My First Red Flag

[stiglet]

Arrived at Bedford for a trackday yesterday. Changed to track wheels. Went for a quick drive around the pits. Checked wheel bolts, all good. Went out for a 5 minute session, came back in, checked bolts again. All good.


You can see where this is going...


Went out again for about 10 minutes. There were a few other modifications I've done to the Audi since the last trackday so wanted to make sure all was good. Checked all over, including bolts, all good.

Went out again. Felt a wobble, slowed down, wheel came off My first ever red flag, incredibly humiliating when you consider there are a pit stop full of people who are now waiting because of your f*ck-up

Still, could've been worse. Only cosmetic damge and was able to go back out. Suffice to say I am now paranoid about wheel bolts and only went out for 5 mins at a time. Will be investing in new bolts and a new set of wheels methinks...

Big thanks to RE2500 et al for help and spare bolts


Oh, and Bedford is awesome and also bloody glad I went with the Pagids and decent ducting. I've now completely eliminated fade, so will deffo be sticking with the G60s for now

[Rusty]

I nearly had a wheel fall off at the 'ring heading out of Bruenchen. Not fun Glad it's all OK tho. I identified that longer bolts would have helped (I had different length bolts and didn't realise it) so now have 40mm bolts instead of 35mm. The other thing is to minimise the amount of grease on the bolts and try to encourace some alloy to steel corrosion, seems to keep others' wheels on 120Nm is your friend

[Kieron20V]

Ouchy.

Interesting to hear about the brake ducting having a big effect, thats good news. You got any pics of the setup you have? You can PM me if you dont want to clog this thread up.

I take it from the cosmetic damage only you weren't at massive speed, could have been alot worse.

Kieron.

[stiglet]

Yep, just need a new wing. It could've been much worse! I'll try and remember to get some pics done and send you a PM.

[s2driveruk]

wow, sounds like you were lucky there Alex....glad you did manage to have a good session in the end As Officer Casey says, it was a distinctly brown trouser moment when that wheel came loose, we wondered what the hell had gone wrong!!!

[Rusty]

It went something like:-

BBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.... .................. Brrrr brrrr brrrr brrr brr brr br br br br ... oh shyte.

Oh dear me! What could be wrong with my automobile, it's usually so reliable and dependable...

[Acidburn]

Which side wheel was it alex? do you mind what colour the wing is as I might be able to help out?

[stiglet]

Passenger side, would prefer to have the right colour just to save the hassle of respraying.

I know the feeling Andy! I've been in the car a few times as a passenger when bolts come loose. Luckilly I knew it was coming so slowed right down. Tried to make it back to the pits to avoid track closure but no such luck!

[s2_bo]

Do you have spacers on the car? A forum member had a wheel fall of at the last ring trip this year. cost him 400Euro all in to get recovered etc..

[Rusty]

Spacers and plastic spigot rings aren't a great plan on track, fine on the road but the temperature and load on track seems to test the car more...

[stiglet]

Using spigot rings, but have been for a year now so no idea why they would fail now. Perhaps one did fail? never found it! Still, spigot rings are better than no spigot rings!

No spacers.

[istoo]

curious to see how you ducted for the G60's but good to hear they are coping, as spirited driving makes them overheats somewhat!
I was thinking of coming in below the fogs and working a way around. i have never got under nor done anything remotely like this but if it works for you woudl love to see how you went about it.

ps which pagid pads did you go for?

[stiglet]

Not a brilliant setup, needs perfecting. It's not doing much cooling to the calipers as it's aimed at the disc more than anything else but it does seem to work. I just ran it straight back from the bumper then in along the wishbone, avoiding the ARB and CV joint as best I could. There's not a lot of space under there! Using 63mm hose which is possibly overkill so could use smaller.

Went for the RS19's, which they've just made special order only now

They still make the Blues though, or the RS4-2's, which are meant to be just as good only slightly lower max temp range. They have all the coefficient/temp curves on the UK dealer web site.