Thought i'd condense all my current queries into one single thread to avoid filling Brisky with my thoughts!

Following the 15 minute taster session at the Combe meet a couple of months back i wanna get my teeth into more time on unrestricted tarmac

However the scrubbed state of my outside front tyre after just 15 minutes at Combe i realise tyres could be limiting factor.

I now have 2 MOT advisory Firehawk tyres which i have now rotated to the rear and Goodyear Eagle NCT5's now on the front.

Current plan is to rotate them back again and kill off the final few mm of tread from the Firehawks and then slap on some new rubber for the drive home.

Question 1 - is trackday rubber worth it or is killing ditchfinders on track the way forward?? (or at least understeering sideways and forward a bit )

Slightly more aesthetic this one but I will shortly have the OEM Fabia alloys plus a set of 16" Octy Spiders and my father-in-law has now offered me his very corroded (horrifically delaquered and bubbled) VW Montreal 2's.

My mind says change the OEM for the Spiders, and use the Montreals for track days and shed/sell the standards; but having seem L-Y-K's car on Montreal 2's I'm a fan.

Question 2 - which alloys do i keep and for which purpose?

Alternatively do i sort out the best looking alloys, retire the Fabia from track work, let my other half enjoy commuting in it, and get a vehicle just for that purpose. I know of a cheap 1.4i Corsa van that seems fit for purpose but:

Question 3 - Is the vehicle pivotal to track enjoyment? Would something cheap and cheerful and not that powerful (or even that good!) be entertaining on track or would watching mirrors for 80% of the time ruin any enjoyment?

Sorry for going on but who said long first posts couldn't be fun!!

Thanks in Advance

Cliff

1. In my opinion you should take good tyres on track. The tyres make the car in terms of how rapidly you can go round. If you're on crap tyres, you'll be doing crap speeds in the corners (or will have to be) and will be having a hard time driving smoothly & quickly. If you insist on saving some money, I think you should try good tyres on the front and budgets on the rear in FWD drives (especially in the fabia), I guess that could be great fun in the fabia with a RARB

2. I used my best alloys on track, cleaned them up as soon as I got home, had no problems with pitting or staining whatsoever. I guess if you put a layer or two of wheel sealant on before you go (inside and out) and wash the brake dust off as soon as you get back, I don't see why any long term damage could occur. Whatever you take, remove the center caps and wheel nut caps. They will pop off/melt otherwise..

3. Considering I was going around faster than an ariel atom and a few lotus elises on my last day at Hullavington I'd say the power of the car is irrelevant and it's all down to how you drive it. I said it once and I'll say it again - if I still had the 64hp SDI i'd take that on track, the only problem being I'd need to watch mirrors too much.

My overall advice?

1. Take the Fabia on the 31st July at Hullavington.

2. You'll find out that the vrs is fantastic fun on track and as long as you're sensible and drive within your limits, the chances of you wrecking your car are in my opinion MUCH lower than just driving to work every day.

3. Run whatever wheels you want, if you wash them off after even with just normal car wash you'll be fine.

4. Run decent tyres, especially for your first day, they will give yo so much more speed to play with in the corners, trust me, well worth it in my opinion.

5. Budget for £60 worth of fuel on the track if you're taking the fabia for an all-day open pit session.

6. Check your rear discs and pads as well as the fronts before going on! Make sure they're not worn out!

7. Take a tyre pressure pump/gauge, as your wheels get hotter and hotter your tyre pressures will increase and increase and you may need to let some air out to get your grip back

Remember also if you buy a track car you have to either pay to transport it to the event, do your trailer test, buy a trailer, or tax, insure and MOT it for the day. By the time you've done that you might as well have broken the fabia a couple of times and paid for the repairs, in my opinion.

If I'd driven the vrs around a track before buying the BMW I might not have bought the BMW, it was fantastic fun .

Thought i'd condense all my current queries into one single thread to avoid filling Brisky with my thoughts!

Following the 15 minute taster session at the Combe meet a couple of months back i wanna get my teeth into more time on unrestricted tarmac

However the scrubbed state of my outside front tyre after just 15 minutes at Combe i realise tyres could be limiting factor.

I now have 2 MOT advisory Firehawk tyres which i have now rotated to the rear and Goodyear Eagle NCT5's now on the front.

Current plan is to rotate them back again and kill off the final few mm of tread from the Firehawks and then slap on some new rubber for the drive home.

Question 1 - is trackday rubber worth it or is killing ditchfinders on track the way forward?? (or at least understeering sideways and forward a bit )

The ditchfinders i would just get rid of and wouldn't put them on the car or track wheels as they could be your downfall.

Make sure you have good rubber on your everyday tyres and them look out for a couple of good sets of matching part worn with 5mm+ on.This will be your cheapest way to get a good set of track tyres.

Slightly more aesthetic this one but I will shortly have the OEM Fabia alloys plus a set of 16" Octy Spiders and my father-in-law has now offered me his very corroded (horrifically delaquered and bubbled) VW Montreal 2's.

My mind says change the OEM for the Spiders, and use the Montreals for track days and shed/sell the standards; but having seem L-Y-K's car on Montreal 2's I'm a fan.

Put the spiders on for everyday use and use the OEM wheels for track use.

Question 2 - which alloys do i keep and for which purpose?

Alternatively do i sort out the best looking alloys, retire the Fabia from track work, let my other half enjoy commuting in it, and get a vehicle just for that purpose. I know of a cheap 1.4i Corsa van that seems fit for purpose but:

Just stick with the Fabia.[/color

Question 3 - Is the vehicle pivotal to track enjoyment? Would something cheap and cheerful and not that powerful (or even that good!) be entertaining on track or would watching mirrors for 80% of the time ruin any enjoyment?

Sorry for going on but who said long first posts couldn't be fun!!

Thanks in Advance

Cliff

I have to get 1 more good matching tyre and i will have my track wheels,TD Pro race 1.2 17" with Pirelli Pzero tyres for now.

I've got a question that goes along a similar topic - anyone know of an OEM alloy that will fit the Fabia (in a 17) that is resonably light? I want a spare set to stick some track day rubber on but would like to try and keep the unsprung weight to a minimum and the price!! lol.

I've got a question that goes along a similar topic - anyone know of an OEM alloy that will fit the Fabia (in a 17) that is resonably light? I want a spare set to stick some track day rubber on but would like to try and keep the unsprung weight to a minimum and the price!! lol.

You gonna have your car ready for 31st July at Hullavington, Phil? ...

You gonna have your car ready for 31st July at Hullavington, Phil? ...

Hmm . . . just looked at that - could be tempted as it's not far away!!

Thought i'd condense all my current queries into one single thread to avoid filling Brisky with my thoughts!

Following the 15 minute taster session at the Combe meet a couple of months back i wanna get my teeth into more time on unrestricted tarmac

However the scrubbed state of my outside front tyre after just 15 minutes at Combe i realise tyres could be limiting factor.Cliff

In my experience the scrubbing you have on the outside is not down to the 'ditchfinders' but the tyre itself rubbing the arches! I have Eibach dampers and springs all round and Eagle F1 GSD3s on my car, both times I've tracked it the scrubbing has been clearly evident on all 4 tyres (but more on the front). In defense the Eagle F1 GSD3s have quite a square edge that does'nt help but I have come to now think that my Eibach suspension setup is just not stiff enough or adequate for the task in hand. I'm convinced a set of KW Variant 2's would solve my problem but having just had a baby this is going to have to wait!

Overall I find my vRS with the other mods I have to be fantastic fun on track but part of me cant help but think I would have a whole lot more fun if had a dedicated track car to throw about.

To avoid the whole trailer /license issue you could consider buying a road legal track car? At least that way you'd be good for the Nurburgring as well. It's always in the back of my mind that I have to drive my vRS home after a track day but that's maybe a good thing

John

Depends on what track car you buy though. I think if you did buy something rubbish like a 1.4 Corsa van you'd get fed up of it quickly.

The Fabia is so useable - I went for a B road blast with the 200sx club in the Fabia on Sunday. I was leading and the nearest car behind me was a 380bhp 200sx. I got to our meeting point on the top of the Black Mountains with enough time to buy an ice-cream and walk back down the road to ensure they didn’t miss the car park!! Lol.

Im kinda in the same boat.

Have now got brand new rainsport2 's on all wheels for everyday use, dont want to use them on the track.

Took my 2 old continentals off which still have a bit of tread on them and will use these on my 2nd set of alloys when i get them. Just need to buy 2 more tyres now...

So i need to buy cheap tyres to put on the front of the car.

Anyone got any suggestions for cheap tyres for a trackday?

If you want to buy tyres aimed at track use but road legal then Hankook RS-2's are good value for money.

Great thanks

Edited 16 June, 200917 yr by Static

I have a slow puncture on one of my fronts and have only had this set of GSD3's on for a couple thousand mile! I'm going to the Nurburgring in August so will obviously have to get them changed however would it be bad practise or not advisable to put a dedicated track day tyre on the front and leave the 'as new' GSD3s on the rear? I know I wont get mant miles out of them but will certainly do the trip. Last time I went to the ring my Eagle F1s did me proud but near the end of a lap the car was sliding all over the place so given I have a slow puncture I would like to make the best of a poor situation.

Thanks, John

John

In my experience the scrubbing you have on the outside is not down to the 'ditchfinders' but the tyre itself rubbing the arches! I have Eibach dampers and springs all round :

i have just Eibach springs on standard dampers , and have never experienced the tyres rubbing on the arches , used Michelins, Dunlops, and Toyos, never a problem

a lot of the tyre scrub on the outer edges is caused by under inflated tyres, when used on a track day , obviously the heavy lump of iron up front wont help either in the VRS

Toyos T1Rs are excellent tyres for a track day, get nice and sticky and don't tend to go off unless really punished

My last track day the tyres were inflated to 51psi (max it stated on the tyre wall).

They got such a scrubbing even at that inflation amount.

Why on earth did you inflate your tyres to 51psi?

OP - You need to use the lightest alloys you have, with the best tyres you can afford. The best thing you can do is use two sets of wheels but then you have the problem of having a set of wheels hanging around while you're on track.

Trackday rubber is definitely worth it, and this is also where the two sets of wheels thing comes in nicely. You're not killing your road rubber so can drive home legally, and with proper trackday rubber you could get a few days out of the tyres (which equates to a long time unless you're doing trackdays every other weekend, in which case I suspect the cost of tyres wouldn't bother you too much). The other thing is, when you push tyres too hard, they become pretty much knackered regardless of the amount of tread left on them.

Thanks All for the advice

I will indeed have 2 sets of alloys to make the whole track day process much easier

Spiders will be everyday and the standard alloys for track days - the father in law is talking about hill climbing with his Montreals!

I'm not too worried about wearing down tread on tyres as i guess its more mileage that does that (with hard driving increasing the speed of wear) but scrubbing the shoulders bare due to having to contend with the massive derv burning lump up front

Definitely not a suspension issue as i'm still on the standard lofty set up!

Current decision is to put the almost finished Firehawks on the front, as they need replacing anyhow, and leave the Goodyear Eagle NCT's on the rear then swap to brand new rubber for the drive home - or in the middle of the day should I find I've become a visitor to understeer city!

I guess its a learning curve and i'll see what happens as i go along, the more experience the better.

The corsa van idea was only as i know one available dirt cheap and it hit me as already stripped out! hmmm anyone know where i can get a calibra turbo engine?!

i have just Eibach springs on standard dampers , and have never experienced the tyres rubbing on the arches , used Michelins, Dunlops, and Toyos, never a problem

a lot of the tyre scrub on the outer edges is caused by under inflated tyres, when used on a track day , obviously the heavy lump of iron up front wont help either in the VRS

Toyos T1Rs are excellent tyres for a track day, get nice and sticky and don't tend to go off unless really punished

Interesting I was running 36psi at the time and it was evident on all 4 corners but more on the fronts. It was came to the forefront last year when I was at 'The Ring' but I just put it down to being on such a rigirous track? I did think it may be due to a tracking issue but tyre wear is universal and even all round, car doesnt even pull to the left which seems to be a troublesome characteristic of most vRS's. What Tyre pressure would you recommend for a hot 'ring lap'? I'm guessing you'd have less in the rears?

The wear on the shoulders isn't just down to under-inflation, it's also due to applying too much lock in bends. I learned this on the day I did with Don Palmer down at Brunters (oh no, not him again! ) Once you start to understeer, all you're doing by applying more lock is f%^&ing up your tyres even more - what you want to do is ease off on throttle and steering until you detect that you've regained full traction up-front, and then carry on your merry way. The important thing to remember is that once you start to experience understeer, there's nothing you can do short of altering the tyres and/or handling of the car that will make you go any quicker round that corner! My advice would be to see if you can get some tuition at the start of your day, which will be worth it in tyre wear saved, if nothing else. Seriously - I scrubbed about 3mm off the P Zero Neros I had on at Brunters in the morning while I was still learning how the car handled on the limit. In the afternoon, they hardly wore at all, since I'd learned to pay attention to the feedback I was getting, and acted accordingly.

I'm not saying a bit of track tuition will make your tyres invincible, of course, but they'll last a darn sight longer!

Thanks Ap0gee

I am more than aware that the shoulder scrubbage i ended with at Combe was down to my first time on track "enthusiastic" cornering style rather than dodgy suspension or under-inflation!

As with everything with more time and much much more care things'll last longer! Top advice though

And as an added incentive if people DO join us at Hullavington on 31st July they get 20 minutes free track tuition with an expert driver anyway.. what more can you want if it will save your tyres too? See my sig for details