Track Day Best Practices - MUST READ

MightyBobo

I did just dandy with a 25.

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MightyBobo

Don't do anything more other than an oil cooler. You don't even know what it's like in stock form yet. Don't be yet another guy who upgrades before he even knows what he needs to upgrade for.

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clintfocus

both Martin and I have exceeded what a 34row cooler can do for us on track LOL, dont worry, you'll get there

MightyBobo

I was already getting to that point when I sold the Z. Just saying, he'd be fine with a 25 for a while, especially as a beginner.

Besides, I don't need to worry about shitty OEM oil cooling systems now :-p

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wstar

I'm still doing fairly ok with my 25-row cooling, but I went with the Series-9 (it's not as tall as the 34, but it's wider than the usual Series-6's on this car. It's basically closer to the 34-row's total surface area, but you're not putting rows behind the crash beam).

But, I've also opened up the airflow through my front grill and put in CSF's radiator without a condenser in the way. My temps have been edging up uncomfortably as I get faster, but still not quite a problem yet. Next on my list is to vent the hood to exhaust the high pressure rear side of the radiator, and do some better baffling to keep air from escaping the oil cooler / radiator stack to the sides/below. I suspect those two things will bring me back down to where I'm super-happy with temps again.

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Journal thread / Car setup details

Rangerz

Going to work on some baffling/ shroud this weekend. On my series 9 25 row I was hitting 250 at the end of the 25 min session. I do think the Nismo front end has some flow issues but, I'm hoping that shrouding the rear of the oil cooler to the radiator will help with the airflow.

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Stillen Gen III/ NST/ Fast Intentions Non-Res HFC & 12" Resonated CF TDX/ Setreb series 9 OC/ SPL upper control arms/ Whiteline front & rear swaybars/ Uprev tuned by Seb@specialtyZ/ 319HP 262TQ/ Z1 PS Cooler/ Z1 SS Premium break lines/ CJM Road Race pump/Carbotech F:XP10 R:XP8 Nismo OC DIY

martin82

W my 34 row after 3 hot laps I was pushing over 250!!

MightyBobo

You are also racing in the LA area lol. Much cooler here.

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carlitos_370z

damn

BTW guys thanks for the recomendations... In Octuber i think im going to go to my first Track Event.... is the PCA (Porsche Club Association) Track Time Event... is more a Driving School than a track time but im going to get fun with some Porsches

martin82

True it but even in November and weather at around 70-80's I was able to hit 255+ easily in 3 laps! where i would have to turn on my heater right after during my cool down lap.

wstar

Good for you! Driving Schools are necessary. Some are structured differently than others, and I really prefer the sorts of grassroots-style DE events where former students are turning around and helping the newbies through the process. But the bottom line is it's pretty hard to get decent at driving without someone there pointing out your mistakes, telling you how to improve, and harping on the basic habits. And that's not just the mechanical skills of the situation, but the psychological ones too. Things like lifting up your vision and scanning constantly to be aware of traffic and flags and incidents way ahead of time, and not letting your ego (or stress, or emotional state, etc) control your decisions on the track. That part was especially difficult for me at various stages. You have to be driving exactly to your rational capabilities, which also implies being able to rationally evaluate yourself first; you can't be driving harder than your skill allows for due to ego overload, and you can't be driving weaker than you're capable of due to fear or stress either - both of those mistakes can send you off the track if they hit you at the wrong time. These things carry over into other areas of life as well.

No matter how awesome a driver anyone thinks they are in everyday life, the first few real track events are always a real eye-opener as to how bad you really are at driving and how much there is to improve on. I really think everyone who owns a sportscar or is into cars owes it to themselves to at least do a handful of light DE weekends at some point. You don't have to stick with it as a major hobby, but you get so much out of just those first few experiences that they're always worth it.

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Journal thread / Car setup details

Mike

get a stillen bumper then. My car ran about I think 30 degrees cooler than Russell from Z1s at road atlanta last time we were both there, and my times were a little faster. The larger bumper opening and me not having an ac condenser are about the only mechanical differences between our cars.

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NISSAN: 75 280Z / 86 300ZX GLL /87 Sentra SE / 03 350Z / 23 Z
Porsche: 93 968 / 23 Macan GTS / 93 968

martin82

I'm gonna throw away my stillen bumper. Ordered the new nismo and gonna hack it up

GSS138

Dude I love that front aero lmao. Is that plastidip?

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Current Mods: Vorpal Weapon +5.

martin82

ordered new 2015 nismo front and rear bumper, I will be hacking up the front bumper