Looking for some advice - prepping Z for first track day
 

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!

:driving:

I also have a 2012 Sport, and I had to agree to my wife's terms that I could only put something on the car if she didn't notice ;-). Other than the exhaust, I have been trying very hard to be clandestine with my modifications. Since I am doing the One Lap of America next month, I definitely had to make some. There is a great thread on track day prep/practices that you should read...but here are mine in what *I* feel are the order of necessity...

1. Oil Cooler - Plain and simple you have to have it if you track your Z. The 2012 OEM "cooler" is more of an oil warmer...garbage for track days.

2. Brake Fluid/Clutch fluid - DOT 4. Motul RBF600. Just do it.

3. Brake Pads - The OEM pads will...work? But they will fade fast. Carbotech XP8's all around, and they can be changed at about 5 minutes a wheel.

4. Alignment - You autocross so yours should be good. Recommend 0 toe front, and 1/16 in per side rear. About -1.5 to -1.7 camber in the rear also.

Other things you can do such as front swaybar, brake cooling, and Road Race pump...but you don't absolutely NEED those. Your car will like you for the first two, and you will fuel starve under..say...3/4 a tank without the road race pump.

Tracy Ramsey

You really don't need to do anything you first track event except a fresh brake fluid change. You need to top off your gas tank at least every two sessions. It wont be until your second or third event that you get fast enough to start running into cooling issues and you can make changes as needed. You will then need to start topping off your gas after every session.
IMO skip the rotors and SS lines. Good pads, like the Carbotech XP10f/XP8r and Motul RBF600 are all you need. Just swap in the pads when you go to the track and go back to stock when finished.
You will want to put in good diff fluid and tranny fluid as well.
You don't need a huge oil cooler until you get more advanced. A 19-row would work well enough for a novice-intermediate level driver.

Ah yes, the fuel starvation issue... I thought that really only got to be a problem at under 1/4 tank? So you're saying I should pretty much make sure to keep it topped off the whole day to avoid that problem? For AutoX I make sure it stays somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 tank and haven't had any issues... But again, cone killing and track driving are totally different so I defer to you guys who have actually been on track with these cars.

Fuel starvation really depends on the track configuration. Do you have any long right hand corners? If so you probably don't want any less that 3 dots from full.

This is the thread you want

http://www.the370z.com/track-autocro...must-read.html

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.

This is the configuration I'll be running at Buttonwillow. I've run this track config probably 10 times before (years ago) which is why I chose it as my first foray into driving the Z on a road course. Riverside is definitely a long, sweeping right hander. The sweeper (turn 10) will probably be a concern too for this problem. Looks like I'll be bringing a couple 5 gallon jugs of fuel just to make sure I don't end up ruining my day with this weird issue.

http://projectimport.com/wp-content/...uration-13.jpg

If you have a stick. Wrap your clutch line down by the tranny with insulation. This will help with some CSC problems that pop up. Yellowstuff pads, you can DD with them too. When you get more speed. Then you can go to a different pad then.

^ Forgot about the clutch to the floor issue. Yes insulate the clutch line and replace with RPF600 in there as well.

You don't NEED anything and yaaaa OEM oil stabilizer with suffice if u take breaks between. 34 is overkill unless ur Turboed/SC Go with 25 row ($50 more than 19) from Stillen. Setrab upgrade is overkill too. Make sure u do the oem oil stabilizer delete other wise it'll cancel out ur new cooler. Everything else will work fine but if ur gonna do track alllllll the time then ya upgrade brakes ( posi quiet, min dust and noise n great for DD) SS premium Z1 lines, and mogul 600 oil. I also run redline motor oil and a purolator filter. Some Stillen sways might be an easy upgrade but that's up to u. Don't worry bout tires unless u NEED them. Run what u brought.


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I'm NA. I have a 34 row Z1 oil cooler. When I first started doing trackdays. It was more then enough. Now I need more. The stock pads wasn't up to doing trackdays with me. My 2nd trackday. I had different pads because the stock pads couldn't cut it. ;)


OP. As you do more trackdays and get faster. You will see on what you need. Change things as needed.

Completely not true. I run the same track he is going to and on a hot day you will not finish a session w/o aftermarket cooling once your times are in that range.

That being said, you probably won't be putting in times fast enough to warrant a full 34 row your first few track days.

I run the OEM loop, the CSF triple pass, and full 34 row. It has yet to see 260 since, but I have not been in 100+ degree heat yet with it so we will see. Lot of guys out here run two 34 row coolers with fans just to maintain temps. AE Performance at one point mfgr an 88 row oil cooler, and it is completely not out of the question for SoCal/Vegas track conditions.

My honest opinion is that the CSF triple pass is really the answer and the only reason I am able to get away with a single 34 row. The CSF triple pass is a beast.

ButtonWillow 13 is unfortunately one of the worst fuel starve tracks you will encounter. There are at least two spot that will starve you out-cotton corners and the buttonhook. Bring your own gas if you can, but they have pumps at the track as well.

@ OP Not sure which group you are running with but welcome to come run it with us sometime, if you PM me your facebook info I will add you to:

Corner 3 Nissan Challenge

2 oil coolers?!? What year Z u have?!? If ur running the stock oil stabilizer then that's your problem take that thing off once u buy an after market oil cooler other wise it's canceling out.


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Not with the CSF it's not. But I am the only one I know of running that setup, all I can say is so far it works wonderfully. I think the CSF actually keeps the temps low enough to actually allow that loop to be efficient.

My friend Martin 82 deleted his, and he has to run 2 24/34? coolers with fans to achieve the same results.

WO the CSF I would agree with you, remove that loop, but so far I have not needed to and think there might actually be some benefit to leaving it in fi you can get your engine temps low enough,which so far seems to be the case.

It's painful that you have to spend in the neighborhood of $2k to get it to this point either way though lol.

OP:

There's a few things that need to clarified be here:

1. Running a stock Z in spring time when ambient temps peak in the mid 60-70's is a WHOLE lot different than running a stock Z in summer when temps peak in the 90's (and in my Texas case 100's).
2. Fuel starvation will be any issue. Period. Keep the Z above 3/4 of a tank.

SO! If we consider you're going to get hooked on road racing and ditch the cones, here are my BASE recommendations for a street car that gets tracked every other three months or so, that you don't want to blow up:
1. Brake fluid/Clutch fluid - all new, Motul 660
2. Oil Cooler - 32 Row, run a good quality synthetic oil (personally I run 2-25 row coolers in series)
3. High Temp fluid in the rear diff
4. Redline fluid in the transmission
5. Your flavor of upgraded pad, one step lower than a race pad - I run the XP8/10 combo and love it. Squeeks like crazy on the street
6. I personally used exhaust wrap around the drivers side exhaust header AND wrapped the clutch line - never had one single issue with the new fluid
7. G Force Belly band

The extras:
1. SS brake lines when you're doing the fluid
2. Brake duct coolers (I made my own for about $50)
3. Upgraded radiator
4. Water wetter
5. Tires

Brake pads - just do the defacto standard: Carbotech XP10s up front, 8s in the rear.

Don't screw with the rotors, and if you do, don't screw with drilled ones. Not needed.

Motul 600 will be fine for brake fluid, or AP racing's derivative.

Swap your clutch fluid while you're at it. I boiled that a couple times.

Stainless lines aren't needed either. But if you're worried about brand new lines stretching/bursting from age, go for it I guess.

Definitely get an oil cooler. 25R minimum. Stock one blows.

That's all you need to not die. Ignore anyone saying you don't need to do pads and fluid, unless you want to potentially die, or you have no intention of actually going fast and pushing limits.

I'm running the stock stabilizer also. I need it actually to warm the engine oil initially. With the 2 coolers, in the winter time my oil wont heat, so the engine coolant warms the oil earlier.

I'll admit, I prefer it not be there though..It makes getting the oil filter off a real PITA

Attachment 101600

My completed setup prior to crash bar reinstall. Fans come on at 180 degrees.

Well that y. How the heck do the coolers get any fresh cool air behind the bumper?


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Hey Robert, been looking for a how to/parts list for DIY brake ducts. You have any info?

Wow thank you guys for all of the input and advice.. Definitely lots of good information here! I know that I'll get re-addicted to road racing pretty much immediately so it'll be good to not kill myself or my car.

The two SPAL heavy duty fans mounted to them. I haven't seen oil temps over 200.

I do! However, I have a Nismo, so my duct work ends at the core support and grabs any fresh air contained in the shrouding around the radiator. You can see the two black circle inlets on either side of my core support in my pic. Your sport model has the fangs. Stillen sells the fang inserts so you can grab front bumper air.

I don't have the install pics on my phone, but when I get time I'll post them up. And no, I didn't just river a gutter outlet onto the backing plate. I keep seeing that DIY thread and I think it stinks.

Thanks man, I might be switching to 2015 nismo front, still trying to figure out fitment and cost to "make it fit" etc. So any info appreciated.

What is this? Google brings up a bunch of gun holsters which I am assuming is not an essential at most trackdays.

Track advice
 

I posted a few months ago after my last track time at COTA and listed at least things that needed changing. Since then, have made some big changes and will drive the car next weekend at TWS. I have a 2013 NISMO. Upgraded to a South Bend Stage 2 clutch with stainless steel CSC (have had two clutch pedal sticking to the floor incidents), lightweight flywheel, added CFS triple flow radiator , 33 row setrab oil cooler (again, several 260 deg episodes on track,
Went with Carbotechs xp10s/xp8s, Castrol SRF (probably overkill here), had a 4 point bar installed, Safecraft 6 point harnesses, Sparco Evo II seats. I had the bar seats, harnesses, pads, radiator and oil cooler all done by Winding Road Racing in Austin. I highly recommend Juliann and Alex.....they were incredible.

They were working on 2 other 350s. Hope to see those cars at TWS. Will let everyone know how the upgrades work out. Still know to keep the tank full. Experienced fuel starvation there.

You're all set just about. All you need now is phunk's RRP kit. :tup:

Depends on the track really.:bowrofl:

You know i've already made a thread for this right??

http://www.the370z.com/track-autocro...must-read.html

I rode in a supercharged Z at sebring last week and fuel starvation was horrible!!. Also temps were around 245-250 with a 24 row oil cooler. It was only in the low 80's and I believe they stayed around 245-250 because the driver couldn't really push the car.