[nasbagoat]

My 1LE is the first non big power street or drag car ive ever had, and I still drive it 500 miles a month 8 months of the year. Its the first car ive ever owned that I wanted to do track days with.

I don't see myself doing more than 5 event weekends a year, time and money being the restricting factors. Also being relatively new to driving on a track (HPDE2) I need lots of seat time before I become more serious. Its also my observation that in point by run groups I am only going to get a half dozen balls to the wall laps without traffic, im not going out there for a new PB every lap.

So what is the most cost effective way to track the car 5 times a year and still drive it some on the street.

option 1
20's w/ SC3's
Pros: Arrive and drive, great performing tire
Cons: limitations of street tire on track, life of SC3's @$1400 a set

option 2
20's w/ all season or long life summer tire
19's w/ NT01 or R888R
pros: R compound grip, longer life of normal tires, track tires wearing out do not stop me from street driving.
cons: how many weekends do R compounds last @ $1600 a set? Including wheel purchase is this overall or over a period of time will it become cheaper than option 1?

option 3
20's w/ all season or long life summer
18's w/ R compound or used slicks
pros: superior grip, 3/4 tread slicks available @ $600 a set (how long do they last?)R compounds available @ $1200 a set,track tires wearing out do not stop me from street driving.
cons: modification to struts and wheel studs to make 18's fit, likely will need camber plates, Including wheel purchase is this overall or over a period of time will it become cheaper than option 1?

I want seat time, and I am willing to sacrifice some grip and stick with the SC3's if that means I can afford more seat time.

I would love to hear your thoughts and I hope this is helpful for those that are just starting out.

[RXtacy]

Not sure if you read this thread, but a lot of the info you are after was discussed in there with a lot of great feedback from folks.

http://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511640

I ended up going with a square 18x10.5 +22mm APEX wheel setup. I plan to order R888R's at first for next season. I will continue to run SC3's on the OEM wheels for the street. I'm not willing to give up the SC3's grip for an all season.

That being said, you should be able to get all of your track season and 5-8k street miles out of SC3's (with degraded wet performance at the end of course). The SC3's are only ~$200 more than 18" R888R's and will last longer, so it would take a while to recoup the cost of track wheels/studs/spacers.

[JeromeS13]

At your level, Option 1: stay stock.

[nasbagoat]

Originally Posted by RXtacy

Not sure if you read this thread, but a lot of the info you are after was discussed in there with a lot of great feedback from folks.

http://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511640

I ended up going with a square 18x10.5 +22mm APEX wheel setup. I plan to order R888R's at first for next season. I will continue to run SC3's on the OEM wheels for the street. I'm not willing to give up the SC3's grip for an all season.

That being said, you should be able to get all of your track season and 5-8k street miles out of SC3's (with degraded wet performance at the end of course). The SC3's are only ~$200 more than 18" R888R's and will last longer, so it would take a while to recoup the cost of track wheels/studs/spacers.

Wow the last time I checked into that thread it was on page 3, lots of good info in there. Doesn't seem like tis worth it for me to invest in a second set of wheels with stickier tires just yet.

[Lafourche1]

I am running a stock setup and made it the entire season with my run-flats on my SS. I run about as many events as you are talking about and I just graduated to HPDE 2 (I waited - have an instructor ride with me as long as it was practical).

Usually the HPDE 2 run group is smaller. You may get more open laps than what you were counting on. At least that is what I found out.

[nasbagoat]

Depends on the day and organization, my last NASA HPDE2 group was 35 cars on a 2 mile track

Originally Posted by Lafourche1

I am running a stock setup and made it the entire season with my run-flats on my SS. I run about as many events as you are talking about and I just graduated to HPDE 2 (I waited - have an instructor ride with me as long as it was practical).

Usually the HPDE 2 run group is smaller. You may get more open laps than what you were counting on. At least that is what I found out.

[Lafourche1]

Originally Posted by nasbagoat

Depends on the day and organization, my last NASA HPDE2 group was 35 cars on a 2 mile track

That is a lot of cars, for sure. How many were in the HPDE1 group?

[nasbagoat]

The sign ups were capped at 40 per group, just depends on how many people showed up.

[ninetres]

Forgestar offers pretty cheap options. My set of 18x11s on my Corvette was under ~$1400 OTD.

[Norm Peterson]

Option 1 will be the most cost-effective for a while. No need to be wearing out tires with better grip when most of the time traffic won't let you use it.

After that, I think there's still room for an "Option 1.5" where the track tires are still fully streetable - better yet if they're good as rain tires - and you keep a set of stock or similar tires mounted for the majority of your street driving. Keep in mind that you're going to have to pull the wheels to bleed the brakes, so you might as well make one of those swaps at the same time. This is where I am, at 18 track days (I think I'm about a mid-3 level driver under NASA's grouping guidelines, though I've been grouped in with more advanced guys by other entities).

I *think* I'd hold off on R-comps at least until having run at the HPDE 3 level for a while. Maybe with only 4 or 5 events/year and a 4+ month winter vacation where your skills collect a few cobwebs, hold off on the R-comps or take-off slicks until HPDE 4.


Norm

[Redlinez]

Where is a good place to look at and price Forgestars?

[Tomiboy]

Originally Posted by JeromeS13

At your level, Option 1: stay stock.

[MJanowich]

Originally Posted by nasbagoat

The sign ups were capped at 40 per group, just depends on how many people showed up.

You should look into Friday At The Track at Summit Point. 4 groups and each group is capped at about 20 cars, so there's not nearly as much traffic to deal with. I would imagine that much more than 20 on track at the same time would be a nightmare.

[TrackClub]

Originally Posted by nasbagoat

My 1LE is the first non big power street or drag car ive ever had, and I still drive it 500 miles a month 8 months of the year. Its the first car ive ever owned that I wanted to do track days with.

I don't see myself doing more than 5 event weekends a year, time and money being the restricting factors. Also being relatively new to driving on a track (HPDE2) I need lots of seat time before I become more serious. Its also my observation that in point by run groups I am only going to get a half dozen balls to the wall laps without traffic, im not going out there for a new PB every lap.

So what is the most cost effective way to track the car 5 times a year and still drive it some on the street.

option 1
20's w/ SC3's
Pros: Arrive and drive, great performing tire
Cons: limitations of street tire on track, life of SC3's @$1400 a set

option 2
20's w/ all season or long life summer tire
19's w/ NT01 or R888R
pros: R compound grip, longer life of normal tires, track tires wearing out do not stop me from street driving.
cons: how many weekends do R compounds last @ $1600 a set? Including wheel purchase is this overall or over a period of time will it become cheaper than option 1?

option 3
20's w/ all season or long life summer
18's w/ R compound or used slicks
pros: superior grip, 3/4 tread slicks available @ $600 a set (how long do they last?)R compounds available @ $1200 a set,track tires wearing out do not stop me from street driving.
cons: modification to struts and wheel studs to make 18's fit, likely will need camber plates, Including wheel purchase is this overall or over a period of time will it become cheaper than option 1?

I want seat time, and I am willing to sacrifice some grip and stick with the SC3's if that means I can afford more seat time.

I would love to hear your thoughts and I hope this is helpful for those that are just starting out.

Unsure if your plan is for 5 or 10 track days, but regardless my vote would be stock tires, as they last good 7-8 days (plus easily 500miles of DD per month) and they stick pretty good even when compared to "properly" rated R-comps (which by and large are "old tech" now). Many modern "street" rated tires are as sticky and in some cases even more so. G3 are no exceptions here.

Just as an FYI: I bought my 1LE to simplify my hobby (vs swapping wheels for/at the track, or trailing a track car as I have in the past). I've tried stockers, RE71R and Cup2s last season. Given price to performance/longevity I will be going back to G3s. I average 20 days per season.

My second choice would be RE71R but they are more $ and I prefer slightly taller gearing of stockers which allow me to stay in 3rd for more torgue vs having to upshift. Cup2s are nice too but VERY expensive. NB if I went with dedicated track wheels it would be 10.5x18 square to run 25 tall tire and really shorten the gears. But like I said: I bought the 1LE for simplicity and to enjoy it everyday And even full stock, the car is capable of running with big dogs, if a driver is comfy in pushing the car to its (very high) limits.