Prepping your car for HPDE and the Road Course.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by thahemp

It certainly helps to have a warm body that knows how to bleed brakes haha! I did the first round with my wife working the pedal off of verbal commands. The 2nd round I had a buddy that knew what was up by pedal feel. It took proabably 1/10th the time to make it through all 8 bleeders with him on the pedal.

LOL... my wife used to be pretty good at it, but I'll defer to the buddy method or the dealer for this one.

[Balok]

Originally Posted by White_SS/RS

A lot of times they will allow windows up when it's raining.

That's nice to hear, although in the wet I'll be even slower than the conservative speed I plan on running if it's dry!

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by Balok

Unfortunately, the parts have been ordered already so it is what is at this point. I'm going to use them for this track day, then swap them out with the stock Brembo pads after the event. If I enjoy this enough, I'll look into a different pad if I do this again. If it rains, I won't be on the track at all so no harm-no foul other than the money I lose. I'm not driving my car in the rain with the windows down, period. Thanks for the advice Tbone, and everyone else!

Even if it does rain and you must run with the window next to any occupied seat open, less will get in than you may be expecting, and almost none of that will be getting you wet. Just getting in and out of the car at your house in a pouring storm will let as much water in during the few seconds it takes you to open door/get out/shut door as five minutes lapping in a moderate but steady rain does.

Your speed probably makes some difference, as the slipstream is probably responsible for deflecting most of the raindrops just enough.

You will be running slower if it's wet, but you can probably learn even more about things like fine throttle modulation and making smooth control inputs.


Norm

[mlee]

Ouch... those Carbotech pads are expensive...

[MJanowich]

Regarding the rain - my interior got soaked on my first track day. Even at higher speeds, a fair amount of water still gets in. Most of the water was on the back seats and the sides of the front seats. I park my Camaro in the garage all the time and I left the windows down once we got home. It dried out fine. No weird mildew smells at all.

Several instructors there mentioned how a lot of experienced drivers would love the opportunity to drive on a wet track.

[Stephen12ZL1]

wow...my opinion on your first track day is to relax and enjoy the car...I doubt you will be pushing the car hard enough to boil anything because you will hit the "scared" point way before your car's mechanical limit even gets close to an extreme. Your brake fluid may be the only thing that even gets close to a boiling point but I doubt that will even be a problem. Hawk HP+ pads are probably worse than the stock brembo pads and you should leave that alone for now. Some of these supposed "upgrades" aren't going to do anything more than seat time and track familiarity. The stock brake lines are fine and they passed the 24 hr abuse test from professional drivers on a closed course so leave them alone too. Nitrogen isn't available at VIR so just use regular air and start at 28-29 psi cold. Air is 78% nitrogen anyways and you aren't on a NASCAR circuit so leave that complexity alone too. Be smooth, listen to your instructors, watch your rear view mirror & side view mirrors, keep your eyes up, and just relax & have fun. Learn the track and watch some VIR videos before arriving. Start in PTM 2 or 3 and don't even think about pushing to PTM 4 or 5 until you learn the track. The PTM (stabilitrak + traction control) will save your ass if you get out of shape and won't slow you down if you do everything right. Be safe!

[toehead93]

That depends on how comfortable you are with your car. None of my friiends would ever feel comfotable pushing their cars to the limit but i had no trouble pushing my car e first time out, i was the 3rd fastest in my group behind a 911 and heavily modified rx7. My 2nd day at sebring i had some slight brake fade and had the brake pedal drop while entering the pits on the last lap of the day, due to boiled dot 4 fluid. I had HP Plusnpads and racing brake rotors but still had brake trouble...sebring is tough on brakes but that was even the short course.

I like to tell my friends the same, they probably wont be comfortable enough to experience anything like i did but for someone that understamdsmthe limit of their car they may be able to push the envelope and need to worry about such upgrades.

[hookdup]

$750, 2 qts SRF, Carbotech xp10 (f) xp8(r), clutch master kit,
got my goal to be under 1:40 NJMP Thunderbolt no chicane
seems to be a fair time for a bone stock 2013 1le

BUT, ALL UN_NEEDED , DRIVE SAFE, AND LEARN,
AT YOUR POINT< THERE IS NO 10/10th's
DRIVE AT 3-4/10ths, and be safe

[TBone]

Originally Posted by mlee

Ouch... those Carbotech pads are expensive...

Attachment 630629

LOL, yea....now imagine using up a set every time you go out on track.

Besides, they stop you SO WELL!!!!! And they aren't even the really good pads. Go look at the Cobalt Friction prices. They are the really good ones. $529 BTW He, he, he.
T.

[wakespeak]

Can we change the discussion to tires?

- What tires are you running?
- How do they perform/hold up?
- What starting tire pressure do you use?
- Are you managing pressure between sessions?

I have stock Pirellis. They work well, but I am limited by grip. They have held up well to 3 track days. I started at stock pressure (36 psi), though I am thinking lower would have been better so avoid the center of the tire expanding as they heated up. I let the pressure increase between sessions (over 40 psi).

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by wakespeak

Can we change the discussion to tires?

- Are you managing pressure between sessions?

Yes.

FWIW, once you've done one session, the cold pressure numbers don't mean a whole lot any more because the tire behavior is going to be based on a relatively hot tire operating condition. As in hotter than the mfr assumed when he was establishing your car's cold inflation pressures. Find out what the tires like for hot pressures and keep adjusting them to that. Just don't forget to reset them to your cold pressure settings after they've fully cooled down (typically the next day).


Any opinions I have about the other items probably won't apply directly.


Norm

[White_SS/RS]

Originally Posted by wakespeak

Can we change the discussion to tires?

- What tires are you running?
- How do they perform/hold up?
- What starting tire pressure do you use?
- Are you managing pressure between sessions?

I have stock Pirellis. They work well, but I am limited by grip. They have held up well to 3 track days. I started at stock pressure (36 psi), though I am thinking lower would have been better so avoid the center of the tire expanding as they heated up. I let the pressure increase between sessions (over 40 psi).

Most of us who run a dual purpose tire usually have Michelin PSS or Goodyear Supercars, there are others though. Obviously a softer tire wont last as long as a harder tire(Stock Pirelli) and a softer tire is usually faster. My Goodyears with 5000 miles and 4 track days are done.

32-33 psi hot is what I run my tires at. For me that means setting them at about 25-26 cold. Mind you I derived those pressures based off the goal of having even temps across the tire. So a specific number really cant be quoted.

There are many more factors that play into this. Your pressures may be different due to the type of tire, tire size, track surface, how hard you run you car, alignment, chassis settings, etc.

[wakespeak]

Thanks guys I am going to try a lower starting pressure in the tires next time and maybe keep the hot pressure around 38psi max. I also want to get at least the 20X9 stock on the front to balance the handling better, if not a set of 20x10s. Running dual purpose seems practical when doing 2-4 HPDE/yr.

BTW the treadwear on the Pirellis is 250, which I thought was the same as the Goodyears'. Still, no doubt the compounds are different.

[TBone]

Wakespeak,

Some good info about reading your tires in here.
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=356787

T.