09/05/2008 21:14:02 mattie007 As there is no thread for this in the main forum, I thought Id post here to ask a few questions. Is the GP circuit the F1 track layout? If you book, but can't make it do you lose your money? This would be my first track experience and as its local to me, thought nit would be ideal. Cheers Matt

10/05/2008 03:13:19 Stu Hi there Yes the GP circuit is the F1 circuit so you will be driving around hallowed ground for sure. Regarding cancellation if we are given enough notice we will try to resell your place but obviously the closer to the actual date the harder this becomes. If we cannot sell your place regretably you would not get a refund as we work on such a tight budget and have to pay for the track etc. You could always wait and hope that a place is still available nearer the date when you know you can defo make it, but these places are on a first come first served basis and Silverstone GP will fill up very quickly. Hope to see you there Stu

10/05/2008 09:55:42 Steve Hill [quote=mattie007]As there is no thread for this in the main forum, I thought Id post here to ask a few questions. Is the GP circuit the F1 track layout? If you book, but can't make it do you lose your money? This would be my first track experience and as its local to me, thought nit would be ideal. Cheers Matt[/quote] Hi Matt Welcome to MGoT.:) I notice that you have not been out on track before. Unfortunately we are not able to accept beginners at the Silverstone event. There are 2 reasons for this. Firstly the circuit insist that all novices are assessed by an instructor before being allowed out solo and on evening events we don't have the time to be able to do this. Secondly we are only running one session and we would not want to mix novices and experienced drivers on the GP Circuit. We are running one of our Driver Activity days at North Weald in September, this is a great opportunity to prepare yourself for your first full track day. You could follow this by joining us at Donington, which is not far from you, in October. We will be running 2 sessions, 1 for beginners/improvers and 1 for experienced drivers. I hope that this helps and that you will join us at North Weald. Cheers Steve Secretary MGoT

10/05/2008 15:43:42 adrian I must be seeing things.......... ...Silverstone GP circuit for £99. So that's the FULL GP circuit, the proper one, the coveted hallowed ground for the price of two tanks of petrol... ...still not getting it. Where's the catch? I've just booked my place quick, before someone realises they missed out a '1' infront of the '99'.

10/05/2008 16:40:17 Steve Hill Hi Adrian No you're not seeing things, it's simply what we set out to achieve. [COLOR=blue]'Our philosophy is simple - to organise fun, sociable track days where MG enthusiasts can enjoy their cars in safety, with fellow enthusiasts and at the best possible price.[/COLOR] [COLOR=blue][/COLOR] [COLOR=blue][COLOR=black]In fact for members of the MG Car Club the price is even better.[/COLOR] [/COLOR]

10/05/2008 18:24:05 mattie007 Hi, thanks for the replies. What I meant was I haven't done an MGoT track event before. I have done a track day at Rockingham plus 2 driver experiences (Lotus Elise and Mini Cooper S). Am I still ok to book? I am 23 and have held a license for 7 years. I currently run a ZS 120. Let me know. Regards Matthew :)

11/05/2008 08:04:42 Dave [quote=mattie007]Hi, thanks for the replies. What I meant was I haven't done an MGoT track event before. I have done a track day at Rockingham plus 2 driver experiences (Lotus Elise and Mini Cooper S). Am I still ok to book? I am 23 and have held a license for 7 years. I currently run a ZS 120. Let me know. Regards Matthew :)[/quote] Hi Matthew, That's fine - it is only people who have never been on a track day anywhere, that fall foul of Silverstone's new rule. Please go ahead and book :) Regards, Dave

14/05/2008 21:22:39 mattie007 Im a bit worried about booking now because it was a good 3 years ago that I did the track day. The driving experiences were done 2 years ago. Do driving experiences use the same rules as trackdays?

14/05/2008 21:30:35 Dave [quote=mattie007]Im a bit worried about booking now because it was a good 3 years ago that I did the track day. The driving experiences were done 2 years ago. Do driving experiences use the same rules as trackdays?[/quote] Matthew, Even if it was five years ago since you did a track day you still qualify for not requiring assessment, which is all that we are concerned about here. However, if you are in any way anxious about going out on track after three years, then just book an instruction slot. I can make sure that you get the instruction in your first session, ensuring that you get a good start to the evening. Regards, Dave

16/05/2008 15:14:16 mattie007 Righty, Im close to booking, just need to secure funds! Heard on another forum that overtaking can be awkward at MGoT meets? Regards:)

16/05/2008 15:48:49 CR15COX [b]just bloomin book it mate!![/b] Hi, i see you're ummin and arrin alot here, hopefully i can help... i went to my first MGoT session at donnington last year, like you i was i very nervous about it being my first track day in my OWN car :eek: but since then ive been to everysingle one i can get to, Silverstone, snetterton cadwell and going to croft next. going with this club is the best way to enjoy tracks, the days are sessioned, you're generally in the same as session as evenly matched cars/ drivers and you dont get turbo'd 3ltr supras screaming at you on the straights!! the overtaking being tricky is aload of rubbish, the on track etiquette from all the MGers is sublime you wont find a more freindly crowd to drive with. and i wouldnt be too worried about over taking other people in your zs lol just keep an eye in your mirrors for the F's :D

16/05/2008 16:25:57 Steve Hill [quote=mattie007]Righty, Im close to booking, just need to secure funds! Heard on another forum that overtaking can be awkward at MGoT meets? Regards:)[/quote] Not awkward Matt, just safe. That way you can drive your car home afterwards. :)

16/05/2008 18:29:27 mattie007 [quote=CR15COX] and i wouldnt be too worried about over taking other people in your zs lol just keep an eye in your mirrors for the F's :D[/quote] haha! I did mean that both ways! :p

17/05/2008 15:56:25 JP12 TBH I can't think of a better track day organiser than MGoT if you are still quite new to track days. Joe

20/05/2008 20:32:28 adrian Disaster struck today! I pulled out of the drive, just about got up to 3rd gear, only to be greeted with a forboding squeaking followed immediately by the flappety flap of a broken belt. Engine shut down! Yep its the dreaded cambelt. Yep its buggered the valves. On closer inspection, the belt is still perfect (changed 10k ago at 60k), but the belt tensioner has completely disintegrated! I beg you all, please, change the tensioner at 60k, it costs £25. Interestingly, the rest of it is tip top, including the dreaded head gasket which is still like brand spanking new! -in fact my mechanic was so amazed, he's keeping the old one! Hopefully I'll be on the road for Silverstone.......

21/05/2008 17:16:05 CR15COX [b]sorry to hear :o([/b] sorry to hear about your misfortune, engine trouble is a terrible thing especially when you're all lined up to get on track :D tbh i've always thought it best practice to replace the tensioner as you replace the belt. give your mechanic a stern finger lol. still... we live and learn, and take heed from others expensive mistakes ;) good luck, hope you're up and running in time :)

27/05/2008 17:02:12 adrian I appreciate your solidarity. Good news, we're back on....I think! Various remedial replacement parts, critically, two new valves, and the others grinded. Now she's performing even better than before the disaster! So, on to the important stuff, which tyres are everyone running on please?

27/05/2008 17:30:01 CR15COX [b]tyres tyres tyres...[/b] there have been many tyre debates on here and still i wouldnt know myself which to opt for when the time comes!! ive had my nearly a year and done about 6k, the tyres were brand new when i bought it and have now done four track days with them and all the day to day travelling aswell and there's still loads of meat on them :D ive got: front - yokohama A539's 195/45 R16 rear - Toyo Proxes 'R' 215/40 R16 ive been pretty happy happy with the performance, grip and wear of the tyres, they 'scrub' ALOT when out on track especially on hot days but the grip is awesome :D at cadwell they were just phenomenol the more i pushed the more they bit. although i dont have any other tyres to compare them to as ive only had these?? sorry. i think im right in saying that bridgestone SO 2's seem to be a good choice?? try going on rob bells site he has a good run down of the top ten [URL="http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/"]http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/[/URL] good luck ;)

27/05/2008 23:00:16 Tim Guy Ah, a tyre debate, haven't had one of those for a while :) The range available for the F are rather limited and shrinking unfortunately. What size rims do you have Adrian, 15" or 16" and are you after a trackday tyre or one for every day road use. Then we can debate what pressures everyone uses again :D

28/05/2008 06:51:52 JP12 I have recently purchased a pyrometer so I can be more accurate with my tyre pressure settings. I am attending the two days at Castle Combe, Silverstone Eve and Donington, so if anyone wants to borrow it to check your tyre temp just ask. Joe

28/05/2008 07:07:55 adrian Started life on factory NCT-3 15 inch, which were well balanced, progressive and safe, but simply not fast enough on the bendy bits. Changed to summer budget rubbish (admiral) because they 'looked' more grippy. They were! Loads more on rear, smaller increase on front. This change in balance was annoying me. Too much understeer. Puzzled why the fronts are narrower, I decided this was the problem. Changed fronts to 195, with Goodyear eagle F1. Yippee, problem solved. Stunning grip and balance! Rears began to wear out quicker than fronts... in the rain car swaps ends in the corners with no warning. Incredibly dangerous. Decided eagle F1 on rear should solve it. Eagle F1 unavailable for the rear! I kept them on the front, Toyo Proxes on rear. Problem solved, but the Toyos have TOO much progressiveness in the dry! Do we all agree on 195 front and 205 rear?

28/05/2008 07:14:29 adrian Kind offer Stu, I'd like to see how you monitor it. I'll try to look for you at Silverstone.

28/05/2008 07:22:21 adrian Stu ? Eh? I meant, kind offer Joe! -Sorry!

28/05/2008 10:56:05 Martin C [quote=mattie007]Righty, Im close to booking, just need to secure funds! Heard on another forum that overtaking can be awkward at MGoT meets? Regards:)[/quote] Hi Matthew, In case you haven't booked because you'll feel lonely out there, you can now join me in my lowly ZS120. Overtaking isn't an issue, true we don't do lairy idiots trying to drift corners, not the done thing my dear chap :) , as Chris said it's more a case of watch for the others and let them go. The other advantage of the GP circuit is it so big you can find space to play on your own without worrying. Hope to see you there :D Martin.

05/06/2008 23:30:53 mattie007 Was going to book last weekend just after the cars 6 year cambelt service but disaster struck. The inlet manifold is on its last legs and the garage recommended taking it easy until its fixed. Its also loosing coolant at an alarming rate, along with a blowing exhaust :mad: Looks like I will have to wait for the next trackday as this is going to be one expensive month. Was really looking forward to this aswell. :(

06/06/2008 08:13:23 Dave [quote=mattie007]Was going to book last weekend just after the cars 6 year cambelt service but disaster struck. The inlet manifold is on its last legs and the garage recommended taking it easy until its fixed. Its also loosing coolant at an alarming rate, along with a blowing exhaust :mad: Looks like I will have to wait for the next trackday as this is going to be one expensive month. Was really looking forward to this aswell. :([/quote]Bad luck - you certainly need to get that fixed though. Hopefully, we'll see you on track sometime later in the year. Dave

11/07/2008 11:24:24 Shaf Hi, sorry to join the debate a bit late but only recently joined up. I recently did a track day at silverstone and had pretty random tyres fitted. AVON ZV2s at the front and Lexani (Don't they make printers) at the rear both 205/40/17s. Fronts grained quite badly giving increasing amounts of understeer. Rears strated to serrate the edges of the blocks. Had a fair bit of power oversteer although quite controllable. I have just fitted Yokohama PAradas 205/4017 at the front and 215/40/17 at the rear. Hoping these will be good in august. I have a more or less standard MGF 1.8 with a mere 118 bhp. I have uprated the brakes to 280mm discs and fitted MIntex M1166 pads. And of course done a conversion to use 17 inch wheels. I saw very high indicated oil temperatures at the last track day so am planning to fit an air/oil cooler. Has anyonw else fitted an aftermarket oil cooler to na MGF/TF? If so did you front mount? What size pipes did you use and have you had any issues? And what other mods do MGF drivers have? Shaf

11/07/2008 16:05:04 CR15COX [b]Oil Cooler Upgrade[/b] Im too getting very high oil temps while out on track. i have a trophy 160 with few mods so pushin abit more than that, so ive been looking in to oil coolers and it seems there are two to choose from, as they are after market upgrades they both use the oil filter sandwich adapter, but the front mounted cooler needs longer hoses and therefore more oil which takes longer to heat up and is not good for the engine when using the car daily. alternatively you can use the oil cooler thats mounted to the block of the engine, its much closer so less oil but just as effective in keeping the oil cool, i am led to believe that this is the same as the TF cooler?? Im sizing up mike satur for the upgrade at present and tasked him with fitting it before Croft in august So i'll you posted mate

11/07/2008 16:36:48 Dave Hi both, Several of us have oil coolers fitted, but usually these are only required for VVC engines. I certainly wouldn't expect a 1.8 Mpi to suffer at all. It might be worth exploring other reasons for high oil temperature first. I have a TF oil cooler retro-fitted to my 1998 VVC. There was a small issue around the oil temp sender having a different loom connection and so IIRC a ZR sender was used in the fitting. It works perfectly for me and even with around 180 bhp blasting around the track my oil temp is no longer a concern. For more information you can contact Techspeed Motorsport on 01926 632066 who have always looked after my car and made numerous modifications of this nature. Techspeed also fitted a front mounted oil cooler to Stu Dickens VVC, so they can give you some idea of the time it took to do each type of modification. Regards, Dave

11/07/2008 16:41:30 CR15COX [b]Cheers Dave[/b] Cheers Dave, for your ever lasting font of knowledge ;) I'll give them a tinkle because Mike seems very at present and is having trouble getting hold of the certain hoses, or so the story goes. Tech speed it is then Cheers

11/07/2008 17:08:12 Dave [quote=CR15COX]Cheers Dave, for your ever lasting font of knowledge ;) I'll give them a tinkle because Mike seems very at present and is having trouble getting hold of the certain hoses, or so the story goes. Tech speed it is then Cheers[/quote]Hi Chris, I guess the missing word above is 'busy' - unfortunately, it is likely that Techspeed will also be busy. They are essentially a race car preparation business and so during the racing season they are fully occupied putting back together cars that their customers destroy - this year more than ever with a Turkish gentleman in the BTCC. Consequently, I usually take advantage of the winter months to have them work on my car. This is when they are happy to do 'road' car work to keep their mechanics busy. However, give them a call, mention that I suggested you talk to them and cross your fingers that they have a small window in their hectic schedule. Regards, Dave

15/07/2008 19:52:48 Muttley [b]Long hoses and cold oil[/b] You should be able to fit a thermostat so the cooler isn't in operation until needed, I have one on my Midget and it only usually opens on track days. I can't think of whay they couldn't be used on an F/TF

18/07/2008 08:00:27 Shaf [quote=CR15COX]Im too getting very high oil temps while out on track. i have a trophy 160 with few mods so pushin abit more than that, so ive been looking in to oil coolers and it seems there are two to choose from, as they are after market upgrades they both use the oil filter sandwich adapter, but the front mounted cooler needs longer hoses and therefore more oil which takes longer to heat up and is not good for the engine when using the car daily. alternatively you can use the oil cooler thats mounted to the block of the engine, its much closer so less oil but just as effective in keeping the oil cool, i am led to believe that this is the same as the TF cooler?? Im sizing up mike satur for the upgrade at present and tasked him with fitting it before Croft in august So i'll you posted mate[/quote] Hi, since I last posted I have fitted an oil cooler. I have bought a universal cooler and fittings etc. Used demon tweeks and Rally design. I have fitted a 13/16" thermostatic sandwich plate so it will not give me warm up problems on day to day use. You need two 1/2" BSP male to male adaptors with seals. I have fitted 1/2" straight connectors coming out of this due to the orientation that I have used (Which is dependant on where the cooler is actually fitted. If front mounting 45 degree 5/8" connectors would probably be required instead. I have then moutned the 235mm wide 16 row cooler at the top of the engine bay under the boot vent. I have used a Mocal oil cooler fitting bracket set. On the oil cooler I have used 45 degree fittings. Could probably have used straight ones but had ordered the others already. 2m cooler pipe was sufficient for my placement. One pipe was about 105cm and the other 95cm The total coast was about £170 inc vat. And took a few hours to fit with no major headaches. Ultimately this placement is not going to give the maximum possible cooling effect but given my engine's untuned state should give just enough to stop it getting out of control on track. Shaf

18/07/2008 08:09:40 Shaf [quote=CR15COX]Cheers Dave, for your ever lasting font of knowledge ;) I'll give them a tinkle because Mike seems very at present and is having trouble getting hold of the certain hoses, or so the story goes. Tech speed it is then Cheers[/quote] Chris, if you are at the silverstone event on the 8th come and see me. I'll show you how mine is installed and talk you through the parts you would need and how to install it. It was pretty simple really. Parts should take less than 3 days to get to you from DT and should take someone with basic mechanical skills a few hours to install. You just need an adjustable wrench, 10mm spanner, bit of plumbers PTFE tape and a drill with 2.5mm bit. I will be in the BRG V reg MGF with 17 inch 5 spokes. Shaf

18/07/2008 16:02:38 adrian Shaf, would you mind if I have a look at your oil cooler at Silverstone? What sort of oil temp is too high? My temp gauge reads 90 from normal driving, and 120 on the motorway. Track days are 130-140. This does seem a bit much, any idea at what temp maximum efficiency is achieved?

02/08/2008 21:39:38 Shaf Adrian, I'm no expert but I think about 130 degrees is OK. My gauge was reading about 180 on the last track day which is very high. Although I am told these gauges can be very inaccurate sometimes. No problem you checking out the cooler at silverstone. Shaf

03/08/2008 11:35:08 Tim Guy One session last time at Combe I didn't back off towards the end of the 15 min session, because I was with an instructor and wanted to just have one more go flat down from Esses apex 1 through to Tower. Coming out of Tower it was well over 160, I backed off but 10 sec later actually got the [B]low oil pressure light on :eek:[/B]. It had gone off by the time I got very gently to Dean but took the pit lane anyway. Not a pleasant thing to happen. So don't ignore the oil temperature gauge, however inaccurate it might be. And yes a cooler is way up on my list too.

06/08/2008 08:49:49 Shaf Hi all, I have a bit of a last minute panic. Changed my brake pads last night and one of my wheel nuts has gone funny. The 19mm socket no longer fits over it correctly. I think the internal hex part has twisted within the stainless shell. As I won't have time to get a new one before friday does anyone have a spare they could bring along and lend me? The type I need are standard MGF captive collar nuts for alloy wheels. Shaf

06/08/2008 09:00:31 Stu I'm not sure if Dave L kept his old ones when he changed them, he's workin today but I'm sure he'll catch up with this post later, I'll mention it when i speak to him later this eve Stu;) edit.. i may have sourced one for you Shaf, just waiting for a mail back

06/08/2008 09:22:09 adrian May I suggest the origional nuts are a nasty bit of penny pinching engineering. Mine had the same problem. The outer shells became more and more deformed and useless. I replaced the lot with proper stainless steel nuts. My wheels are old and tatty enough to not bother with a locking nut.

06/08/2008 09:41:12 Tim Guy Penny pinching they may be. Had an MG Metro Turbo with the same problem. The damage sets in if someone uses a 12 pointed socket on an overtight nut; there's not enough support and the outer shell distorts. I've use a 6 point on my MGF from new and they're still perfect 7 years later.

08/08/2008 22:03:50 Shaf Just like to say thanks for organising the Track evening. I really enjoyed being on track with other similar cars rather than being completely outpaced by £50K machines. Was surprised at how well matched the different cars were. MGBs, MGFs and ZTs all doing nigh on the same overall lap times was real interesting. By the way, anyone interested, my oil cooler mounted in the MGF engine bay under the boot vent had very little effect. Will be moving it to the front at some point. Shaf