Preparing For A Trackday
CAR MODEL ST165,ST185ATA,ST185CS,ST185RC,ST205,ST205WRC
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Trackday - What advance servicing should I do?
In all honesty a trackday is not any worse than taking your car out for a spirited Sunday drive. That said it does always pay to check the basics as unlike Sundays trackdays tend to be quite infrequent as well as costing money. These checks are all things that you should really be keeping an eye on most of the time since ultimately they all make the car more enjoyable in normal driving too.
In no particular order, it's worth checking the following:-
OIL
Standard cars run very high oil temperatures (see How To Install an Oil Cooler to see how this can be solved) so you need to know that the oil you have is good quality. If the oil is old and black or you last filled it with cheap stuff then you should seriously consider a change. A good quality fully synthetic oil is definitely the order of the day for track work. This will withstand the high temperatures far better than any semi synthetic or mineral oil and will provide your engine with the protection it needs. Ideally you should take some spare oil with you to the track in case of unforseen usage. A litre or so should cover most recoverabe eventualities
Ignition
You will be spending a large amount of time at high boost wide open throttle conditions. This will highlight any ignition issues you have. Although it's hard to quantify exactly what you should do it is probably advisable to change anything that you do not know the history of.Visually check any components (distributor arm, rotor cap, spark plug and main igniter leads and spark plugs) and if you have any concerns replace them. Although this is something of a tedious process you will at least know that you have a good system for a few years to come.
Brakes
Again brakes are going to take a prolonged pounding on a track day - you need to be sure they are in good condition
Visually inspect each wheel in turn and check for both wear on the disk and worn pads. If the pads are down to their last 2-3mm of friction material it is advisable to change them. Very worn pads will transfer more heat from the disk into the brake fluid leading to premature brake fade. There is a huge range of different brake pads to choose from depending on what model you have. Try searching the forum for some advise if you are unsure of what you need. Disks are harder to check properly since you really need a micrometer to accurately measure pad thickness. However you can often get a good idea of wear from feeling the surface of the disk for wear. Pay particular attention to the very outside of the face. If you can feel a very pronounced ridge within a fem mm of the outer edge then your disks have some wear. You should consider replacement as badly worn disks exagerate brake fade and at their worst can suffer catastrophic failure. Again there are numerour replacement and upgrade option available depending on car model. Ask or search the forum for advice With the wheels off it's also a good time to check the brake lines out. Inspect all the flexible sections for signs or perishing, balooning (expansion of the pipes under pressure) chafing and general wear. If in any doubt replacement is by far the best option. The consequences of a brake failure are not worth risking it!
Wheels/Tyres
While you've got the wheel off checking the brakes give the wheel and tyre a quick once over. You're just looking for obvious issues - cracks in the wheels (very unlikely) and bulges/slashes etc in the tyres Be prepared to loose a couple of mm of tread off the tyres if you drive sensibly and expect quite heavy wear on the outer shoulders. If you really push the car hard into lots and lots of understeer expect to ruin the front set of tyres. Quite a few people like to run an alternative set of wheels and tyres for trackdays as this stops you killing a good set of road tyres. For example next time you change your worn out set of tyres consider keeping them to use purely for trackdays. Of course you will also need to source a suitable set of spare rims to fit them too but this is probably still cheaper than writing off a new set of road tyres
Suspension
Again, while you've got the wheels off give the suspension strut a quick inspection. Look out for signs of damaged/snapped springs and check the damper for signs of any fluid leaking
Fluid Levels
Its always wise to check all fluid levels. Make sure your main water radiator and chargecooler system (if you have one) are absolutely brim full. As with oil it's advisable to take some spare coolant to the track as overheating and some fluid loss is certainly not unheard of Also check the brake and clutch fluid levels. Also check the colour of brake and clutch fluid. If either looks milky or less than perfectly clear consider replacement, especially brake fluid as this probably indicates water in the fluid a major factor in brake fade
General Checks
Once you're done with the major mechanicals above it's worth a quick once over of the whole car. Get hold of each wheel in turn and try to rock it top to bottom and side to side. Any movement indicates something is worn and should probably be attended to before you hit the track. With the engine off give the steering wheel a jerk side to side. Again any clunks, groans etc etc indicates something is worn and merits further investigation Check that the seats are slidly mounted and make sure the seal belts are in good condition and working correctly In general remove everything that's not securely bolted down as the forces generated on track will throw anything vaugely loose around the inside of the car, not a good situation!
That probably covers all of the basics. As you can see it's mostly just common sense checking to try and prevent predictable failures from happening. It may sound like a huge checklist of things to do but in reality it's not that bad. An hour should see all the checks carried out and will give you great peace of mind when you're out on the track. The last thing you need is to be hammering down the pit straight at 150mph thinking "I wish I'd checked the brakes"
