Mr OCD
09-05-2007, 11:33
My Track Day…
I thought would post up my thoughts / experiences for those who have never done a track day but are considering it and could use some insight into what goes on… if your not interested or get bored easily please move on…
Well for some time I have wanted to put the 200sx on to the track but have been genuinely concerned about doing so for the fear of damaging the car / associated risks and whatever other excuses I could think of…
Over the past 12 months I have gradually got the car to how I want it in terms of handling / brakes and power and in my opinion is now a superb fast road car but I was eager to find the cars limits and this is simply not possible with the associated risks on todays roads… I felt my driving ability in the 200sx had improved substancially from watching Steve (SteA) and picking his brain on driving techniques and applying them in practice on cold dark nights blatting over deserted roads time and time again… sometimes with me in pursuit of Steve sometimes on my own pushing the car as hard as I dare…
So the time had come… I decided to book Donnington Park via Trakzone as an early Birthday present to myself and after some advice from a few trackday regulars that Donnington would be ideal for a trackday newbie.
I booked a full day for 4th May so now it was game on to get the car ready for the day… I was somewhat anal with my preparation but then I always do everything to the best of my ability. It’s just in my nature…
First thing was to sort the annoying vibration at the front out which finally resulted in DCMS coming to the rescue and dealing with all but a small amount which was down to the brakes… brand new disks and pads (larger uprated fronts) were installed so they had time to bed in before the day… all fluids changed… new 17inch alloys with semi slick yokohama A048-R tyres put on the car… full alignment done (DCMS) and the car was good to go ready for the day…
Night before Track Day
Load the car up with some basic tools, fill up with Shell V power as well as the loaned 40L jerry cans (Steve), take loaned brake pads as spares (Steve and DCMS) and final check over on the car…
Track Day – May 4th…
Early start as had to be at Donnington Park for 7am to check over car, sign in and wait for briefing… so up at 5am… brief stop at fuel station on way up to top up and then pull into Donnington Park which was an exciting experience to be waved in my the security guy and pointed to the pits… drove round to the pits and parked up out of the way then started to unload everything out of the car and check tyre pressures.
Then it was time to sign in and get to the briefing… very straight forward exercise and mainly about speeds with regards to flags, overtaking on straights and left hand side only and how the sessions would work. Three sessions per hour… novice , intermidiate and advanced… guess what session I was in…
So now the nerves are kicking in as once the briefing was over it was time to get in the queue ready to go on to the track… helmet on (serious lack of headroom in 200 with this on, seatbelt on, CG lock engaged (keeps belt locked as works well), check mirrors and slowly drive through pit garage and into the queue like so:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1030Medium.jpg
An initial wait for the guy to wave us through and we are off… nice and slowly with Steves warnings ringing in my head about warming tyres up and taking it easy and getting used to the track… so I firstly started to warm the tyres up and concentrate on the lines / braking points…
What I couldn’t get over was the width of the track… so much room and I actually felt safer on the track than I did on the road…
First session was over quickly but I was pleased with my progress and happy that the car was well suited to the track…cool down lap was done on final chequered flag and then pulled into the pits (by this time we had managed to get a garage to use for the day)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1031Medium.jpg
I left handbrake off and engine running with bonnet up to cool down for a few mins before switching off… I then quickly checked tyre pressures (these raise due to heat) to find they had gone up to 35psi (should be 31psi) so quickly reduced them whilst tyres still warm…
By the time had done all this and chilled out for a few mins it was time to go again… this time I wanted to get some speed up and knew all I needed to do was adjust my braking points in relation to entry speeds….
A quick warm up lap to get the tyres sticky and I’m foot flat to the floor down the main straight past the pits…. Keeping a very tight left and braking hard from 115mph-ish on the blue section into redgate in 3rd gear around 65-70mph turning in as late as possible… then back on gas once corner opens up and accelerating hard all the way round through hollywood and into craner curves… into craner curves just over 100mph and still in 3rd gear and a slight tap on the brakes before corner of craner to stop car from going wide… then back on accelerator towards old hair pin coming right over on to the left hand rumble strip and turning in late for maximum exit speed at around 60-70mph… foot flat to floor round starkeys bridge / schwantz holding a tight line (still in 3rd) then hard on the brakes into macleans keeping left for late entry… going through in 3rd gear around 70mph then back on accelerator towards Coppice braking hard just before the top of the hill again holding a late line in 3rd / 70mph so can get down maximum power for the run on to the Dunlop Straight where we go through 3rd gear then 4th gear topping out at about 130mph before braking VERY hard on the tight left hand side and dropping down into 3rd then 2nd gear @ 40-50mph using the whole width of the track through Goddards (which I suspect killed my new brakes) and then accelerating hard down the main straight to do it all over again!!
By the end of the second session I was overtaking a lot of people and even lapping a few people as well… during the morning I gradually got faster and faster improving with each lap… I missed my braking point therefore the line on a couple of corners due to too much late breaking and got on the power a tad too early which resulted in the back end coming a little loose but nothing that worried me… the datsun was doing well!
Lunchtime and a chance for a few pictures, check the car over to find my new brake pads were half worn… by this time I didn’t honestly care… I was having too much fun!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1042Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1043Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1044Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1040Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1039Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1037Medium.jpg http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1043Medium.jpg
After lunch I was itching to go and joined the queue early so I was near the front… got the car warmed up and concentrated hard… it seemed for ages that I was on my own when I started to lap people… about half way through the session I started coming up behind Westfields, Caterhams and Porsches which didn’t pose any real problem except for the few ignorants that wouldn’t let me through straight away but keeping patient and close to them resulted in them waving me through…
Towards the front I came up behind a Caterham and a Porsche 911 that were being driven very well and were playing with each other so I nipped up behind them and followed them through staying very close for 2-3 laps and then starting to gain on them a little with each lap… came out of Redgate and managed to get past the Porsche safely before craner curves after he waved me through and went after the Caterham… now this was being driven very well indeed and I had to really concentrate… he gained on me through Goddards but by time I was coming into Redgate I was close… towards craner curves and I was gaining on him quickly and right on his tail into the hairpin and followed him all the way staying close into coppice where he gained a little again before catching him on the dunlop straight before Goddards… this went on for a good 4-5 laps before I gradually could see I was pushing him as the Caterham was starting to look a little flustered on some of the corners so I backed off a little and gave him some space for a few seconds before he waved me through with a thumbs up…
Back to the pits and I was buzzing and sweating… could feel the adrenalin pumping and was bouncing round the pit garage… it will stick with me forever that experience and goes down as one of the best bits of driving I have ever done in 14yrs …
Car was checked over once back to the pits to find tyres were red hot, brake pads nearly not existant and car was low on fuel… a good session then… so I choose to do take the last session easy as I was also feeling tired by this time… but very happy!
Car averaged 8mpg on track...
So there you have it… for those who have never done a track day in their own car… DO IT! – even if you only do it once… you need to experience it… you appreciate your cars ability, you get a chance to see what your capable of, you respect others who do it regularly and most importantly its great fun and you have nothing to be scared of!
MANY MANY thanks to the following people for making my track day one of the best experiences in my life:
Steve (SteA)
Gary (Headcase)
Graham @ DCMS
Everyone@ APEX
Andy (Andy_VVC)
And last but certainly not least… My lovely Wife for putting up with my obsession!
Cheers,
Scott
I thought would post up my thoughts / experiences for those who have never done a track day but are considering it and could use some insight into what goes on… if your not interested or get bored easily please move on…
Well for some time I have wanted to put the 200sx on to the track but have been genuinely concerned about doing so for the fear of damaging the car / associated risks and whatever other excuses I could think of…
Over the past 12 months I have gradually got the car to how I want it in terms of handling / brakes and power and in my opinion is now a superb fast road car but I was eager to find the cars limits and this is simply not possible with the associated risks on todays roads… I felt my driving ability in the 200sx had improved substancially from watching Steve (SteA) and picking his brain on driving techniques and applying them in practice on cold dark nights blatting over deserted roads time and time again… sometimes with me in pursuit of Steve sometimes on my own pushing the car as hard as I dare…
So the time had come… I decided to book Donnington Park via Trakzone as an early Birthday present to myself and after some advice from a few trackday regulars that Donnington would be ideal for a trackday newbie.
I booked a full day for 4th May so now it was game on to get the car ready for the day… I was somewhat anal with my preparation but then I always do everything to the best of my ability. It’s just in my nature…
First thing was to sort the annoying vibration at the front out which finally resulted in DCMS coming to the rescue and dealing with all but a small amount which was down to the brakes… brand new disks and pads (larger uprated fronts) were installed so they had time to bed in before the day… all fluids changed… new 17inch alloys with semi slick yokohama A048-R tyres put on the car… full alignment done (DCMS) and the car was good to go ready for the day…
Night before Track Day
Load the car up with some basic tools, fill up with Shell V power as well as the loaned 40L jerry cans (Steve), take loaned brake pads as spares (Steve and DCMS) and final check over on the car…
Track Day – May 4th…
Early start as had to be at Donnington Park for 7am to check over car, sign in and wait for briefing… so up at 5am… brief stop at fuel station on way up to top up and then pull into Donnington Park which was an exciting experience to be waved in my the security guy and pointed to the pits… drove round to the pits and parked up out of the way then started to unload everything out of the car and check tyre pressures.
Then it was time to sign in and get to the briefing… very straight forward exercise and mainly about speeds with regards to flags, overtaking on straights and left hand side only and how the sessions would work. Three sessions per hour… novice , intermidiate and advanced… guess what session I was in…
So now the nerves are kicking in as once the briefing was over it was time to get in the queue ready to go on to the track… helmet on (serious lack of headroom in 200 with this on, seatbelt on, CG lock engaged (keeps belt locked as works well), check mirrors and slowly drive through pit garage and into the queue like so:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1030Medium.jpg
An initial wait for the guy to wave us through and we are off… nice and slowly with Steves warnings ringing in my head about warming tyres up and taking it easy and getting used to the track… so I firstly started to warm the tyres up and concentrate on the lines / braking points…
What I couldn’t get over was the width of the track… so much room and I actually felt safer on the track than I did on the road…
First session was over quickly but I was pleased with my progress and happy that the car was well suited to the track…cool down lap was done on final chequered flag and then pulled into the pits (by this time we had managed to get a garage to use for the day)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1031Medium.jpg
I left handbrake off and engine running with bonnet up to cool down for a few mins before switching off… I then quickly checked tyre pressures (these raise due to heat) to find they had gone up to 35psi (should be 31psi) so quickly reduced them whilst tyres still warm…
By the time had done all this and chilled out for a few mins it was time to go again… this time I wanted to get some speed up and knew all I needed to do was adjust my braking points in relation to entry speeds….
A quick warm up lap to get the tyres sticky and I’m foot flat to the floor down the main straight past the pits…. Keeping a very tight left and braking hard from 115mph-ish on the blue section into redgate in 3rd gear around 65-70mph turning in as late as possible… then back on gas once corner opens up and accelerating hard all the way round through hollywood and into craner curves… into craner curves just over 100mph and still in 3rd gear and a slight tap on the brakes before corner of craner to stop car from going wide… then back on accelerator towards old hair pin coming right over on to the left hand rumble strip and turning in late for maximum exit speed at around 60-70mph… foot flat to floor round starkeys bridge / schwantz holding a tight line (still in 3rd) then hard on the brakes into macleans keeping left for late entry… going through in 3rd gear around 70mph then back on accelerator towards Coppice braking hard just before the top of the hill again holding a late line in 3rd / 70mph so can get down maximum power for the run on to the Dunlop Straight where we go through 3rd gear then 4th gear topping out at about 130mph before braking VERY hard on the tight left hand side and dropping down into 3rd then 2nd gear @ 40-50mph using the whole width of the track through Goddards (which I suspect killed my new brakes) and then accelerating hard down the main straight to do it all over again!!
By the end of the second session I was overtaking a lot of people and even lapping a few people as well… during the morning I gradually got faster and faster improving with each lap… I missed my braking point therefore the line on a couple of corners due to too much late breaking and got on the power a tad too early which resulted in the back end coming a little loose but nothing that worried me… the datsun was doing well!
Lunchtime and a chance for a few pictures, check the car over to find my new brake pads were half worn… by this time I didn’t honestly care… I was having too much fun!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1042Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1043Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1044Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1040Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1039Medium.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1037Medium.jpg http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Scott_Davis/DSCN1043Medium.jpg
After lunch I was itching to go and joined the queue early so I was near the front… got the car warmed up and concentrated hard… it seemed for ages that I was on my own when I started to lap people… about half way through the session I started coming up behind Westfields, Caterhams and Porsches which didn’t pose any real problem except for the few ignorants that wouldn’t let me through straight away but keeping patient and close to them resulted in them waving me through…
Towards the front I came up behind a Caterham and a Porsche 911 that were being driven very well and were playing with each other so I nipped up behind them and followed them through staying very close for 2-3 laps and then starting to gain on them a little with each lap… came out of Redgate and managed to get past the Porsche safely before craner curves after he waved me through and went after the Caterham… now this was being driven very well indeed and I had to really concentrate… he gained on me through Goddards but by time I was coming into Redgate I was close… towards craner curves and I was gaining on him quickly and right on his tail into the hairpin and followed him all the way staying close into coppice where he gained a little again before catching him on the dunlop straight before Goddards… this went on for a good 4-5 laps before I gradually could see I was pushing him as the Caterham was starting to look a little flustered on some of the corners so I backed off a little and gave him some space for a few seconds before he waved me through with a thumbs up…
Back to the pits and I was buzzing and sweating… could feel the adrenalin pumping and was bouncing round the pit garage… it will stick with me forever that experience and goes down as one of the best bits of driving I have ever done in 14yrs …
Car was checked over once back to the pits to find tyres were red hot, brake pads nearly not existant and car was low on fuel… a good session then… so I choose to do take the last session easy as I was also feeling tired by this time… but very happy!
Car averaged 8mpg on track...
So there you have it… for those who have never done a track day in their own car… DO IT! – even if you only do it once… you need to experience it… you appreciate your cars ability, you get a chance to see what your capable of, you respect others who do it regularly and most importantly its great fun and you have nothing to be scared of!
MANY MANY thanks to the following people for making my track day one of the best experiences in my life:
Steve (SteA)
Gary (Headcase)
Graham @ DCMS
Everyone@ APEX
Andy (Andy_VVC)
And last but certainly not least… My lovely Wife for putting up with my obsession!
Cheers,
Scott