Dangers of Tracking a Stock TDI?

[garciapiano]

I'd like to take my TDI to the track. Long story short, my actual track car needs a new engine so I am considering taking the Mk3 out for a spin.

I can't seem to find anyone who has tracked these TDIs in more or less stock form and what the issues are with heat, etc. It will get a good flogging on a hot track in California July (90+ deg F).

My main concerns are around EGTs and oil temps as it is a more or less stock car. It has upgraded injectors and a chip tune, but is otherwise stock engine-wise. So it doesn't have a big intercooler or oil cooler, just the stock units. For a 20-30 minute track session do I run the risk of melting the turbo? Has anyone seen big EGTs and overly high oil temps. I don't have any gauges and will probably only be doing this once with this car, so I'm not particularly interested in installing gauges for a single event.

Braking-wise, I would definitely swap over to some track-safe brake pads... That's not really a concern. But some recommendations pad-wise would help me out.

 

[oilhammer]

You can beat on it all day long, it won't matter. And the dude in a 100% stock first gen Miata with rusted rockers, holes in the seats, a Bananarama cassette permanently jammed in the tape deck, and mismatched wheels with a half worn set of Dean Quasars will still be having far more fun.

 

[garciapiano]

That Miata dude is literally me. 100% confirmed it’ll be way less fun. Maybe minus the Bananarama.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I tracked my MK3 a few times, and my MKIVs many, many times. The MK3 had only a tune, everything else stock, except for a rear bar and a rear disc brake swap. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't fast. With firmer shocks (I had Koni Reds in it) and better tires it would have been vastly improved.

I ran my more heavily modified Wagon many, many times, and it never missed a beat. It wasn't uncommon for it to not even get hot enough to run the fans in a 20 min session, and that was with PP520s, an 11mm pump, and a 6,000 RPM tune. I do recall after one long session at Mt. Tremblant the coolant temp got up to 240, and the EGT gauge showed 800F even after idling into the pits. That was a hot day, track temps were over 100F. But still, no coolant loss or any other issues.

Here's IBW track side at Calabogie, in Ontario, Canada.

 

[garciapiano]

I tracked my MK3 a few times, and my MKIVs many, many times. The MK3 had only a tune, everything else stock, except for a rear bar and a rear disc brake swap. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't fast. With firmer shocks (I had Koni Reds in it) and better tires it would have been vastly improved.

I ran my more heavily modified Wagon many, many times, and it never missed a beat. It wasn't uncommon for it to not even get hot enough to run the fans in a 20 min session, and that was with PP520s, an 11mm pump, and a 6,000 RPM tune. I do recall after one long session at Mt. Tremblant the coolant temp got up to 240, and the EGT gauge showed 800F even after idling into the pits. That was a hot day, track temps were over 100F. But still, no coolant loss or any other issues.

What pads did you run?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

It's really hard to find track pads for stock brakes. I ran some Porterfield race pads on my Golf for a while, and all I could find for the Wagon (and the MK3, I believe) were EBC Yellowstuff pads. They worked OK, although I'm not that hard on brakes.

 

[Mongler98]

Dont waste time with track. Too costly. Go autocross or cross track at most. Track isnt really a stock cars area. Imo high quality soft track tires and some good pads with new rotors if your are old and a rear beam stiffening mod and your cooking for some good lap times.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I think the OP knows he wants to drive on a road course. And although it's expensive, it's a lot of fun. The few autocrosses I've done the ratio of seat time to waiting time is terrible.

 

[garciapiano]

I’ve been to the track a few times, but I usually drive my Miata at the track. That car is unexpectedly down so I just wanna use the Jetta for this one-off event. It is a HPDE on a road course so stock brake pads are going to be borderline sketchy. But I won’t be swapping anything beyond maybe pads. Basically I just wanted to make sure the car wouldn’t melt its turbo during a normal session.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Stock pads will fade out to nothing pretty quickly, I can tell you that from experience. Otherwise it'll be fun. I bought an NA Miata for track days a few years ago, but I liked driving my modified TDI more.

 

[LittleHercurock]

I tracked my MK3 a few times, and my MKIVs many, many times. The MK3 had only a tune, everything else stock, except for a rear bar and a rear disc brake swap. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't fast. With firmer shocks (I had Koni Reds in it) and better tires it would have been vastly improved.

I ran my more heavily modified Wagon many, many times, and it never missed a beat. It wasn't uncommon for it to not even get hot enough to run the fans in a 20 min session, and that was with PP520s, an 11mm pump, and a 6,000 RPM tune. I do recall after one long session at Mt. Tremblant the coolant temp got up to 240, and the EGT gauge showed 800F even after idling into the pits. That was a hot day, track temps were over 100F. But still, no coolant loss or any other issues.

Here's IBW track side at Calabogie, in Ontario, Canada.

That's a beautiful wagon IBW

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

That's a beautiful wagon IBW

Thanks. I still have those wheels and tires. The 16" Motegis weigh 12 lbs, with the Hoosiers they totaled 32 lbs. Made a huge difference. Hoosier treadwear rating was 75, I believe. They lasted about 12 hours on the track. Not cheap, but worth it.