Track day novice. Semi slicks or road tyres?
Discussion
Track day novice. Looking for any general advice on vehicle set up (bonus if its another 46) and best all round tyre combination for limited road driving. (Car will be trailered there and back)
As title states I'm after some tips and recommendations on tyres etc for doing my first track day. Car currently has the following: coilovers, bbs style 42 wheels, bucket seats, stripped interior. Next jobs include decat and map.
Anyway, I have never done a track day but I do drifting if that helps. After a pretty full on 2022 with drifting I decided to strip my e36 compact TDS swap due to bent chassis and blown headgasket on the last drift day of 22.
My weekend car which is an e39 was going in for a respray so I decided to buy a e46 325ci coupe with 12 months ticket for £1k to drive around whilst my 39 was getting worked on and then turn it into my next drift car. I had a spare 36 shell in my lock up with e46 suspension set up (modified hubs coilovers purple tag rack etc) and after deciding I wasn't in the position to build another diesel car I just swapped everything over to the 46 and drove it round a little bit.
Well it handled phenomenally and I got thinking about maybe getting into track days. Drifting is great but the amount of time and effort it takes to get to a drift day was just silly as I did all my own tyres usually 20 sets for the day and it was basically every weekend sourcing, changing and getting rid of tyres, on top of repairs mods etc.
As I've got a van and my 39 for driving round in I've just got this 46 sat there with bucket seats and coilovers. I've got no clue what's best tyre wise. Been told to not get semi slicks straight away and learn on regular road tyres. Question is what is a decent mid range tyre. I know I should be putting on the best I can but at nearly 200 quid a tyre I'm not keen on spending that much for possibly my only track day.
Cheers sorry if its too long
As title states I'm after some tips and recommendations on tyres etc for doing my first track day. Car currently has the following: coilovers, bbs style 42 wheels, bucket seats, stripped interior. Next jobs include decat and map.
Anyway, I have never done a track day but I do drifting if that helps. After a pretty full on 2022 with drifting I decided to strip my e36 compact TDS swap due to bent chassis and blown headgasket on the last drift day of 22.
My weekend car which is an e39 was going in for a respray so I decided to buy a e46 325ci coupe with 12 months ticket for £1k to drive around whilst my 39 was getting worked on and then turn it into my next drift car. I had a spare 36 shell in my lock up with e46 suspension set up (modified hubs coilovers purple tag rack etc) and after deciding I wasn't in the position to build another diesel car I just swapped everything over to the 46 and drove it round a little bit.
Well it handled phenomenally and I got thinking about maybe getting into track days. Drifting is great but the amount of time and effort it takes to get to a drift day was just silly as I did all my own tyres usually 20 sets for the day and it was basically every weekend sourcing, changing and getting rid of tyres, on top of repairs mods etc.
As I've got a van and my 39 for driving round in I've just got this 46 sat there with bucket seats and coilovers. I've got no clue what's best tyre wise. Been told to not get semi slicks straight away and learn on regular road tyres. Question is what is a decent mid range tyre. I know I should be putting on the best I can but at nearly 200 quid a tyre I'm not keen on spending that much for possibly my only track day.
Cheers sorry if its too long
In your position I would get on ebay & get a set (2 pairs may be easier to find) of part-worn good quality tyres with 4 or 5mm of tread on to start with.
There are 2 reasons I say this.
1. As you say, it may just be one day if you don't like it.
2. NEW tyres will wear VERY quickly with full tread on as they will get very hot very quickly with the tread block movement.
When I was in my early days of doing TDs I used to get a day or 3 out of such tyres, which I found good to learn on & cheap enough to just throw away afterwards.
There are 2 reasons I say this.
1. As you say, it may just be one day if you don't like it.
2. NEW tyres will wear VERY quickly with full tread on as they will get very hot very quickly with the tread block movement.
When I was in my early days of doing TDs I used to get a day or 3 out of such tyres, which I found good to learn on & cheap enough to just throw away afterwards.
You might have a hard time losing the drift mentality! Road tyres will overheat quickly and lose grip, then youll start drifting, destroy the tyres and get black flagged... you need something that can take some heat.
Personally id try some middle ground semi slicks. Ive had surprisingly good results from accelera 651 sports, and they can be had for £50 a tyre when on sale. Otherwise nankang ns2rs.
Certainly dont buy r888rs or cup2s until youve got through a set of nankangs.
Personally id try some middle ground semi slicks. Ive had surprisingly good results from accelera 651 sports, and they can be had for £50 a tyre when on sale. Otherwise nankang ns2rs.
Certainly dont buy r888rs or cup2s until youve got through a set of nankangs.
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