noob with a larry leadfoot

[tg1]

Hi i'm doing a trackday week saturday (top gear test track baby  ), and was wondering if anyone had any experience with hustling the mk4 1.8t around a track (yes i know its not ideal but meh) and was looking for just some simple pointers please

Should i run higher/lower tyre pressures?

How is the best way to launch it off the line (new to turbos and don't want to pop anything.)

Would it be worth removing the rear seats and spare wheel? (its a daily so thats all i'll remove for the day and need to keep the passenger seat in)

any advice so i don't cook the brakes and tyres? ( apart from don't brake and drive slow?)

Sorry for such obvious questions but i know nothing about the car yet really.

[Khare]

run higher tyre pressures, don't know exactly how much higher but if normally you run 32psi then I'd run 35/36.

Yes, remove rear bench and spare wheel and any other crap from the boot, and parcel shelf if you have 6x9s.

Can't give much advice on how not to cook brakes, apart from don't use them, or rather than do hard, late braking, lift off earlier and brake a bit more gently.

[tg1]

thanks a lot, just every split counts. I don't want to get slaughtered by a yaris round the track if there is anything i can do about it

[Diamond Hell]

Should i run higher/lower tyre pressures?

No.  Just make sure they're correct.  If you heat up your tyres your tyre pressures will shoot up.  You may need to reduce them if you do a lot of driving.  Check ALL across your tyres before you go on the track to make sure there's tread across the whole tyre.  Also check the sidewalls for nicks and cuts.

How is the best way to launch it off the line (new to turbos and don't want to pop anything.)

Enough revs so the turbo's spinning and don't let it bog down off the line.  Try it a few times before you go.  It's little different to a standing start from a traffic light.

Would it be worth removing the rear seats and spare wheel? (its a daily so thats all i'll remove for the day and need to keep the passenger seat in)

I think that's trying a little too hard, unless you have a real surplus of time before the event.  Correct tyre pressures will get you more time on a lap.

any advice so i don't cook the brakes and tyres? ( apart from don't brake and drive slow?)

Make sure you have relatively fresh pads and discs and that they're bedded in.  Your brake fluid HAS been changed in the last two years, hasn't it?  The better you know the track the less you'll use the brakes.  Start slow and figure out the lines and build up speed.  You WILL try and over-drive it (too much braking and too many gearshifts).  That's when you'll cook the brakes, if you're going to.

When did you last get the engine serviced and when is your car due a cambelt?

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

Best thing you can do for a track day (if available), is to buy some time with an instructor.  (More useful than an extra 100 bhp, IMO).

I agree with DH on most things:-

I would run lower than normal tyre pressures, as the air expands when it gets hot.  (You may also want to have the fronts a couple of psi lower than the rears, to kill a fraction of understeer.

I would also remove as much (easy) dead weight as you can; rear bench, parcel shelf, spare wheel, tools etc. as the more weight you carry, the harder it is on your brakes.

Don't forget to do a full cooling down lap if possible (if not, drive around the car park) before you park up & be as light as you can on the brakes during this.  Leave the car in gear & remember to leave the handbrake OFF when you switch off, as hot rear pads sometimes have a nasty habit of binding themselves to the discs!

Change the oil/filter before you go & top up to the MAX marker, as you don't want any mid-corner oil starvation!

Change the brake fluid before & after the day.  On the change before yo go, leave the level at about 25-50% between the min/max marker.

p.s. Yes, you want some good meat on the pads to absorb the heat, but don't run brand new pads.

[tg1]

i've been thinking of having the tyres filled with nitrogen as it supposed to expand less than air.

Cambelt was done last year.

I've got enough meat on the pads to get me home after - not gonna change them before so i can kill a fresh set - and i won't do enough miles to bed them in.

oil + filter was about 3k ago, gonna top it up before and change it after. Bad idea?

How come i don't want the brake fluid being filled to the max line? does it expand when it heats? i know you can boil brake fluid on the road so would make sense i think

Sadly the stigs on holiday that day, so instruction is not an optioin (some of the chaps have done a couple of trackdays and are we're gonna do a few led laps so we can learn the lines before the timing gear comes out.

Gonna deffinately do cool down lap, and probably a warm up lap too.

Rear seats and spare wheel etc will be getting pulled out a day or two before so i can get the feel for it like this.

I really do appriciate the help guys, i'd like to think i'm not too bad a driver, but i'm not too big to ask for help either.

Don't suppose anyone knows if topgear ever timed a mk4? would be nice to see how close i can run the stig 

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

i've been thinking of having the tyres filled with nitrogen as it supposed to expand less than air.

Definitely overkill.

Cambelt was done last year.

I've got enough meat on the pads to get me home after - not gonna change them before so i can kill a fresh set - and i won't do enough miles to bed them in.

oil + filter was about 3k ago, gonna top it up before and change it after. Bad idea?

Nope, that'll be fine.

How come i don't want the brake fluid being filled to the max line? does it expand when it heats? i know you can boil brake fluid on the road so would make sense i think

Exactly right

Sadly the stigs on holiday that day, so instruction is not an optioin (some of the chaps have done a couple of trackdays and are we're gonna do a few led laps so we can learn the lines before the timing gear comes out.

Good idea.

Gonna deffinately do cool down lap, and probably a warm up lap too.

Essential, IMO.

Rear seats and spare wheel etc will be getting pulled out a day or two before so i can get the feel for it like this.

I really do appriciate the help guys, i'd like to think i'm not too bad a driver, but i'm not too big to ask for help either.

Don't suppose anyone knows if topgear ever timed a mk4? would be nice to see how close i can run the stig 

I'm pretty sure they had the Mk4 R32 around there.

[Diamond Hell]

Sadly the stigs on holiday that day, so instruction is not an optioin (some of the chaps have done a couple of trackdays and are we're gonna do a few led laps so we can learn the lines before the timing gear comes out.

What kind of track day is this?  Most track days frown on timing, or competition, as that's what leads to big offs.

Is it some sort of 'come and compare your ego to celebrities at an inflated price with very little driving' gig?

Sounds it.

[Ivor Mk4 Turbo]

From another thread, tg1 was saying it's through someone who knows someone, kind of thing. Perhaps a friend of a friend works there?!

[tg1]

yeah i know a lady who works where the circuit is. And has arranged it as a "charity day" the timing is just for our own giggles really.

Yeah timing it will probably make us push too hard but its a once in a lifetime thing. I'd rather blow the car up trying than having to settle for a rubbish time. Yeah i think timing is usually frowned upon on most track days but its not a "proper" trackday.

Wouldn't you want it timed?

@ diamond hell, its not an inflated price. and we got the track for a fair few hours 11-4 with an hour off for lunch. It actually works out cheaper for the whole day than a 15 minute slot on castle combe for japfest (34 quid for 15 mins)

The mk4 r32 done it in 1:30.4  http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/powerlaps.shtml

So if i can get within 15-20 seconds of that i'd be either in a ditch or rather chuffed 

Any ideas where i can rent a stig suit?