in a couple of months after doing the 'ring, and the brakes were fading like nobody's business after the 6th lap. I will be back some time, but either with a track toy, or renting a ring car.

s14driftking

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

Something that's geared for around 120mph by the looks of it!!!

ive never tried it but I'd say that's realistically around about the top speed of it as I've no speedo.

Golfgorfield wrote: »

5th or 6th on the main straight in Mondello???

What on earth are you driving???

a 180sx with a 350z engine and 6 speed gearbox with a 4.3 final drive in the diff. Brembo brakes on the front. R32 gtr on the rear. Totally stripped and caged and most panels fibre glass. Everything cut off from the rear suspension pick up points and fibre glassed with rear cage front lightened and fibreglassed. Light weight fuel cell. Every suspension part adjustable coil overs, adjustable arms, roll centre correction on the front will be changing the back over the winter and sorting roll centre on the rear too. Semi slicks on the front with a soft compound. Persplex Windows custom wiring loom. S15 dash.

Drummerboy08

If you're touching the top end of 5th gear in a saloon car down the straight it's somewhere around 115/120mph. Roughly speaking.

I'll hopefully have my race car back later this month, I'll get down to a few test days in August and get out for the last few rounds in Sept.

Jesus.

Verde you drove a battered Alfa around it and it was scary? Tossy must be right. Its obviously the nutters using the track with you that are the problem because slow cars on their own couldn't freak someone out like that. If you were on an empty track I'd say it'd be fine?

s14driftking

My car.

s14driftking

My car1.

s14driftking

My car 2.sorry I don't know how to embed pictures or get more than one photo per post.