What's the longest you've been on track?
Discussion
I've managed over 30 mins at a time at Spa in my standard except for brake discs, pads and fluid S2000.
Spa is good on the brakes and those long straights allow for lots of cooling.
I get knackered well before the car. (Well, until the engine eventually let go after 50+ track days and 144,000 miles).
Other circuits I stick to 20 mins max.
Spa is good on the brakes and those long straights allow for lots of cooling.
I get knackered well before the car. (Well, until the engine eventually let go after 50+ track days and 144,000 miles).
Other circuits I stick to 20 mins max.
I've done 75 minute endurance / relay races in a Caterham a couple of times. That's how long it takes to empty the tank. A Caterham will go around all day, no trouble provided you can keep it in fuel and tyres.
On a track day I fail to see the point in going much longer than 20 / 25 minutes to be honest, unless you are doing it specifically to test the endurance of yourself or your car.
On a track day I fail to see the point in going much longer than 20 / 25 minutes to be honest, unless you are doing it specifically to test the endurance of yourself or your car.
HustleRussell said:
On a track day I fail to see the point in going much longer than 20 / 25 minutes to be honest, unless you are doing it specifically to test the endurance of yourself or your car.
Fair point. My friend in the Clio only did it because it was an evening session with big/long queues to get on track so he didn't want to come in and then wait in a queue for ages. He said he was knackered at the end!A mate and I raced with 750MC last year in Club Enduro. The races ranged from an hour and 40 minutes in length upto 3 hours and we expected each driver to run for at least an hour and a half to take advantage of any Safety Cars.
We have also competed in C1 racing this year in the 24 hours of Silverstone and the 4 hour race at Angelsey with each driver racing for approximately 2 hours per stint.
The Club Enduro car is a relatively standard BMW E36 that just pounds round and round without any major problems normally and Citroen C1’s are only really allowed Safety mods done to them.
The above mentioned mate also drove the 3 hour race solo and a handful of drivers actually competed in the whole championship solo.
You get into a driving rhythm and level of sweat saturation fairly quickly and after that it becomes relatively easy.
Obviously this relates to racing where strategy dictates stint lengths, when we do the odd track day typically each stint would be 20mins to half hour.
We have also competed in C1 racing this year in the 24 hours of Silverstone and the 4 hour race at Angelsey with each driver racing for approximately 2 hours per stint.
The Club Enduro car is a relatively standard BMW E36 that just pounds round and round without any major problems normally and Citroen C1’s are only really allowed Safety mods done to them.
The above mentioned mate also drove the 3 hour race solo and a handful of drivers actually competed in the whole championship solo.
You get into a driving rhythm and level of sweat saturation fairly quickly and after that it becomes relatively easy.
Obviously this relates to racing where strategy dictates stint lengths, when we do the odd track day typically each stint would be 20mins to half hour.
Edited by mattnoss on Tuesday 25th June 13:41
I drove for 2 hours 15 at night in the rain in the first ever uk C1 24 hour race.
When i used to help a team out in Britcar a few years ago the drivers did 3 hour stints. Contributed to us coming 7th overall in a Honda Civic.
On track days, i get bored after about 8-10 laps unless with an instructor.
When i used to help a team out in Britcar a few years ago the drivers did 3 hour stints. Contributed to us coming 7th overall in a Honda Civic.
On track days, i get bored after about 8-10 laps unless with an instructor.
I am planning on doing 100 track hours in a car in 20 track days in 12 months. As a bit of a challenge to me and to see if it can be done. I have the car and am currently prepping it. I am under no illusions as to how difficult this might be although I also hope it will be fun. I will be blogging it probably, in this sub forum ,if anyone is interested to see how I get on.
Jerry Can said:
I am planning on doing 100 track hours in a car in 20 track days in 12 months. As a bit of a challenge to me and to see if it can be done. I have the car and am currently prepping it. I am under no illusions as to how difficult this might be although I also hope it will be fun. I will be blogging it probably, in this sub forum ,if anyone is interested to see how I get on.
So you will be aiming for min 5 hours driving per track day ?I think that is possible it's just weather or not the car can handle it.
What car will you use ?
jeff666 said:
So you will be aiming for min 5 hours driving per track day ?
I think that is possible it's just weather or not the car can handle it.
What car will you use ?
Twingo. I'll post up more info once I've done the first day at Combe in a couple of weeks, I am doing this on as tight budget as I can get way with, which could mean an embarrassing blow up on the first lap out of the pits... I think that is possible it's just weather or not the car can handle it.
What car will you use ?
Camoradi said:
Depends on the complexity of the track, but 20 minutes is about my max. The car could keep going longer but I get tired.
Towards the end of a day I tend to be faster but my sessions get shorter
Similar here although I find it does depend on the car and track a bit. Towards the end of a day I tend to be faster but my sessions get shorter
At Snetterton in the MX5 I have done a few that stretch to 45 mins or so but this is because I use the two straights to back off (mentally and for the car) and that allows me to keep my mind on it for a bit longer.
At somewhere like Cadwell in the TVR, I am doing no more than around 15-20 mins in one go.
3 hours in the dark and wet at the C1 Silverstone 24hr. Have to admit I actually don't mind the long stints, but if I was doing a track day I just go around until I am happy with my stint and then pull in and work out what to do to go faster, whatever you are comfortable with is the general advice.
There's lots of rubbish about how different racing is from trackdaying but long stints are maybe an example of where it's true.
I've done up to 3 hrs on track while racing and it is a proper endurance, high 20s on the pitwall so probably high 40s in the car, watching the timer to squeeze out the pace from every lap, it's a great challenge when there's a reason for it but seems a bit pointless on a trackday.
I'd say a decent trackday is about 150m of driving but at (say) 70mph average that's less than half way to 5 hours of driving per day
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I've done up to 3 hrs on track while racing and it is a proper endurance, high 20s on the pitwall so probably high 40s in the car, watching the timer to squeeze out the pace from every lap, it's a great challenge when there's a reason for it but seems a bit pointless on a trackday.
I'd say a decent trackday is about 150m of driving but at (say) 70mph average that's less than half way to 5 hours of driving per day

Jerry Can said:
I am planning on doing 100 track hours in a car in 20 track days in 12 months. As a bit of a challenge to me and to see if it can be done. I have the car and am currently prepping it. I am under no illusions as to how difficult this might be although I also hope it will be fun. I will be blogging it probably, in this sub forum ,if anyone is interested to see how I get on.
You’ve made that sound a real chore.Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff