track day running cost

[Bazzer]

yep Im a believer in braking as hard as you can as late as you can and on slicks you can leave it fairly late    I run mintex  1166s and for me give the best stopping power from the pads Ive used, my 1144s lasted me a fair longer  while last year mind but didnt have the bite the 66s have. plus im stopping a heavy weight busa     and maybe from a higher speed        

Or the compound choice is not quite hard enough and they are overheating and wearing faster than they need too.

Choose the right pad and you can have great braking plus good wear.

If you run some pads outside their temp range they can last as little as a session.

Bazzer

[JeffC]

144s seemd to last longer but went all crumbley looks like I was overheating them   alan at questmead suggested 1166s would sort me out, and im really impressed with them after 40 mins on track the pedal is still as good as the first press  dont mid changing them at the price they are (£53 ish ? )

[ludo]

so ok, seven are cheaper to run than my M3, we've established that much!

Now to choose the car. Let's start with a £7.5k budget, pruchased in the dead of the winter.

the car need to be registered on Q-plate, pre 1982 if it's on carbs I think for registration in france I believe, no issue if fuel injected. Then the second point, the built, still for registration purpose it needs to be factory built (I believe the V5 is not the same for "home" built and factory). So what can I get that would be good and reliable on the track? I won't run in any competitive environment, just track day fun so I don't need a max out engine.

[D1cky]

You will probably be able to pick up a load of nice cars for that price.  

Engine - 2.0 vx on throttle bodies gets my vote.

Tyres - A048's (205 rear / 195 front) for my 15" rims cost about £100 / corner but I believe that rubber for 13" rims is cheaper.

Also I think that R888 rubber is cheaper but I have not tried it.

Brakes - DS2500 pads have done 1000 road miles and 2 track days, 1/4 ish worn. I am not the last of the late brakers but brake heavier than average.

On a seperate subject do you know where it is written down in French law that you can register a WF in France? The reason I ask is that my father-in-law wants to by one but has been told that it is not possable.

Cheers

[ludo]

On a seperate subject do you know where it is written down in French law that you can register a WF in France? The reason I ask is that my father-in-law wants to by one but has been told that it is not possable.

Cheers

I don't think it's a written law. What happen for car like westfield is as follow: these car don't have a type approval, so in order to register it in france you need to do what we call an RTI (reception à titre isolée, meaning registering the car as a one-off).

So say you have your car from UK, then you must bring it (if it's less than 25 year old) to an independant test facility (UTAC) to run various and very arsh test. You also need to fit bigger rear view mirror and few other bits and pieces, nothing major though (I could get a pretty extensive description of the various test if you wish too, in Frennh). These tests cost around £1k.

Another solution for your father in law, especially if he is retired: buy a car and register it in england under his name, you drive it and get some services done to the car with the bill made to his name. After 6 month or a year of ownership, I can't recall exactly, he can bring his car to France and the test should be very limited in numbers. If he can read french, tell him to have a look on Sevener and forum auto-roule

Westfield can be registered as long as they are factory built. it takes both time and money but it can be done.

[D1cky]

Thanks Ludo, that looks great. My French is not so hot but afeter working as an engineer and living france for 25yrs I think that he will have no problems.

If you have a copy of the tests in French that will also be really usefull.

Thanks, Rich

[ludo]

DRIRE/UTAC approval

this topic provides a lot of useful infos in order to register a car in france.

Regarding the VX engine, What are the donor car of these? Just wondering if these engine were ever fitted to cars sold in france. If not that would be a major pain to get parts after in case of any trouble.

[Blatman]

In France (and probably most of the rest of Europe) the Vx would have been fitted to Opel Vectra's, maybe late Asconas and GSi Kadetts (called Astra in the UK). The 2.0l GSi model is the one to look for, pre 1993 (I think). Post 1993 the low emission Ecotec engine was used, and it's no good...

[ludo]

here it was the astra GSI too, this one?:

[steve_m]

Get a bike, track days are half the price, fuel is half the price and the fear factor is quadroupled !       Nothing like a car, 140 in a car feels quick but you want more, on a bike approaching a 90 degree bend you wonder if you'll see next week  

Jeff, what calipers have you got  ?

[D1cky]

Thanks Ludo.

Ecotec - I had one before I swapped for a C20XE. In performance terms the Ecotec was fine, as quick as a Zetec but I always struggeled with over heating on track. Which is why I swapped.

The new installation will run all day at 90deg on track using the Blatman / Leon swirl pot arangement. So no problems there.

Just one more comment if you are considering buying a kit-car for the track; kit car owners seem to have a habit of making their cars individual to them and as such don't always follow best engineering practice. This might not be a problem on the road but the track usually shows these up, so you will need to do your home work and buy wisely.

Cheers.

[ludo]

Get a bike, track days are half the price, fuel is half the price and the fear factor is quadroupled !       Nothing like a car, 140 in a car feels quick but you want more, on a bike approaching a 90 degree bend you wonder if you'll see next week  

I have a 916 monoposto so I am fine with that.

Regarding the various issues, I have noted fuel starvation problems (swirl pot), oil starvation (dry sump or accusump can solve these) and cooling issue is a new one, will have to look into it. Just really starting to look seriously into kit cars so I guess I still have a lot of homework to do!  

[JeffC]

QUOTE

Jeff, what calipers have you got  ?

wilwood dynalites  

[ludo]

Are brake discs ventilated all around for track westy?

[Bean]

Nope, no need.