We decided to buy a track day jack rather than bringing our 2 tonne Halfords Advanced jack that is made out of steel to every track day. We have purchased a SGS aluminium 1.5 tonne "Raceday" jack.

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It is a lot lighter than the other jack and can be picked up with one hand so it should stop me braking my back getting the jack in and out of the car.

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I gave the car a clean inside and out today to remove the flies and insects stuck to the front and the tyre marks up the sides of the car. It looks okay from a few metres away.

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It was a good excuse to use the jack to take off the wheels and give the arches a quick clean.

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We went to Brands Hatch tonight for an evening session with Open Track. It has now become an annual evening session for us at Brands Hatch in the summer as it is only 45 minutes from home and usually on a late July evening you can expect warm sunny weather.

@EthanMenace had the day off today from work so he was tasked with getting the Clio to the track and unpacked whilst I had an arrive and drive experience as I left work slightly early and turned up a the track just as the sighting laps were starting. I arrived in the Yaris, got in the Clio and off we went.

We had not done a track day with Open Track before and the first 20 minutes or so had me thinking that the evening could be a bit of a shambles. The sighting laps took forever to complete and it looked like the track was full to capacity which could limit our track time. Thankfully everything worked out well including a free BBQ at the end of the night.

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Tonight was relaxed but good fun. The weather conditions were not great. Despite us having a mini heatwave this week and temperatures reaching about 33 degrees in this part of the world when I arrived at the track the sky was grey and there was very light rain - it was spitting very fine rain.

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There was a wide range of cars on track tonight including Fun Cup cars and C1 race cars, a good selection of Clio 172s, 197s and 200s, a tidy looking R26.R up to a 911 GT4 and a Ferrari (although I could not tell you what model). Most cars were well behaved. Some people had come along to take out their own car for a test on track but it was clearly their daily driver or family car. One man was driving around in his BMW 340 and irritating other drivers by putting his foot down on the straights, being slow round the corners and not allowing others to pass.

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Lap times were not spectaclular tonight due to the slightly damp conditions. The weather meant that although the track as warm some of the areas which had a build up of rubber became a little bit sketchy under breaking. By the end of the evening Ethan had done a 58s lap and I had done a 1m 01s lap.

The car performed perfectly. It outpaced most cars on the track for an overall lap, but to be fair some cars were going very slow tonight. We were on the Indy circuit layout which I think is well suited to the Clio. Some of Ethan's friends had booked on the track day and someone he knew had come along in their M4. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to see who was faster around the track as the M4 got black flagged for noise and was banned from going out on track again.

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My concerns about having limited track time were misplaced as we had no problems getting out on track when we wanted to. There was one red flag for the evening but even that was sorted within 10 minutes.

On the way home we came across a few of the cars from the track day in the Dartford tunnel. The E36 was fast, but probably slower in the corners, so comparable to the Clio. We did not really see the Albi blue 197 on track, or if we did Ethan kept it behind him. The White R26R in the distance was rapid and a well built track tool as it was stripped inside with poly windows.

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Despite the rough start to the year it is now quite nice to turn up to a track day, do the session, have nothing break or go wrong, and then go home with no problems to resolve. The front brake pads might need replacing soon, the Ferodo DS1.11s have got about 3 to 4mm of meat left on them, but they are a consumable so it is expected that they will wear out at some point.

The next track day will be Snetterton on 26th September 2024.
 
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Sounds like a good evening and the tunnel shot is really quite cool.

I think the R26 is Codeye on Insta. Worth dropping a follow as the car is quite cool. The guy had a 200 before the meg too.... if it is the right car.
 
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I am sure someone here will know the answer to my questions about suspension.

We have have a set of Gaz Golds with spring rates that are 600lb front and 350lb rear. We were not sure what spring rates to go for when we got them so relied on Matt from Supreme Motorsport to guide us. Originally we had a set of Bilstein B14s which were soft and bouncy on track days so I thought that replacing the B14s with a stiffer suspension at the front was the best option. The Gaz Golds have been excellent and I do not want to replace them.

The Clio has a Cup Racer front end and Cup Racers have a different suspension set up with fancy Bilstein shocks and very different spring rates.

I have done some very rough maths and if I have got it right our car has spring rates of 105nm at the front and 62nm at the rear. Cup Racers had spring rates of 75nm at the front and 130nm at the rear. I am wondering if changing our spring rates to give us a softer front end will make it more compliant with a better turn in. It seems odd to me that our current suspension set up is virtually opposite to Cup Racers in terms of spring rates.

If we got new springs from Gaz, or made for the Gaz Golds with rates of something like 80nm at the front and 100nm at the rear, will it then give it a ride that is similar to a Cup Racer - or do factors such as rebound and bump stop have more or an impact?
 
Are you really struggling with turn in that much you are wanting to change things up?

Simmo’s just gone up a couple of kg on the back of his as he was wanting a looser rear.
Not really struggling but just wondering about minor improvements.

I was just thinking about it as it would be relatively inexpensive to change.
 
Generally the consensus is that the shock will need revalving with such a jump in rates, but I’m certain there’s people around who’ve done it.

I’d perhaps sell the Gaz’s and get something even more track orientated like AST. It wouldn’t be nice on the road mind :tearsofjoy:
 
I’m also considering a change. I know a lot of us on the forum ended up with the Gaz Gold 600/350 setup through Supreme’s advice but I’ve never got to the bottom of where those numbers and that recommendation came from.

I’d still say that my car in the dry still tends to understeer on the limit, even with dampers set to full hard on the rear. Whilst I don’t want it too mobile on the rear end, tweaking the understeer to more of a neutral setup would be more beneficial for me.

Maybe you and Ethan can be the guinea pigs!
 
Be careful with changing your spring rates, I went from 8kg to 10kg I think and I found the front end isn't as compliant as it used to be. I forget what I actually changed but it was detrimental to the handling of the car. I probably should have gone stiffer on the rear and left the front alone.
 
The rear was much looser before we put the cup racer front end on. Now it only oversteers if you’re really aggressively on the brake when you shouldn’t be.

I think as mentioned before we’ve made the front end too stiff compared to the rear with the cup racer suspension/arb and turn in isn’t as good as before
 
I’m also considering a change. I know a lot of us on the forum ended up with the Gaz Gold 600/350 setup through Supreme’s advice but I’ve never got to the bottom of where those numbers and that recommendation came from.

I’d still say that my car in the dry still tends to understeer on the limit, even with dampers set to full hard on the rear. Whilst I don’t want it too mobile on the rear end, tweaking the understeer to more of a neutral setup would be more beneficial for me.

Maybe you and Ethan can be the guinea pigs!
I have e-mailed Gaz to see what they say about the cost of supplying the different spring rates.
 
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