Looking for some advice - prepping Z for first track day

GSS138 · 03-23-2015, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ufoz8mycow

Hello everyone,

I am in the midst of preparing my 2012 370Z Sport Pkg for my first open track day with it next month (planning to run at Buttonwillow Raceway configuration #13). I have been running AutoX every month this season, but as we all know circuit racing and parking lot runs are two totally different animals.

The car is pretty much bone stock with the exception of short ram intakes and Bridgestone S-04 tires (245/285).

My question for all you guys that have gone road racing in your Zs is what are the must have parts that I will need to make sure I don't kill myself or my car on the track day? I daily drive this thing as well, so it needs to stay streetable'ish.

I know that '12+ cars come with an OEM oil cooler of sorts - is that going to be enough or am I going to want to upgrade that to something aftermarket? The general consensus from what I've read on the forum is that cooling is the main issue these cars have when running track days (even yesterday on an 80 degree day of autoX my temps were creeping past 220F). I've also heard that anything less than a 34 row oil cooler is a waste of time/money... Anybody care to chime in on this? Should I upgrade to a colder thermostat as well? What about something like the Motul MoCool radiator fluid additive (claims to lower temps by 15-30 degrees) - is this something worth looking into or using?

In terms of braking I am planning on upgrading to drilled/slotted rotors, SS brake lines and RBF600 brake fluid already (Z1 upgrade package). Who can recommend the ideal set of brake pads that can deal with track duty as well as daily driving (if there is such a thing)? I've run Hawk HPS pads on other cars in the past and liked those. I will be running the aforementioned Bridgestone S-04s on track unless I get my damn tax return money back in time to buy a set of dedicated track wheels and stickier tires.

Is there anything else that is an absolute must-have before hitting the track in this car?

Thanks for any input!

2012 Sport owner as well, track twice a month usually. Here's my 2 cents:

34 row oil cooler is not even enough, but you will be fine for a few days wo it. Just watch your temps. If you are going to keep tracking regularly, you will need a 34 row cooler and a real racing radiator. I have the CSF triple pass and a 34 row Z1, and cooling is no longer a problem. Lots of guys have said that a 34 row alone doesn't cut it.

I would steer you away from hawk pads and pointed you either at Project mu club racers, Endless MX-72's, or really anything besides hawk. I have never used them but the general consensus I hear about them is they chew through rotors pretty bad.

Use a good synthetic oil. Change it frequently.

The MoCool thing works, but be careful with the water you use, use only RO/DI water. We just had a discussion in some other thread on this topic. Basically, people use tap water and MoCool/water wetter and then complain when their radiator corrodes. You have to use deionized purified water(just like itsays on the bottle) -anything else and you risk doing somoe serious damage to your engine insides.

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