CIVICXI *NOVICE* Track Thread!

[DustyDan]

Dam, not going to happen its on the 31st. Maybe next time

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[conchajm]

Sharing here my experience in my second-ever track weekend, this time running with NASA at Homestead.

First of all, and I think in agreement with all the other novices in this thread, it was a blast. I thought I got hooked the first time I went but now it’s even better. Can’t wait for the next one! Running with Chin in my first event at Sebring on May 3/4. In case anyone is going to that one, let me know.

My FL5 is pretty new — picked it up in January — so I went almost stock. Swapped the OEM fluid for Castrol SRF, pulled out the strut pins and got an alignment to maximize camber, taped my wheel weights to avoid them flying off, wrapped the front of the car with track tape and got myself a Garmin Catalyst to start learning about lap times, and how / where to improve. OEM brake pads and PS4S were still in good shape, so that was it. Ran in Individual with +R engine, Sport suspension and steering.

The car felt great all weekend. Car temperatures were fine (still good weather in South Florida) and tires looked and felt fine till the end. I did had some brake fluid coming out my front bleeding screws. F* scary, but I read somewhere in this blog that is not unusual and might be excess fluid left in the screw threads during the bleeding process. I cleaned it up and it was fine for the rest of the weekend.

Same as @DustyDan I noticed how sloppy I became under pressure. Probably fatigue or some unnecessary competitiveness when a banged Miata with a much more skilled driver creeped up on me in some turns. Made several mistakes, missed some apexes and found myself out of line more than expected. Huge learnings here to keep a cool head, focusing on my own learning process and not letting my ego drive for me. Worst mistake of all and I feel very vulnerable here confessing to this… I money-shifted my car . Felt like an absolute idiot.

Another thing I noticed is that with windows down and a closed helmet with visor down, I couldn’t hear the engine. I over-revved the car a few times as I didn’t even hear the rev limit sound. Not sure if it’s just lack of attention, that the car is very silent or both.

Regarding tire pressures, I dropped them to 30psi front and back (cold). When hot they were running between 35-37 in the front, and 37-39 in the back. I heard the PS4Ss have weak sidewalls and that I shouldn’t drop them much more than this. Any thoughts from your experience with the PS4Ss?

I used TrackArmour to wrap the front of the car. It looked horrible, but I have to say that the product performs as advertised. In my first track day back in Jan I got several rock chips (+ a cracked windshield). I think the tape helped this time around and couldn’t see any chips on any part that was taped. Removing it was fairly easy and left no residue. Curious to know if someone has another paint protection solution that works, besides PPFing the whole front.

I highly recommend the Catalyst! The interface is really intuitive and it’s just a few taps and then forget about it until you’re back in the paddock. You can then learn a lot by watching the videos and checking out the metrics / optimal lap recos.

On the event itself, I have mixed feelings. I think overall it was good and seemed pretty organized, but the track was PACKED with ~130 cars. I was running at first in the HPDE 1 (novice with instructor) and the first 2 sessions of Saturday morning were a waste of time IMO. Slow traffic, lots of trains and couldn’t do one single clean lap. Saturday afternoon got a lot better, although I had to drive through the pit lane a few of times to avoid the trains. Sunday was an absolute joy. Probably 40% less cars and I got approved to drive in the HPDE 2 (novice-solo) category which was a bit less crowded and fun as we all had similar pace. I think NASA has a program in place with Toyota where GR86 / GR Corolla costumers get some free track days and it was a nightmare. Fortunately all those cars had just a few sessions on Saturday and were gone by Sunday.

My focus for the next event will be in learning the track and race line (Sebring will be new for me), and giving the car much smoother inputs when shifting and when going back to the gas after braking (something that both of my past instructors told me I need to improve). And obviously keep having fun!

I’ll also swap my OEM pads — that are now gone — to Paragons (R5/P3) that just came in today. That’s the plan for the weekend.

Thanks again for all the tips and tricks shared by everyone.

 

[BigBird]

Sharing here my experience in my second-ever track weekend, this time running with NASA at Homestead.

First of all, and I think in agreement with all the other novices in this thread, it was a blast. I thought I got hooked the first time I went but now it’s even better. Can’t wait for the next one! Running with Chin in my first event at Sebring on May 3/4. In case anyone is going to that one, let me know.

My FL5 is pretty new — picked it up in January — so I went almost stock. Swapped the OEM fluid for Castrol SRF, pulled out the strut pins and got an alignment to maximize camber, taped my wheel weights to avoid them flying off, wrapped the front of the car with track tape and got myself a Garmin Catalyst to start learning about lap times, and how / where to improve. OEM brake pads and PS4S were still in good shape, so that was it. Ran in Individual with +R engine, Sport suspension and steering.

The car felt great all weekend. Car temperatures were fine (still good weather in South Florida) and tires looked and felt fine till the end. I did had some brake fluid coming out my front bleeding screws. F* scary, but I read somewhere in this blog that is not unusual and might be excess fluid left in the screw threads during the bleeding process. I cleaned it up and it was fine for the rest of the weekend.

Same as @DustyDan I noticed how sloppy I became under pressure. Probably fatigue or some unnecessary competitiveness when a banged Miata with a much more skilled driver creeped up on me in some turns. Made several mistakes, missed some apexes and found myself out of line more than expected. Huge learnings here to keep a cool head, focusing on my own learning process and not letting my ego drive for me. Worst mistake of all and I feel very vulnerable here confessing to this… I money-shifted my car . Felt like an absolute idiot.

Another thing I noticed is that with windows down and a closed helmet with visor down, I couldn’t hear the engine. I over-revved the car a few times as I didn’t even hear the rev limit sound. Not sure if it’s just lack of attention, that the car is very silent or both.

Regarding tire pressures, I dropped them to 30psi front and back (cold). When hot they were running between 35-37 in the front, and 37-39 in the back. I heard the PS4Ss have weak sidewalls and that I shouldn’t drop them much more than this. Any thoughts from your experience with the PS4Ss?

I used TrackArmour to wrap the front of the car. It looked horrible, but I have to say that the product performs as advertised. In my first track day back in Jan I got several rock chips (+ a cracked windshield). I think the tape helped this time around and couldn’t see any chips on any part that was taped. Removing it was fairly easy and left no residue. Curious to know if someone has another paint protection solution that works, besides PPFing the whole front.

I highly recommend the Catalyst! The interface is really intuitive and it’s just a few taps and then forget about it until you’re back in the paddock. You can then learn a lot by watching the videos and checking out the metrics / optimal lap recos.

On the event itself, I have mixed feelings. I think overall it was good and seemed pretty organized, but the track was PACKED with ~130 cars. I was running at first in the HPDE 1 (novice with instructor) and the first 2 sessions of Saturday morning were a waste of time IMO. Slow traffic, lots of trains and couldn’t do one single clean lap. Saturday afternoon got a lot better, although I had to drive through the pit lane a few of times to avoid the trains. Sunday was an absolute joy. Probably 40% less cars and I got approved to drive in the HPDE 2 (novice-solo) category which was a bit less crowded and fun as we all had similar pace. I think NASA has a program in place with Toyota where GR86 / GR Corolla costumers get some free track days and it was a nightmare. Fortunately all those cars had just a few sessions on Saturday and were gone by Sunday.

My focus for the next event will be in learning the track and race line (Sebring will be new for me), and giving the car much smoother inputs when shifting and when going back to the gas after braking (something that both of my past instructors told me I need to improve). And obviously keep having fun!

I’ll also swap my OEM pads — that are now gone — to Paragons (R5/P3) that just came in today. That’s the plan for the weekend.

Thanks again for all the tips and tricks shared by everyone.

Most things you are struggling with comes with time and experience. You're quickly picking things up, so just continue to learn as you go.

In terms of PS4S, in the manual for my Elantra N, they recommended 35 hot for the PS4S when on track, so you were doing the right thing there.

Upgrading pads is a nice idea. Some have had issues with the R5/p3 combo with pad deposits. The r5/R5 might be better if using Paragon, but that's just a few data points, not entirely sure if that's the fix.

Either way, keep improving the driver and see what part may be holding you back as you progress. It's a great sport and hobby, especially with this car.

 

[PointByPatrol]

Sharing here my experience in my second-ever track weekend, this time running with NASA at Homestead.

First of all, and I think in agreement with all the other novices in this thread, it was a blast. I thought I got hooked the first time I went but now it’s even better. Can’t wait for the next one! Running with Chin in my first event at Sebring on May 3/4. In case anyone is going to that one, let me know.

My FL5 is pretty new — picked it up in January — so I went almost stock. Swapped the OEM fluid for Castrol SRF, pulled out the strut pins and got an alignment to maximize camber, taped my wheel weights to avoid them flying off, wrapped the front of the car with track tape and got myself a Garmin Catalyst to start learning about lap times, and how / where to improve. OEM brake pads and PS4S were still in good shape, so that was it. Ran in Individual with +R engine, Sport suspension and steering.

The car felt great all weekend. Car temperatures were fine (still good weather in South Florida) and tires looked and felt fine till the end. I did had some brake fluid coming out my front bleeding screws. F* scary, but I read somewhere in this blog that is not unusual and might be excess fluid left in the screw threads during the bleeding process. I cleaned it up and it was fine for the rest of the weekend.

Same as @DustyDan I noticed how sloppy I became under pressure. Probably fatigue or some unnecessary competitiveness when a banged Miata with a much more skilled driver creeped up on me in some turns. Made several mistakes, missed some apexes and found myself out of line more than expected. Huge learnings here to keep a cool head, focusing on my own learning process and not letting my ego drive for me. Worst mistake of all and I feel very vulnerable here confessing to this… I money-shifted my car . Felt like an absolute idiot.

Another thing I noticed is that with windows down and a closed helmet with visor down, I couldn’t hear the engine. I over-revved the car a few times as I didn’t even hear the rev limit sound. Not sure if it’s just lack of attention, that the car is very silent or both.

Regarding tire pressures, I dropped them to 30psi front and back (cold). When hot they were running between 35-37 in the front, and 37-39 in the back. I heard the PS4Ss have weak sidewalls and that I shouldn’t drop them much more than this. Any thoughts from your experience with the PS4Ss?

I used TrackArmour to wrap the front of the car. It looked horrible, but I have to say that the product performs as advertised. In my first track day back in Jan I got several rock chips (+ a cracked windshield). I think the tape helped this time around and couldn’t see any chips on any part that was taped. Removing it was fairly easy and left no residue. Curious to know if someone has another paint protection solution that works, besides PPFing the whole front.

I highly recommend the Catalyst! The interface is really intuitive and it’s just a few taps and then forget about it until you’re back in the paddock. You can then learn a lot by watching the videos and checking out the metrics / optimal lap recos.

On the event itself, I have mixed feelings. I think overall it was good and seemed pretty organized, but the track was PACKED with ~130 cars. I was running at first in the HPDE 1 (novice with instructor) and the first 2 sessions of Saturday morning were a waste of time IMO. Slow traffic, lots of trains and couldn’t do one single clean lap. Saturday afternoon got a lot better, although I had to drive through the pit lane a few of times to avoid the trains. Sunday was an absolute joy. Probably 40% less cars and I got approved to drive in the HPDE 2 (novice-solo) category which was a bit less crowded and fun as we all had similar pace. I think NASA has a program in place with Toyota where GR86 / GR Corolla costumers get some free track days and it was a nightmare. Fortunately all those cars had just a few sessions on Saturday and were gone by Sunday.

My focus for the next event will be in learning the track and race line (Sebring will be new for me), and giving the car much smoother inputs when shifting and when going back to the gas after braking (something that both of my past instructors told me I need to improve). And obviously keep having fun!

I’ll also swap my OEM pads — that are now gone — to Paragons (R5/P3) that just came in today. That’s the plan for the weekend.

Thanks again for all the tips and tricks shared by everyone.

The sloppiness under pressure is very common in novice drivers, and is something that disappears with experience. Once you realize that you actually aren't under any pressure because HPDE isn't a race, then you begin to relax, and it becomes yet another action that is moved from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind. Basically...it just becomes second nature.

I agree with your synopsis of NASA. Everything that you mentioned is also something that we experience in NASA Mid-Atlantic, and it's super annoying. Overcrowded, disorganized, the GR driving experience is a thorn in the side of the weekend, and lastly NASA is a for profit organization, and I feel as if they advance drivers too quickly to keep them coming back.

I worry about the instructor quality in NASA. Certainly not saying they're all bad, but I genuinely feel that many of them are out there for the "free track time" instead of looking at it as a paid obligation to ensure that you are instructing your student to the highest level possible. I remember my NASA instructors would just tell me to come find them before the session start, rather than ensuring that I pit with them.

I require my students to pit with me for the entire weekend. There are so many questions that they have off-track that would never be addressed if I just had them "pick me up before the session starts". I've also found that off-track visualization is beneficial, talking through techniques off the track is beneficial, and working on throttle and brake inputs off the track (with the car off) is beneficial because they aren't stressed when they're in the pits. Much easier to teach when your student is in a calm state, and it translates well to when they go back out in the next session.

 

[conchajm]

Thanks @BigBird, @PointByPatrol. Great info here. On instruction, I have to agree and pretty much fits what I got that weekend with NASA. My instructor was good and definitely help me to correct important things / habits on track, but it was more of a "pick me up before the session" kind of approach. With so many cars and categories running there was a lot of down time that I could've used to keep asking questions and learning. Next time, I won't wait for this to be offered, I'll ask for it.

 

[Rhorn]

So when you do HPDE do you have to be with an instructor the whole time?

I've never done one since my local track just has open track days.

 

[PointByPatrol]

So when you do HPDE do you have to be with an instructor the whole time?

I've never done one since my local track just has open track days.

When you are a novice, yes, and certain clubs will also have instruction in the lower intermediate class.

 

[Rhorn]

So tracks like VIR, outside of sanctioned events, you can only go there if its a HPDE? Thats what I'm assuming how it works to go to the bigger tracks like Daytona and Sebring here. I rarely see events for them up on motoreg

 

[PointByPatrol]

So tracks like VIR, outside of sanctioned events, you can only go there if its a HPDE? Thats what I'm assuming how it works to go to the bigger tracks like Daytona and Sebring here. I rarely see events for them up on motoreg

Those tracks also host time trials events.

 

[DustyDan]

Same as @DustyDan I noticed how sloppy I became under pressure. Probably fatigue or some unnecessary competitiveness when a banged Miata with a much more skilled driver creeped up on me in some turns. Made several mistakes, missed some apexes and found myself out of line more than expected. Huge learnings here to keep a cool head, focusing on my own learning process and not letting my ego drive for me. Worst mistake of all and I feel very vulnerable here confessing to this… I money-shifted my car . Felt like an absolute idiot.

Don't feel embarrassed, I money shifted too. Im sure we aren't alone. For me, there was a section of the track that is full throttle through the Esses' and I have to shift up from 3rd to 4th in the middle of them while trying to hit the second curve, not easy. I hit 2nd instead of 4th probably because the weight of the car is moving laterally while also shifting and it made me put more weight into my hand and likely pulled the shifter a little left as opposed to straight down...

 

[PointByPatrol]

Don't feel embarrassed, I money shifted too. Im sure we aren't alone. For me, there was a section of the track that is full throttle through the Esses' and I have to shift up from 3rd to 4th in the middle of them while trying to hit the second curve, not easy. I hit 2nd instead of 4th probably because the weight of the car is moving laterally while also shifting and it made me put more weight into my hand and likely pulled the shifter a little left as opposed to straight down...

That's telling you to be in 4th the whole time! You'll avoid that from happening entirely!

 

[DustyDan]

After reading some of these responses on traffic and crowdedness, I think one of the main reasons I had such a good experience too was because I went on a Thursday. I understand not everyone can take off work, but Id say there were probably 30 cars at most at the track, maybe 12 in my group so trains were minimal, I was doing 5-6 hot laps at a time without any traffic in front. Food for thought, weekday may be worth it if its a possibility near you

 

[DustyDan]

That's telling you to be in 4th the whole time! You'll avoid that from happening entirely!

Ill have to try next time, the turn prior is a very tight carousel where I use mid 3rd gear and usually wind it out through the first S, maybe I can short shift before the first s...

 

[PointByPatrol]

Ill have to try next time, the turn prior is a very tight carousel where I use mid 3rd gear and usually wind it out through the first S, maybe I can short shift before the first s...

That's what I would do!

 

[Rhorn]

The sloppiness under pressure is very common in novice drivers, and is something that disappears with experience. Once you realize that you actually aren't under any pressure because HPDE isn't a race, then you begin to relax, and it becomes yet another action that is moved from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind. Basically...it just becomes second nature.

I agree with your synopsis of NASA. Everything that you mentioned is also something that we experience in NASA Mid-Atlantic, and it's super annoying. Overcrowded, disorganized, the GR driving experience is a thorn in the side of the weekend, and lastly NASA is a for profit organization, and I feel as if they advance drivers too quickly to keep them coming back.

I worry about the instructor quality in NASA. Certainly not saying they're all bad, but I genuinely feel that many of them are out there for the "free track time" instead of looking at it as a paid obligation to ensure that you are instructing your student to the highest level possible. I remember my NASA instructors would just tell me to come find them before the session start, rather than ensuring that I pit with them.

I require my students to pit with me for the entire weekend. There are so many questions that they have off-track that would never be addressed if I just had them "pick me up before the session starts". I've also found that off-track visualization is beneficial, talking through techniques off the track is beneficial, and working on throttle and brake inputs off the track (with the car off) is beneficial because they aren't stressed when they're in the pits. Much easier to teach when your student is in a calm state, and it translates well to when they go back out in the next session.

I can second this. I was lucky enough to get a few days in with a professional racing coach and he was telling me that he always tells the drivers that the only time you ever want to go flat out 10/10 is on a qualifying lap. All other laps you want to be 8/10 or 9/10 otherwise you'll overdrive and will end up crashing.

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