pre-track checks guide??

[Piggy]

Would perhaps a little thread for pre-track checks be useful perhaps?

Just notice a running theme of people having issues when they take their car to the track. Some cant be predicted or could have been stopped with any checks before hand...

but most recently we had SRowell with his snapped P bush, ZXVolcane with his engine movement issues, and Jammapic with his rear mounts coming lose...and thats just off the top of my head.

With some basic pre-track checks all those could have been avoided? Whenever doing track days with mates cars/previous track cars, it was one of the main things we did, doing a torque check of every bolt basically....its also a fundemental part of the service that rally cars have between stages...thats even when all the bolts have had loctite on them.

Other things could be added obviously, and would be important, tyres/brakes/lights/engine/windscreen etc etc

No?yes?

[Toms306]

People are lazy though, while its a good idea, I cant see anyone being arsed to check every bolt before going on lol. And things like tyres and levels are just common sense, surely...

[Connor]

But Rowell knew about his broken pbush... that wasnt the problem. He continued to take it on the track and drive it 100+ miles home knowing his car was dangerous. Problem was his attitude about it, as getting it recovered would have been too shameful... wonder how much shame he would have had if it had caused a crash?

[Eeyore]

So yeh I knew about my problem. It wasnt unknown or a surprise. I clearly knew about it, knew the consequences and drove accordingly. This thread isnt about me being a bell... and ill ask people not to bring it up. It happened and its fixed.

I can see the point of it and ill write something up but the problems highlighted arent anything out of the blue. Its part of general maintenance that people hadnt done anything about.

Moving forwards and trying to be more productive lets start a list and come up with things to check...

1. Fluid Levels
2. Tyre pressures
3. Tyre Tread, Alignment, Balancing
4. Brake Pads & Discs
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

[cully]

to be honest this is the main reason i didnt put my car on track last year as i didnt know the car
in the mean time i went through the whole car replacing warn bits repairing broken bits
and now im at a stage i have a car i consider together good enough for the track albeit standard

before going on track
always check wheel bolts
tyre condition
tyre pressures


also remember you have to drive home on tyres that need to be legal too

[Dum-Dum]

Your wasting your time mate, anyone whos sensible knows what they want to check and anyone who doesnt care still wont care.

I think mine is;
did the car feel alright on the way down
does everything in the engine bay look OK
do the brakes still appear to be working
is it making any abnormal funny noises
have i shut my door properly
is my helmet and seat belt done up

[cully]

■Driving licence
■Crash Helmet
■Some windscreen cleaner and rags
■Tyre pressure gauge and or pump
■A basic tool kit
■Duct tape and zip ties
■Jack
■A change of clothes
■Full tank of fuel
■Cash for food and drinks
■Cash or card for fuel

[Eeyore]

Pretty much what Chris says but itll be good to have a guide anyway... just like the stickerbombing guide .

The car driving on the way down is a good one and especially the tyres being legal for the drive home. Ive got spare sets but its ballache to change them over for a few hillruns or for a 15 minute session. For the 2 hour long sessions you can do at FCS or any other track day for that matter id definitely be having a spare set to drive home on.

When i was with Tom in the ZX the brake vacuum pipe melted. That could have potentially been very serious... in fact it meant we couldnt push the rest of the session at all. That comes under a visual inspection of the car though. Seeing as it was the cars first time on track its not expected to be perfect first time. Albeit you need to be safe as well it is also learning what needs to be fixed, changed, upgraded on your car. Your car doesnt get pushed as hard as it does on track on a daily drive so there will always be problems you didnt notice before.

[Connor]

Tbh most of these things should be weekly/monthly checks any way, especially the likes of tyres. Remember its 3 points and upto a £1000 fine

[cully]

Ive got spare sets but its ballache to change them over for a few hillruns or for a 15 minute session.

lazy!

i changed mine at FCS for 15mins cause i knew the tyres were way better than i had on the car makes for a better experiance on track which is what you should aim for

[cully]

oh i also bring a spare set of front brake pads just in case

[Piggy]

I have two sets of front brake pads that I would bring if I was doing a day/longer session.

Torque wrench is a must IMO.

Checking at least the basic bolts is also a must IMO. Beam mount bolts, wishbone bolts, damper/strut bolts, caliper bolts and wheel bolts.

Esp as while you are at it, you could check for play/other issues.

RE: SRowell, not having a dig, but if he did a pretrack check at home before he left, surely then the P bush issue would have been noted?

[Eeyore]

Ive got spare sets but its ballache to change them over for a few hillruns or for a 15 minute session.

lazy!

i changed mine at FCS for 15mins cause i knew the tyres were way better than i had on the car makes for a better experiance on track which is what you should aim for

Its not lazy that I didn't change them. Theyre Michelin PS3s so decent for track and road

of course tyres are something we check all the time. When youre getting in and out of a car unless youre Gurj you can see the tread. It shouldnt ever get to the point when its like... omg no tread.

Ive done 152 minutes on track so I dont think its got to the point where i need to be carrying round a trailer full of gear just to run the car.

[1616six]

This is nothing against you personally Sam but I find it funny how everyone jumped at this chap yet because you've said for people not to talk about it & you know it's wrong but it's fixed.. everyone has piped down!

From what I've read you should have not even taken the car on track let alone tracked it & then driven it all the way home. Just because you drove it a little slower or what ever means nothing, you still could have lost that whole wheel/assembly at even 30mph.. lost it & seriously injured an innocent person/family.

Can never understand why people don't consider the consequences, or say they did consider them but decided to do it anyway.

Again Sam this isn't a dig at you specifically & I'm sure you'll delete this post, but seeing two posts recently from users who deemed their unroadworthy cars safe to drive, no consideration for innocent families who may be travelling close to these cars really does annoy me.

[Connor]

So you know the condition of the inside of your tyres? Most common thing is see is tyres with 4-5mm tread and cords hanging out of the inside edge

[Eeyore]

RE: SRowell, not having a dig, but if he did a pretrack check at home before he left, surely then the P bush issue would have been noted?

In the 24 hours before pugfest I had done 8 hours of driving and everything felt fine until the last 30 minutes by which point I was obviously at the show with no tools to fix it.

If you really want to know I had been working my ass off in London all week, came home to a party, got up at 6, went wakeboarding and then drove home, packed and then joined my convoy then you can see I didnt have a casual few minutes to check things and for 4 minutes on track at pugfest i didnt think it essential to check my pbushes which had never been a problem before...

If I said yes i should have checked my pbushes, just like JP should have checked his beam mounts and tom should have checked his engine mounts will you be happy? or are you going to call the track preparation police?

[Dum-Dum]

I think the important thing is do some checks. It doesn't entirely matter what you start with or what you think to check because as you walk round and start checking one thing you'll look at other things and start noticing if other stuff isn't right. Take for example checking wheel nuts, if you do that you'll notice if there is undue movement in the wheel as your pushing on the bar so your checking suspension components and you'll find you probably have a visual look at the wheel as you do it that looks for damage or cuts in the sidewall and if you start to think about the tyre you'll invariably run your hand over the tread or have a look at it.

You all know your cars and your mechanics best so you know what's most likely to be wrong or need checked.

[Eeyore]

Jordan im not going to delete your post because yes it was stupid and I agree. Everyone knows how bad it was and we all know i shouldnt have done it. We all agree and thats that.

[lolsteve]

I just do a fluid check before heading on. In regards to tyres I'm still using the sane ones I bought for pugfest 2013 and theve done 2 pugfests , 2 action days and fcs 2 hour haha
Do want some dedicated track wheels though

[Eeyore]

I just do a fluid check before heading on. In regards to tyres I'm still using the sane ones I bought for pugfest 2013 and theve done 2 pugfests , 2 action days and fcs 2 hour haha
Do want some dedicated track wheels though

You mean you didnt do a headgasket check? Shit son...

[toseland]

my check is "does the engien start" ...

check done.

[lolsteve]

Fluid check is a headgasket check, no coolant or funky looking oil means she is probably only good for a 15 mins session.

How often do people check oil when doing track stuff? Like after a few sessions or after every event

[Eeyore]

Fluid check is a headgasket check, no coolant or funky looking oil means she is probably only good for a 15 mins session.

How often do people check oil when doing track stuff? Like after a few sessions or after every event

haha nice one. Sam and I always check ours at the petrol station when filling up on the way to the event.

[toseland]

no point when checking oil when rolling tho... is there, cause it hasnt flowed back to the sump yet.

[Eeyore]

no point when checking oil when rolling tho... is there, cause it hasnt flowed back to the sump yet.

We have frankie and bennies which takes an hour, shopping and then petrol. Should be enough time there to make it accurate enough.

[cully]

How often do people check oil when doing track stuff? Like after a few sessions or after every event

i would check oils after each outing
just by lifting the bonnet you can check so many things visualy are good

just by no fliud loss around the engine bay

[lolsteve]

Meant to ask how often do you change the oil? Like after each event or ..

[Eeyore]

Meant to ask how often do you change the oil? Like after each event or ..

Change it more regularly but i wouldnt be changing after every 2 hours worth of track time etc.

[Piggy]

RE: SRowell, not having a dig, but if he did a pretrack check at home before he left, surely then the P bush issue would have been noted?

In the 24 hours before pugfest I had done 8 hours of driving and everything felt fine until the last 30 minutes by which point I was obviously at the show with no tools to fix it.

If you really want to know I had been working my ass off in London all week, came home to a party, got up at 6, went wakeboarding and then drove home, packed and then joined my convoy then you can see I didnt have a casual few minutes to check things and for 4 minutes on track at pugfest i didnt think it essential to check my pbushes which had never been a problem before...

If I said yes i should have checked my pbushes, just like JP should have checked his beam mounts and tom should have checked his engine mounts will you be happy? or are you going to call the track preparation police?

pugfest isnt so much of an issue...you crash, its you and your car. But its still a serious matter.

If you wish to party and persue hobbies over the roadworthyness of your car, I think you need to sit down and rethink your priorities.
Sounds harsh I know, but we are essentially talking about our lives, cars and the lives of others...in whatever order you feel is most important!

For the last 6weeks, I have been doing 12hour work days, mingled with nightshifts with no day off to sleep. And I wasnt really guna exactly push it on track...I still checked everything over. I'm not saying "oh look at me, I'm perfect"...
Im more saying:

"we could all avoid having potential sad moments on/off track if we do some vital checks before heading to the show/track where our cars get pushed beyond day to day limits"

[RetroPug]

Check the colour of the oil. If it is still golden brown it should be okay, but if it has gone black it needs changing.