track day

[ricco]

hey guys what fluids do yous run when looking at doing a track day? high temp fluids ie for the brakes?

[jakey]

gatorade seems to cool you off nicely

[coyote]

gatorade seems to cool you off nicely

+1

For a road car that occasionally sees the track, it's more important that your fluids are fresh (particularly brake fluid).

Pads are important, make sure there's plenty of meat on them.

Likewise tyres. You may think it's cool to kill an old set of tyres on the track, but unless you own an auto your car is worth way more than a mm or two or tyre wear.

There are many checklists around.

[ricco]

lucky my car is a auto, also can u share the check lists?

[dr20t]

gatorade seems to cool you off nicely

+1

For a road car that occasionally sees the track, it's more important that your fluids are fresh (particularly brake fluid).

Pads are important, make sure there's plenty of meat on them.

Likewise tyres. You may think it's cool to kill an old set of tyres on the track, but unless you own an auto your car is worth way more than a mm or two or tyre wear.

There are many checklists around.

Steady on grumpy

Shall I remind you about my auto...

[coyote]

Shall I remind you about my auto...

It's at Eastern Creek, isn't it?

Meet you there for a race tomorrow?

[dr20t]

Shall I remind you about my auto...

It's at Eastern Creek, isn't it?

Meet you there for a race tomorrow?

A foot race is about the only race I could answer to at the moment

[coyote]

Shall I remind you about my auto...

It's at Eastern Creek, isn't it?

Meet you there for a race tomorrow?

A foot race is about the only race I could answer to at the moment

Sorry mate. Low blow, that one.

[dr20t]

Not low enough

It'll be worth the wait I'm sure

[ricco]

stop jacking off on my post, and share these so called check lists

[jakey]

EVO related but seems to cover lots of stuff:
http://roadraceengineering.com/blog/?p=1234

and

http://www.nasaproracing.com/hpde/preparing.html

Summing up:

There are a few things on this list that are MASSIVELY important however.

They are :

1. WATER and GATORADE first and foremost. I have seen people go off the track, just straight off the track, as if they were not even trying to turn at a corner. Later, when asked why, it was because their brain had just failed due to dehydration. I have also seen people lose a half day at the track from dehydration related headaches. Both instances mentioned above were clearly results of a lack of HYDRATION. This is SO important that some instructors in NASA will not even let you come to class without a bottle of water, Gatorade or some other sports drink.

2. SNACKS. I know this is related to #1 BUT the food at every track I have been to is sub high school cafeteria status. It is also almost always unhealthy and the service is SUUUUUUPER slow. Now, I am a normal guy, so it is fun to have a lunch of crappy food just to indulge in some bad food but for 2 days straight? This could kill you. Bring some fruit, power bars and other healthy snacks like you’d bring to work out with or you will be stuck with the horrible food at the cafeteria all day waiting for the most disgusting food you have eaten since you graduated high school.

3. A Chair. There is A LOT of downtime. Also, if you are like me, during downtime, you do not necessarily want to be around other people who are just yapping away about their random cars that you could give a crap less about. I want to be alone to think, relax, to look over my car and to watch other people racing (specifically other AWD cars). Sometimes I want to talk to other people but having a cheapie fold out chair makes it so you aren’t stuck around the bleachers and cafeteria chairs all day.

4. A Hat. Hats become indispensable. This was the case for me in March when it was cold and drizzly BUT when it was July at Willow Springs for Redline Time Attack, when it was 112 at the track, my hat was the most important thing ever! The sun gets brutal. If you are in So. Cal, you will most likely drive at Buttonwillow, Willow Springs or at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontucky. The crazy thing is, Auto Club Speedway in Fontana is actually the most civilized area AND the best climate, which says A LOT!! The other places are straight up desert landscapes of fast foods and tumble weeds. A hat is your friend.

5. Sunglasses. As stated above, the sun gets BRUTAL from April on through September. Sunglasses are a MUST to keep your eyes happy when not driving. Some guys have tinted helmet visors. I am thinking I will spring for one of those soon.

6. Sunscreen. I know I am talking about the sun A LOT here but this is no joke!! It is easy to get dehydrated and sunburnt really bad really quick at these tracks. This will ruin your weekend and can ruin your life for days and even weeks after. Plus, when you get super old like me, they start cutting crap off your face, which is a bummer. Protect YA Neck!!

7. OIL. My car doesn’t burn much oil but blowby is an issue on turbo cars at the track if you are mashing it all day at the track. Figure it this way, when you are driving on the streets and some dude in a Scion TC rolls up next to you dragging an Ebay exhaust on the freeway revving on you, it takes 10 seconds or less to make him invisible with your mad boozt launcher skillz. The track sessions are 20 minutes—and even in HPDE1, I was in boost before we were even properly running at speed. My car was in boost for pretty much ALL of those 20 minutes. You need to have some extra oil for this. I bring 2 quarts and usually use about 1/2 of 1 quart BUT it is smart to have a bit of overkill. You should know your car. You know what it burns. Be ready!! Your car will be running harder than ever before!!

8. Brake Fluid. Get serious brake fluid. I use MOTUL 600. In HPDE1 that was my only non-stock brake upgrade. Racing at the track KILLS brakes!! I think this is the case from HPDE1 through real racing. My stock pads and rotors lasted a 2 day weekend. They were about 2 years in when I went to the track, so this wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was that after upgrading to stoptech pads, slotted rotors and SS lines, I still burned through most of my pads AND warped my new rotors in 3 more 2 day weekends (to be fair, one weekend was over 100 degrees each day). Regardless, prepare to wreck your brakes. Also prepare to need brake fluid at the track and even possibly pads. Hardcore people even bring extra rotors.

9. Window cleaner. You get all kinds of crap on your window from melted rubber splatters to rodent guts. Get ready to clean your windows after every session. Also, as a side note, do not cry when you get a chip or crack in your windshield. My first day I got a chip on my windshield in the upper passenger side and on my second day, I got a crack in the lower middle of my windshield. You will hear a lot of unsettling pinging while you are racing. If you cannot deal with this, maybe hit up that big import show and hang out with the import models instead. You can only tape off so much of your car with painter’s tape… the rest will get blasted from debris. This is just reality.

10. Tape. I bring gorilla tape (which I have used for my blown off battery terminal and other such weird things), painter’s tape (I use this for numbers and if you want to keep your car looking pretty, you can tape it off in certain areas) AND I bring masking tape (but I haven’t used that yet).

11. Pen and paper. It is important to take notes and to be able to write stuff down. You cannot bump from HPDE1 to 2 to 3… without getting your instructors to sign your passport booklet. Get one, have a pen, take notes in it and keep track of your progress. You won’t want to be stuck in HPDE2 another day once you are ready for 3. You will know when you WANT to bump up. Your instructors will KNOW when you are ready to bump up. Help them help you by keeping track. Also, get a head up on other people by taking notes and knowing what is going on. Once the head instructors realize you are reliable, they start sending you out to lead the pack. This means you are in front, which means you are not starting way back, which makes things way more fun especially when you are running with the top instructors.

12. TQ Wrench. You will need to torque your wheels after most sessions. You can get these at Harbor Freight for cheap. There is really no excuse NOT to have one. They are important to staying alive.

13. Tire pressure gauge. Below, I talk about checking tire pressure. It is very important to monitor your tire pressure. You should check your pressure HOT every session. If you cannot do this, you should check your pressure every session regardless to maintain consistency. You can get really dope bleed off style gauges for cheap. THIS is the one I got and it kicks ass. You can get WAY more fancy but if you go cheaper, make sure it has a bleeder. This makes things WAY easier.