Hi,

I did my first ever trackday yesterday with my 16VT. All went fine, no smoke/leak or something like that (well, not more than usual :D), it was pretty fun, but the performance wasn't that great.
Brakes were poor (I bled them the day before, but in a rush so maybe not correctly), and they lost in performance during and after the trackday, I couldn't be consistent with them.
Tyres were squealing in every corners, probably understeering a lot as turning was not smooth and precise ; I did reduce the pressure to 2.7/2.6 bar on the front and 2.4/2.3 bar on the rear after the first few laps but that didn't seem to help. Road tyres (Hankook Ventus Prime 2) in good condition but 4 years old, is it normal ? I probably didn't help by engine braking to compensate poor brake efficiency, but even with low throttle it was squealing.
On the long straight I was sadly overtaken by everyone, but they were probably more powerful than me and arriving quicker from the previous corner and the laps I recorded were around 2 min while I think the car would probably be able to do between 1min40 or 1min50.

Car is stock (may not have its full power as it still seems to misfire here and then at idle despite some repairs but I don't think it's the main problem), I use standard parts (not performance) for replacements.
On the front, struts were completely changed recently (except the springs as they look intact) + the wishbones + ARB droplinks. On the rear I only replaced the shock absorbers.
Brakes were renewed 3 years ago but have less than 10.000 kms

Any thought on the behaviour of the car ?
And I would like to improve the car behaviour but stay as stock as possible and keep it road friendly as I use it daily, so probably upgraded brake pads, new performance brake fluid (+ new brakes lines, I bought them) and I suppose tyres ?

Regards

Semi slicks like toyo888 will work well,but will put a strain on the rest of the car. You have to decide what you want from the car.

A healthy engine and well serviced is essential. Maybe get someone to check the car is running correctly in its stock form.

Upgrade the pads and fluid. Otherwise the stock suspension and running gear should be fine as long they are in good condition.

If you want more speed in corners etc then buy a small car like Clio.106 etc and play about with that and leave the coupe for pleasure.

really depends on what you want from the car, and how many track sessions a year you are going to do.

1st thing is to think of it as a 'fun' day, and not something competitive - a stock, or close to stock coupe is not going to be a great track car in terms of speed - either in a straight line, or round corners. modern hot hatches will run rings around it straight out of the box. Even with a whole load of money spent on mods you wont turn the car into something it is not designed to be.

Minor upgrades would be some decent brake fluid / fast road pads, and check that the car is in good condition all round (bushes, discs etc.), with decent road tyres - track tyres like R888's or others similar are poor for daily use. Maybe full alignment check and some simple springs / dampers upgrade - but that's how the mods start. :-) The car will always understeer by default - front wheel drive, and lots of weight up front.

These days I would never track day a car I need for daily use - you will break something on it eventually (I've popped two engines on track - it happens.) You are far better off keeping the coupe as an awesome GT on the road, and getting something else for track duties.

The above is a journey I've been on with a coupe - not saying it's the right way of thinking, and many will disagree I'm sure, just trying to give you the best advice I can.

The biggest way to get the car around the track faster is work on your own skills and how to get the most out of the car + that's fun in itself also.

Small addition to the above - if you have a miss fire I'd not track the car at all, asking for a big repair bill. :-(

About the misfire I’m not sure if it is still existent, I need to listen when cold/hot if I still hear something wrong, when driving there is no noticeable drop in power, injectors were problematic few months ago but it has been fixed since and the car is smoother at low RPM. But as I’m not 100 % sure, I can’t tell it is 100 % OK Cold starts (car stopped for several hours) were a bit problematic, I mean the RPM dropped when accelerating for the first few seconds, in gear or not, but since the trackday it seems to be OK
At least it seems reliable, I pushed it hard for easily 200 km on the track and it didn’t fail.
Even if it is a daily car, I can live without it so if it breaks, it breaks. I do not want to have a 2nd car, the Coupe was my 2nd car until January, insurance, parking, etc... are lost money.

I don’t want it to be a track car, just to be a car drivable on a track occasionally (maybe 2, 3 or 4x a year), without crying on every corner