So, you’re interested in doing a trackday but aren’t sure what you need to do to your car? You don’t need a fire-breathing 500hp beast to have fun on track – any hot hatch will be perfect with some simple preparation beforehand. Just follow our tips below to get set up for the day…
- Brakes. These will be under a lot more pressure than they normally are on the road, so here’s our top tips for ensuring they make it through the day. Nothing’s scarier than having your brake pedal sink to the floor when you need to slow down!
- Pads. Your standard road pads are used to gentle braking on the road, not the constant hard braking that you get on a track day. If you’re going to be doing a lot of trackdays, we recommend going for a full track pad. If you can stretch to it, a fast road pad would be ideal for our day. They’ll be much better equipped to handle the high temperatures you’ll be putting through them and less likely to experience fade. At the very least, please check to ensure your brake pads have a decent amount of life left on them!
- Brake fluid absorbs water over time, which makes it decrease in performance – and when you brake, it also heats up. We recommend running a track-spec brake fluid (we recommend Motul RBF660) which will have a higher boiling temperature (a garage will be able to change your brake fluid within an hour). At a minimum, you should ensure your car has had a brake fluid change within the last year.
- Tyres. You can’t over-emphasise the importance of tyres on a track day. They’re the one thing that’s keeping your car stuck to the road.
- Tread depth. While the legal limit is 1.6mm, any less than 2mm will result in reduced handling, so make sure you check your tread depth in advance. If in any doubt, you can use the 20p method to check they’re above the legal limit.
- Pressures. When pushing the car, your tyre pressures will increase by 4-6psi. It’s worth checking your tyres are at the correct pressure before arriving but try and check them on the day too after you’ve warmed the car up. We’ll have a tyre pressure gauge available on the day if you don’t.
- Basic maintenance. Your car has to be MOT-worthy to bring on a track day but there are also some simple checks you can do before the day to ensure you’re fully set.
- Oil check. First make sure your car is on a level surface, then pull out the dipstick and check your level is at the maximum mark. Top it up if need be!
- Coolant check. Check this is at the right level when the car is cold.
- Engine lights. You don’t want extra worry at a trackday, so make sure there are no lights showing on your dash that shouldn’t be.
- Leaks. Have a look under your car and make sure there’s no visible oil/coolant dripping. Not only can leaks cause damage to your car if your levels run low but are very slippery and are a major source of incidents on track.
- Noise. All circuits have a noise limit they need to adhere to. That’s typically measured in two ways…
- Static, where they will ask you to rev your car to a certain rpm (normally 3/4 of the max) and use a microphone to check.
- Drive-by, where they have microphones positioned around the circuit which detect the volume of cars going past.
- Blyton Park (our venue for the day) has a 95 static/105 drive-by limit and your car will need to pass a noise test before it is allowed on circuit.
- Standard exhausts should be fine if they’re in good condition, and if you’re not sure how loud your car is, you can always speak to your local circuit and ask if they can test it for you. If you’re worried it might be too noisy, you can try and fit an insert to reduce the noise (such as this one from Demon Tweeks).
If you’ve followed all these steps, you should be ready to hit the track. If you aren’t sure or have any questions, just give us a shout – we’re here to help!