Track Day Newbie. Advice?

[yorkshire_spam]

I'm considering taking the Spitfire 1500 to a track day in 2013 - somewhere reasonably ooop north like Elvington or Oulton.
Since I've never been to a track day before - what advice can you guys offer?

[Clive]

Go on one with other CT embers, I believe there is a link-up with "mg on track"
That should work well, as other similarly minded people will be there, look for something that asks if you are new to trackdays. And get some tuition of one sort or another.

We did our first one a year ago (with CT ) and the recent one too. Loved it all.

Re car prep, GOOD OIL is a must, and make sure everything is sorted (new or near new brake fluid, tyres all good and not old, brakes correctly adjusted, silencer is OK for the noise limit plus all the usual mechanical stuff)
Listen to the briefing, but most of all have fun :)

[yorkshire_spam]

Most of the CT stuff seems to be a bit "down south" but I'd certainly like to do a track day with fellow Triumphers up north.

[Chriss]

Hi

Please will you send me a PM with your email address and I will send you the Club Triumph Track Day Guide.  It is 17 pages of what to expect, how to prepare and what to do on the day.

I have not yet published our plans for 2013, but we are likely to be supporting an MGoT Track Day at Donington in the Autumn.

Clive is right that your best bet for your first day will be to team up with some other CT members and go to a day with them.  The first day is likely to be with MGoT at Silverstone, but they stipulate previous experience, so that day is out for you, but I will pick up on other days with MGoT and Practical Classics and post them as threads on the website.

Cheers, Chris

[Chriss]

cliftyhanger wrote:

Re car prep, GOOD OIL is a must, and make sure everything is sorted (new or near new brake fluid, tyres all good and not old, brakes correctly adjusted, silencer is OK for the noise limit plus all the usual mechanical stuff)
Listen to the briefing, but most of all have fun :)

Sounding like a veteran there Clive, I'll get you lined up for giving tuition next time   ;)

[Clive]

Nowhere near there yet, still a beginner. But I learnt about the oil the hard way (bearing change needed after the first one) and having seen a few avoidable horrors, makes you very aware!
should have mentioned, if using alloys PLEASE have the correct wheelnuts as the ones from steel wheels are no use at all and lead to wheels falling off. Also tighten nuts VERY tight and check regularly during the day.

Also I would recommend getting your own helmet. They can be had for not a huge sum (I got an unworn one for a tenner) especially if you plane on doing a few trackdays. Something reassuring about knowing it hasn't been on anybody else's sweaty head :o

[JohnD]

The Club Triumph Track Day Guide!
Well done CT!  What a good idea!

Surely that will the the Compleat Track Day Advice, so what else can we say?
Perhaps some personal advice?
Like:
Have a warm coat to wear between sessions if it is at all cold - you will be warm when you get out of the car!
First session, drive around the track as if you had a crate of eggs in the back.  Go on doing that until you have a good idea of which corner comes next, At least three laps, I'd say, before you get rid of the eggs and try driving at all fast.

Oh, and if it's not a CT or exclusively classic day, be prepared for some rudeboys making fun of your old banger.  They'll come to mock and stay to praise, or if they don't, who cares?

Have a great time!
You will, you will, you will .......
John

[yorkshire_spam]

Any idea how I can get a noise level check? Wouldn't want to book it and lose my money due to an overly loud exhaust!

[James]

You can buy a decibel meter from ebay for cheap— certainly cheaper than losing the cost of the track day.

[Clive]

Which exhaust do you have?

My toledo almost failed a year ago (it was within 1 db of the limit) so this time I made a small additional "silencer". Basically a flap of metal that could be attacked with an exhaust clamp to the outlet, and the flap lowered (increasing backpressure and silencing) Crude but effective. db killers available on the bay too, similar method of working.
of course, this year it passed easily. Unless your exhaust is a loud one, you should be ok.

[sparky_spit]

If you have a smartphone you can get an app for that (what can't you get an app for these days?...) - I've got Decibel-O-Meter on my Android and it seems reasonably accurate. And it was free.

[Chriss]

Hi John

We have had the TD guide since about 2008.  It can be found at  http://club.triumph.org.uk/comps/assets/files/CT_TrackDayGuide.pdf

This is not the latest version, which I updated yesterday, but it is not significantly changed.  I would welcome any comments.

Hi Clive

I am really impressed that you feel confident enough, after 2 TDs, to offer advice.  It really shows you and Gill have taken to it like ducks to water (or air for that matter) not only from the driving perspective but also the preparation angle.  Well done.  You are an example to others on how to approach track days and I will welcome your support in putting on TDs in the future.

All

As for helmets:  This is getting to be a difficult area.  TDs are run to AMRCO / MSA regulations.  These require using a helmet to MSA (SNell 2010) standards.  These are expensive (£150 is the cheapest I have found but you can get them for less).  Our insurers require us to comply with the MSA.  In future I am going to have to insist on entrants wearing an MSA standard helmet.  To offset the cost we will only go to circuits that offer MSA standard helmets for hire.  Clive's point about having to put your head where someone else's sweaty head has been is very good.  You can buy balaclavas to wear between your head and the helmet that will get round this.  They would not need to be to any standard. Demon Tweeks have them for £15 or more, ski shops may have them for less.

For new starters i would recomend that you hire helmets until you decide you like TDs enough to want to invest in one, and presumably car modifications too.

[yorkshire_spam]

cliftyhanger wrote:

Which exhaust do you have?

My toledo almost failed a year ago (it was within 1 db of the limit) so this time I made a small additional "silencer". Basically a flap of metal that could be attacked with an exhaust clamp to the outlet, and the flap lowered (increasing backpressure and silencing) Crude but effective. db killers available on the bay too, similar method of working.
of course, this year it passed easily. Unless your exhaust is a loud one, you should be ok.

It's a bell twin exit and it seems LOUD to me.

[James]

And you'd be right — they are very noisy :)

[Velocita Rosso]

sparky_spit wrote:

- I've got Decibel-O-Meter on my Android and it seems reasonably accurate. And it was free.

...wonder where you got that.............have you been to the doctors?

Sam
We have done, Donnington, Cadwell, Elvington and a couple of others
Keep in touch when you will be interested,there`s a couple of other locals interested aswell

Mind you Elvington have just been fined just lately for ....noise .The owners were all done £3k each ....so watch out for lack of events there

[yorkshire_spam]

Hmmm. Any body out there know what the noise level metric is? At what distance/RPM etc? or is it "peak"?
If I stand at the back of the motor with the engine at about 1K RPM I get between 88 and 90 db BUT it looks like the 2 sounds level apps I downloaded onto my phone stop at 90db.

[aar0sc]

6797 wrote:

It's a bell twin exit and it seems LOUD to me.

Mine's louder :P

(106db at 3,500rpm...!)

[James]

for a 1500 it's about 4000rpm at 1 metre from the exhaust (not directly behind the exhaust — 45 degrees)

[aar0sc]

jcarruthers wrote:

for a 1500 it's about 4000rpm at 1 metre from the exhaust (not directly behind the exhaust — 45 degrees)

I was aiming for 4,500rpm, but I'd broken the 98db limit long before there!