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My First M5 Track Day Booked

4K views 40 replies 13 participants last post by  SilverstoneDM 
#1 ·
I have just committed to an evening track event on the full GP circuit at Silverstone on June 5th.:wroom: :checkeredflag:

Car is totally standard, so I hope the brake pads won't be too much of an issue (I know Faz does not rate them:eek7: )

I have passenger seats available if anyone wants to join me for a ride? (the organisers do make a small charge for the privilege though:sad3: )

Organisers are Gold Track if anyone is interested.
 
#2 ·
You shouldn't have too much of an issue at Silverstone as it is quite a high speed circuit with some fast corners (so no big braking like Brands, Donington, Oulton, Thruxton).

The complex can be a bit boring as it's just a long left followed by a longer right onto the curved start/finish. Don't worry if the car pulls to the left towards the barriers as this is a function of the speed and curve of the track - let it drift a little wide and keep the steering input constant and don't be tempted to try to pull it to the right too much or you will find yourself 360º-ing towards the pitwall.

It's much better in the wet!
 
#3 ·
Last minute thing:

I won't be there but it is a scream!!

Take someone along and go halves!




Bedford Autodrome Saturday 26th May
£195.00 – All Day Open Pit Lane
*Passengers & Additional Drivers free of Charge*
We have a number of last minute places available at what is undoubtedly the UK’s best and safest track day venue with around 4 miles of tarmac available.

The day starts at 8.30am with a comprehensive safety briefing followed by a number of familiarisation laps before the track is fully live and continues until right the way through until 5pm. Helmets are available for hire and our team of expert instructors on hand should you require coaching.

To guarantee your place call RMA on 0845 2604545 or take your chances and turn up on the day.


Please note there is a drive by noise limit at Bedford which equates to approximately 101db (A) measured at ¾ maximum engine revs ½ metre from the exhaust at an angle of 45 degrees 1 metre from the ground. Please call if you require clarification.





Have fun
 
#7 ·
Bedford is a good place to learn about the car and its handling - every corner but one is armco-less - therefore a trip across grass is the worst that can happen (unless you're unfortunate to hit somebody else).

I like Bedford - but - be careful - it's fast and you can warp your discs if you don't cool them down.

Enjoy Silverstone - I've done it on a bike, but never in a car.....
 
#8 ·
You guys have got me both excited and nervous - can't wait now!

I have driven the GP circuit before in my old 944, but the M5 is in a different league for speed, so it's going to be a steep learing curve I am sure.
 
#11 ·
I have just committed to an evening track event on the full GP circuit at Silverstone on June 5th.:wroom: :checkeredflag:

Car is totally standard, so I hope the brake pads won't be too much of an issue (I know Faz does not rate them:eek7: )
Hi
I hope you have a great time there.cherrsagai
Take your time through the Luffield complex.
Many try to muscle the car through.
Smooth & tidy will get best exit speed to the main straight.:blink:

The pads o/e Textar pads are great if used sensibly within the 4 pot calipers on the later cars.
They tend to lose their cool on small circuits with lots of 2nd & 3rd gear bends stacked together.
Good road pad though imho:cheers:
I still use Textar in my 4 pot calipers but there is little doubt that there are much better pads like Ferodo & Pagid available.

The o/e pads used on the single pot sliding front calipers are a little soft & crumbly.
I changed to Pagids alround within 3 months of owning the car.
Vast difference.

Cheers
Farrell
 
#12 ·
Hi
I hope you have a great time there.cherrsagai
Take your time through the Luffield complex.
Many try to muscle the car through.
Smooth & tidy will get best exit speed to the main straight.:blink:

The pads o/e Textar pads are great if used sensibly within the 4 pot calipers on the later cars.
They tend to lose their cool on small circuits with lots of 2nd & 3rd gear bends stacked together.
Good road pad though imho:cheers:
I still use Textar in my 4 pot calipers but there is little doubt that there are much better pads like Ferodo & Pagid available.

The o/e pads used on the single pot sliding front calipers are a little soft & crumbly.
I changed to Pagids alround within 3 months of owning the car.
Vast difference.

Cheers
Farrell
Cheers mate. Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know how I get on.

Minor panic to sort as have found a nail in one of the front tyres:eek:
 
#13 ·
Just got back from the track - all in one piece despite a few people spinning in front of me just to make things interesting:eek7:

The car was mostly great - very neutral and able to carry a lot of speed through the bends and certainly can't complain about a lack of power:wroom:

Had a good dice with an E46 M3 - I was quicker than him in the early sessions which was most gratifying:hihi: Faster than older porsches, but there were some nearly new 911 GT3's and a GT3 RS going VERY fast:crying2:

Got through some oil, about 0.5 litres in a total of about 1 hour's flat-out driving - no sign of smoke though.

I did have some problems with the brakes despite having the big floating discs on my late 3.8 - the pads and fluid were fine - never faded, but the dics seem to have become warped or something similar. Got terrible brake judder after a few fast laps - the longer I was on the track the worse it got.

The dics seem to have some blask deposits on them which is not evenly distributed. The judder is much less noticable after the brakes have cooled off. I'm hoping a bit of gentle use will knock these dposits off and I won't have to buy new discs - fingers crossed.
 
#14 ·
Well done m8 ......Have you got any pics that you can post ?

Re your brakes ......hopefully , you just have deposits from the pads stuck to the discs and this could be removed by following the bedding in procedure .....search past threads for description .

When embarking on track days , it is very important to allow your brake discs to cool down over a period i.e. cool down lap , without pressing the brakes .

Also , it may be beneficial to bring the car to a halt after a session , switch off the ignition and leave the car in gear , rather than applying the handbrake , which , again , may cause brake pad residue to stick to hot discs.

Thanks for your report ......glad to hear that you had a good day !

D:wroom:
 
#15 ·
I'm off to Snetterton in mine tomorrow, really looking forward to it. First real chance to stretch it's legs :D

Have recently fitted new disks and pads all round, oe disks and ferodo DS2500's up front and textar's on the rear.

The DS pads seem to have loads of feel and good progressive bite so be interesting to see how they perform under hard use in terms of wear and fade.

Any last minute tips?

David.
 
#17 ·
I'm off to Snetterton in mine tomorrow, really looking forward to it. First real chance to stretch it's legs :D

Have recently fitted new disks and pads all round, oe disks and ferodo DS2500's up front and textar's on the rear.

The DS pads seem to have loads of feel and good progressive bite so be interesting to see how they perform under hard use in terms of wear and fade.

Any last minute tips?

David.
Probably a bit late, but I found hot tyre pressures of 43psi Front and 45psi Rear worked well (even tyre temps across the tyre) - this meant letting air out after the first session after starting at standard road pressures.
 
#18 ·
Well done m8 ......Have you got any pics that you can post ?

Re your brakes ......hopefully , you just have deposits from the pads stuck to the discs and this could be removed by following the bedding in procedure .....search past threads for description .

When embarking on track days , it is very important to allow your brake discs to cool down over a period i.e. cool down lap , without pressing the brakes .

Also , it may be beneficial to bring the car to a halt after a session , switch off the ignition and leave the car in gear , rather than applying the handbrake , which , again , may cause brake pad residue to stick to hot discs.

Thanks for your report ......glad to hear that you had a good day !

D:wroom:
I was careful to give the brakes a cooling-off period during the in lap and I did not apply the handbrake in the pit (I found advice on this before I went by searching this Forum:) ) I am traditionally hard on brakes and easy on tyres - must be my driving style:noSMG:
 
#19 ·
Any last minute tips?
Snetterton is a short track so is hard on brakes & tyres for a heavy car like the e34 - make sure you do a cool down lap.

If you are there all day for half hour on, half hour off sessions (as I was) expect to experience break fade, and judder when pad material gets stuck to the discs. Despite cooling laps & decent breaks from the track, this continued to get progressively worse throughout the day, the last few sessions I had to take it easy due to the condition of my brakes

I had a great time there last year, and paid for some instruction from Callum Lockie which really helped me improve my technique.

have fun, i really like the track!
 
#20 ·
If you get a chance, replace the brake fluid with something good (e.g. Motul RBF400 Super Dot 4) before you go on track - it removes one element of worry ... cooking the fluid and having to drive home with no brakes!

if you've an old pair of pads then stick them in the car as well, just in case ... if you fry the OEM ones they'll crumble apart .... easy job to replace them though if you have a spare pair and face a long drive home
 
#21 ·
Cheers guys, keep shiny side up... gonna stick that on the steering wheel :D

Front pads are ferodo DS2500's so i'm hoping they'll be up to a bit more of a beating than oe stuff.

Changed all four disks and pads at the weekend along with the brake fluid so no problems there I hope.

May pay for some instruction, first time around snetterton although it's only 20 miles from me, just for a few pointers on lines.

Just been and filled up with optimax, topped up with mobil 1 15w50 so i'm ready to rock.

I'll put a report and hopefully some pics tomorrow.
 
#23 ·
The Gold Track event provided free instructors:hihi: I managed to bag one for my first session and we did about 10 laps. Mine was really able to feel how the car was behaving and help me to make small adjustments to my steering braking and throttle to really help the cars speed and reduce tyre scrubbing etc.

Well recommended

Hoping to post a link to some photos soon - not uploaded yet.
 
#24 ·
I'm back!
In one piece with car intact. The old girl performed admirably...

When I pulled up, I had a chat with the bloke organising the day, he said "are you going round in that?"
What does that mean I says? "I mean't it looks too nice to rag on a trackday thats all" so that was nice.

Snetterton isn't a great track for the M5, a lot of high speed heavy braking, so a 1700kg M5 wasn't ideal.

I could do 6-8 laps before the brakes were starting to go off, thats with race pads.
Mind you I was seeing 130-135 on revett so it needed some very serious stopping power to get through the esses which probably didn't help! Could have done with a parachute!

There was a smattering of E36's there, plenty of westfields and caterham's, two MK1 golf's with 16v GTI engines which were plenty quick, a VW scirocco! an audi RS2 (porsche tweeked one) which was quick but cornered like a see saw and some dedicated track cars don't ask me what they were... but they were the only cars to out drag the M5 down the straights and I nearly ended wearing his air intake as it flew off on revett!

The tyres and the brakes took a serious pounding, front left tyre being the worst which now has some nasty blisters :(

I got complimented on my lines and smoothe style by the instructor, he said I would struggle to get the M5 round much faster than I was, which was nice knowing. (and free)

Favourite corner, the bomb hole. ease off on the way in full power from the apex for lots of smiles :D

oh, and he loved the sound of the S38 at full chat, as did some of the other guys who came up and told me so

Averaged 11.4 mpg which was better than expected, brakes survived the trip, a great day out :)

A few pics:







 
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