Trackday Micra

iwantcheese5

iwantcheese5

So I've been wanting to start doing trackdays but I can't justify risking the GT86 and insurance for trackdays is ruddy expensive, I spent the last month trying to find something suitable to use instead. I had wanted something like a Primera GT or Almera GTi but couldn't find one on budget (sub £500...) so I decided I'd plump for a Micra and challenge myself to learn how to REALLY drive a car to it's limits.

I managed to get a 1998 1.3l with 100,000 on the clock for £425 at the weekend with 11 months MOT (important as I don't want to faff around with Cats etc.) and so far I'm suitably impressed. I was never expecting it to be fast but it's quick enough to do what I'm after, my main concern at the moment is the massive amount of wobbly-ness from the suspension removing all confidence when chucking it into a corner...

All that's been done so car is to complete the initial strip out of the car:


IMG_4457 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr


IMG_4456 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

Next step is to go crazy with a heat gun on all the NVH material inside the car then starts the upgrading!
 
my suggestion of sequential upgrades are
  • whiteline front/rear swaybars - to reduce body roll & improve overall handling characteristic from understeer to neutral/oversteer by sacrificing rear grip
  • upgrade spring/dampers to either fixed lowering kit or fully adjustable coilovers - to further reduce bodyroll, dive & pitching and fine tune the handling behaviour
  • upgrade to stickier low profile tyres - to improve traction, cornering grip & feedback response = utilise more potential from machine & driver = faster
 
pollyp said:
my suggestion of sequential upgrades are
  • whiteline front/rear swaybars - to reduce body roll & improve overall handling characteristic from understeer to neutral/oversteer by sacrificing rear grip
  • upgrade spring/dampers to either fixed lowering kit or fully adjustable coilovers - to further reduce bodyroll, dive & pitching and fine tune the handling behaviour
  • upgrade to stickier low profile tyres - to improve traction, cornering grip & feedback response = utilise more potential from machine & driver = faster
Click to expand...

I was planning to do the wheels & tyres first as they're easy and normally make a major difference.

Is there a suspension set-up you would recommend? At the moment I'm trying to work out what I can do for very little money to improve the car ready for it's first trackday at the end of September.
 
There arent really any coilovers for the micra that are sub £500.... Matt Humphries do 80mm- springs that should stiffen things up though :) Would need an adjustable panhard rod though, ask Noddie for one :)

Edit: However you can modify corsa/polo/matiz shocks and coilovers to fit the micra
 
Huggy444 said:
There arent really any coilovers for the micra that are sub £500.... Matt Humphries do 80mm- springs that should stiffen things up though :) Would need an adjustable panhard rod though, ask Noddie for one :)

Edit: However you can modify corsa/polo/matiz shocks and coilovers to fit the micra
Click to expand...


Is 80mm a good drop on these? I'm not fussed about looks I'm just after a reduction in body movement, I'm guessing that 80mm will kill the OEM shocks or can they handle it for a while?
 
Can't really answer that, never used either of those springs as I use coilovers. Other people have used those springs before so hopefully they'll answer :)
 
You'll need accompanying shocks with the 80mm springs.
The springs themselves are £200+ iirc.
Polo coilovers which are easily modified to fit go £150/160 and are your best option in both price and versatility
 
80mm Drop is easy achievable on the front, my rears were knackered so can't give a fair comment on them. Easily stiff enough, only movement I have is in the tyre side wall unless I hit a fairly harsh bump
Edit: Referring to Polo coilovers
 
You can only get 80mm rears and the quality is shocking, a few of use that have had them found after a while they'd snap.

I had mine for just over 6 months before they snapped and that was normal road use
 
h701micra said:
You'll need accompanying shocks with the 80mm springs.
The springs themselves are £200+ iirc.
Polo coilovers which are easily modified to fit go £150/160 and are your best option in both price and versatility
Click to expand...


Do the front and rears both go on as it looks like the rear suspension on the Micra isn't spring over damper? The fronts just need the bottom grinding back a bit right?
 
Yea the holes on the fronts need grinding open a little.
As for the rears they do go on somehow but I can't remember how people do it.
It's been covered a fair few times on here so should be a guide or 2 about
 
Search for by blog Joan the Super S for detailed modifications needed to rears, as for fronts you can you drill the bottom hub bolt hole 10mm higher, use a 20mm repair/penny washer to make a perch for stock micra bearing, drill top mount out to 14mm then use a stack of washers to make sure the top nut doesn't run out of thread on the shaft. The stock micra bearings are a bit weedy so look at either Matt Humphries upgraded ones or you can do it differently and use golf/polo bearings like some others, but you'll have to ask them (Joe etc) about their setup...
 
I had a read through the process and it seems like it's not an exact art getting them to fit and work well? So I'm not sure it's the route I want to take, unless there's a modified set going cheap. I'd be happy just on some 30-40mm lowering springs just to take the edge off the body movement.

Photos as requested:

Micra, now sporting a BecauseRacecar sticker

IMG_4468 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

GT86, really needs a wash...

IMG_4467 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

Photo of them both (I was going to take a nicer one but the tyre man turned up...)

IMG_4471 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr
 
40mm drop should be fine, yes the car has a shed load of bodyroll as standard....but, it doesn't mean that you can't learn how to drive a car on the edge, even if you do get seasick ;)
For tyres/wheels 13" and 15" tend to be the popular choice due to what tyres can be bought :)

You could also do some sprints in the micra as well as trackdays if you wanted :)
 
Just thought I should post some photos of the track day I did last September in the Micra:

Quite a lot of body roll...

IMG_4297 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

Just a little bit of arch gap

IMG_4253 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

Cornering hard was challenging with the standard seats, hanging onto the steering wheel for dear life

IMG_3950 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

Obviously leaving the R.S. Megane for dead up the Mountain

IMG_3880 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

And a Radical at the end of the back straight...

IMG_2721 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

All in all it was a good laugh, the Micra could handle about 6 hard laps at a time before something would start steaming/smoking and I needed to pit in (I was worn out after 6 laps as well, it's hard work trying to get any speed out of it...). At the end of the day the car was feeling pretty worn out and has developed a rattle/grating noise from the driver's side of the engine at ~760rpm, ~1550rpm etc. so something isn't happy but no idea what... Anyone got some bright ideas as to what it might be?
 
iwantcheese5 said:
Just thought I should post some photos of the track day I did last September in the Micra:

Quite a lot of body roll...

IMG_4297 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

Just a little bit of arch gap

IMG_4253 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

Cornering hard was challenging with the standard seats, hanging onto the steering wheel for dear life

IMG_3950 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

Obviously leaving the R.S. Megane for dead up the Mountain

IMG_3880 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

And a Radical at the end of the back straight...

IMG_2721 by FlamingBisonPhotography, on Flickr

All in all it was a good laugh, the Micra could handle about 6 hard laps at a time before something would start steaming/smoking and I needed to pit in (I was worn out after 6 laps as well, it's hard work trying to get any speed out of it...). At the end of the day the car was feeling pretty worn out and has developed a rattle/grating noise from the driver's side of the engine at ~760rpm, ~1550rpm etc. so something isn't happy but no idea what... Anyone got some bright ideas as to what it might be?
Click to expand...

Loose bolts? Have a look round and just do up what bolts you see.

Looks really nice though :D

Edit: maybe a wheel arch lining vibrating at a certain RPM or something
 
those are some awsome photos of the micra working hard :)
would love to see some photos of mine taken from the apex on me next trackday next week to see what my suspensions doing :cool:

if the rattle is rpm dependant even when stationary, ask someone to hold the rev till it rattles and inspect where its coming from. check all the panels and carefully check for any loose bolts especially on the engine.
 
The MSV photographer was pretty good, all the photos I saw of the day were decent.

I've had someone hold it at the bad rpm and tried listening to the F.E.A.D. and valvetrain with a stethoscope, but I couldn't find any obvious sources of the noise. I was wondering if there are any known issues it could be?
 
Enuo said:
Same thing you can achieve with shorter shocks.
Click to expand...
But their stroke and valving will be setup to work with each other
Limiting a longer shock takes away from its stroke therefore limiting high speed capability (high speed in terms of shock movement not road speed)

Just fit shorter shocks :p
Corsa ones?
 
Question for the Micra gurus; is there anywhere you can get a Maxi bodykit from, even just a replica? It's something I'd love to fit in the long run as it looks amazing and the added track/room for wider tyres would be great.
 
iwantcheese5 said:
Question for the Micra gurus; is there anywhere you can get a Maxi bodykit from, even just a replica? It's something I'd love to fit in the long run as it looks amazing and the added track/room for wider tyres would be great.
Click to expand...
Not too sure on your original question
Alternatives being the bolt on jdm arches which appear to be cheap, look ok and give you that extra space :)
 
Can anyone help me an electrical issue? Not sure how or why but my indicator stalk is on the fritz (only 1 headlight turning on, indicators not always working etc.), I think I've replaced it with a working one now but my indicators aren't working. I would check the fuse but in my over zealous stripping of the car I seem to have mislayed the cover from the driver's foot well so I don't know which one to check...can anyone help? Has anyone else had issues with their indicator stalk?
 
My headlights sometimes come on only one, PITA its loose connectors, pop bonnet and just push it in and they come on so try that first haha
 
Well I gave them a firm push and no dice so I'm still in dark on this one. Anyone got a photo of the fuse layout diagram? I can't find any that match up online...
 

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