My second Track Day and a Nice Surprise

[SeattleLion]

Friday was my first lapping day after HPDE school. I rode with an instructor in the beginning and then got to solo. Traffic was light at Pacific Raceways. There were a few rain showers so the track started dry, got wet, then dry again. Everyone really slowed down on the wet.

My 24 row oil cooler was perfect! The oil temp stayed solid at 180 (where the theromostatic sandwich plate is set). I had the stock Potenzas on and they really stuck.

I was still a little nervous about pushing too much. My instructor is Proformance's lead. He took over and drove a hot lap. It was way faster than me, but not outrageous because the track was wet at the time. At the end of the lap, his comment was "This car is deep." He commented that he couldn't get the tires to make a sound.

My confidence grew but I am still a bit concerned about managing traffic. So I requested an instructor for my next track day (7/19) for the first session or two.

I got a call this morning from Don Kitch Jr. who owns the school. I had picked a bad date so he changed it. We also had a nice chat. He told me that the instructor thought I had a really serious car. That is some compliment considering that my Z was the cheapest car on the track. There were 20 cars. 15 were Porsches, including a couple of 911 S turbos. There was even a Porsche SUV.

On the last session of the day we got the red flag and had to immediately exit the track. The Porsche SUV turned too late on turn 4 and went off the road. The driver tried to get back on and in the process did very serious damage to the car. It was just starting to rain, so nobody minded ending early and the driver of the SUV was fine.

I have never heard the staff at Proformance comment on a car. I would never have expected anything about the Z since it is at the very lowest end of the sports cars that track sees.

As for my reaction, first the brakes (stock) held perfectly with no fade. I did go into turn 2 at 105 mph and that turn requires very hard braking down to about 40. Turns 3A and 3B are tight, linked hairpins and are famous for causing brake fade. Not a trace of it when I drove it or when the coach drove it. We did hit a little puddle coming out of 3B and did a little skid that was easily recovered.

One of the guys was driving a tuned Audi sedan (not sure which model) but he said he new chip added 40hp. Going into turn 2 his brakes failed, went to the floor with no grip. He hit the grass runoff and he and the car were fine. A few minutes later the brakes came back. Must have boiled the stock fluid. I told him that our cars can have that problem and that I put stainless brake lines and AP racing fluid in. He is going to do the same.

Even as a beginner, I could see that the Z holds its own on the turns. I was following Porsches through 3A and 3B and could keep right up with them. The straight is a different story. I admit I wasn't ready to floor it starting at the exit of turn 9, but even flooring it at turn 10 I maxed out at 105 before the turn 2 braking area. I guess I could get to 115 maybe 120 if I started earlier. The higher priced cars clearly could outrun me (the new 911's) on the straight, but I could take the turns at least as fast as them.

A very exciting day. I started out feeling like I had a bicycle at a motorcycle race. I was surrounded by $100,000 plus Porsches. In the end I learned that there was nothing to feel inferior about. The icing on the cake for me was that Don told me this morning that I will definitely make it as a driver. He said he doesn't say that to everyone.

Next month I will learn about driving on a crowded course.

[Mike]

Great read! You are officially hooked now.

I'm at a Porsche club event this weekend and everyone keeps commenting on how fast my car is. In my run group, I'm able to hang with GT3's. I probably won't be able to in the group I was just bumped up to, but it's definitely a capable car.

[SPOHN]

Sounds like a great day. Props.

[Nikon FM]

Sounds like great time! People do respect the 370Z at the track. It's pretty amazing that the Porsche owners, new, used or whatever come up and compliment the car.

3B is tough to climb out of to keep up with the 911s. I finally turned my VDC off and discovered a whole lot of goodness (especially on 3b) but had to pay a bit more attention when I did. After I turned the VDC off I actually drifted 9 but kept it smooth for a nice line under the cone at the stands. I did this during a lapping day with no one around so I was testing some limits. I'm not sure if that was faster or slower but it was kind of fun.

After 9 if you go inside to the left of the painted 7 and then target under the cone by the stands (ahead to the right) your line will allow the car to hook up fairly quick. I go into 9 in forth gear and hit redline before 10 and then go into 5th to maximize speed past the finish tower. I promise the car can do much better than 120 on the straight although you will need good brakes to manage entry into 2 smoothly.

The next Porsche HPDE is 7/13 with a lapping session afterwards till dusk for solo drivers. I'm in for the whole day and evening so hopefully I can last that long.

Are you allowed to time your laps under the Proformance school days?

[ZCarMan]

Nice write up! You're on your way now!

[cossie1600]

technically no, but you can always use a camcorder or datalogger

[SeattleLion]

Originally Posted by Nikon FM

The next Porsche HPDE is 7/13 with a lapping session afterwards till dusk for solo drivers. I'm in for the whole day and evening so hopefully I can last that long.

Are you allowed to time your laps under the Proformance school days?

I'm going out on 7/19 with proformance. Timing is not allowed. I would need a datalogger to do that.

[Nikon FM]

During a "private" lapping day everyone paid up to cover insurance but under the coverage we were able to time and pass anywhere on the track with a point by. I didn't know we were able to time until I was there and running though, so I wasn't fully prepared.

I wasn't sure if timing was allowed with Proformance; I know if it's an HPDE type event the coverage does not allow timing.

Good luck!

[SPOHN]

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