In preparation for Cadwell next week I gave the car a service today. Up on axle stands and undertrays removed to gain access.
As it`s a dry sump, you need to drain the oil reservoir, chambers in the scavenge pump which is a bit more involved than a simple drain plug. I drained the oil into a 10 litre container then ran it through a 150micron filter. To say I was relived to find no metal fragments in the oil would be an understatement 
Having a drain point on the oil cooler makes it so much easier ! On the Golf I had to disconnect the pipes to drain the cooler, but this is way easier. I used the opportunity to measure the cooler in teh hope of being able to get a custom core made to improve oil cooling.
I used Motul 8100 engine oil, 300V is more suited to track use but as I`ll be driving it on the road quite a lot, the 8100 is much more suitable.
After flushing the brake fluid with some fresh RBF-700. The current brakes on the R8 are still stock and I`m well aware they aren’t up to the job of sustained track abuse. I will be upgrading the fronts to larger discs and AP calipers but for now, I want to see what it’s like as a standard car however uprated fluid obviously a benefit.
After flushing I ran through the ABS test / bleed procedure on VCDS, then cleared the service indicator. I’ve cleared all ECU error codes and will check again after Cadwell to see if anything is amiss, but there was nothing of concern highlighted before resetting.
Removing the drivers side coilpacks and plugs is easy, the passenger side is a bit more of a challenge.
My final check was a compression test. I just wanted to know that the engine was healthy and this is a great way to see if everything is OK. The compression range is between 11.5Bar (~165 psi) and 12Bar (~170 psi) which is excellent. Finding a low pressure cyclinder would have been a big issue so this was the last big weight off my mind.
Last job was to replace the expansion tank. This is a known weakpoint on the car and they can fail along the seam with little warning. Whilst the current one wasn`t leaking, it makes sense to replace it, I`ll keep the old one in my spares package just incase.
New tyres were supposed to arrive yesterday from Camskill, a set of PS4S for the road and wet trackdays and Cup2`s for the dry. With it being bank holiday weekend, that means they most likely won’t be here before I load it up now. Fortunately the tyres on the car have a fair bit of tread, but they are 4 years old so past their best, especially in the wet.
