How involved of a repair will you make at the track?

[D-O]

I am doing enough track days that I am making a list of spares to take to the track. Of course, I then need to bring the necessary tools to replace the parts on the list. It snowballed and got out of hand pretty fast.

I recently had an alternator failure at Road Atlanta. Hagerty towed it home for me and I installed the spare that night and was back at Road Atlanta Sunday morning. If I had had the spare and the tools with me I could certainly have done this at the track, and it got me asking myself how far I would be willing to go to salvage a track day.

So far I have been to Road Atlanta and Atlanta Motorsports Park. They are both about an hour from the house and I drive to them on the track wheels, tires, and brake pads. Whatever spares and tools I take will have to fit in the car. Easy stuff like coils, plugs, TPS, IAT, and MAP, tire plug kit, and an air pump are kind of a no brainer.

A two day event with insurance and fuel bumps up on $1000, so I am trying to figure out how far I am willing to go before it makes more sense to just pack it in and head home. A tow from Hagerty is already covered, so a trackside repair won't save a hefty tow bill. A repair that takes so long I end up missing the rest of my sessions does not make much sense either.

If you were driving the car to and from the track the same day, how far would you go with a repair?

[foolio]

For me, it’s easy to go overboard too. The biggest repairs I’ve done were to replace the steering rack and I did a front wheel bearing once. I always bring an alternator wheel bearings and a bunch of hoses belts pulleys stuff like that. When I had to replace the steering rack just so happened that I had a spare in my truck.

[Estoril]

I add wheel speed sensors and tire plugs to your list - and agree that its easy to go overboard without a trailer.

[bigjae46]

I remember trailering my car 6 hours to Eagle's Canyon through Fort Worth rush hour traffic in narrow lane construction zones. Drove two sessions and then a detent cover pops out. Then same track a couple of months later, my pressure plate fails.

It depends. I instruct so I don't place as much value on track time. Weather is another one. If it is too hot then the only thing I am doing is replacing a spark plug. I'm getting old so I am less willing to suffer. 10 years ago, absolutely would have dropped the trans if I had an extra pressure plate (someone had one). What I would do is team up with another E46 M3 and share spares.

I rent a garage with a lift at my local track which makes the process of prepping and repairing the car at the track much easier.

Here is my list. I have most of the stuff in a plastic tote. It has saved me quite a few times.

Coils, plugs, fuel pump (I have the radium LPF255 kit), fuel pump relay, belt, wheel studs and lug nuts, brake pads, TPS sensors, gas pedal, wheel speed sensors, pre cat O2 sensors, voltage regulator, gas cap (I like to lose them). If it is a track with rough curbs - VANOS solenoid pack. Extra hardware for the front splitter, rear wing and anything custom that I can't get at Home Depot or Auto Zone.

I'll bring spares if I am concerned with something.

[heinzboehmer]

I personally try to minimize working on the car at the track as much as possible. It just takes out a lot of the fun of a track day for me. I even swap pads and tires at home to avoid doing it there.

I've changed a clutch on a lemons car trackside to get back in the race (then promptly blew the engine the next day), but an alternator on the M3 is likely over the line for me. If the M3 breaks, I'll just hang out with friends and get rides in their cars. Not as fun as driving my car, but better than packing up and going home early.

[D-O]

Thanks gentlemen.

foolio:
Steering rack replacement at the track? You are a wild man.

Estoril:
Good tips. Definitely worth adding them to the list.

jae:
I was probably young enough once to try a clutch replacement at the track, but that was a very long time ago. Right on regarding the weather. Other considerations are how much of the day is left, is it Saturday or Sunday, how long will I have to wait for a tow truck? Lots of good ideas on your list. Thank you.

heinz:
My philosophy is certainly a bit closer to yours. As I mentioned, I too swap the wheels and tires at home and drive to the track on them, and I do go all out on prep to minimize the likelihood of a failure at the track. Over the last few years nearly all wear items in the suspension and drive train have been replaced. The clutch is the last of the original drive train parts, and I will likely do it over the winter. Its nice that most of the prep is getting out the flash light and seeing that yes, it all still looks new.

If conditions were right, I would do the alternator at the track if for no other reason than I can probably get it done faster than a tow truck would show up. Not for sure, but probably. Shortly after the alternator failed I replaced the starter on principal, so we should be able to check that off the list as well.

Keep the comments and advice coming.

[bigjae46]

If conditions were right, I would do the alternator at the track if for no other reason than I can probably get it done faster than a tow truck would show up. Not for sure, but probably. Shortly after the alternator failed I replaced the starter on principal, so we should be able to check that off the list as well.

For me, I can do a lot more at the track since my car is stripped down to the bare minimum. An alternator would take me about 20 minutes. A full stock OEM car would take at least an hour. I consider serviceability when making changes to the car. For example, replacing the mechanical fan with an easier to remove electric fan is almost a no brainer for a track car. That unlocks the ability to do a lot of things.

A roll cage makes doing any interior work painful. Even a bolt in 4pt makes replacing the fuel pump a chore.

[foolio]

A roll cage makes doing any interior work painful. Even a bolt in 4pt makes replacing the fuel pump a chore.

For real. With fixed Recaros and my 4-point sometimes it’s easier crawl in the back from the trunk 😂 I am certainly not as young as I used to be.

[foolio]

Thanks gentlemen.

foolio:
Steering rack replacement at the track? You are a wild man.

Indeed but it was the morning of the first day of a three day event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway F1 track in 2017. I had hit a wall two weeks prior and thought I had fixed everything but can’t really test my car at speed because it is no longer street legal/insured/registered etc. First session was having terrible shudders under hard braking. Found a lot of play in the rack that was undiscovered (not sure how I missed it) but luckily had a spare. Honestly, the hardest part was the alignment as I had never done a string alignment before. But, we got it!