A couple of weeks ago I did my first ever trackday. It was at Bedford Autodrome Gran Turismo Circuit. 3.7miles of pure joy lol :hyper:

 

Booked from http://www.trackdays.co.uk. But be warned, the noise regs are 101db........ mine measured 105db and they gave me a red sticker on the windscreen to indicate i was too noisy and they were 'monitoring' me LMAO :nana2: :mac1:

 

I got some new tyres fitted before i went, some may scoff at the brand, but let me tell you they were awesome.

 

Marshal Matrac 235 front, 255 rears. They took half a lap to warm up, and when warm they stuck really well. Even had melted rubber comming off the tread blocks :dance:

 

The only dissapointment was the stock 300zx brakes. OK so i had greenstuff pads on but wow the car suffers on brakesbig time. If you look at the track map above, the green arrow is the main straight, you approach the esses at about 130mph and have got to brake down to 75 to throw it through the left (squealing tyres) and then flat out through the right. On deceleration by 100mph the brakes were fooked :( not good. So next on the list is a big brake kit for sure.

 

But all in all a top day, and can't wait for the next one.

 

 

 

Hi Grant,

 

Brake fluid was not boiling (fresh dot 4/5 i cannot remember which), as pedal remained firm. I reckon the discs just heated up that much they couldn't cope. As you well know at the end of the main straight you are doing well over 120mph and have to do a hard stop down to 75 ish........ you just dont do that on the road. The greenstuff pads coped well, again no fade from them either, just the goddamn steering wheel shaking. I got poly bushed tension rods too.

 

But as to your vids :D nice one sneaking a video camera on board, i didn't want to get thrown off so i played by the rules.... this time ;)

 

But how loud Was the Gallardo then? Some cars were deffinately louder than mine though.

 

Regards,

 

Rob

 

If your fluid isn't overheating (soft pedal) then your pads/discs are overheating. You might find on a hot day that the fluid could overheat; what fludi are you using? I use Motul RBF600 from http://www.oilman.co.uk, he'll advise if that is suitable for the Z32. The standard discs and pads give reasonable stopping power (consider the Z32 was designed in the late 80's)for a car of this era. If you're going to do more track days I would recommend getting some track biased pads, e.g. FerodoDS2500 to go with your uprated discs. Consider Braided hoses as well. Bedford is a great circuit, especially for beginners. They take the noise limits very seriously, I was there in the winter on a cold day (sound travels further) and they were throwing loads of people off. I drove my mates Lambo Gallardo, he'd been black flag on one lap, I got black flagged later and was told that was the end of my day. Luckily I had my 350z :D my mate ended up driving it as well. I did get some video footage, but if you get caught they will throw you off.

 

Me in my 350z

350z at bedford

Lap in the Gallardo

Lambo

Bob, we got black flagged in the Gallardo on the first out. Then we went out again and I kept it below 5,000 RPM (redline is over 8k) and still got black flagged and therefore thrown off. That was in late September IIRC when the colder weather tends to allow the sound to travel. The other cars thrown off included a factory standard M3; it wasn't even a CSL with the louder exhaust and intake.

 

 

I'm surprised that the green stuff held up on the track, I suspect that the shuddering was due to pad/disc overheating. If you're going to do more track days the disc/pad combo will need improving. I'm not sure if EBC do the yellows for the Z32, they should hold up better, but you'll still need to cool the disc because the yellows will put more strain/heat on them.

 

Pete at SE used to make cooling ducts that picked up air from the lower front intake on the OEM front. It shouldn't be too hard to concoct something.

 

I'm doing the "RING" (ooh er missus) in a few weeks. When's your next track day?