Good thread guys keep the info coming.

Master Cylinder Compartment Cover
 

When you open your hood after getting off the track make sure that you also take off the black plastic master cylinder compartment cover.

A clutch cylinder failure at my last track event got me doing some investigative testing (I am preparing to post a thread on my findings later this week). Even with normal street driving, I have measured 10 to 20 degree temperature spikes in the master cylinder compartment after turning off the car. I can only imagine how much the temperature would rise after getting off the track. However, taking off the cover prevents these spikes.

Also, if you drive to and from the track, you may want to practice driving without using your clutch. Don’t overdo it; just practice enough so that you understand the basic principles (which I won’t go into here) of clutch-less shifting. This is a skill that you will hopefully never use.

However, this may save you one day if you find yourself stranded in an empty paddock with no ability to disengage the clutch. It did for me…

^ great information. I've had clutchlock and it's not fun. "Resp" added

LOL...mine doesn't hold my car well anyway so I'm not concerned!

Word of caution on the wheel chocks, remember to move them out of the way before you move the car. Even if you back away from them they might be sticking to the hot and soft tires, causing them to be dragged into your wheel well and potentially causing damage there. This of course mainly when you use small, light weight ones.

Might you be alluding to the time my wheel chock stuck to my hot sticky tire and I ran it over???? :)

I didn't want to call you out, but yeah that was you :tup:

All this track talk is infectious!

Thing for me, I know if I go out there I, will instantly get addicted.

What keeps me from tracking vs just running the canyons is the risk of a miscalculation causing an impact (either I make a mistake or someone else does).

How common is that at the events you guys run?

I guess, more specifically, in the SoCal region.


Tapatalk & such etc

What keeps me from tracking vs just running the canyons is the risk of a miscalculation causing an impact (either I make a mistake or someone else does).

How common is that at the events you guys run?

I guess, more specifically, in the SoCal region.


Nobody ever hits anybody out here. Everybody wants to drive their cars home. There are no walls to hit either, unless you consciously crank the wheel on a straightaway- it's all soft sand and silt runoff areas, as opposed canyon walls, bicyclists, and.. CANYONS :thumbsdown:.

-A reformed canyon run guy.

I would say the average is about one incident overall per track day. Everyone will go off at some point, just a matter of hitting things or just mowing the lawn.

I saw one door to door contact, they both spun off into the same area of the dirt. EVO VIII vs EVO X crime

Thanks for the perspective threeseventy. Makes sense.


Tapatalk & such etc

I've been doing track events since 2004 and have only ever seen one car to car contact event.

I'd be more concerned about 'pushing it' in the canyons than on most tracks. I just did Blackhawk today though...not so forgiving if you go off. And the brake cooling kit is for the birds. My dust boots are vaporized once again.

Those titanium shields that go behind the pads might help with heat on the dust boots, too. I put some on mine for the hell of it a little while back: Hard Brakes - Titanium Brake Backing Plates, Brake Shims, Brake Heat Shields .

Car to car contact is really really rare in an HPDE-type track event. Everyone's generally really careful about passing, and perhaps more importantly there's no winner or official timekeeping, so there's no reason for aggressive jockeying for position or anything.

Spinning out (and possibly spinning off) is going to happen with some regularity overall, it's rare a day goes by at MSR-H that someone doesn't spin in some group, usually more than one person. With the guys I run with, they have a 2-spin rule: first spin they black flag you into the hot pit, check under the car, make sure you're coherent and ready to go back out, etc. Second spin in the same session and they take you off the track and you miss your next session as well. I imagine if you repeatedly hit the two-spin rule you're going to get bumped down a run group, etc...

How dangerous a spin is depends on the track and on the other drivers. Look for tracks with generous runoff areas. Of course, there's always risks, but really you don't need to spin out to learn the limits. If you're spinning, you're doing something wrong (or had some freak mechanical failure (e.g. tire falls apart mid-corner)). Instructors will talk you through slowly raising your speed as you learn to apply better techniques and read the car's feedback.

I can do this easily in my 240sx, but cannot seem to do it at all in the 370z. Is it possible? S-mode on and off?

Absolutely. Works exactly the same.

Good post. MUST MUST do the fluid and pads.

Ive been to the track sith stock suspension and its surprissingly great with a good set of tires. The only problem i had with the sport package stock tires is the braking, they just dodnt stop the car well enough. other than that this car is great stock.

as far as tire psi. I like low tire pressures for some reason, I keep taking air out and drive them at arouns 33psi when hot. Maybe this my prefference for the track i go to

good post

Forgot to mention, I have the yellow stuff pads from EBC and motul 600 fluid. NIGHT AND DAY vs stock. Also the 34 ROW oil cooler, 25 is not enough for my climate

I use AP Racing's fluid. It's worked just as well for me as the Motul RBF600.

Any car-on-car event at the track is, as Im sure we can all agree, a serious mistake on at least one, or potentially both drivers parts.

I dont think I've ever had a 100% clean HPDE yet. Granted, I've only done 4 full weekends total, but none the less. This last one was the closest, and we "only" had one major event: a mechanical failure on a Mustang's tie-rod caused him to have a wall impact at the end of a longer straight.

Subd

One thing I haven't seen mentioned but it is something I like to do if I have the time is drive the car around the pits or outside the track after a session. This helps cool the brakes, coolant, and oil more before turning off the car. This is really important on turbo cars (or at least a turbo timer) but it also helps on NA cars as well.

I can't wait to track my car come Spring. Will be installing my oil cooler this weekend. Also have Whiteline sways on the way :)

I'll install my XP-10s and flush my fluids once the time draws nearer.

This thread is great

Definitely. Very important, and I'm usually only one of a very small number of people doing it after a session.

Plus you really should fill up after every session so if you drive to the closest gas station it kills two birds with one stone.

This thread is great. Thanks for all the advice.

One more question, how many of you use the same pads for both track/daily?

Does one session of hpde kill them? I intend to have 2 sets eventually but for my first hpde I probably will only have hawk hp +

Driving around on track pads wears them and the rotors down at a high rate plus they aren't as effective as street pads at street temps. They also typically dust more and squeal more than street pads. Finally my track pads are 3 times the cost of street pads and my track rotors are 5 times more expensive than my street rotors.

I can get 2-3 weekends out of a set of track pads and 4-6 weekends out of a set of track rotors. If you watch my videos you will see I'm very hard on the brakes.

Anyone else get interesting wear on their track pads? My outer pads on each corner seem to wear a little thinner at the top of the pad versus bottom (by top, I mean the widest radius of the rotor, and bottom, the smallest radius).

I cant imagine I'm getting odd pressure with my calipers, the boots on each piston look just fine...

Agree with all the above, would like to add:

In the word's of our lead instructor,"How many of you drove your cars here? How many would like to drive them home?"

It sounds like a joke, but it is a grim reality of tracking your car and once you realize that, you won't chuckle anymore. The track is not go-karts, the track is for real.

That being said, brakes, brake fluid, SS brake lines, I think are the most important things you can do. I so far have not needed anything but the OEM BBS pads. But, if you are going to spend money on upgrades, that should be first.

OEM tires are fine, in fact they are quite good for starters. Your first time out, you shouldn't be pushing them that hard anyway.

Also here's another recommendation but not necessary-go to a sporting goods store and buy a left and right handed golf glove that match. Bingo, you now have driving gloves for <$20.00.

Driving the socal canyons is more dangerous than the track. Simply because at the track the othere drivers are paying attention. And of course a deer is very unlikely to run in front of your car in the middle of the desert ;)

What part of socal you in?

That is called "pad taper" and it will make you think your brakes are going soft whereas the actual fluid is fine... the pads themselves are trapezoids and require a little extra push before the entire pad surface meets the rotor.

My solution: Swap sides of the caliper for the pads. Even's them out. :tup:

HP+ should be pretty good, but for the love of god do not track with the OEM pads. They will be gone in ONE day, dead, to the backing plates.

eek :icon14:

Thanks! I had a feeling it was normal, just wasnt sure.

Also, that was my plan: just keep swapping the sides. :)

That's assuming you dont put your car into a wall, first...

you going to VIR with NASA in July? I'm registered

Ah, I wish. Sadly, I have a few things I'd like to pay off before I hit the track again. I MAY hit up Summit Main later this year, but we'll see...

Also, as my friend StangerGT REALLY wants to hit VIR, I may just wait until he's back from deployment to go there next (read: next year).

I think I may go down to VIR this fall. My friends are planning on going to the Santa's Toy Run at Road Atlanta again too. Just need to lock down a new job. :P

Wish my Z could fly, I would meet you at VIR. I want to race my Dad in his 911 on that track. He usually goes with Porsche club, but he probably attends some of the same events you guys do. I think he does summit point as well.

Ok. So since nearly everyone here has a sport package (except me) please give me some pointers here. I've read many of the threads involving brakes but it seems everyone that is even mildly serious about tracking has the sport package! So given that I have standard brakes, other than brake fluid exchange (Castrol SRF going in this week) What more can I really do? Swapping to slotted rotors and aggressive pads doesn't really do a whole lot. I did that on my last car and all I really gained was noise. I'd rather just swap the pads at a minimum, leave everything else and then eventually upgrade the entire brake system to the AP Racing brakes.

But for now, on stock rotors and two pot, cast iron calipers, what pads can anyone recommend that will at least get me through a session or two at the track? I'm quite literally just starting out and now that I'm moving in two months I've lost a lot of my play funds for the near future. I just need to get through a few introductory sessions before I really start spitting money at this thing (not like I haven't already). I keep seeing carbotech XP8 but I'm sure everyone recommending them has the sport package! :/