I have heard different views from people on if / how you should prepare a car for a track day.

Suggestions have ranged from ensuring you get an oil change (some say before, some say after ), ensuring you change the brake fluid, even up to the extreme of people saying that road cars are not built to take the punishment with the extremes of cornering and braking so you damage the engine by forcing oil and coolant out.

Are there any mechanical experts out there who can give some "informed" advice???

 

I'll put my hand up and say never done a track day in my own wheels (hey, someone else's car is always faster ;-) ) but I'd certainly change oil & filter before AND after ... you're caning it for a full day, so give it some fresh blood to work with, and change it afterward for insurance, as you'll be giving it the equivalent of a couple of months worth of caning in one day. Brake fluid's a good one too, unless it's been done in the last six months or so.

Just a thought about coolant -- water alone is far better at cooling & dispersing heat than 50/50 antifreeze mix, wonder if anyone's used straight de-ionised water with something like Water Wetter just for a trackday?

 

Nick.
A lot of it comes down to how hard you push your car on track. If you change your oil afterwards, there's no need to change before the next one.
John Felstead did a nice little thingy on preparation, which offers some good advice. It doesn't all apply to Scoobs, but it's certainly helpful.
Try a search.

Stef.