Booked the Eunos in for a day at Bedford Autodrome on 15 July. Looking forward to it though I’m slightly nervous now! Any tips for preparing the car and myself?
there are a few slots just come up at Blyton http://store.mx5oc.co.uk/tickets–events-29-c.asp
Could do a lot worse than head over to the event and take some laps with an instructor or with professional drivers?
Plenty of advice in the Motorsport and trackday preperation section.
if its something specific feel free to ask.
or as Ian says come to Blyton as a good introduction.
Alan
I won’t pretend to be an expert but I’ve done a handful of track days so here are a couple of things:
See if you can borrow a suitable lid from someone if you don’t already have your own, borrowed ones from tracks and track day companies aren’t always very nice…
Fill up your tank before you get there, if you can buy fuel on site it’ll be expensive!
Book some tuition with an instuctor if it’s available - they’ll tell you when to put your foot down and keep it down, when to hit the brakes and when to turn into corners. I would say that to get the best value out of an instructor, do a few laps on your own to get to know the track a bit before heading out with the instructor first so that you aren’t having to deal with too much completely new stuff in one go.
Most importantly relax and enjoy yourself even it is nerve wracking - that’s probably part of the reason most of us enjoy it - it’s a rush!
Most important things: tyres & fluids.
Check that you’re tyres are in good condition and correctly inflated (but not overinflated).
Check your oil and water before you go out and during the day. And take plenty of liquid for yourself - you’ll dehydrate more than you think while driving. Make sure you have a full tank of petrol - IIRC you can’t get your car out of the paddock except at lunchtime, and the petrol station is away from the paddock.
Plenty of material left on your brake pads too.
I hope I’m not too late but Bedford is a great choice of first trackday as there is good visibility, it’s a wide circuit and plenty of smooth run-off. As a general rule of thumb (keeping it simple), I would do the following:
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Watch youtube videos of the circuit before you go - sighting laps go quickly and you don’t want to be watching your mirrors and trying to learn the circuit on the day. The GT circuit is long.
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Check tyre pressures (and leave at standard PSI - don’t stress about letting air out/putting more in for a first day)
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Check wheel nut tightness
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Check oil and coolant levels
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Brim the fuel tank close to the circuit
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Listen really carefully at the briefing - overtaking rules etc and keep your stints short and check your guages/warning lights on the main straight once a lap.
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Drink plenty of water through the day
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Take an extra £50 and pay for tuition. This will be really really worthwhile - split the sessions - one early in the day, the other later on.
Enjoy. I spun on my third corner of my first ever trackday - build up to it rather than go for a qualifying lap…
Thanks to everyone for the help.
Had such a great day today. I thought the day was incredibly well organised and the track itself is brilliantly well kept, wide and has lots of runoff.
Spent the morning just finding out way round (sorry if I got in your way) but after having some tuition felt far more competitive and ended up pleased with our performance.
The car didn’t skip a beat either after 120 miles on track. Not bad for a 21 year old 1600.
I do most certain need new rear tyres though but they were pretty shot anyway.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Plans for more?
Out of interest, is this a track with a nice Tarmac surface or is there some concrete? Just interested in terms of tyre wear and tear.
Hi
Most of the track is Tarmac but there is a fair bit of concrete run off particularly towards the pits. It’s not too bad though. My rear tires too a beating but the brakes were far worse!
And did you come to see me?