sprint and hillclimb wannabe!

[Mikie711]

Leigh, your welcome and no AFAIK you don't need harnesses, that said it makes sense to fit them for obvious reasons. As Kev said the A8 records are held by a S1 Exige fitted with a TT260 kit but also a lot of other trick bits and bobs like 6 speed dog box etc and a quick driver. Graeme won the sprint championship 3 or 4 years on the trot from A8 but that's another story.............
Nobody tyre shaves in A8 , that's mainly for the guys running slicks in modified and single seaters. 888's are fine.
Jamie, everybody goes on about doune and how scary it is, but I agree with FD, Fintray is no better, even on the Sprints the barriers aren't far away.

[fd]

You won't be planing tyres on a road car.

Fd

[Gourlay83]

Alan,
Tire shaving sounds interesting…is this something the other A8 class drivers do to their cars? Does it make a whole lot of time difference….. Say 1/10th sec? I have just got some toyo r888’s fitted; are they planable?
leigh

Some of the guys with slicks spend all day planning the rubber of the tyres, it was a bit of a wind up.

R888's will be fine, just watch your tyre pressures as I wasted a couple of runs as I got it completely wrong. All a big learning curve.

Alan

[dirkpitt]

Alan,
Tire shaving sounds interesting…is this something the other A8 class drivers do to their cars? Does it make a whole lot of time difference….. Say 1/10th sec? I have just got some toyo r888’s fitted; are they planable?
leigh

Some of the guys with slicks spend all day planning the rubber of the tyres, it was a bit of a wind up.

R888's will be fine, just watch your tyre pressures as I wasted a couple of runs as I got it completely wrong. All a big learning curve.

Alan

okay a bit slow on the up take, with the wind up......i also, believe the slicks guys put plastic around the front tires? i guessing this is to keep them clean or warm

so alan what tire pressures did you run...........i tend to go 22 F, 24R at the mo.....may even go lower on the day....

also, i have been looking for a decent lid and im keenn on the Bell RS3 pro.....seems to tick all the boxes with regs. its not cheap but, we are talking about me head here

leigh

[woody]

Have just seen this topic.

Leigh; (dons PR hat) you'll need to be a member of a club to compete, East Ayrshire Car Club (www.eastayrshirecc.co.uk) are one of the larger Scottish clubs and are based not that far from Glasgow. EACC own and operate Kames; membership will allow you to use Kames at one of their members only practice sessions and get a feel for a sprint track. There'll always be someone with a fair bit of experience to hand as well.

It's a bit late in the year for practice days & evenings now, though membership is probably half price, but they usually run a day on boxing day... which tends to be fun. The club also run a couple of practice events prior to the start of the new season.

[Shug]

Yep - the overriding benefit of EACC is the ability to use Kames. Great facility. Good guys too.

[Digital]

Leigh, I bought an RS3 Pro at Autosport International at the start of the year, seems like a really good bit of kit and also has the option of HANS attachments if that's ever something you'd want. Just don't buy the red one ASI is worth a visit if you want to stock up on kit, should be able to get some decent savings.

I can also recommend http://www.nickygrist.com/ if you want a cheap pair of gloves, I got a really good pair of Alpinestars gloves from them earlier this year. If you're about the same size as me they also have a good deal on Alpinestars racesuits, but only in limited sizes.

22F/24R is what I use for trackdays on 888s, seems to work well

Jamie

[dirkpitt]

woody/shug,

perfect, was thinking monklands, but will download form and join........kames looks perfect for my virgin pre season practice..

oh typical jamie its the red one i liked ...oh well white it is thanks for the linky's too

leigh

[alicrozier]

Leigh,
Best to try on helmets, I was keen on a Bell but couldn't get one to fit properly. Ended up with an Arai GP5 (PED).

...I don't have a Bell shaped head!

[woody]

woody/shug,

perfect, was thinking monklands, but will download form and join........kames looks perfect for my virgin pre season practice..

oh typical jamie its the red one i liked ...oh well white it is thanks for the linky's too

leigh

Just checked the calendar; there's a test day on the 23rd this month. If it's not booked out would be a good pre winter taster.

[Shug]

...I don't have a Bell shaped head!

Or as it's known in the trade - a Bell End.

[ClarkyBoy]

woody/shug,

perfect, was thinking monklands, but will download form and join........kames looks perfect for my virgin pre season practice..

oh typical jamie its the red one i liked ...oh well white it is thanks for the linky's too

leigh

Just checked the calendar; there's a test day on the 23rd this month. If it's not booked out would be a good pre winter taster.

I would second that, im a member of monklands, and ther fun nights/trackdays are brilliant, you can do more runs on the track in 2 hours there than most people do in 3 years of competing, plus everyone is really nice + helpful, it will give you a chance to speak to everyone invloved and get any questions you may have answered.

thats what i did in feb this year (i think) and it was brilliant

[Gourlay83]

I have a Caterham SLR now, so can't help with tyre pressures but one thing I did find was that they had to be higher for some strange reason. I always thought that tyre pressures should be lower (due to higher temps), but lower pressures was giving me less grip. A few PSI above what they normally were and the car was spot on.

I have a Bell GT5, but they fit my 'bell end' head well. As mentioned above, try different makes on and find what's comfortable.

Alan

[Scotty C]

you need heat to get pressures up and this will take minutes not seconds = you will need higher tyre pressures for a sprints & hill climbs. Read you pressures as soon as you come off track, they should be around 28-30, then work it from there.

back in the day when i raced, i started off at 16-18 psi, but this was for 20-30 minute races.

this was for 48's.

[kevham]

Lots of good advice here.

Best place to get helmet is Autosport show. You can try them all on and get the one that fits. I also wanted a Bell but ended up with an Arai GP5.

Good shout for gloves is Nick Algar http://www.plays-kool.co.uk

Jamie - I guess you'll be in A2 with the Clio. Should be a good laugh.

EACC is a great club and was my best first choice mainly because of Kames test days.