PAULS PITSTOP
Will my formula500 car be good enough for a track day?
Well primarily- nobody cares what car you drive. You may receive more attention if you have a flashy PORSCHE, but it is always how well you drive how you gain track respect. On your first track day warm up your tyres, don't be a hero ... also possibly get some proffesional instruction,and then you can build your speed up gradually and always let the faster cars/drivers pass. If you are in what you consider to be a fast car, don't assume that you'll get round the track quicker than cars you consider 'slower'. You don't know what modifications the other cars have, or how experienced the drivers are. A Formula 1 driver would probably lap quicker in a standard road car than we would in our formula500's
As for whether your road car will be up to a track day... well, it probably wont - but don't panic...
First of all, It’s not a BHP thing. Most track virgins seem to think the problem will be lack of power from the engine, but power is one of the last things that needs to be addressed to achieve quick lap times.
On track, you should be either accelerating, braking or cornering. Time is gained, not by how fast you accelerate, or the top speed of your car, but how late you can brake and what speed you can exit a corner.
Will my brakes be up to a track day?
The brakes will generally suffer worst. If you are due for your first track day, then make sure your brake pads are new but bedded in.Most tracks - especially airfields, demand some very, very hard braking for tight corners, which could mean 100 mph to 30 mph in as few feet as your car will manage, several times a minute. You may well find (after a couple of track days) that you need ‘harder’ brake pads, and brake fluid with a higher boiling point. These will enable you to drive harder and faster, but be warned, they may alter the road manners of your car detrimentally.
WHAT ABOUT MY ENGINE OIL? 
It is important that you check your oil level, at the start of the day, and at least one other time during the day. This is especially important for our older engines which will get through a surprising amount in one track day. Whatever the recommended service interval - if you’ve done a track day, change the oil earlier! Every 3000 miles for a track/road car is usually considered the highest mileage appropriate)
WHAT ABOUT TYRES ?
It is generally accepted that road-going tyres are not up to a track day, we have proved this, however if you check them regularily they should last the day ok,but dont expect them to be in a great condition for the drive home!.
We are ''testing at present TOYO R 888 15'' and on a dry track find they are far superior to any road tyre. watch this space as we hope to test wet tyres also.
SUSPENSION TIPS
One thing you may wish to change on your car (before the engine) is the suspension. However, you really need to do a few track days to get a feel for what you might need. Road suspension is too soft for track, but many cars boast 'sports suspension', we reccomend for the 8v Golf Gti ''Coilovers'' they have made our cars handle like on rails!! see our links page for more info.
Do I need, and can I get insurance?
Getting insurance is not a requirement for a track day. It depends on whether you are prepared to pay the premium. Some car policies cover 'non competitive' track days (check your insurer) - most do not. We will be adding insurers links shortly.
What shall i bring to the track day??
We recommend a quality helmet and one for any passengers, if anything should happen ( it rarely does ) A few extra pounds on a good approved helmet may make a huge difference.Also most track day organisers insist upon seeing your driver's licence.
A tyre pressure guage is useful, some oil to top up the engine, tools, gaffer tape etc...and possibly fuel ( some fuel stations are miles away and most tracks that sell fuel are lets say''Conservative'' with there prices. So make sure all these are either totally secure in the car or better still when you arrive, take them out and leave them in the paddock area.
What does 'open pit lane' mean, and do I get charged for an extra driver?
Second drivers are usually charged at a proportion of the charge of the first on 'open pit lane' days. Passengers also sometimes incur a cost though not a lot. Open pit lane allows you to enter the track on and off as the day progresses, with the same number of cars on the track not exceeded.
What happens if I'm too slow - will I get in the way?
You probably will be very slow on your first track day. Don't worry - everybody was and some of us still are ( you know who you are lol) but you will soon get quicker. The important thing is to listen carefully at the briefing you'll get at the start of the day. This will tell you about overtaking (or being overtaken and the flags etc).
What about proffessional instruction?
If you can get it I would reccomend it,I have lost precious seconds following my tuition,But dont worry you will be fine if you listen at the briefing.At most track events, the organisers will have put cones on each corner. These mark the 'turn in', the 'apex' and the 'exit' points. The idea is to drive continuously smooth flowing line that will make the radius of the corner as wide as possible . This will straighten out the corner as much as possible. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!
If after your best efforts, you have got it wrong and are approching the corner way too fast you can often... 'straighten out the corner' Then PREFERABLYnext time brake more in a straight line before you enter the corner. Let your gentle acceleration move you to the far side of the track as you exit the corner and unwind the steering. Hopefully, you have used the width of the road to make the corner radius as large as possible, and the second half of of the corner has become the beginning of the next straight.
Of course, you may want to go 'sideways' round corners, which can be more fun ( We have guys who go down the straights sideways!), if a lot harder to do, and demands some amended techniques. But just don't forget - your lap times will be a lot slower (and your tyre bills a lot higher!) and you may end up in the ''KITTY LITTER'' Or on the beach as we like to call it, ( yes once again you know who you are!)
Most important of all drive within your and your cars limits enjoy the day and go home with the biggest smile, we do!
Pitstop Pauls FAQ'S
What jobs would you reccomend leaving to the professionals?
One of our guys had a cylinder head problem, after lots of work and 3 head gasket kits, the car is now ok but i would reccomend getting the big boys in for any gear box engine internals and even clutches, we are starting to compile a list of reccommended suppliers, services see links page.ps Tighten your wheel nuts Doug!
''PIT STOP'' PAUL'S VW GOLF 2.0 8V EVOLUTION
Over the next section Pit Stop's Paul will tell give us an insight into his 'Great White Hope' GTI which has been on a dose of 'Steroids' and he has kindly let us in on some tips and some money saving ideas to get to the front of the pack and stay there.
Pauls GTI started life as a standard 2.0 litre 8 valver, bought for £250 with no MOT and no Tax but he saw loads of potential. Firstly he loved the colour as Paul says '' All Race cars are white ! '' so thats a good start.Once back at the work shop and on the ramp, it was clear that this race car needed a little more metal than it came with . And after about a day and a halfs welding and fabrication he sured up the floor and sills,Paul tells us '' this seems to only affect pre or early 95 cars, so beware when buying that ''bargain bucket '' as unless you are a welding guru, this is going to hurt in the pocket!''
The next job was the strip, and in only a few hours Paul had stripped the Golf into a waif like Kate Moss rather than the Beth Ditto she began as, now on the track its a totally different weapon. ''A good set up golf can open a whole can of 'whoop ass' on track cars costing over ten times as much'' He literally stripped all the seats headlining sunroof and virtually all the unnecessary trim and components in to a huge 10x8 box that took two people to lift! and dumped the lot, ''there are so many golfs being broken its just not worth the time trying to sell and store the stuff'' ( we agree ) Editor
Now golfs corner like on rails straight out of the box but if you are making an out and out lightweight racer they need to run on rails like the highspeed ''Bullet Train'' Now good old ebay sourced some replacement coilover shock and spring set ups delivered from Belgium for £170 !!
He set the ride height to cope with speed humps but low enough to smooch up tight to the race track tarmac.Running on standard 15" rims ( still the best option ) there is no rubbing or wheel shakes.After running the car on road tyres and virtually losing it on every bend the transfer to TOYO PROXES R88, ''This is probably the cheapest and best modification i would reccomend!! £300 a set and you can turn in later than anything out there!''
Paul is running the standard brake set up, albeit with better brake fluid and ''yellow pads'' and he says he has had no fade or failure yet,and finds no need to upgrade to Brembo or some exotic part ( YET !)
After several mods to the exhaust ,he is currently running a fabricated straight through system coupled to a single outlet PECO exhaust. ''The back box was a snip at £25.00 brand new from Ebay and so far has met all the sound levels required at the various race circuits ,the last back box i blew the baffles out! and i had to wear ear defenders to drive to the circuit! so this is a much improved modification''.
With the standard seats gone it was time to fabricate some Corsa Bucket seats that i had aquired from my buddies from TORQUE OF THE DEVIL.(also on the same road as Pauls WorkShop).''A bit more welding and i had a Touring car low slung seat setup! im using Securon harnesses and so far they have done a great job, of holdng me in , including a few spins!''
As the Golf 8 valver is known as an untuneable lump,i wanted to see how much can be extracted from this unknown block.First to go was the Air Box a big bulky item that takes up a huge space at the front of the car.Once again i had to fabricate a bracket using part of the old airbox to fit a 'Freebee Gimmee' Kand N air filter mated to a Focus ST intake , from The Torque boys.This coupled with the Exhaust system now gives the 8v an engine note worthy of the VW Badge.
For a fun sprint at Sant Pod,we decided to fit a wet nitrous system to the 8valver, so following a days install and some dyno work i was well surprised when we put the car on the Dyno and saw it was pushing out a whopping 178 Bhp, ''have some of that you VR6 MONKEYS!''
''The only thing is it the NOS tends to spin the wheels in first and second and i can only use it on the long straights, or to have a little play with the boys!''
Following our Club Dyno evening and seeing some of the boys pushing out good figures i decided to put a Fast Road Cam in with some Kick ass followers. A relatively simple swap over and the Newman Cam went in scott free, good for about four-five horsepower. Chris at Torque suggested changing the VW engine management system for the more tuneable OMEX SYSTEM, this allows you to fine tune the timing the fueling and the running of the engine far better than the original lifeless ECU system.Its not cheap though, all in for over a grand seems steep, but this project would not run to its optimum with out a few eggs broke and some banks robbed!
'' So thats where the car is at, and will probably run the 2010 season like this'' However Paul has since ran the car on the TORQUE OF THE DEVIL DYNO & his Upgrade package has smashed it with a 131BHP ... 15 more than standard ( A bit too much dough and work for me, but a great exercise in proving how close this racing can be with a standard set up! ) ED
TORQUE OF THE DEVILS TUNING GURU ''CHRIS'' TUNES THE ''GREAT WHITE HOPE''
