My matt black Mk2 - Vid from trackday at Llandow

^^^ was just thinking the same... drive on them for a bit, but not too hard to get some heat into them before your track day, and leave to cool over night...

... and keep an eye on pressures during the day Luke, try and get them to around 30-32psi HOT. You can either run them at 24ish front - 27ish rear cold, then check them after your first session and see where they're at... or run road pressures at first then you'll need to bleed 'quite a bit' out when hot... experiment and see what feels best. On a clockwise track, the NS tyres always get the most heat in them.

But to be fair, on your first track day you'll probably forget or not even bother thinking about tyre pressures... Enjoy it.

 

There are a few of us VWs at the Trackmasters day so we'll keep an eye out for Luke...and his tyre pressures

Only a week to go until the Spring Blast

 

Thanks peeps

The carpet will eventually be gone and I'll paint the bare floor (after I get rid of that tar stuff under the paint).

Hard to tell really as I fitted quite a few new parts, but it does feel very stable at high speeds and turn in is very quick and direct.

Should be at a few this year, want to do GTI Festival after missing the spring one.

Thanks Gary, they do look good don't they. I forgot how much they suit the car.

Thanks mate, engine's just a 1.8 carb, had a little bit of work done to it to kick out 120bhp and 128 lbs/ft, so it's nippy.

I'm on top of it, using them to drive to work and back which I'm hoping will be enough, together with the 200 mile drive to the track.

 

Just out of interest is there a way of knowing when they are properly scrubbed in?

The car feels really weird to drive at the moment, I've had the tiny steering wheel for about 4 years now so going to the larger dished wheel is taking a while to getting used to it. I keep on missing the indicators which is annoying, although I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Still haven't pushed it too hard with the tyres yet, but they make some racket chucking up stones and stuff. Also scrubbing very slightly on the rear arches, so will get the hammer out and try and bend the arch lip a bit further back.

Other than that I'm well happy with the car.

 

just make sure the rear left has alot of room mate .

 

I found that once you have scraped the majority of the tar stuff off that Hammerite thinners was best at getting the last bit off. I just poured a bit in and mopped it about, then left it for a while. It worked better than other solvents for me. Just make sure you ventilate the place

 

The car will feel different with the 888s as the wall is really stiff compared to 'normal' road tyres. I still take a bit to adjust from the TS1-Rs to 888s on a track day, and the noise is increased as well as the sound of bits getting picked up and thrown into the arches.
Just wait until you go out on your second session and all the bits collected on the hot rubber from the first session start to hit the inner wing...sounds like the car is falling apart

I did about 100 miles to scrub my fronts in. Started off normal driving and then loaded them up a bit on a smooth bit of raod I know well.

6 more sleeps until the Spring Blast

 

my girlfriend counts sleeps!!!!! you gay!!! lol

where's my single solitude??

 

luke just a idea but seeing that you have a suade steering wheel take some driving gloves , mine gave me blisters on my 1st track day with it on

 

Will be looking for the rim tomorrow.....or should I say wheel because if I'm gay then this could take on a different meaning


Nothing wrong with counting in sleeps...your girlfrien obviously has good taste....well in this area anyway

 

8 sleeps till my holiday!!!! wooo!!!!

that'l be a fun little track day car, quicker then my ABF MK3 do you think??

 

Which one...Lukes?

 

If you mean mine then I reckon it would be a close run thing, it depends on the spec of yours really, but down the quarter mile with the old long ratio gearbox it was neck and neck with a 16v Mk2 and miles quicker than an 8v Mk3. That's about the only comparisons I've been able to make.

I was thinking of bringing some gloves, I haven't got driving gloves but my MTBing gloves have a suede like material on the palms so should still grip alright. Will save my sweaty hands from ruining the steering wheel as well.

Been reading up on a few other threads where people have done this and they've all done the same thing so thats what I'll do as well I think.

 

Get a box full of dry ice, spread it on the floor, get a beer and wait for 20 minutes, then get to work with a normal hammer.
Within 1 hour, you'll have everything off - no fumes to make you feel weird (though some argue that's the best part), and it's REALLY fast. You don't need to remove stuff first with scrapers and what not - just remove the carpet and spread out the dry ice - then you're in business.

It also gets a lot cleaner than it'll get with the thinner/solvents => easier to paint afterwards.

It really IS the way to go about it - it's so fast it's not even funny :-).

 

Funnily enough I was going to start this this weekend so thanks for the tip

 

I almost took a great pic of your car on track today, but either you were going too fast or my camera was too slow and the picture ended up being of an empty track

 

I'd like to think it's because my car's too fast.

 

My camera is really slow at taking pics so i have to press the button ages before they get near me!

 

Haven't updated this in ages so here's what's been happening.

Haven't actually done anything to the car since May time, but it's been given plently of abuse since then. Managed to do my first track day at Combe in May, had a brilliant time there. The car is a little under powered for that circuit really, but it felt good on the brakes and through the corners, managed to catch a Skyline GTS and a Scooby which I was pleased about. The main thing though was that it was 100% reliable, didn't have to do a thing to it the whole day other than checking the tyre pressures.

Since then it's just been used to get me around, again been totally reliable and dependable.

Last weekend I went to the Curborough trackday organised by Club GTI. Again, had a brilliant time, met loads of people off the forum and had fun going round the track. Here are a few pictures that I've nicked off other people, so big thanks to them.

(Photos courtesy of sparrow)





(Photos courtesy of WillG)



(Photos courtesy of Deako)



Again, the car performed really well, the only thing that slightly spoiled the day was that 2nd gear was a pain to find and popped out quite a few times, not good on a track where 2nd is the main gear used, but that's only due to old worn linakges, which I should have done ages ago as I have the gear linakge repair kit sat at home. Other than that the car was fault less, didn't miss a beat even though it covered over 600 miles in two days and was driven very hard for most.

The track days have highlighted areas which need upgrading, at the moment there is too much body roll so a set of uprated anti-roll bars are a definate, along with a rollcage, not only to stiffen the shell but for safety as well, as I'm definately doing more trackdays. I will also be stripping more of the interior out to lose a little more weight, and give the bodywork a freshen up. Then looking more long term, the engine and box will be changed, the current setup has been brilliant, totally dependable no matter what I throw at it, but I need more power.