1st track day coming up, how will cold temps affect me?

[LCPLPunk]

Hey all,


I"ll be doing my first track day here soon and I'm a little bit worried because I expect temps to be in the 30's. What do I need to be aware of with temps this low?


Should I run same stock tire pressures?

[hammdo]

I find braking quick and accelerating quick after braking on the first lap warms the tires better - don’t kick on abs ;o).

You won’t be going full out so tire pressure will be near normal. I’d guess its lead follow or paced so should be controlled...

Performance is great when you’re FI like me...

Also, ck lug nuts before each session..

Don’t over drive, it’s easy to do..

Have fun!

-Don

[LCPLPunk]

Will do! It's more like an instructional track day thing, so I definitely don't plan on going full throttle all the time!

[hammdo]

First time out is scary and thrilling all at the same time... You'll never forget it...

First time out on your own is the next one (not novice ;o)...

GoPro is a must!

-Don

[Barefoot Dave]

Originally Posted by LCPLPunk

Hey all,


I"ll be doing my first track day here soon and I'm a little bit worried because I expect temps to be in the 30's. What do I need to be aware of with temps this low?


Should I run same stock tire pressures?

Where will you be running? Will you be with FATT at Summit Point Main on Sun Nov 4? If so I’ll look for you and give you some pointers.... I am in the advanced group in a white Z/28.

Once we know the actual temp I can give you some advice on what I do. I think there will be 3 or 4 of us with 5th gen Camaro’s there that can give you some info on what they do as well.

You’re off to a good start-don’t be afraid to ask people with cars similar to yours what they do and how they do it-drive safe and I’ll see you there if that’s where you’ll be.

[LCPLPunk]

Summit Point on November 11th. I somehow was lucky enough to win a free track day with their Helmets to Heroes program!


https://www.wdcr-scca.org/news/2018/...-off-to-heroes

[Barefoot Dave]

Originally Posted by LCPLPunk

Summit Point on November 11th. I somehow was lucky enough to win a free track day with their Helmets to Heroes program!


https://www.wdcr-scca.org/news/2018/...-off-to-heroes

Thanks for your service!

I see you'll be on the Jefferson Circuit - you'll have a great time and tire pressure probably won't matter as much because you'll be doing skidpad, slalom and some other slower speed training before you go out on the track. If it was me I'd just start with the factory pressure.

If you have the time the Sunday before - Nov 4 -you should come on out and see how everything works out there at Summit Point. I'll be out on Summit Point Main - feel free to stop by and say Hi if you come out. I'll be the only Z/28 there based on the current registrations.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by hammdo

... don’t kick on abs ;o).

Worth repeating.

If you get into the ABS before the tires have warmed up enough - with summer tires in particular - the locked wheel(s) can be a bit sluggish in returning to fully rolling.



Norm

[LCPLPunk]

Is hitting ABS a common thing? I feel like I barely ever hit it with daily driving.

[hammdo]

No, but if you brake too hard, it will. I practice braking on empty roads or exit ramps just to find the point where I’m almost hit ABS (we have exit ramps off the highway that go down to 30 mph - 75 to 30 mph).

I make sure to do those late at night when traffic is very light and no one is behind me...

-Don

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by LCPLPunk

Is hitting ABS a common thing? I feel like I barely ever hit it with daily driving.

I can't speak for anybody but myself as far as hitting ABS is concerned (and for me it rarely happens either on the street or on the track, perhaps a side benefit to having started driving long before there was such a thing as ABS in cars).

Braking on the street rarely gets anywhere near as hard as braking on the track usually does, emergency "panic braking" being the exception.

To put a few numbers on this, some of these insurance company monitors identify something like 0.3g or 0.35g as 'hard braking' and anything over 0.5g as 'extreme'. On the track, 0.5g is pretty gentle.

Your car is capable of something like 1.0g - tire grip permitting, which when they're cold isn't happening. But if you brake like you think it's all there, you will get into the ABS. Let the tires finish warming up by gradually picking up your pace, which may take an extra lap or so beyond your 'out lap' to get fully warm.


Something else occurred to me about cooler temperatures - whatever dew collected on the track overnight probably won't be all gone by the time the first run group hits the track (maybe not all gone everywhere even for the second). This can and will set a lower 'upper limit' on tire grip.


Norm

[MJanowich]

Originally Posted by Barefoot Dave

Where will you be running? Will you be with FATT at Summit Point Main on Sun Nov 4? If so I’ll look for you and give you some pointers.... I am in the advanced group in a white Z/28.

Once we know the actual temp I can give you some advice on what I do. I think there will be 3 or 4 of us with 5th gen Camaro’s there that can give you some info on what they do as well.

You’re off to a good start-don’t be afraid to ask people with cars similar to yours what they do and how they do it-drive safe and I’ll see you there if that’s where you’ll be.

I'll be there on the 4th running in group 2. I'm looking forward to seeing your Z/28 there. I've been 7 times before and haven't seen a Z/28 there yet. It's kind of my unicorn car.

To the original topic, last year I was at Summit Point with FATT on probably the coldest day possible during track season. It was around 33 degrees F in the morning when we arrived, with a nice steady wind. It didn't warm up much past 36. It took several laps to get the tires warmed up. I didn't bother messing with the pressures until the 2nd session. Basically, keep them at stock pressure and adjust throughout the day.

If you go into a turn too fast for your cold tires, you'll know it because it'll understeer a LOT. Once the tires were warm, I was fine. I had my fastest laptimes ever on that day, probably because the engine loved the cold dense air and the awesome instructor I had.

[LCPLPunk]

Awesome, sounds good guys! I'm super stoked! I'm changing out my pads this weekend in prep for the track.