Hi all

Me and a mate are off to knockhill on Sunday. It's the first trackday for both of us. Car (ep3 civic) has been checked over. New tyres, serviced and a set of ds2500s fitted. Helmets and driving licenses readied. Tool box. Few bits and bobs ready for the support van.

Firstly what else if anything would you take and any other advice for a couple of noobies?

Obviously we plan on taking it easy and keeping the stints short to make sure the car is ok.

Any advice gratefully received

Steve

There are two things you need to learn

How to drive a track (on a trackday) and
How to drive Knockhill

First thing....pay attention in the Safety Briefing, ask questions if you don't understand (even stupid questions....better to ask and know than the alternative)

If there is tuition going, book some.

Take it easy on the first few session, make sure you use your mirrors and lift the throttle if someone is overtaking. Trackdays tend to be frantic in the morning and then pretty quiet mid-afternoon.

There are lots of other things, first lap or so out let the car/tyres/brakes/you warm-up and make sure you do a cool down lap at the end of the session. Don't park with the handbrake on, make sure you have a brake pedal before leaving the pits, check the torque of the wheel nuts before each session & check the tyre pressures. Do not run out of fuel....and drive within yourself and the car.

Most of all.....have a blast.

[Edited on 19/3/15 by jeffw]

* Road car brakes tend to overheat at track days. As you have already observed keep stints short.

* Check your wheel nuts before going on the track.

* Check your tyre pressures they have a dramatic effect on cornering. Usually run a bit softer than road use to get some heat in them.

* Don't run with a full tank, leave some space, top up with a Gerry can. Fuel tends to froth going around corners.

* Don't hog the racing line if someone else (faster than you) is behind you. Check your mirrors at all times.

* Keep an eye on the oil pres. and temp if you have that facility. Obviously water temp is very important.

* Enjoy enjoy enjoy!

What they ^ said, especially the instruction.

Plus...
Take any lose items out of the car.
Try and get near the front of the cue for the sighting laps. It means you see the lines the pace car takes but further back the line gets a bit vague.
As Jeff says it tends to be hectic in the morning... particularly first session. I always miss the first 15 mins (unless nobody moves when the track opens) and then go out track as they start to come back into the pits.
When you think you've had enough don't go out for "one last session".
Enjoy yourself!

beware of the new kerbs on the inside of corners at knockhill, they will break your wheels or flip you over

I think this may be a sessioned day? In which case you get around 10 to 15min sessions. I also suspect Knockhill don't do sighting laps. It's up to the first car out to set the pace, and there's no overtaking on the warm up lap.
It's a cracking circuit, enjoy!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Andy D
I think this may be a sessioned day? In which case you get around 10 to 15min sessions. I also suspect Knockhill don't do sighting laps. It's up to the first car out to set the pace, and there's no overtaking on the warm up lap.
It's a cracking circuit, enjoy!

---

Cheers guys lots of good points.

Yes Its a sessioned day which we thought would be wise on the first one.

Keep it neat and tidy - slow in fast out.
Get off the brakes just before the corner ie. don't drag the brakes into the corner.
The aim is to get off the brakes and turn in where the corner starts, not too early or not in the actual corner.

At Knockhill some of the corners are deceptive with a tightening radius as a result it is difficult to find the true apex as a result you may find yourself running out of road on the way out, if you do remember that clipping the apex late is always preferable too clipping early.

A wide line at the Knockhill hairpin works for some cars as the track at the apex is a bit bumpy as corner is built on marsh.

[Edited on 20/3/15 by britishtrident]

Be careful to avoid the guys who turn up in stripped out bangers from the scrap yard. They do not care
about damaging their cars or others for that matter. My first one at Oulton Park there were at least 3 of
these who were black flagged for reckless driving standards. Have fun.

Start off slow and build your pace up, try to keep your driving smooth, no need to be overly agressive with the steering when you are looking far enough ahead to know the next corner. Same goes for acceleration out of corners, smooth is fast. I found when i first started track days was to always choose a higher gear in corners when first learning the track so that i could concentrate on the corners/lines/braking more instead of franticly braking, shifting down 2 or 3 gears whilst trying to take the right line all at the same time.

When I was first doing track days I did a couple of sessioned days. I found at first it was best to be at the back of the cue to start the session. That way as everyong sets off together I had a few laps to myself untill people started lapping me. As I got faster it was better to start near the front so as not to spend 1/2the session waiting to pass people.

There is a very good Utube in car video of Knockhill taken by fellow competitor from Imp days Rick Gauld worth looking at istr Ricky was at some of the very early Knockhill meetings and along with Ian Forest was/is one of the fastest Imp pedlars around.
Ricky's lines round "Jolly Knocker" are text book and worth looking at.

Link to Utube Vid

[Edited on 20/3/15 by britishtrident]

Well back from a very enjoyable day. Had a blast and met some top people.

Day was a sessioned day and as we were both novices we were put In group 1 in our almost standard civic. The format was roughly 1 stint per hour which was ideal for us to make sure the car was ok and for us to find our feet. Agree with Adi as the day wore on we were consciously trying to place ourselves in the queue.

The car behaved flawlessly even if we got slightly out of shape a couple of times towards the end of the day. The front ds2500 pads were great. The standard rears were overheating. Tyres were ok at first but in the last couple of laps were getting a little squidgy and some more track biased tyres may be in order. Not bad for a 500 quid ep3!

Another thing learned is that there are loads of clios out there and they are bloody good on track. We never caught one all day and were passed by loads. The only one we stuck with was a bog standard cup who's brakes were fading!

Anyway thanks again for all the advice chaps. Now on to the next one.......

Steve