GR86 Novice Track Day setup

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cakper

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Hello everyone!

As the GR86 is going to be my first privately owned car that I'm going to take to a track day, I'd like to ask for your recommendation regarding the upgrades needed.

From what I read the brake pads and fluid are a minimum, do you have any recommendations on which ones specifically I should be looking at?

I also imagine it's not a job for a novice to replace them, but with the pads, I probably need to have ones for the road and ones for track anyway.

Regarding the track I'm thinking about Brands Hatch, to begin with as it's the closest to me, plus I'm already practising it in GT Sport ;)

Many thanks for any insight!
 
Absolutely nothing at all to the car.

Go have fun, build up slowly and even if the brakes do fade some cool down laps will sort them.

Money people spend on upgrading their car for the track is often better spent on tuition.
 
Drive it first and get a feel for what you need to upgrade. No point just throwing money at it. Keep the standard pads and just do the fluid if you want to ensure you don't get a long pedal. If you burn through the OE pads at least you've got your monies worth, same for tyres. Upgrading suspension, tyres and brakes might give the best drivers 2-3 seconds per lap. However tuition and learning will easily see you gain 8-10. 👍
 
Many thanks, both! That makes my life much easier :) How quickly does one burn through a set of tyres on a track?

Hope to meet some of the forum members one day!
 
Depends a lot on temperature and how many laps your doing at a time. On road tyres such as the PS4 the car comes with you'll be best off doing 6-8 laps max before letting them cool down. Alternatively you can do 3-4 push laps and then a cool down and the push again and repeat. Once the surface of the tyre gets hot it's not wear that is the issue it's the rubber marbling up and sticking all the tread blocks together. Part worn road tyres are actually faster than new on track for this reason. Less tread = less heat build up.
 
Nothing, to begin with as others have said. Worth a few quid is to get an instructor to show you round the track and braking points etc.
Also consider some track day insurance especially if they are not making many of our gr86's.
You'll not finish your tyres off unless you plan to drift round all the corners:)
 
As others have said - take it easy to start with and don't think you're "gods gift to racing" on the first lap!

Definitely get some instruction if you've not been on a race track before - they'll make you think about track driving in a completely different way to how you think it should be. A mid week session is normally quieter if you're nervous.

But definitely don't do what I did to start with all those years ago - DONT go to the Nordschleife after only a few UK track days and spend hours going round and round one of the trickiest racetracks in the world - quite the baptism of fire if there ever was one.
 
Before you look into doing your first trackday, I suggest you go on a driver training course. You will see the benefit of these in the long run and they work on various aspects of your car control, which will massively help you when you first go on track. They'll also improve your everyday driving.

I've personally done the CAT driver training course and it made a massive difference to my ability and would 100% recommend it to anyone. It's quite expensive however at £400 - £500. The other option which is also closer to you, is Car Limits, which is a similar driver training programme, although I've never personnally done it, I know several people that have and they all agree it's excellent.

Driver Training:
Car Limits: https://www.carlimits.com/
CAT: https://catdrivertraining.co.uk/

As for going on a track day, several organisers do specific Novice only days. I'd try and book on one of these first, they are normally broken up into 20min sessions, which will limit your time on track and will force you and the car to have a break. You should also consider booking instruction, whether from the trackday organiser or source an external instructor.

Novice trackday organisers:
Javelin: https://www.javelintrackdays.co.uk/trackdays/Novice_Trackdays
MSVT: https://car.msvtrackdays.com/Products/Novice-Only

Instructors:

Alternatively, I'm sure there will be several people who are itching to get out on track and we could look into organising a club day. This is good as you can get passenger rides from more experienced people and have people to talk to, ask for advice and get to know other club members.

Also as mentioned by @grzoostuff it's definitely worth getting trackday insurance, here is a list of companies which offer this as a service:

Trackday Insurance:
Moris - https://trackday.moris.co.uk/
Insure My Track Day - https://www.insuremytrackday.com/
Grove & Dean Motorsport Insurance - https://grove-dean-motorsport.com/
Ryan Motorsport Insurance - https://www.ryanmi.com/en/


Now to answer your pads and fluid question:

This is a list of common brake pads available for the Gen 1 cars (same fitment), broken down into ability.

86brakepads.jpg

Brake Fluid:

Castrol SRF
Millers Oils Racing Brake Fluid 300
Motul RBF 600

Or any of the ones listed on the Demon-Tweeks website:

Brake Fluid | Demon Tweeks

Guarantee that your brakes work when you need them most with our range of high performance brake fluids. Buy from top brands at Demon Tweeks today
www.demon-tweeks.com www.demon-tweeks.com
86brakepads.webp
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As others have said, do nothing to the car. Go and get a feel for it and get some tuition so you can nail the basics. Brands Indy is alright to be fair. Tracks like Blyton Park are great practice tracks and a lot favour Bedford to being novice friendly. Take time to do those tracks before moving onto the more technical tracks like Croft, Donny, Oulton and Cadwell.

Most of all, learn to relax and just enjoy yourself, not staying out too long and drink plenty of fluids as you will get dehydrated otherwise.
 
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