brillomaster

id make sure your windscreen is spotlessly clean both inside and out to reduce glare, also you can get that anti glare coating on glasses, maybe that would help. alternatively, sunglasses, but you'd look a bit of a douche driving at night with sunglasses on.

you get used to it. or more accurately, you have to get used to it if you want to drive moderately low cars.

ask yourself... does it drive currently? does it have an MOT? a few simple checks should let you know if its a good'un or not. but for 300 notes, who gives a monkeys! it'll be perfect for skip runs and the like. run the reg through the MOT history website to see what advisories it might have to look out for. but yep shedding is so liberating... I've seriously wondered why I spent 8 grand on a beemer when you can get a perfectly serviceable high miler BMW with all the toys for a tenth of that price.

says it on the inside of the fuel cap - 98RON minimum, although in reality any super unleaded is fine, some of which are technically 97RON.

i tried this.... but made the mistake of using a common or garden dish scouring pad, which funnily enough scratched the lens. next time if I do it, ill be buying some proper applicator pads!

remember America is land of the excess and home of the petrol - so whatever you buy must be V8 minimum, and petrol. and if you're moving to America you've gotta embrace the scene, so maybe a Cadillac escalade or a hummer or something. plus buy American and it will be cheaper/have better repair network if something goes wrong.

I'm well jealous.... I was hoping to go to a trackday on august 14th, but due to my new track car having a leaky radiator i'm having to postpone till 24th September. which seems like aaaaages away!

+3 for cougarstore!

£1600 for parts, excluding labour?!? please for the love of god do not dignify Nissans extortionate prices by getting the work done there. travel down the A46 to Cougarstore in Leicester, he'll sort you out.

wow that's a wrap!?! brings back the old days of gran turismo and need for speed, everyone always went straight for the most outrageous flip paint possible. that's definitely gonna turn heads, top work Ian!

most likely anyone who spins in the first half hour, or anyone who's shown a black flag for driving standards. Also any racecars attending, most of my experience of racecars on trackdays is that they drive like dicks. Although you'd hopefully be alright as there isn't much racing at Mallory park these days. but anyways, ignore my naysaying, you'll have a blast. I've always said trackdays are the most fun you can have with your clothes on. One thing that might take some getting used to - since its your first trackday and you're in a powerful car, there will likely be a couple of cars that are faster through the bends, but slow on the straights. keep an eye on your mirrors and if you notice a car is always right behind you coming out of corners, you may need to do a prolonged lift on the next straight to let him past, but he'll be really grateful.

though looking at the attendance list so far looks like you'll have the whole track to yourself anyways... Pete

take a footpump and a decent tyre pressure gauge - your pressures will rise considerably as your tyres heat up - I expect 35psi cold will turn into 43psi when hot, so you'll likely need to come into the pits after a session and drop the pressures back down to 35psi hot. also always do a cooldown lap (or maybe two since Mallory is a very short track) at the end of every session you do, trying to use the brakes as little as possible. and then when you park up in the pits, don't use the handbrake as it will stick to the hot disc! Id also keep your sessions short - i'd do maybe 8 laps before coming in. oh and do whatever you can to make sure you stay until the end. a lot of cars start going home at 3pm, so the track starts getting quieter towards the end of the day, which is when you'll put your best laps in! in a similar way the start of the day and just after lunch are the busiest times, so if you're not confident being on track with other cars, perhaps wait 20 minutes and try and spot who the troublemakers might be.

given theres an F-type in the background, i'd say an f-type was a strong possibility!

cant (although i love rockingham) since my new car needs a new rad - ergo, i'm skint for august! will get her on track in september. have fun though, rockingham is a great track, stay away from the wall!

not really necessary for brakes at least... yes DOT5.1 has a higher minimum boiling point than DOT4, but many DOT4 fluids have boiling points that exceed DOT5.1 specs anyways. I run ATE type200 brake fluid in my track beemer, which is DOT4. I've never had any problem with brakes in over 20 trackdays.

id go for wide 18" wheels, don't seem to get particularly wide tyres in 17" size. 18" rays will be your lightest wheels at reasonable cost, there are lighter wheels out there but they are pricey. you can then run 245 front and 255 rears, if you want bargain track tyres I can only say good things about Federal 595 RS-Rs which I run on my track beemer.

does indeed look like an F40 - maybe its a replica or something, if I had an F40 it would likely spend its days in an air conditioned garage, not under a cover outside in the sun!

oh progress definitely made mate! car is 80% stripped, its getting serviced on thursday, have collected the old wheels and tyres and other trackday stuff from Ken. planning on booking the first trackday (which will be more of a shakedown to test the limitations of standard brakes and tyres) at Blyton Park on 14th August with Javelin. if you haven't driven Blyton its a nice little track, EVO magazine use it for a lot of video tests these days. It doesn't take long to learn, actually your zed might feel a little big going round, but hey, its a summer weekend trackday for £129 at the moment. then my plans for the rest of the year are Blyton again in September, Donny in October, oulton park in November, and cadwell in December.

that car is ludicrously loud! and looks a little loose as well, from that vid I don't rate maxxis tyres particularly highly (not that I did anyway)

I've just bought a track car for £650, can we up the budget to that so I can compete?

the thicker ones may not fit under a strut brace without some spacers, and then even if the strut brace fits, the bonnet may not close!

Soz just seen it for sale. don't worry, it will be for sale for a long time yet, I expect it to get reposted a few times more!

I believe Ken is thinking of getting something more expensive than me, i'm still all about keeping it cheap. Also Ken has a few other commitments coming up, so might be looking for a car next year sometime, whereas I knew I wanted to get back into trackdays and would have the funds available now. And also I am keen to take a few other people out in a car, which obviously ken didn't want to fork out half of the cost of ownership, tax and insurance for someone else to be using the car, so if I go it alone I can decide whether I want to charge my mates a usage fee for the car or not, that kinda thing. Plus no offence to Ken but I also fancied a bit of a change, we've done nearly all the tracks in the UK in a beemer now so there isn't a lot more to do, but with my new car I can take people out who have never done track driving before, so it'll be like starting afresh again. there is a bit of risk involved on my part that I take someone out who then crashes the car, but I trust all my friends to make a contribution to repair or replacement costs if that does happen - although in 25 trackdays we've only hit something once, and that would have likely been prevented by decent tyres which we now have, and traction control, which I can keep on when a novice is driving the car.