*The FL5 Track Junkie Thread*

[alSpeed2k]

So many variables from driver to track surface. The Ridge isn’t too hard on tires but maybe I’m just not fast enough. If I can do the pin pull and get a quick alignment before, I’ll do it, but I expect stock camber to be ok for the first outing.

Most times I find I am on the over prepared side of track prep. Which reduces stress for me. Plus I find the prep part of the fun of doing this.

I was at Ridge a little over a week ago. I don't think you need to worry about overheating, it's definitely cool enough. If you have experience at Ridge, pedal dance for sure, the nannies are so intrusive. I wish there was an easier way to turn it off, it's a chore to do the pedal dance every session though. FWD is quite different, I was definitely overloading the front tires.

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[mistople]

I was at Ridge a little over a week ago. I don't think you need to worry about overheating, it's definitely cool enough. If you have experience at Ridge, pedal dance for sure, the nannies are so intrusive. I wish there was an easier way to turn it off, it's a chore to do the pedal dance every session though. FWD is quite different, I was definitely overloading the front tires.

Good to hear. Hopefully the WOT cooling plate provides a nice buffer too.

Any tips? I have a fair amount of experience there in lightweight RWD (GR86, BRZ before that) but FWD is a new world for me. I'm guessing it will be braking deeper and getting on power later when the car has straightened out, etc. etc.

Not sure about line difference yet either. I'm gonna watch some of the fast onboards this week.

 

[chadwicke619]

I'm guessing it will be braking deeper and getting on power later when the car has straightened out, etc. etc.

I'm only a 4-5 times a year kind of guy when I'm going - San Diego is pretty far from the nearest tracks - so I'm no expert by any stretch, but I'd say what you described is pretty close.

You can definitely brake very deep in the CTR because the car has phenomenal braking for its weight, especially with wide track tires and good track pads. Where it'll feel different from the GR86/BRZ is on corner exit. Since the CTR is asking the front tires to handle both steering and putting the power down, you generally need to be a little more patient with throttle while you're carrying a lot of steering angle.

That doesn't mean you have to wait until the car is completely straight before getting back on power. The CTR has a ton of front grip and a very effective diff, so you can start feeding throttle in pretty early, but the faster you can get the car rotated and start unwinding the wheel, the sooner you can really lean on the throttle without just asking the front tires to do too much.

 

[CG13]

I'm not trying to invalidate your opinions - I just don't agree that the advice is valid for the scenario described. Someone going 7/10 in cool temperatures isn't going to come even remotely close to having brake, temperature, or camber issues. He's already upgraded his pads and fluids, but he would have been fine without doing those, too - the OEM would be totally fine for someone, again, doing 7/10 in cool temperatures, trying to get comfortable with their car. A long hold (versus the pedal dance) is more than sufficient for someone in his position. In my opinion, the rear brake vectoring he gets from agile handling assist is going to make him faster and feel more confident and the impact on his brakes is going to be negligible - totally worth the trade off for someone's first trip on the track with their car. As for the rain guard, maybe it's easier with the FL5, but it's not a 30 second job with the FK8. Either way, again, he's not going to be going nearly fast enough that it's going to make any appreciable difference at all. Finally, I assume he's going to track on the RE71's he mentioned in his post, which will be just fine at his speed and camber. MAYBE towards the end of his experience, as he reaches his most confident, he'll start to scrub the outer shoulder a bit, but again, the tires will be fine. Just my opinion.

I have a hard time understanding some of the feedback here.

1- Honda includes a vented hood to ALLOW HEAT TO ESCAPE.

2- Honda includes a rain guard to PREVENT WATER FROM RUNNING ON THE ENGINE.

3- I suggest to a first time FL5 track driver to remove the WATER GUARD and ALLOW HEAT TO ESCAPE.

4- Multiple people chime in with: don’t worry about it, you’re driving 7/10 so keep all the heat you can in the engine bay

I cannot think of a single reason you would want to restrict the hood vent while driving on track. If some of you for some reason want excess heat in the engine bay, I suggest you not give that advice to others.

The rain guard is held on by five 10mm bolts that literally take 30 seconds to remove. You may not know that, but then why chime in with “keep it on, don’t worry about it”?

I was at my local track a month or so ago (posted about it in a separate thread) and there were a few new to track FL5 drivers. 7/10 pace for each of them and for me was different. My 7/10 will bring water and oil temps up to levels I am not comfortable with on a stock car over a 20 minute session. Their 7/10 would have been fine. After riding with one of the drivers and him riding with me- he shaved considerable time off his laps in one track day. He was never pushing the car at what I’d call anything above HIS 7/10, but his pace improved so much as he got comfortable that he was now seeing 230 water temps.

Managing fluid temps, tire temps, and tire wear is good for every car on every track at every ambient temperature. I can’t understand suggesting otherwise unless you’re just here to argue or you’re strangely defensive of your favorite car.

 

[chadwicke619]

I have a hard time understanding some of the feedback here.

1- Honda includes a vented hood to ALLOW HEAT TO ESCAPE.

2- Honda includes a rain guard to PREVENT WATER FROM RUNNING ON THE ENGINE.

3- I suggest to a first time FL5 track driver to remove the WATER GUARD and ALLOW HEAT TO ESCAPE.

4- Multiple people chime in with: don’t worry about it, you’re driving 7/10 so keep all the heat you can in the engine bay

I cannot think of a single reason you would want to restrict the hood vent while driving on track. If some of you for some reason want excess heat in the engine bay, I suggest you not give that advice to others.

The rain guard is held on by five 10mm bolts that literally take 30 seconds to remove. You may not know that, but then why chime in with “keep it on, don’t worry about it”?

I was at my local track a month or so ago (posted about it in a separate thread) and there were a few new to track FL5 drivers. 7/10 pace for each of them and for me was different. My 7/10 will bring water and oil temps up to levels I am not comfortable with on a stock car over a 20 minute session. Their 7/10 would have been fine. After riding with one of the drivers and him riding with me- he shaved considerable time off his laps in one track day. He was never pushing the car at what I’d call anything above HIS 7/10, but his pace improved so much as he got comfortable that he was now seeing 230 water temps.

Managing fluid temps, tire temps, and tire wear is good for every car on every track at every ambient temperature. I can’t understand suggesting otherwise unless you’re just here to argue or you’re strangely defensive of your favorite car.

You're really simmering on my take, huh?

Personally, making it to the track is quite an event. I've gotta drive 3-4 hours each way, go up the night before, stay at a hotel, yada, yada, yada. It's quite an ordeal, and my personal experience at the track tells me that my experience is a very common one. Very few people are going to the track every other weekend, and very few people are there to run 10/10 and set times. Even if I didn't do any of the stuff you do, I'm still swapping tires when I get to the track, at the very least, which is also annoying. It's annoying to get up early and hit the paddock to change my tires and make it to drivers meeting before my first run session. I don't even do my brakes at the paddock anymore - fuck that. What I am getting at is... in my opinion, every little thing you can do to make your track day easier is a blessing.

If you want to remove this, and take off that, and do the pedal dance and whatever, that's all good - it's not terrible advice, especially for someone who is going to be moving at a good pace. I don't have any problem with your advice, and your advice is going to be great for a lot of people. I'm just offering an alternative viewpoint, and that viewpoint is that, hey, if you're driving 7/10, and your 7/10 means what most people's 7/10 means, and the weather is mild, not hot, and you're just trying to get used to the car on your first couple of track days, you can just not do any of that stuff, and it's not going to hurt your car OR your track experience. Skip that YouTube video you're gonna pull up, or the Googling you're gonna do, to figure out how to remove the rain guard. Skip figuring out how to do the pedal dance, then doing it EVERY session you have... which is annoying. You'll probably be faster with a long hold anyway, and since you probably only come to the track a few times a year, the brake wear difference is going to be negligible..

The guy asked for advice on his first time with his CTR to the track. You gave yours, and then the original commenter replied saying he was going to be taking it easy, and I gave advice that I thought was more relevant that kind of track experience. After all, it's literally going to be his first time on the track with his CTR. He can simultaneously keep your advice in mind for later while recognizing it's not really important for him now, because it's not, and I'm sorry that take hurts your feelings so much.

 

[mistople]

It’s all good guys, everyone can have their take and you’re both right depending on conditions and driver speed. It’s the same story with oil coolers over in 86 land. I’m not a slow driver and yet people can’t believe I’m ok without one. The most I’ve seen is 255 on a 88 degree day pushing hard for 6 laps.

Now that we’re here I kinda want to try with and without the guard in the first two sessions just to have some data

I’ll report back! I am mega excited to get this thing out. I can’t believe it took me a year to finally get it sorted. Very curious to see the time delta between my cars too.

 

[alSpeed2k]

Good to hear. Hopefully the WOT cooling plate provides a nice buffer too.

Any tips? I have a fair amount of experience there in lightweight RWD (GR86, BRZ before that) but FWD is a new world for me. I'm guessing it will be braking deeper and getting on power later when the car has straightened out, etc. etc.

Not sure about line difference yet either. I'm gonna watch some of the fast onboards this week.

The front tire does most of the work, so just be mindful not to ask too much of the car at the same time (brake/turn/accelerate). Otherwise, there aren't any prizes at HPDEs so just go out and have fun!

 

[CG13]

You're really simmering on my take, huh?

Personally, making it to the track is quite an event. I've gotta drive 3-4 hours each way, go up the night before, stay at a hotel, yada, yada, yada. It's quite an ordeal, and my personal experience at the track tells me that my experience is a very common one. Very few people are going to the track every other weekend, and very few people are there to run 10/10 and set times. Even if I didn't do any of the stuff you do, I'm still swapping tires when I get to the track, at the very least, which is also annoying. It's annoying to get up early and hit the paddock to change my tires and make it to drivers meeting before my first run session. I don't even do my brakes at the paddock anymore - fuck that. What I am getting at is... in my opinion, every little thing you can do to make your track day easier is a blessing.

If you want to remove this, and take off that, and do the pedal dance and whatever, that's all good - it's not terrible advice, especially for someone who is going to be moving at a good pace. I don't have any problem with your advice, and your advice is going to be great for a lot of people. I'm just offering an alternative viewpoint, and that viewpoint is that, hey, if you're driving 7/10, and your 7/10 means what most people's 7/10 means, and the weather is mild, not hot, and you're just trying to get used to the car on your first couple of track days, you can just not do any of that stuff, and it's not going to hurt your car OR your track experience. Skip that YouTube video you're gonna pull up, or the Googling you're gonna do, to figure out how to remove the rain guard. Skip figuring out how to do the pedal dance, then doing it EVERY session you have... which is annoying. You'll probably be faster with a long hold anyway, and since you probably only come to the track a few times a year, the brake wear difference is going to be negligible..

The guy asked for advice on his first time with his CTR to the track. You gave yours, and then the original commenter replied saying he was going to be taking it easy, and I gave advice that I thought was more relevant that kind of track experience. After all, it's literally going to be his first time on the track with his CTR. He can simultaneously keep your advice in mind for later while recognizing it's not really important for him now, because it's not, and I'm sorry that take hurts your feelings so much.

No hurt feelings or simmering here. I’m an adult and capable of having a discussion without all the hyperbole.

“Remove this, and take off that, and do the pedal dance…” — This is laughable. I’m not exaggerating in stating that pedal dance is about 10 seconds and rain guard is about 30 seconds. One saves your rear brakes and the other utilizes the hood vent, as designed. These aren’t hot takes for the internet, just good sound advice relevant to the FL5 that isn’t obvious to someone coming from another platform.

Having these conversations at the track is ALWAYS great. People appreciate the advice from and discussion with those with more experience. I definitely do.

 

[MooMoo]

have fun at your track day Mistop, you will love the FL5

 

[Club Version]

Good to hear. Hopefully the WOT cooling plate provides a nice buffer too.

Any tips? I have a fair amount of experience there in lightweight RWD (GR86, BRZ before that) but FWD is a new world for me. I'm guessing it will be braking deeper and getting on power later when the car has straightened out, etc. etc.

Not sure about line difference yet either. I'm gonna watch some of the fast onboards this week.

Trail braking to rotate at the apex will be your best friend!!

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