Hi there. Last night I received an email, as I’m sure most of you did, about the mx5 OC track day at Blyton Park.
I’ve been looking at doing a track day there for a while, and thought it’d be a great place to try my first day. Then I saw the cost…
The track day itself costs ~£150, which is pretty standard, not a problem. It’s the incurred costs that are slightly eye watering.
I’ve got a completely stock MK2.5 with the standard brakes (not sport). Before doing this I’d need to get these things from my “shopping list”:
Some track pads (£120 roddisons all round)
A spare wheel (not a space saver) in the event that I blow a tyre and want to continue my day (~£50)
1.5 tanks of fuel (~£100)
All these items would take me to £420 including the track day.
Then there’s the risk of damage to the car. Just to give some context , I bought the car for £2k as a daily driver and have just spent £5k getting it completely derusted (inner and out sills, inner and outer rear wheel arches and some surface rust on the outer wing). So I’m £7k deep.
I don’t really want to write off my car and lose £7k, so I looked into insurance. Seems that it’ll cost me about £70, plus admin fee of £30. That’s with an insane excess, so by the time I’ve paid enough for the excess to be reasonable, it’s ~£150.
By this point I’m spending £570 on one track day. I really want to do a track day but this just seems extreme. I could forgo insurance, but then if I write off my car I’ll be £7k down, and I’ll still be paying £420 for one day. I don’t know if I’m being massively over prepared with my “shopping list” or if this really is the cost of track day fun.
If anyone has any advice/thoughts on if insurance is worth it or if I really need to buy all the stuff on my “shopping list” then please let me know.
If you use man maths, your new pads are required anyway (so are not a track day cost). no need for “track pads” if this is your first time
Same for spare wheel.
1.5 tanks of fuel is going some unless that includes getting to and from the track?
I’ve never understood why people think they will crash on a track day. Build up your pace slowly and you’ll be fine. Or arrange for an instructor to go out with you.
PS - you forget to put tyre warmers on your shopping list
Last year I took mine around Blyton on three parts worn, 6-y-o tyres, stock brakes and pads. The only concession I made was investing just under a tenner on a brake fluid tester to check I had no moisture content to boil up.
You don’t crash your car driving on crowded motorways or careering round diesel soaked roundabouts, so you shouldn’t be binning it at Blyton. Besides, they have done some resurfacing which I am told has improved grip.
Ten or fifteen minute spells won’t over stress a well maintained, stock MX-5. Blyton is a good place to dip your toe in the water. The same for sprint courses like Curborough.
Thought I might be being overkill . I suppose especially as it’s an mx5 OC only day, I’m not going to have the local fiesta ST driver thinking he’s the second coming of Ayrton Senna sending it and crashing into me either. Thanks for the advice man:+1:
Track days are not races. If you want to reenact Stroll, and put it in the barrier, you will need a different circuit as Blyton has precious little barrier and if you do put it in the field you might be able to negotiate a wage off the farmer for ploughing their field for them.
In general, relative to the number of thousands of completed laps on a track day, people actually leaving the tarmac is very, very small. Even if there were 10 red flags because of this, and I have never run an event where there have been 10 red flags, then the percentage of errors would still be in the fractions of 1%.
Of those red flags, the majority are people having mechanical issues, from running out of fuel to bits falling off. Then would be people falling off the track. Finally you come to the very small percentage of problems that actually involve people leaving the track and making contact with something hard, and as I say in most briefings, don’t let it be you. This is a very small number. Certain circuits, due to their nature have higher inherent danger that others, but Blyton is not one of them. While there have bee crashes at Blyton, the last one I can remember is pre Covid when a Renault Megane had suspension failure. Finally, we come to the Fiesta ST driver crashing into you. Surprising as it is to many, even Fiesta ST drivers value their vehicles and don’t want them damaged. In the 16 years I have been running track day events I can think of only 3 instances when car to car contact occurred and none of them resulted in any car leaving the circuit and having a “crash” Overall incidences are really very rare.
To the point of wear and brakes. MX-5’s are light on tyres and brakes. On first track days you not driving fast. You may think you are, but there will be plenty left in the car. 8 laps at a time is fine. As long as there is life in those parts at the start, there will be life left at the end.
Track Day insurance is generally based on car value and will have a 10% excess. The difference however is that it is First Party. So it is to replace the value of your car, less the excess, pretty much however the damaged is caused, as long is it is on track and not deliberate. There is also very few issues on payout or the speed of that since you are not trying to ascertain liability or hoping for a courtesy car or anything. It is however derived form motorsport insurance and so assumes you will recover your own vehicle. Of the very small number that do damage cars, significant damage is even rarer and so unless you have an expensive car, it is rarely worth it since putting a wing and headlight on an MX-5 rarely exceeds the excess.
My experience and I’ve done a few -I am in Essex so Brands or Snetterton are my go to’s. Make sure your brake pads are decent. Worst thing is to get there and discover they are nearly worn out. You don’t have to drive like a nutter. If you can, try and book a no trailer day. That ensures other people will be bringing cars they intend to drive home and will treat them accordingly. Unfortunately despite all the rules you still get some race teams who have no respect for the average joe.
Download an app called Lap Trophy. You can log your lap times on your phone and see how to improve.
Depending how tall you are you might find your helmet rubs against the roof which is annoying but I’ve found with the roof down at Snetterton, the top speed on the back straight is about 5mph slower.
If its an open track day be prepared to be one of the slowest cars there and drive accordingly. Amongst others I have been on track with an AMG Merc GT3 class, capable of 200mph, and one day Rick Parfitt junior was testing his Infiniti touring car. If available book a garage. Outside in the rain isn’t much fun. Usually three of us go and book a double garage.
Try not to kill the car. At Snetterton I will typically do an outlap, 2 fast laps, then a cooling down in lap. Novice track days give you times you can drive. Open pit lane days means you can venture out as often or as little as you like.
One day is expensive yes, but if you do 2/3 those pads and tyres will also do those days. Track days are 100% worth it in my opinion, be careful they get addictive and you will be wanting semi slicks, big brake kits, and more power soon enough . Check out my build page if your interested in track modification.
If you have any doubt about that it maybe worth your while spending a day doing an MSV course in someone elses car with an instructor with you. You’ll quickly find your strengths and weaknesses and above all wether you enjoy driving on track. It will give you a much better idea on weather you think it is worth keeping your car in A1 condition to take advantage of these opportunities and what sort of driver you are and the risks you are likely to encounter and or be vulnerable to. Have fun what ever you choose. Driving Experiences | BMW M4 Master From £135 | MSV
You’re not entering Le Mans , you’re driving briskly round a road with which you will become increasingly familiar. It’s one way , there’s no pedestrians, there’s no roadside furniture and traffic is light .
Keep your eyes open , build up speed gradually, nobody will laugh at you for being slow - JFDI and stop overthinking it .
Some track day warriors strut around like they’re Lewis in Q3 but pick your venue and organiser and you will be among kindred spirits . My experience was entirely in Sevens and while I dabbled in silly tyres and other upgrades I soon realised that the only thing holding me up was me - and while I could be reliably brisk I was never properly fast . Those who treat track days as poundshop racing can be a PITA on badly organised days .
Me too. My aim was always to better my best ever time but whatever I did to the car I was often slower. Theres about 13 turns at Snetterton. You would think “right I just need to do improve by 1 second at a time”, but if you get one turn slightly wrong youve blown it. Makes it even more amazing how these F1 guys can drive within thousands of each other lap after lap. If the sun shines its a nice relaxing day out.
I echo that , if at a much lower level. I was disgustingly pleased with myself for once having punted my Seven round Croft faster than a fire breathing and race winning Shelby Mustang (with at least 400bhp under the …err hood ) . Until I realised that a mate in Caterham Graduate series was lapping several seconds faster than me - on crappy tyres and with 60 bhp less . Ah well …
Yeah why not. You can keep your phone in your pocket. The btcc car had a crew of 5 or 6 guys in the garage with a bank of monitors. Car was plugged into a lap top every time it came in.
Yeah. Why should they get to know how to improve their driving and not us plebs?
I haven’t lived as long as I have by driving faster and faster until I crash.
Firstly, because they don’t stay in pockets very long. The internet is awash with track day video’s with live timers, Garmin Catalyst, Race Logic and loads of others running in their car. And while I don’t expect Dan from Adrian Flux to respond, it would interesting to hear the insurance industries view and also that of Loss Adjusters that scour social media of people that are making claims.
Secondly, then that timing is exactly what leads many to become the aggressive drivers that is being moaned about here.
But thirdly and most importantly, the OP is talking about their first ever track day. The very last thing they need is to be thinking about lap times.
Some 10 plus years ago, there was a club member on this forum who was obsessed with lap time to the point that he converted his car into full MK1 Max5 / Ma5da race car spec, convincing himself it was the car that gave the time. On the very first lap (might have been the second) of the first running of the car on track, he crashed it very heavily at Cadwell Park. Track drivers need to understand how their inputs affect the car, hands, feet and eye coordination, forward visibility and position on track before the slightest worry about lap times should enter their head.
And overarching all of this, there are potential massive criminal and civil issues for TDO’s, especially if there is a serious incident, if they are known to have been allowing, so turning a blind eye, to live lap timing. So any TDO worth their salt should be sending drivers home if they see a live lap timer in the car.
A slightly oblique anecdote - I used to do Run Wot Yer Brung with my Sevens and fell into conversation with a young lad with a modified Civic . He was agonising about needing to spend even more money to beat his PB quarter mile time .He couldn’t believe a funny little sportscar with only 160 bhp (lots less than his car) was as fast as it was. Cue my explaining Chapman’s ‘add lightness’ mantra. I looked into his car and noticed the large toolbox and other stuff in the back. I asked him if he wanted to improve his power to weight ratio for nothing…
Fair enough Nick but that would be kicking out most race teams. Do you think they go there and don’t time themselves? Why don’t MSV kcik out all the cars in garages with PC’s setup and live timing? The app I am talking about is on my phone. in a zipped pocket. Start it before you leave the garage and turn it of whenever you get back. Its useful to kow if you are improving.
. I suppose especially as it’s an mx5 OC only day, I’m not going to have the local fiesta ST driver thinking he’s the second coming of Ayrton Senna sending it and crashing into me either. Thanks for the advice man:+1: