FL5 Track Considerations

[Gansan]

I think braking techniques vary by car to an extent. For best times, I do no trail brake on in my RX7. I've been told this by multiple people who race FD RX7s. The FD suspension is superb in that you don't want to load the front at turn in because you don't need trailbraking for maximum grip. I break hard initially to slow down quick and progressively let off to make sure the car is balanced going into a turn. I try very hard not have weight loaded front or rear at turn in. Once I am at the apex or even a little sooner, I get on the gas, let the diff, and near 50/50 balance rotate the car. I know transitioning to FWD is gonna be a huge adjustment for me.

I hear you. I have the exact same problem when transitioning from FF, where I have quite a bit of experience, to the NSX. Partly due to me being rusty and partly due to the change in layout, all my confidence went out the window. I'm now so timid in throwing the car into a corner compared to before because internally, I'm not confident in what the car's going to do. It's both mental and just lack of seat time. I mostly didn't have that problem in the FK8 because the car reacted the way I'm accustomed to.

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[warmmilk]

Circuit of the Northwest

Their digital presence and information about the facility is pretty shit, but assuming it becomes a reality it will be pretty amazing.

https://www.circuitofthenorthwest.com/

I wouldn't hold my breath for Circuit of the Northwest. Its gonna be a private members only track, last I heard membership entry was $50k. The really annoying thing is they got public funding to help build the track. Hopefully they'll have some regular public track days like some other private track clubs have, it looks like a sweet track.

That being said, there are a couple tracks in your back yard. Ridge Motorsport Park and Pacific Raceways. I don't recommend going to Pacific Raceways until you have a few track days under your belt. Its a really fun track but a mistake can cost you. Most of the track has little to no runoff, you're either going into a wall or into trees. Maybe even a cliff if you make it through the trees. But really fun track!

The Ridge is a great track for a first track day. First time I definitely recommend going with a club that has instructors for the novice group (SCCA's track nights don't have instructors).

Big thing is don't bring an ego, listen to your instructor. Even if you're absolutely sure you know something better, try it the instructors way, even the most experienced drivers have coaches.


As far as the car, basically what most people said here. First track day leave it as is. Just make sure you have more than 50% of brake pads left, DOT4 brake fluid (don't need anything exotic for your first track day main thing is fresh fluid), for peace of mind a fresh oil change. For your first track day I wouldn't even bother with the pin thing and alignment, the way you've been driving it is fine. Remove the rain guard on the hood vent. Your first track day temps aren't likely to be an issue, but a little extra cooling is never a bad thing. Turn on rev matching. Even if you're a heel'n'toe rev matching god (first track day you're not, but lets pretend you are), even if you're doing it completely by muscle memory, it still takes up mental real estate. One less thing to worry about will help you focus on everything else. There's a reason modern race cars have flappy paddles. Its faster even with pro's.

Once you do this you'll end up in one of 3 camps.
It was an experience, check mark, don't really feel the need to do it again. No need for any track oriented mods. Only thing I'd say here is to question why a little. If you didn't like it due to a none track driving factor, like it rained, or didn't click with your instructor, or way to many cars and you could never really open it up. I'd recommend to give it another try maybe with a different club. Same track prep as the first time.

You liked it, had a lot of fun, see yourself doing this maybe 2-3 times a year. In this case for your next track day in addition to the first track days stuff, add the pin removal and max out the camber. Mild to medium track pads. With a car like the CTR its more not to waste street pads than "need" better pads. Even though the stock pads will hold up to braking for a mostly beginner-ish track driver, you'll go through them like butter. I've killed a set of "aggressive street" pads in one track day in a lighter and much slower car. Tracking the car 2-3 times a year you probably won't need to modify anything past this. Maybe stainless brake lines after a couple years. I'd recommend upgraded rotors once the stock ones wear out. Girodisc and Essex have options that work with stock calipers.

You loved it and you're hooked. Welcome to the club. You want to do this as much as you can. For car mods, all of the above plus the camber lower ball joints. You want at least -3° of camber. It'll save your tires as you start getting faster, more even tire wear. Also will have handling benefits. Possibly think about a dedicated set of track wheels and tires. While you're still kinda new to track driving, bigger benefit here is not wasting your street tires, kinda like the brake pads. Resist the urge to get a super sticky tire right away. Speaking from personal experience here, I went the sticky tire route and had a friend go less sticky (still good) and he improved more and faster than me. Then he got sticky tires and left me in the dust. Something like the RT615k isn't overly sticky and still put up with track abuse without melting. You'll also want to make sure you're running a quality DOT4 brake fluid if you're doing this on the regular, not just some parts store special DOT4.
From here, modify as needed. When something becomes a limitation, if you have to drive around something. Track day 2+ start paying attention to coolant and oil temps. You'll need to do cooling mods as you start getting faster. Once you start seeing oil temps over 240, switch to a 0w-40 or 5w-40 oil for track days. This won't (shouldn't) do anything for your the actual temperature but the oil won't thin out as much and will protect your engine better at higher temps. Personally I'm not a believer in super exotic oils. I think you're better off doing 3 oil changes with a mainstream (Pennzoil/Castrol/Mobile1/etc) synthetic oil at 30 bucks per 5 quarts than one oil change for some fancy oil at 90 bucks per 5 quarts.


anyway, sorry about the TMI... I got carried away

 

[johnloov]

...and here I thought I was pretty hard on the brakes! Maybe some of my feeling on this comes in to play when I need to load up on the brakes through a turn. I don't feel I can rotate properly while standing on the brakes because I'm already using a vast limit of the grip for slowing down???

This is an intriguing topic...at least for me. I guess my friend/instructor really has a point, but this also points out the vast variation in instructors. I've been told so many conflicting theories throughout my experience. I've literally sat in track instruction hearing the instructor tell us that we're braking too hard if we are enabling ABS.

Here I am wanting to be an instructor, but one of my biggest deterrents for now is wanting to ensure that I know enough. It's important to me to be "correct", and especially with a student. I'd feel awful if I told someone wrong, and it held them back, or worse...caused an accident.

Have you guys tried dialing in 5mm toe out in front??

It begins to oversteer easily

 

[PointByPatrol]

Have you guys tried dialing in 5mm toe out in front??

It begins to oversteer easily

I haven't. I usually run zero toe. Though when I get back from the track and put my car on the alignment machine it's usually toe'd out because of the heavy braking zones.

 

[johnloov]

I haven't. I usually run zero toe. Though when I get back from the track and put my car on the alignment machine it's usually toe'd out because of the heavy braking zones.

If your car is already aligned, I would highly recommend just marking your tire rods then adjust. It improved my times on Laguna Seca by 5 seconds easy. You can adjust at home, and don’t need to visit an alignment shop everytime.
A full turn on both is about 5mm toe out total.

If you mark it you can easily return back or add more.

With 5mm toe out the car turns in insanely sharp! I was 5 seconds faster with 1.5mm toe out, and will find out how much faster with 5 total.

#1 mid highly recommend

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