Lauren

Yes no lazy links just to eBay. But I want people to post pics in here, not link to pics elsewhere. If more people follow the rules I can cope with that.

This is what you need to adhere to if you are selling parts in this section: Price clearly stated, no ebay links or offers. Location Postage and or collection Pictures of what you are selling. Condition of parts. Note: This section is not for traders.

Not sure if it's actually stated in rules, but they are mandatory as far as I'm concerned, so is location which I'm guessing is in Cheltenham? Just to be helpful here's a link to the thread on selling rules which I just made up.

Please put pics up.

It's an overnighter. Just book a Premier Inn and do it that way. It's what most people do who come from the south east and go to TD. Japspeed equals shite. Do it once, do it properly.

Best thing to do is book a day with instruction and have at least three sessions. Some operators do novice days though most are open pit lane. The car is fine in stock form to track, so as long as you have some tread on your tyres and some pad life left in your brakes you'll be fine. Bedford is a novice track so could be a good place to start for you. Whilst the TSS is good as you have the track to yourself you won't have enough time in the car to learn and hone your technique, so a track day is far better. I have sprinted for years but if I want to work on my technique I book a track day. In all honesty there will always be faster cars out on track and there will be slower ones too. A fast car doesn't mean a fast driver of course and this works both ways. All you've got to do is be courteous and keep an eye on your mirrors. If another car gets close to you, indicate and pull over to the let them past. You can get insurance, though costs vary. Normally you insure for a value, say £15K with a 10% excess, so in the event of something happening you'd pay the first 10% being £1500, so it's not quite like normal insurance. Car to car contact cannot happen if the day is run well so I wouldn't worry about that, it's only really car to scenery contact that could be the issue. But simply drive within your limits and don't take chances you don't need to and you'll be fine. It's not a competition after all. I would say get an open face helmet, far cooler, more comfortable and easier to talk with than a full face helmet. Get some decent driving shoes or race boots if you want to take the plunge with that. Alpine Stars are the most comfortable, but not the cheapest. A helmet is around £200 for something reasonable. Puma Speedcats are good everyday driving shoes (don't ever make the mistake of driving in trainers) and available for around £35. Decent Alpine Stars boots are £100+.

Speak to Richard at RRG richard.mckay@rrg-group.com see if you actually need one. I'll seriously doubt you do unless your current one is in some way damaged.

I think if you are running a very heavy aftermarket clutch it may have it's uses, but otherwise I'd say it's mostly marketing crap. For an OEM or even slightly heavier pressure plate I cannot see why the stock fork wouldn't last the lifetime of the car. I think the trouble is companies make tons of parts that people don't need and a forged clutch fork just looks like another one to me.

Yep, that would be the bearing arm. I cannot for the life of me see why you would need to replace that. It's hardly going to wear out.

I'm not convinced by these 'horror' stories, I've yet to hear of one ever totally failing on any car. Sure they get noisy, but that's generally about it. You will have prematurely worn the clutch if you ride it. How much life is left in it is difficult to say really. I've done 110K on mine, release bearing doesn't rattle either, though I never ride the clutch and always use the handbrake when stationary. I'm not sure why you'd need the arm really, it's just a lever that moves the bearing in and out when you depress the clutch. The pin is likely what locates the lever to the face of the bearing. You could speak to Richard (Riceburner on here) as you'll only get parts like these from Toyota. I'm really not convinced you'd need them though.

Well given there will always be something that is far faster in a straightline, why not concentrate on the handling. I've overtaken far quicker cars on paper on the track and some of those have been well driven too. Not well driven enough though obviously. Having more power will make your car quicker in a straight line, but that's all it will do really. I've done the Alps a couple of times now, I've never had problem keeping up with Porsches and the like and well if I happen upon a well driven GT3, then what's the point, let it go. Whatever you do to your GT, you'll never be able to keep up with stuff like that. So for me, getting my car to handle well and it really does is where it's worth investing I reckon. That and tuition.

There are these ones: http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/okada-projects-plasma-direct-coil-packs-2013-2014-ft86.html#.Wj9jMCOcbfY Not a cheap fix really. Trouble is I don't know anyone who has fitted them.

I've driven over on the mainland of Europe probably at least 20 times now and like Mya I've done long distance trips down to the Alps. It's no real problem at all, you just get used to it. Visibility for overtaking is more of an issue on single lane roads, but if you hang back a bit you can see okay. Having a passenger sighting for you helps as well. A minor PITA rather than a major one I would say.

Yep, the Mu's are really good for feel. I guess my problem was closing speed on other cars on track and that you always have to be aware of.

I blame Rob entirely for this!

Given how short a time the new model has been out, you may find that Toyota is about the only option. Pretty sure the wing and bonnet is the same as the zenki. Headlight will be different though and eye wateringly expensive.

Nice. Are you keeping the stock exhaust or is that going as well?

That happened quite a lot with the stock setup with Project Mu's, the Stoptechs and the stock pads on a fair number of occasions. Hopefully I will fare better with the new front brakes.

Thanks for your input, Church, but I CBA to think about it that much. Having the same compound front and rear will be fine of course, so obvious enough to me. My car is a road car 99.9 of the time which is far more important than track use. I already have AP four pots on the front of course, I'm trusting that will be more than adequate for the track.

I have one. EL of course. As long as you keep one of the cats, i.e., the second one you will be fine for MOT. Yes, it makes a huge difference. I never found a big issue before on track, though having the manifold and remap certainly increases the power band and brings the torque in far, far stronger in the midrange. You can always go for the NA package as the turbo package uses the same manifold so you could add the turbo later.

Ah I see. I've still got the old Project Mu's on the rear, but I can't tell anything about the balance of braking till I get on the track of course and I will need to change my rear discs and pads before I venture out next at Oulton. I think I will go for the DS2500's on the rear as well as it's the obvious option to go for really.

@will300, I've noticed you can get matching Ferodo DS2500 rears for our car. £125. Any reason why you didn't go for these to match the fronts?

I always drive in driving shoes, but I admit, you never really get a feeling of your feet getting toasty. However the temperature in the car is fine. I just have it on auto with AC on at 22C all winter and the same with 20C in the summer. Whilst it's not really hot, it's comfortable enough and with the heated seat on it's cosy enough. Never a reason to drive in boots!

Yep good circuit but if you're not running a stock exhaust you will probably have issues with the incredibly low noise limit.

The big issue with Thruxton is noise, which is why none of us have been there. It's 90Db I believe which is very low. It's a very fast circuit with Church corner being the one everyone talks about. I've driven every track in the UK except Thruxton. As for TDO's I used to work for Bookatrack 15 years ago. I think to a point the more 'premium' the less cars on track but, the problem is that the premium TDO's will tend to have more expensive cars on the track. Of course this does not mean that having a decent car is any reflection on the ability of the driver, but I tend to avoid TDO's that have a lot of Caterhams going as you will be pulling over constantly for them. Bookatrack have a lot of Caterhams as they are a dealer. I don't overly fuss about TDO's anymore. It was different back in the old days where I used Javelin and of course Bookatrack a lot. I would say have a look at the entrants and pick TDO's that have similar cars entered to your's. I'd avoid a day full of GT3's and exotica as a rule. Nowadays I tend to use Javelin a fair bit as I've known Colin a good 15 years now and well they run the sprint series. Also generally the kind of cars that run are similar to mine. I recently went out with Mazda on Track and that was fine. Yes lots of mobile chicanes with the abundance of MX5's but it wasn't a problem as such. I thnk they're all much of a muchness when it comes to TDO's. The cheaper track days tend to have more cars booked on which can lead to crowding, so that can be a factor. Gold track are more premium as are Bookatrack but you will find there is more exotica on track which can be frustrating if you're getting overtaken all the time, but then again you get a lot of Billies who have exotica that can't drive so they will hammer you down the straights and hold you up in the corners. You see that everywhere though with powerful cars.