I'm taking my completely standard 2010 XKR out for a morning track session at Barbagallo (Wanneroo) Raceway with the local Jaguar Car Club in August.

Any advice on car preparation - increased tyre pressure etc.?

Assume medium pace - I've driven my Ford Typhoon on this track previously and my heavily modified manual V12 XJS-C on various tracks back in England, but not for years, so very rusty.

 

I have no experience with tracking, but I would change my brake fluid!

 

RobB,
I'll be interested in hearing your about your sessions. My (new to me) 2010 XKR is going in, today, for a few cosmetic upgrades, new exhaust, and new tires, and then I plan on taking it to the tract a little later this summer. I have found the brakes a little spongy, but I suspect the previous owner replaced pads with inferior aftermarket ones. Are you still using OEM pads and rotors?

 

If you're not driving it at 10/10ths of its life for hours its just fine stock. You're going to have some brake wear and tire wear but that should be expected at a track day.

You may want to invest in some better pads but after driving the XKRs at the Jag R Performance Academy all day they seemed to be fine.

I would also make sure you have a good alignment done with zero toe, change the oil and make sure everything else us tight and ready for a track day. I say check everything that may be loose as I my battery come disconnected at 100 MPH exiting a chicane..

 

Feel free to ask me anything, I track my XKR a few times a month and am more than happy to help.

 

tberg - I've only owned the car for 3 months, but 1 previous owner and full main dealer history - so it should be all OE. The tyres are Pirelli P Zeros, so looking to wear them out asap! I'll certainly be happy to share what 'insight' I have, but keep in mind that MaximA exceeds my total track experience every 3-6 months..

MaximA - thanks for the advice and good to know that the car is essentially 'up to the job'. The XJSC was very good after modification, but it always felt that you were being a bit.. unkind.
I was surprised that you didn't mention the pressure? Other than that, it was serviced a couple of months ago, so I'll get alignment checked - and have it back for a check over as soon as I get off the track. Will particularly check pads and tyres wear before and after.

 

I'm sorry I totally forgot pressures and it really depends on the tires, track and overall temp. I'm run 38 PSI front and 36 rear hot, and I keep them in this range by checking the temp after each session.

Overall its feel pretty good and the wear is perfect across all the tires. You may also want to run a little negative camber in the front just for the track. I'm running -1.8 in the front but my car is setup different than stock and thats a bit aggressive. I'm not sure what the stock numbers are for the front but maybe go -.2 beyond that to help with the front grip in sharp turns. Then again the XKRs I drove at the driving R Academy felt pretty good.

The biggest thing is brake pads, I go through brake front pads bi monthly.

 

I didn't really do any special prep for my autobahn runs and Nordschleife trip last year. Just made sure the tyre pressures were right and the vital fluids were at the correct levels. The car didn't throw any warnings, no overheating, no spongy brakes - I think it was more capable than my skill level could reach, so it didn't really get too stressed.

 

I have not tracked my XK, but if I were, I would not hit a track without a recent brake flush. If you only recently purchased the car, a flush is one of the first maintenance items that should be on your list anyhow regardless of pending track events.
Vince

 

I spoke to the Jag specialist that I use today about prepping the car for the track.
They recommend 25 psi all around to start - on the grounds that "they'll soon warm up".
I'm not sure that the tyres will heat up that much, that fast. Thoughts?

 

I tracked my bone stock XKR a few times and did detailed threads about them. You can find them by doing an advanced search under my user name, and I think you'll find them informative.

You won't need to do anything other than make sure it's in good mechanical shape, doing a typical pre-track "tech inspection". I'd just monitor your tire pressures as they heat up on track, and bleed off air as necessary. A morning session will be a breeze for the car...enjoy!

 

Depends on the tire they were referencing. I used 14 psi cold pressures in the racing slicks on my GT-2 race car. When hot they went to 21-23 psi.

 

I just had a track session in mine. It was a little track (only about 2.5km, so about 1.5 miles) and aside from my tendency to brake too early, I really had trouble with the traction control interference. Is there a recommendation for settings? Unfortunately between the size of the track, with shortish distances between the corners, my underwhelming driving, and the traction cutting in, I couldn't get the car past about 150kph. The fellow I went with, in a new WRX, did slightly better on the lap times though he's done it a few times before, and apparently the AWD in the WRX really worked well coming out of the corners after heavy braking. But I kinda feel I let team Jag down...

 

If you have sufficient confidence & experience, turn DSC off (press & hold DSC button for >10 secs). I'm not brave enough, or at least I wasn't on the Nordschleife where there's no runoff areas, so I used the TracDSC setting (press & hold DSC button for <10 secs).

 

Actually the WRX guy (grrr) just told me that the times I did as a newbie in the XKR are better than the times he'd done in the track operators cars (our version of what you have as the Chevrolet SS, but worked for the track). That restores my pride a little.

 

It's actually Stability Control and Traction Control interfering, and it's most sensitive in the DSC ON default setting. As you round the corner and the rear slips a little the DSC may be applying brakes and killing throttle to prevent traction loss. It would be best to forget about lap times while you focus on being very smooth through the corners with brake, steering and throttle so that you don't loose tire grip. Then increase corner speed slowly, switching to Trac DSC once you start to feeling more comfortable as Ngarara mentioned. That is less invasive, but DSC OFF really let's you drive the car aggressively with advanced skills...and nerve!

Bruce

 

Completely agree about the level of interference!
I left it in Trac mode for the session and concentrated on late braking and smooth exits - but it did get a bit frustrating.
The club does a session every three/four months and I figured I should step up a session at a time.

Having said that my wife took a nice pic of me passing a 911 and I lapped a DB7
(Wife had a go and had enough fun to be game for the next session, which was great as well!)

 

No quips about the 'Australian picture format' please.
I'll figure it out in a minute..

 

Depending on the track you are on 25 psi makes sense but make sure you get in a good 30 minute session to see what the wear and temps look like. Some tracks you abuse the rear or fronts more, or if you have any cambered sections the outside wheels will always take more of a beating.

My Target psi is 38F and 36R hot and that's what they are when I arrive at the track. I usually knock about 5-8PSI at the start of the first session and go from there.

 

One thing I did and is evident in the video I posted from the track is I have the DSC on Trac. why? My first goal is to learn to drive within the bounds of the car as safely and SMOOTHLY as possible. The DSC does not allow you to get dangerously out of balance and forces you to be smooth especially with the accelerator. Once I can handle a track and setup within the bounds of DSC in Trac, then I turn it off and worry about track times and maximizing corners.

One thing to note about the DSC is it will fry your brakes once you start exceeding a certain slip angle in a turn, especially long turns. If you have the window down you will actually hear the pump if the car is pushing as you've probably over driven it into the corner.

DSC is a good driving instructor that once it stops barking at you, its time to take off the reins and slowly and safely progress.