"harsh" driving

[JackG]

Pepole, ever since I've had my stage 1 map and twintake I keep lightly touching throttle and letting off again to get the flutter sound  (i know it's sad)  I'm not nailing it too much but I am doing it more  and tonight I gave the car a Hard drive for the 1st time I've owned it (on a court park,big area, private , no cars) I feel bad for doing this! I don't like thrashing the car  I enjoyed driving hard into the corners but after I feel like somethings going to need replacing? I keep telling myself that it's made for it but deep down I don't want to thrash it all the time, just want to take it easy! Don't think i drive like a tit all the time because I'm pretty sensible to be fair but I'm doing it alot more often now and i don't know what to do 
My question is......how much abuse can a edition30 take? IE a track day....could it withstand a decent 4 hour track session? Not that I nail it for 4 hours but in the past when ever I drove a car hard summit would go wrong! (1992 G40)
How do you guys drive them?
Cheers!
Jack

[RedRobin]

.
Hi Jack 

First of all, "thrashing" it is revving the engine when cold. It's also using red zone revs a lot. Otherwise our 2.0T FSI engines are built to withstand 'sporting' use.

Regarding trackday use you wouldn't want to do an uninterrupted 4hr single session on the track! Probably the first thing which would let you down would be the brakes fading! Even in a modified road car (as opposed to custom built competitive race car) you would want to come in and let everything cool down. Another rather important factor would be the state of your mind as a driver in such a long uninterrupted track session, unless of course you are a professional racing driver.

Whatever you drive and wherever you drive it, the key is to have mechanical sympathy and drive accordingly in my opinion.

[JackG]

Cheers for the reply robin! What would you say would be the most amount of laps on your average track should be? IE castle comb? Just want an idea as to what the car can take without damaging turbo or summit

[tony_danza]

Mine did 10+ track days, 3 Ring trips and the daily grind. It was absolutely faultless and it's still going strong, likewise the car before it.

It has nothing to do with how you drive the car, it's about how you care for it. Your oil is your car's lifeblood, get it off Longlife for starters (mine never was on it) and if you're tracking it, change it even more often.

A cold engine being abused or crap oil will do more damage than any trackday.

[alexperkins]

Mine did 10+ track days, 3 Ring trips and the daily grind. It was absolutely faultless and it's still going strong, likewise the car before it.

It has nothing to do with how you drive the car, it's about how you care for it. Your oil is your car's lifeblood, get it off Longlife for starters (mine never was on it) and if you're tracking it, change it even more often.

A cold engine being abused or crap oil will do more damage than any trackday.

By getting it off longlife, you mean longlife servicing as opposed to longlife oil I am to assume?

[StuF]

How many sets of tyres/brakes did you go through after all that action? Ive never been on a track day - been scared of the cost! 

[tony_danza]

Both Alex.

I've never had a car on longlife servicing and I use premium oil.

In 25K and all that track time I used 2 sets of pads, the discs were only 1/2 worn (Alcon brakes) and got through 2 sets of road tyres and 1 set of track tyres.

In terms of stuff wearing out - Front was polybushed and WALK'd, no wear there, rear bushes were 100% fine on the MOT the day before it was sold. Nothing broke, nothing wore out other than it doing a set of droplinks, but that's a common problem and cheap to sort.

It's not as hard on cars as you'd think.

[stealthwolf]

Longlife servicing = bad.
Longlife III oil = good.
Time and distance servicing = good.
Not warming up/cooling down = bad

[stealthwolf]

I use premium oil.

Did you use something other than Longlife III VW504-approved 5W-30 oil? 

[tony_danza]

Erm, dunno - I have a man who does!! 

It's guaranteed to have been the best VW approved stuff, whatever the name of that is.

[MPS]

Sounds like Quantum Longlife III to me!

[Homer]

what damage does reving the engine when cold actually do? I have always known not to do this but no one has ever explained what the negative effects are.

Also- my mate was in the car the other day and says in cars with turbos you should wait about a minute once you have come to a standstill before turning the car off, is there any truth to this? Thanks

[Rob84]

what damage does reving the engine when cold actually do? I have always known not to do this but no one has ever explained what the negative effects are.

Also- my mate was in the car the other day and says in cars with turbos you should wait about a minute once you have come to a standstill before turning the car off, is there any truth to this? Thanks

When the engine is cold, the oil is thicker and therefore wont flow around the engine as freely as it would be when at normal operating temp which then has obvious implications regarding moving parts etc.

As for allowing the engine to idle before switching off, this is allow the turbo to cool down whilst maintaining a flow of oil around its bearings.  If the engine was switched off immediately after a spirited drive, the turbo will be VERY hot and the effect of stopping the oil flow to the turbo could result in the oil thickening and even solidifying around the bearings resulting in premature failure.  The best option is to drive steady for the last 2 or 3 miles before stopping as this will allow the turbo to cool better because of the air flow in and around the engine bay.

Hope this helps 
Rob

[RedRobin]

As for allowing the engine to idle before switching off, this is allow the turbo to cool down whilst maintaining a flow of oil around its bearings.  If the engine was switched off immediately after a spirited drive, the turbo will be VERY hot and the effect of stopping the oil flow to the turbo could result in the oil thickening and even solidifying around the bearings resulting in premature failure.  The best option is to drive steady for the last 2 or 3 miles before stopping as this will allow the turbo to cool better because of the air flow in and around the engine bay.

....I've heard said that the 2.0T FSI engine has automatic systems (don't ask me how they work!) which make it less important for the turbo cool down. Can anyone confirm this? However, on a track day I'll still do a cool down lap and on the road take the last few miles very easy in D-mode.

What happens though when you've been batting along fast for a while and then dive into a fuel station? That's a relatively sudden stop, heatwise.

[alexperkins]

The 2.0TFSIs do have an electric coolant pump which continues circulating coolant to cool the oil/turbo/engine etc for about 10 mins after switch off depending on engine temp