Bedford Autodrome - 20th July

[JonMad]

I can link you to a couple of vids of my going round there in my MX-5 if you want Certainly that'll show you what it looks like at slow speed!

[mik]

Just the Indy, it’ll be my first actual track day, so i’m not too concerned about anything beyond learning what to do (or not do!!)

Fair. I was frustrated when I did Anglesey that the track is not really available in any sim, so I instead spent a fair amount of time watching youtubes with specific guidance on braking points, cornering lines etc. Really helped get me up to speed quickly.

[Jimmy Choo]

I was frustrated when I did Anglesey that the track is not really available in any sim

Assetto corsa. I've got a mod of it kicking about in my AC pile of shame.

[duncs500]

i’ve booked brands hatch in the 6th july - i’ll do snetterton one day, but it’s 2 1/2 hours away, so i’ll combine it with a trip to my mate in norfolk eventually!

Hopefully I'll be able to join you when you do Snetterton, let me know if/when you're thinking about it. Good to see you making the most of the Elise.

[duncs500]

How's Anglesey for run off @mik? IIRC it's good on noise. It's a long way for me, but it looks spectacular so might be worth going and staying somewhere nearby / making a bigger trip out of it.

[mik]

How's Anglesey for run off @mik? IIRC it's good on noise. It's a long way for me, but it looks spectacular so might be worth going and staying somewhere nearby / making a bigger trip out of it.

It’s good. Was a long way for me too, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Plenty wide too if you need to adjust your line.

[Rich B]

i’ve booked brands hatch in the 6th july - i’ll do snetterton one day, but it’s 2 1/2 hours away, so i’ll combine it with a trip to my mate in norfolk eventually!

That was fun! I’ve sweated half my body weight and i wasn’t without mechanical issues but overall it was a great day.



I enjoyed the open pit lane format, though it was more fun later in the day once i’d got to know a few other drivers to chat with between sessions. It wasn’t mega busy either so there was plenty of quiet-ish track time and we managed to steal an empty garage with another group so had a bit of shade which helped.

The track was good too (Indy) - with only 6ish corners it meant you could really practice the lines (i had a coaching session) and there wasn’t too much traffic (though the academy caterhams were out - buzzing up behind you out of nowhere.) But overall, everyone was pretty polite on track.

Now the mechanical issues…

i topped up the fluids the day before and the coolant was very low. I filled it to the line and thought no more of it. The car seemed ok and temperatures were rising but manageable with shorter stints, but i checked the coolant again a few stints later and i had none…

i had a good check over the car and found it dripping from behind the front left wheel. crap - i’ll end up taking the front clam off to fix that. Then i noticed it dripping from below the door. then by the back wheel (the car was on a slight slope and it was running along the undertrays).

Anyway, i traced it back to the pipe coming out of the bottom of the header tank that was being gently pulled by another conduit it was zip tied to. i loosened the ziptie to give it a little slack and made sure it was not being pulled and checked the clamp was well seated. I topped it up and left it for a while (over lunch.) to see if it would go down again…

The leak has stopped (yay) but i presume i have a load of air in the system now because it’s struggling to keep itself cool and the coolant expands in the header tank when it’s hot. I need to read up for how to sort that one…

The drive home (M25/M3)was interesting, in 5th gear the temp would rise, using 4th gear and more revs - it would go down. Confusing!

[Mito Man]

If you have a mechanical water pump it’ll be pumping more at higher rpm which may negate the higher rpm

[dan]

If you fill it any higher than the MIN line when its cold it'll spit coolant out of the cap as the bottle is too small for the amount of expansion in the system, its a bottle off a front drive rover car with 4 litres of coolant in the entire system, you've got more than twice that.

Its unlikely that a pipe being pulled would cause a leak and not a catastrophic loss of coolant - if any pipe isn't tight it'll burst and dump litres of coolant when its hot as its under a lot of pressure. If you're lucky its as simple as the cap on the header tank as they are known to fail on a regular basis. As you've already spotted, water tracks along the length of the car making it tricky sometimes to pinpoint a leak.

The pump is very inefficient at idle as Mito says, when they've got 2krpm on them they work a lot more efficiently.

[Rich B]

If you fill it any higher than the MIN line when its cold it'll spit coolant out of the cap as the bottle is too small for the amount of expansion in the system, its a bottle off a front drive rover car with 4 litres of coolant in the entire system, you've got more than twice that.

Its unlikely that a pipe being pulled would cause a leak and not a catastrophic loss of coolant - if any pipe isn't tight it'll burst and dump litres of coolant when its hot as its under a lot of pressure. If you're lucky its as simple as the cap on the header tank as they are known to fail on a regular basis. As you've already spotted, water tracks along the length of the car making it tricky sometimes to pinpoint a leak.

The pump is very inefficient at idle as Mito says, when they've got 2krpm on them they work a lot more efficiently.

yep, i don’t think it leaked when it was running and hot and under pressure, it leaked out with the car turned off. I topped it up when i saw it was empty and after 10 mins it had all gone again, that’s when i noticed it tracking down the undertrays. i then went searching and found the (what i think anyway) was the source . After that it didn’t lose any coolant, the coolant level actually went up when the car was hot.

It’s still struggling to stay cool though.

[JonMad]

Your first track day wasn't it? Congrats!

[Rich B]

Your first track day wasn't it? Congrats!

Cheers Jon, yep it was! I was definitely one of the slower cars on track and i could have been far braver braking on the first corner, but i got through it in one piece and enjoyed myself!