Pete Findlay

Couple of up-coming dates / circuits in the north I can recommend (because I'm doing them! )

Sat May 27th at Croft (Bookatrack)

Fri 7th July at Oulton Park (Motorsport Vision)

The latter has been organised in conjunction with the Honda Revolutions club, so members can get a 10% discount or free instruction. TBH, it's still a damn good price for an Oulton Park track day at full whack.

Croft (near Darlington) is a good circuit, but it's built round an old airfield, so is dead flat. Oulton is a lot more interesting with ups and downs. Oulton is my favourite, but Croft is probably more accessible from Cumbria.

I wouldn't have said you need to change anything much on the car for your first day. The main thing is that your pads, tyres, oil and brake fluid are all in fair nick...

Whether you go for open pit or sessioned, limit yourself to 15-20 mins at a time. Sessions will do this for you. You'll be ready for a rest anyway, as will your tyres and brakes. I personally think a sessioned day is easier on the brain for a first time, but open pit is better once you're familiar with the set-up.

Perhaps see you on track soon...

euan

Knockhill is quite narrow and the circuit is short - run off not huge either.

A "technical" circuit I think it's called.

Oh, and the weather is usually poor, but the views are impressive as it is up in the hills. If I were you, I'd stick with north of england circuits to start with.

simonprelude

The one in Scotland for beginners is also Crail, quite a fun little track, where I did my first track day. Drove all the way from Plymouth and had a great time.

Elvington can be good depending on the layout used, however the surface at Elvington is VERY abbrasive.

Both are relatively safe and a great way to learn the limits.
Alternatively try one of the Academy days that are advertised through here often.

But if you feel more like a track with a bit of character then try and get on one of the bookatrack days that is running a sessioned day and get yourself out with the beginners, leave yourself lots of room and your mistakes or anyone elses should not end up in a coming together.

Using one of the approved companies tends to weed out the muppets and black flags will be shown for any bad etiquette, if after a talking to it persists then they will be shown the gate and not coming back in.

rahula

I'll agree what has already been said above but will disagree about session days or tyres being too soft.

Since it is your first trackday I would highly recommend a session day where the groups are defined by experience. This is exceptionally good for the first day as it will allow you to concentrate on driving rather than getting out of the way of faster cars. You will be out on track with people of similar levels of experience and you will really benefit from this.

Havoc since when has an S02s been soft. It is one of the hardest road tyres used and need a good few miles to get warmed up properly.

I have done Oulton Park and it is a very good circuit but I am not sure if it is the best place to start. If you get it wrong and want to push to see your limits there is a higher risk than an airfield. Having said that I did my first track at Goodwood and that too was a very challenging track especially in the wet like I did. I did enjoy it enormously but the fact is that I still never push myself to 100% of the limits because I am unwilling to risk myself or the car on a silly accident.

Just find yourself a good organiser, AE has listed them, and enjoy the day. I would highly recommend that you book yourself an instructor to take you out but only once you have become somewhat familiar with the track as he can really show you where you can improve.

havoc UK

I'll have to disagree Rahula there, based on experience:-

1) I tried both S02 and RE010 on my old 'teg, and the RE010 lasted longer and was more consistent through the temperature range and the tyre-depth. I do know the S2000 design is slightly different, don't know if that applies to compound though.

2) At a Honda-R trackday (Combe, I believe) I remember seeing Darren's rear tyres on his S2k (S02's on an '01 or '02 S2000), and they were essentially melted - the tread-blocks had almost covered the channels, so much so that the tyres needed replacing. And while he'd been driving hard, I hadn't seen him hooning. None of the other Hondas (including an NSX, not sure what tyre) had anywhere near that level of wear.

Hope this helps,

Martin.

Pete Findlay

Hmmm...

The S02s for the ITR are completely different - I agree with your assessment of S02s vs RE010s on track for the ITR - S02s are not good track tyres. RE010s are better on the track, but they would still start to go off after about 10-15 mins of hard driving. Finished up running Toyo R888s for track on the ITR - problem solved!

The S02 for the S2000 is a very different beast in my experience. I think it is a different compound. I've found them really quite hard wearing, and they easily last a full session on the track without going off. I'm getting a fair amount of wear on the edges of the fronts, which I may attempt to address with some tyre pressure dabbling, but otherwise, I've yet to suffer any tread breakdown like Darren's...

I currently don't see any need to move away from the S02s for the track. Not sure what the alternative would be if I did...

lower

My view is that the s02's are soft. I shredded mine at bruntingthorpe, much worse than other non s02's i looked at. They melted so badly that the rain channels filled with rubber and then melted over, making them like slicks. Bruntingthorpe is seriosuly abrasive though.

S02's seem to have a soft outer layer, which gradually becomes harder as they wear down.

simonprelude

Was that your tyres or crap from everyone elses you had picked up ??

SO2's have been fine for every track day I have done in the S2000.

Got through a fair few sets, but track days and tyres are not something you can do on a budget unfortunately.

rahula

Even with RE050s they picked up so much rubber on my cool down laps that at first I thought they had been melting. After a hundred miles or so most of it disappeared. I am not suggesting that this is the only possibility as I believe you but I too have driven with S02s and never had a problem. It might be possible though.

lower

I did pick up a lot of crap on my tyres that was other peoples rubber, but you could actually feel the tyres start to melt after a couple of laps. Maybe its my driving style, but the instructor i had in the car commented that you could feel the car get 'loose' after a few hot laps. Melted tyres also contributed to a 120mph half spin.

EDIT:

you can see a mixture of blisters, melt and other peoples rubber on the photo above.