So my question is, I am doing a track day at croft one June 9th and I have only got the standard intercooler on my mapped vrs, will it last or will I just heat soak straight away? The problem I have at the minute is either buying a fmic and some half decent discs and pads or... keeping the standard intercooler and upgrading to 312mm brakes. I know straight away people are going to say 312 upgrade but I don't want to get half way around the track and have a major loss of power... is there any other options I could take like removing the fog surround for a better flow to the smic? All comments are welcome thanks.

Edited 29 April, 201313 yr by tommccabevRS

Your std inter cooler won't ruin you track day with heat soak but a fmic is obviously more efficient. You could just try fitting some top quality pads to you'd std brake callipers and dics and I don't mean £ 30 crap from euro car parts. I paid £220 for some carbon Lorraine CL5+ and they are epic ! Fitted to 6 pot callipers.

Have you done the pikey arch liner mod to allow the air to actually pass through?

It'll be fine, just don't go out for hours on end without a break

Your std inter cooler won't ruin you track day with heat soak but a fmic is obviously more efficient. You could just try fitting some top quality pads to you'd std brake callipers and dics and I don't mean £ 30 crap from euro car parts. I paid £220 for some carbon Lorraine CL5+ and they are epic ! Fitted to 6 pot callipers.

was looking at some brembo max discs and ferodo DS2500 pads I'm sure they'd be more than enough for croft circuit, thanks for the reply.

Have you done the pikey arch liner mod to allow the air to actually pass through?

i haven't no but I may look into it, thanks.

Get a 9x3 vent like below:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Silver-Louvre-Air-Ventilator-Vent-Grille-Cover-/320842036361?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item4ab3acf489

Jack up, take the wheel off, carefully cut a hole in the arch liner behind the IC, spray the vent with some cheap black paint, fit with self tappers

does the vent mod actually make a difference? sorry to butt in just something i was considering along with maybe an uprated side mount intercooler

It all helps, but not to the degree of a front mounted IC.

Stock SMIC is fine, but you just might need to come in for more cooling down periods than a car with FMIC. Should still give 10 minute sessions or so, which can often be enough for most road tyres and road brake setups.

IMO spend the money on brakes and tyres. Get decent 312 OEM or OEM+ disks and the best pads you can find. Also change the fluid if it's been in a while.

Though it's possible to do an FMIC for around £200 if you do the legwork of planning the piping and sourcing the parts.

J.

From my loggings you can get through all gear once then you will get heat soak.

I know straight away people are going to say 312 upgrade but I don't want to get half way around the track and have a major loss of power...

So getting halfway around and having a major loss of brakes is somehow better?

Get 312s, or at least top notch parts for your current setup. I used to run VAG OEM stuff on my Leon, and faded the brakes after a single run up and down the Buttertubs Pass, in March, at night (so low ambient temps). Up until that point I'd often wondered what the point was in spending on expensive brake parts, but it soon became apparent when I got back to the main road, had trouble stopping, and then had to dump the car on a grass verge in gear for about half an hour to let everything cool down again to the point the brakes worked to drive home...

So getting halfway around and having a major loss of brakes is somehow better?

Get 312s, or at least top notch parts for your current setup. I used to run VAG OEM stuff on my Leon, and faded the brakes after a single run up and down the Buttertubs Pass, in March, at night (so low ambient temps). Up until that point I'd often wondered what the point was in spending on expensive brake parts, but it soon became apparent when I got back to the main road, had trouble stopping, and then had to dump the car on a grass verge in gear for about half an hour to let everything cool down again to the point the brakes worked to drive home...

i think you missed when I said I would upgrade to some half decent pads and discs as well so I couldn't see me getting major brake loss off them lol, but I see where you're coming from I ran half decent pads and discs in my old 106 round Oulton park so I think they should

Be more than enough for my fabia round croft

You'll get half a lap then be heat soaked to 100bhp

At 173bhp i had one blast through the gears on stock intercooler then it was toasted!

Even with some spirited driving in the summer I was able to over heat the smic so would imagine on track it would be very noticeable.

I only ever had a fmic when on track, but my mate did a trackday at Croft in a pd130 with standard intercooler and it certainly didnt ruin his day.

Spend the money on decent brakes, because I can guarantee from experience that cooking your brakes and not being able to stop hard going into a corner will ruin your fun more than not being able to power out fast. Uprated 288mm discs & pads will do for remapped power if you dont want to upgrade to 312mm just yet.

Also another thing I can guarantee is Hawthorn corner will KILL your front left tyre lol.