{"id":2732,"date":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:25:21","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T23:00:00","slug":"important-track-day-modifications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/micksgarageblog.org\/important-track-day-modifications\/","title":{"rendered":"Important Track Day Modifications"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve recently given away a number of track days as competition prizes and there seems to be a common misconception that you need a high performance, fire breathing monster of a car to bring it out on track, but that’s not the case, however there are some important track day modifications\u00a0that can help with reliability. In theory, just about anything with an engine and 4 wheels can be driven on a race track. From the car in your driveway, to the truck that delivers every day goods to stores around the world, chances are that someone, somewhere has tried to race it. We’ve seen Top Gear put that theory to test over the years, from MPV’s and Buses, to Campervans<\/p>\n

In this article we’re\u00a0going to take a look at what important track day modifications are\u00a0required to make a car not only complete a lap of a race track, but complete it reliably, over and over again. It’s not always just as simple as turning up on the day unfortunately, after only a short time the main components of most\u00a0standard road cars would start getting tired pretty quickly, so let’s delve into the basics of what’s required in\u00a0our guide to converting your road car into a track car.\"Important<\/a><\/p>\n

Suspension:<\/h4>\n

On a road car the suspension is a compromise between comfort and performance. It has to soak up all the lumps, bumps and potholes we encounter on a daily basis while\u00a0keeping the car stable \"Importantand the occupants as comfortable as possible. On track, comfort goes out of the window and the role of your suspension is to keep all four tyres\u00a0in contact with the tarmac.<\/p>\n

Track suspension can vary depending on the car being used, but the most common option used these days is the Coilover. The coilover essentially combines the gas strut (shock absorber) and coil spring, but can offer more adjust-ability and control\u00a0helping to keep the car stable at speed, and flat through the twisty bits. Getting your suspension right can help massively in bringing\u00a0your lap times down, so it’s not to be sniffed at. A full set of coilovers can cost as little as a few hundred euro or as much as a few thousand all depending on how committed your wallet is, but can often improve your track performance more than extra power can.<\/p>\n

Suspension set up goes much further than just shocks and springs. \u00a0There are a number of other elements you can adjust to help improve performance\u00a0\u2013 from camber and castor, to toe in and toe out. All of these relate to how the wheel is positioned, so as the car leans in a corner so does the tyre. As an example, add some negative camber and now as the car leans the tyre contact patch sits much flatter thus offering more grip. A word of warning though, adding too much negative camber can result in your car being slower in a straight line so make sure to get the combination correct! Take a look at our suspension set up guide<\/a> for a more detailed explanation. If you don’t feel confident tackling any of this yourself, there are plenty of professional outfits that\u00a0can do it for you.<\/p>\n

\"Important<\/a><\/p>\n

The image of the Camaro above illustrates the impact\u00a0of cornering forces on suspension geometry quite nicely (specifically camber). This car is set up with negative camber on the front wheels. You can see the negative camber on the unweighted front right wheel and part of the tyre is lifting off the ground. \u00a0The front left wheel has the same amount of camber applied to it but as the suspension loads up round the corner and the body rolls, the front left tyre (which is providing most of the grip) is completely vertical, meaning the tyres contact patch is flat to the tarmac, providing maximum grip where it’s needed most.<\/p>\n

Tyres:<\/h4>\n

Tyres are often overlooked by many motorists but if you think about it, they are the only contact between your car and the road surface so it makes sense that they also play an important part on the track.\u00a0Your standard\u00a0road tyre can last up to 30,000km during every day use, however show it a track and it will be a different story. Road tyres have deep treads, designed to disperse large \"car-tyre-big\"volumes of water and are generally made from quite a hard rubber compound which helps them last a long time.<\/p>\n

Track focused tyres differ from standard road tyres in a number of ways, one is the contact patch \u2013 basically the amount of tyre that touches the road. When you think of it that way, it makes a lot of sense that when more of the tyre is touching the road, it produces more grip. If you follow any type of motorsport, you’ll notice that most competition cars use a full slick tyre, there is no tread on the tyre, maximising the amount of tyre touching the road. So a track focused tyre will have minimal grooves\/treads so that the maximum amount of rubber touches the tarmac\u00a0while still retaining some usability in the rain.<\/p>\n

Track tyres will also be made from a softer rubber compound, again to provide more grip. The trade off is that they will wear out more quickly. Track tyres also tend to have stiffer sidewalls which flex less under heavy cornering.<\/p>\n

Choosing the right tyres for your car can be a confusing\u00a0process and if you scour through the forums you’ll see countless people telling\u00a0you one brand is better than another. Our advice – do your research, decide your budget and be honest about the type of use your car will get. The type of tyre you go for will vary depending on the weight and power output of your car, the size of your wheels, the size of your wallet and\u00a0how and where you intend to use your car. For example, if you have a big, heavy, powerful car like an Audi RS4 and 99% of the time you drive on the road and do \"Important<\/a>a couple of track days a year, buying a cut slick like a Yokohama advan a048 is probably not the best choice. It won’t perform very well in the wet and will wear out extremely quickly, something like Pirelli P zero’s might be more suitable. \u00a0On the other hand if you have a small light weight car that spends most of it’s life on track with the occasional trip on the road, something like the Yoko a048 or Toyo R888 might be ideal. Tyre pressure are also very important regardless of tyre type and the ‘best’ pressure will vary hugely from car to car and tyre to tyre. A lightweight Caterham on Avon ACB10 track tyres might only need to run 18psi, whereas the Mondello Park Mazda 3’s run 38psi front and 36psi rear on their Dunlop sportmaxx road tyres – the high pressure helps minimize lateral movement in the sidewall and limits the wear to the outside edge of the tyre.<\/p>\n

We recently upgraded the tyres on our Project GTi to Nankang NS2R’s which are a nice compromise for use on road and track and are extremely well priced. You can have a quick look at them in this short video<\/a><\/p>\n

Brakes:<\/h4>\n

Brakes can often be overlooked on a track car and are often a weak link. The heat generated by your\u00a0brakes during normal road use\u00a0can be immense \u2013 just hold your hand next to the front wheels the next time you park up and feel the heat radiating from them. As you can imagine the\u00a0heat generated from repeated hard braking, corner after corner, lap after lap on a race track \u00a0is even more extreme.\u00a0\u00a0More\u00a0often than not on track the standard brake system\u00a0will overheat and when that happens you’ll lose a significant amount of braking power. Our Project GTi suffered badly from this when we brought it on track the first time and it only lasted half a lap before the brakes had overheated. What we actually experienced was a combination of brake fade and brake fluid vapour lock, but we’ll come back to that in a second.<\/p>\n