[COTA] Chin Track Day impressions

[johnny.silva7]

Track Details: 54-66 degF and cloudy. 1 track day with Chin Track Days. 4 30-minute sessions. First time at COTA.

Mods:
Falken Azenis RT615K+
Endless ME20 Front Brake Pads
Paragon P3 Rear Brake Pads
PRL HVI
Catted TSP DP
PRL Front Pipe
Acura ADS Module
Front Whiteline Adjustable Ball Joints (-2.6 front)

Overall impression: I was blown away by what this car could do with relatively minimal mods. The cooler weather gave me the chance to run it longer, and I managed to get up to 9 laps per session. The car ran smoothly all day, with just one minor hiccup where the car went to limp mode after some aggressive driving and zero traffic.

Chin Track Days at COTA is an outstanding group to run with. Everything is well-organized, and there’s zero drama. So far, this has been the best HPDE experience I’ve had.

My best time of the day was a 2:37 with an optimal time of 2:34. Not the cleanest, but had fun chasing another FK8 and S2000.

For a reference point, a very-experienced instructor showed up in his lightly modded FL5 and ran a best time of 2:31 (which is nuts):
.

 

[Two Step Performance]

Looks like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'd love the chance to get out on this course one day.

 

[MrDavidHef]

Nice! This is a very capable car with a few small mods. What number stickers are you using?

 

[johnny.silva7]

Nice! This is a very capable car with a few small mods. What number stickers are you using?

"iSYFIX White Vinyl Numbers" from Amazon. I don't recommend them because the leftover adhesive is difficult to remove.

 

[RacingIsLife]

Nice lap brother! You mentioned the limp mode, do you recall what your water / oil temps were? And did you run doing the pedal dance or just long press traction control in +R mode?

 

[BigBird]

Nice lap brother! You mentioned the limp mode, do you recall what your water / oil temps were? And did you run doing the pedal dance or just long press traction control in +R mode?

anytime i hear limp mode on track, it almost is always low fuel.

 

[MrDavidHef]

anytime i hear limp mode on track, it almost is always low fuel.

You beat me to it!

 

[MrDavidHef]

I fill up before every session. The gauge never reads correctly on track but I usually end up with less than half a tank.

 

[johnny.silva7]

Nice lap brother! You mentioned the limp mode, do you recall what your water / oil temps were? And did you run doing the pedal dance or just long press traction control in +R mode?

Oil temps were nothing crazy. Didn't see anything higher than 255 due to the low ambient temp. I ran all 4 sessions with the long press traction control off.

anytime i hear limp mode on track, it almost is always low fuel.

Bingo! It only happened in my longest session. Came back to pit with less than a quarter. I refill before every session, but the tank is so small that it limits time on these longer tracks.

 

[johnny.silva7]

Some cool action shots from the event:

 

[Club Version]

Happy to hear you had a great time with Chin! They are a well organized and serious group, I love working with them!

 

[ACM4327]

Quick question for you or anyone else who has ran with Chin at Cota. I’m going at the beginning of April for the first time and the schedule shows gates opening at 0630 and Driver Meeting at 0710 and orientation laps at 0800. I assume you have to go through tech sometime before the drivers meeting as well? Is there a reasonable amount of time to get a paddock spot and change wheels around? It just feels really tight in the morning and I’m trying to figure out if I should swap wheels in the hotel parking lot the night before.

 

[johnny.silva7]

Quick question for you or anyone else who has ran with Chin at Cota. I’m going at the beginning of April for the first time and the schedule shows gates opening at 0630 and Driver Meeting at 0710 and orientation laps at 0800. I assume you have to go through tech sometime before the drivers meeting as well? Is there a reasonable amount of time to get a paddock spot and change wheels around? It just feels really tight in the morning and I’m trying to figure out if I should swap wheels in the hotel parking lot the night before.

I'll be there too. What wheels/tires are you swapping to? If they're 200TW tires, it'll be worth doing the night before just so you're not running around that morning.

Did you secure a garage spot for the weekend? When you drop off your tech inspection paperwork (starting at 6:30), you can pick up your wristband and get your garage # so you can start prepping.

 

[ACM4327]

Thanks!

I have Apex SM10RS with Nankang CRS’s mounted on them. Driving across the country on all seasons to get there. All my previous track days were at Pitt Race which was local and I never had to worry about swapping wheels outside my own garage.

I did not rent a garage, that’s too rich for my blood haha

 

[Evox787]

Quick question for you or anyone else who has ran with Chin at Cota. I’m going at the beginning of April for the first time and the schedule shows gates opening at 0630 and Driver Meeting at 0710 and orientation laps at 0800. I assume you have to go through tech sometime before the drivers meeting as well? Is there a reasonable amount of time to get a paddock spot and change wheels around? It just feels really tight in the morning and I’m trying to figure out if I should swap wheels in the hotel parking lot the night before.

Wow, have fun! Sad that we won’t be able to do this anymore at COTA. Tell us how it went. I did it with Xtreme Xperience and was so motivated to do it in my FL5, but I didn’t get the chance. How much was it? Did you find it on the Motorsports Reg website? Will there be more days before they go private this year, to your knowledge?

My FL5 is completely stock other than a drop-in Spoon filter. I’m planning on upgrading the tires, but my Pilot Sports still measure 7/32 to 6/32. I was planning on changing them whenever I get my new set of wheels. I’ll also be doing the HEL brake lines and Motul brake fluid, along with the PRL clutch line.

I really want to do four to five laps in my own car so I can say I drove on an F1 circuit. I also have a helmet, but it’s an ECE 22.05 from when I used to ride my motorcycle three years ago; I sold the bike a month ago. What helmets do you guys use? I need to get driving gloves—do you recommend a certain brand? I also have RaceQuip gloves for sim racing, which are pretty nice. Is there anything else I might be missing?

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