The track day and racing thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > The track day and racing thread

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

I've never done a track day with the run groups you describe.

I generally see:

Novice -- Instructor and limited passing

Group 3 -- Point by passing, straights only

Group 2 -- Point by passing everywhere except maybe select corner. Possibly open passing on straights.

Group 1 -- Open passing (except maybe select corners)

In California, I generally use NCRC. Not that new person friendly (instructors cost extra). Not a lot of weekend days. But cheap as balls (under $100 for buttonwillow). You may get 1 fewer session that others, but that isn't worth $100 to me.
Speedventures is hideously overpriced

In the midwest, MVP is very good for novices, but their passing rules might annoy the more experenced.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2012 03:06

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 13:01

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Admirable Gusto posted:

If anyone's considering a HPDE day, my advice is to please please point people by as often as you can. If you can see them in your mirrors, they are generally faster than you (even if they're down by 200hp). You are much better off following them for a bit and observing their line

Also, remember that if they're on your rear end in every corner and look pissed, but you pull away from them in the straight because you have a corvette, let them pass, even if they're in a station wagon.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2012 04:56

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

ColdPie posted:

Yes, great thread. I posted about my very first track day experience in a spec ford over here. My friend and I are now on the hunt for a decent E30 or Miata or something to use as a track car. We plan to split costs to keep it very affordable.

It surprised me that the #1 recommended beginner track car, by a very wide margin, is the Miata. It's a convertible! You have to install a roll bar! And if you're anywhere near tall, you'll have a hard time meeting the stick test! But the Internet has spoken, so it's on our short list.

There's only one raceway near Minneapolis (only one in Minnesota, in fact), which is Brainerd International. It's about a 2 hour drive from my apartment. The next nearest is probably Road America over in Wisconsin, which is about 6 hours away. Oh well, winter makes maintaining a track a nightmare, I bet.

Can't wait to get started!

The best track for Minnesota is actually Mid-America near Omaha in IA. There is basically nothing to run into (in true Iowa fashion is is actually in a cornfield).
I used these guys: http://www.findtheline.com/
Reasonably priced and the number of cars is very low. On Sunday you may be the only car on course and they very well may get rid of run groups because there's only 3 cars in the afternoon.
Blackhawk Farms (WI/IL border on 90) is one of my favorite courses, but it is slow and probably higher risk than most other courses. (Trees, little run off)

Another cheap option for a track car is a 1st gen Neon. No really. Though I guess good luck finding one that isn't all rust in the Midwest.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2012 05:07

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Admirable Gusto posted:

You know what they say about never meeting your heroes? It's like that with me and Laguna Seca, which I visited yesterday for the first time. Yes it's a famous track, yes corkscrew, yes it's impossible to get a weekend track day there, but the overwhelming impression that it left on me after a day of driving was boredom

First of all the track's incredibly wide and lots of the corners are some variant on 90 degree turn (tightening, opening, on-camber, off-camber, uphill, downhill). Then it's not that difficult to learn the line for the corkscrew - just stare at the correct tree. As long as you don't get greedy on the gas (and you honestly don't need to, seeing as it leads straight into turn 9), you'll be fine there. Turns 2 and 11 are slow-rear end hairpins that test your patience and are rather boring too. It all seems to be about how much power you bring to the uphill sections (turn 5 exit through corkscrew and turn 11 exit through turn 2)

And so perhaps my expectations were set too high going in and I'm being unfair, but Laguna's nothing like to the poetry that is Infineon (oops I mean Sonoma) or the white knuckle experience that is Willow Springs. It just comes up way short (maybe it's better when you're racing wheel-to-wheel)

You don't means Sonoma, you means Sears Point. :colbert:

I had a complete different feeling re: Laguna Seca. Getting the corkscrew right (which I only managed a couple of times) just feels so cool.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2012 20:28

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

If you're not in a convertible, open face.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2012 23:28

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

DogDodger posted:

Unless you ever want to drive in NJ, which has legislated the requirement for closed face helmets.

That is stupid. Full face in a car with an enabled airbag can be dangerous, plus full faces get warmer inside.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2012 05:20

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

j3rkstore posted:

Disregard this, get a full face with a visor.

Screw that, I have a full face at the moment and regret every moment.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2012 02:06

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

eriddy posted:

Why do you regret it? Reduced vision? I'd rather get a full face helmet that would double for motorcycling as well, but if there's a good reason to get an open face helmet I'd like to know what it is.

Visors fog up.
Heavy.
Bad ventilation.
Don't have to gently caress with glasses.

If you're in a street car without other gear (just OEM protection), a full face helmet isn't doing you any good.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2012 04:59

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Pr0kjayhawk posted:

I can't understand why anyone would want to use an open face helmet at any time. Around here you're required to run with the windows down, I'd imagine any HPDE is like that. We had one guy catch a small rock in his left eye, it was pretty nasty. Luckily he didn't lose vision but he was sporting an eye patch for a couple months.

The first and third points are covered by buying a quality helmet. I used an old POS Snell 2000 helmet for the first two years of HPDE and I hated it. The visor fogged up, I had to wear sunglasses, and it just wasn't comfortable. This year I bought an HJC AR-10II (Snell 2010) for $310 and it's a night and day difference. I also bought the tinted visor to go with it. I can now run with the visor down, not have to dick with sunglasses, and it has yet to fog up on me during a session with the visor all the way down.

I got it from soloracer.com (http://www.soloracer.com/hjcar10ii.html) and they throw in a free helmet bag with it. Highly recommended.

I have a fancy, then expensive Bell M3.
I've never had an issue with rocks or something even though i run visor up and windows down.

With glasses, the fog is worse, plus you have to deal with putting glasses on on a closed face helmet, which sucks.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2012 05:56

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

If you have a dedicated track car, you probably should have a cage and all that jazz (even if you never race), but I would not want one for a street car.
If you're not in a helmet, harness, etc, they will do more hard than good.

It is unfortunate that you kind of have to choose. If I had more money and more time for track days, I'd get a real track car. Cheaper in the long run and safer.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2012 06:52

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

InitialDave posted:

Note that the design parameters and certification are different for car and motorcycle helmets. Motorcycle helmets don't need to help you survive bouncing off a rollcage, for example. I don't know anything about US law, but I would be very surprised if wearing a non-motorcycle helmet on a bike were legal, and if wearing a non-car helmet at a track would be accepted.

A few companies make SA2010 and DOT approved helmets.
Note that DOT legality makes it legal, not safe.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2012 18:09

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Yeticopter posted:

On a different note, what's the best source for getting a quality racing helmet? I've been using my motorcycle crash helmet for years but I want to upgrade to something more legit with built-in communicators and such. My main fear of ordering one online is that it won't be sized right, and a bad fitting helmet will gently caress me up on the track worse than anything. I have an auto-X opportunity this weekend so I really need to figure this out soon.

If you live in any really large metro area or near a track, there's a good chance there's actually a shop that sells higher end racing helmets. I think that is the best way to go if you're going to drop a lot of money.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2012 04:05

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Blooot posted:

Do you know specifically who? When I bought my last helmet (Bell M4), I was trying to find an SA helmet that was also DOT and came up with nothing and ended up with a Shoei RF1100. I did however call the Snell foundation get the FINAL word on the difference between Snell approved bike and car helmets so we can put that to rest:

Car: fire proof interior
Bike: larger view port

It is possible that may be designed differently (multiple impacts vs one), but they all pass the same qualifications to be Snell approved. If your car helmet has a motorcycle sized view port (call the manufacturer for details on that) then it is just as safe for motorcycling as any other Snell approved moto helmet. The Shoei I ended up with did have some better motorcycling features (vents, wind blockers, easier to operate visor), so a moto specific helmet has merits other than safety.

My weekend at the "Canadian Historic Grand Prix" at Mosport was a great success. I ran a full 5 session test day on Thursday to get used to the car and then alternating duties with my brother (who's been racing it for the last 6 years) for the race weekend. In my final race I ended up turning a 1:36.4, which was quicker than any time my brother did that weekend. All that seat time during Lemons must be paying off! I remembered how exciting sprint racing is -- the guy in front of you is the guy you NEED to get past. The car was flawless and being treated to an arrive and drive was, needless to say, loving awesome.

Next up on my calendar is a mid-July road trip up to Oregon Raceway Park in my 510 for an Oregon PCA weekend. I've been told that ORP feels like a skatepark -- sounds fun!

There's at least one of saferracer. I'm on my cell phone at the moment or I'd link. Honestly, I googled Sa2010 and DOT to find it.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2012 22:55

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Aurune posted:

That corner scares me. Reminds me of the wall placement at ~~Infineon~~ Raceway at Senoma only worse.

Sears Point you mean.

Only CA track that scares me. Those walls are close as hell

aventari posted:

Ready for my $300 E30's first track weekend at Streets of Willow Springs, just added some DIY Home Depot brake ducts

3" dryer hose and flex tubing
2 empty Rosarito cans of beans (cut both ends off and remove beans)
some hose clamps
a bunch of zip ties

They fit and work way better than I ever thought they could. Hope they stay intact all weekend.

Brake pads I'm running are brand new Hawk HT10's

You could do all that, or you could just get better brake pads.
That said, if you're getting a street tired, stock power e30 brake to 1300 degrees in an HPDE, you're probably doing something wrong. My pads go to 1650lbs, but my car weights 1000lbs more and has twice the HP.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 06:06

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

kimbo305 posted:

I don't think we can ever get consensus on this. I want some buff mag to spend days testing and gathering data for all the pads that people talk up. On different classes of cars, against different tires, etc.

I think once you go R-comps, the game changes, but for anything that isn't severely underbraked (or weighs 4000lbs), on street tires, there's a pad for it.

You will, however, see increased rotor wear and possible cracking depending on the car though.
That said, an e30 is light enough that I wouldn't worry that much on street tires.

I use carbotech XP10s (claimed 1650F) on streets (generally RE-01Rs, now Z1s, though I'm not a fan) for my 3350lbs station wagon (lots more with my fatass) and the only time I've really faded them was during bed-in (which you're supposed to). Front pads and rotos basically last the same amount of time (which isn't long).

Don't know about classing though.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2012 07:08

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

SNiPER_Magnum posted:

How do the V12s hold up? My Star Specs are about done for and I don't know if they have another weekend in them. Not really looking forward to buying new tires, so I'm hoping my street V12s can take a little abuse if need be.

Side-walls that make the star spec (which have a soft sidewall) look like concrete.
I didn't love them, but then my car is fairly heavy.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2012 04:03

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

aventari posted:

Any SoCal peeps be interested in a track day this Sat or Sun at Autoclub Speedway?

http://speedventures.com/events/eventdetail.aspx?id=391

I know some people doing that, but I still have oil leaks to chase down.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2012 08:52

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Admirable Gusto posted:

Laguna Seca next Monday, who's in?

http://www.ncracing.org/events.php

NCRC is may favorite track day provider. So cheap.
NCRC is not as newbie friendly as more expensive providers. I also am not in love with their passing rules as they progress. But not bad, attracts a great crowd (the NCRC Lseca event I went to had an F40.), and deals with douchebags quickly.

NCRC is way cheaper than Speed Ventures. Speed ventures wants $150 for buttonwillow. NCRC is $99. $200 for the Roval is a joke, though I suspect that is more a function of the costs of the Roval than speed ventures.

nm fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Jan 21, 2013

# ¿ Jan 21, 2013 06:07

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Keyser S0ze posted:

I will keep NCRC in mind although have concerns with open passing if there are a bunch of moufbreathers in 80's Camaro's there.

Doesn't really attract that crowd. However, you can chose a lower run group and get more restrictive passing rules (I do this).
They basically sell everything out, so they have no problems kicking jackasses, which I think is an issue with some other providers.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2013 07:28

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

quote:

Car needs to be smogged in March. I'd rather not have to take care of that myself, but I will if I have to. If you take it without having me smog it, I'd be willing to talk about the price more.

Is kind of a red flag, as selling a car without smog is illegal in this state. I kind of wonder if it will fail.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2013 08:10

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Admirable Gusto posted:

I do miss Auto Club now that I'm in the Bay Area. I'll drive to Willow Springs or Buttonwillow but Fontana's just a little too far. I miss Aaron's sense of humor

Also as someone who was way too aggressive as a beginner and killed lots of tires (and a wheel!) going two/four wheels off all the goddamn time, I would rather have been way too cautious instead

You can go to T-hill for about $130. Why would you miss the drat roval?

# ¿ Feb 26, 2013 06:59

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

SNiPER_Magnum posted:

Aw shucks. No better time to start tracking a worthless piece of crap then, I guess

You can and probably should get track day insurance in any event unless you have a beater. It costs a bit, but worth not having to go to court over an insurance contract. Most insurance companies, even with somewhat ambiguous language in contracts, are going to fight tooth and nail against paying anything that happens near a racetrack.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2013 06:55

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Octopus Magic posted:

Chumpcars means you have to have a trailer, a tow vehicle, a trailer, and all those necessities that are required for having an actual racecar, to which I might say if you're going to that extreme, you might as well get an SCCA car/NASA/what have you.

I might be passing too much judgement on the 500 dollar race car concept, but I like a nice car and the engineering behind it as well.

Not to mention all the safety equipment (cage, tires, wheels, brakes, seats, harness, etc) not included in the $500.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2013 06:29

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

aventari posted:

Anyone interested in a track day on March 30th/31st at Buttonwillow?

http://www.ncracing.org/ are the guys running it, I've never heard of them before, but they can't be worse than Xtremespeed

I'm just going Saturday and I'll be in the Open class

I've run them a few times. They're pretty good, except for for novices.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2013 02:20

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

kill me now posted:

Have a track day cued up for the 12th and surprise surprise the weather forecast is calling for rain. This will be the 5th time I've been to this NJMP Thunderbolt and would be the 3rd time its rained while I was there.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother scheduling days before late May at a northeastern track.

Rain just lowers the consumables costs.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2013 06:05

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

ColdPie posted:

Anyone here used Carbotech brakes? I bought a set of XP-8s for using a couple times a year at HPDEs. The official FAQ says you need to purchase new rotors to properly bed in and use the brakes. I'm wondering if that's mostly CYA BS or if it's worth the . Reports on the Internet are conflicting, so I thought I'd turn to you trusty folks.

I've only used them in conjunction with other carbotech brakes. I'd imagine that having other brake pad deposits on the rotor could impact the bed in process.

# ¿ May 10, 2013 04:07

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

G-Mach posted:

That was kind of my point that I really didn't get across or explain very well. At my local autox I can get 8-10+ plus runs which helps. I can't imagine wasting a day only getting 3 autox runs in so I can see were doing a chumpcar race would be much better in terms of dollar/experience per hour ratio. If you are only able to get 3 runs in for autox I'd rather just do lapping days then.

Then, again during the winter I do time attack/practice on a 1-2ish mile road course on frozen lakes. I probably spend 6+ hours on the weekends on the ice which isn't something the average enthusiast experiences. So my experience is different than most.

Weekend ice racing schedule:
Friday: 8PM-2AM practice
Saturday: 10AM-8PM practice
Sunday: 8AM-6PM timed runs ($25 to run)

There is also a circle track right next to the road course to practice on as well.

I actually think of all non-HPDE stuff, Ice did the most to make me a better track driver. Smooth means a whole different thing on ice.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2013 07:12

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Sab669 posted:

Have any goons been to Watkins Glen in New York? I'm moving to Buffalo soon, looks like that's the only track that isn't just a stupid loving oval.

Never been there, but it is a legend. I've heard the surface is fairly rough.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2013 04:07

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

grover posted:

ZII and Rivals really like it cold. I wouldn't say they get greasy, but ZII clearly has the best sweet spot "warm" and grip drops off a few tenths when it gets hot- both ZII and Rival are considered to be pretty decent track tires, especially for time trials when you have time to let them cool between runs, but definitely more geared towards autocross. RS3 is more formulated for hot temps; they need some heat in them to work properly but generally hold up to the heat better.

Any of the three would be fine for mixed use; the decision points going to be climate, car, and what you prioritize. You'd likely want a different tire in Arizona, say, than Seattle.

Is the RS3 the best current street tire for dealing with heat? Tracking a 3400 wagon in California is an interesting tire challenge.

nm fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Jan 12, 2014

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 03:49

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Phone posted:

AFAIK, the R-S3s are good, but the Rivals are better on a lighter car. My main complaints about the R-S3s is that they're pretty quiet and terrible under braking whereas the Rivals act more like an NT-01.

I'm getting rivals for the Mazda when they come back into stock, but the Legacy needs tires ASAP. The last tire I think I was happy with on the legacy on teh track was the RE-01Rs. My current tires are worn out Starspecs which neither had the sidewall nor the heat tolerance I wanted.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 04:48

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

grover posted:

For autocross, yes, but RS3 have weak sidewalls compared to the other top tires; heavy cars tend towards ZII or Rivals for autocross.

I need sidewalls, but not greasy. How are the RE-11A sidewalls?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 05:01

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Despite the soft side walls, I just bought some RS-3s. They were quite a bit cheaper than RE-11as. We'll see how that goes, I guess I can always add more air!

# ¿ Jan 20, 2014 01:42

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Why is it that every speedventures event I hear of has a crash of some sort?
I've only been to one event where a car got crashed -- a rain day at blackhawk farms.
Is there something up with the clientele or is the roval just dangerous?

# ¿ Feb 17, 2014 23:17

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Phone posted:

I'll be sure to tell that to everybody else I see this year running Rivals, including myself.

Light cars no care about tires.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2014 07:05

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

c355n4 posted:

Higher boiling point.

Superblues numbers are not all that impressive for a track fluid. The main benefit is easy bleeding.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2014 04:40

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

RCEs are KWs, though they may have slightly different valving and spring rates.
I have RCEs (and have for 70k mi, with one recent free rebuild) and I'm quite happy. One good thing about new KW/RCEs is they come with free rebuilds for the orginal buyer.

Also, you don't really need to remove them in the winter. KWs, excepting the 1s, are stainless. Grease the poo poo out of the moving parts before winter and go to town. I even did ice racing on mine.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2014 01:17

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

rotard posted:

I'm guessing you haven't seen this years schedule...

Anyone have an opinion on carbotech 10s or even 12s on a heavier track car. I've got to decide on tack pads for my sti in a few weeks and there price is rather attractive

XP10s for street tires is probably good to 3500lbs or so. R-comps, I'd want more.
They're good pads though.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2014 04:12

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

eriddy posted:

What do you guys think about HPS pads? They seem like a good upgrade to the current OEM pads on my 2007 GTi and I can use them on the street as well as the few track days I do each year. Am I wrong for thinking this? Any recommendations for a single set of pads that are better than OEM but also not strictly for the track?

HPS aren't even good street pads.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2014 02:47

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

Phone posted:

Don't buy the HP+ for the track. Buy a set of HT-10s and just swap them out the night before. A brake pad change only takes like 20 minutes.

Exactly. This is why I don't have a good answer to this as dedicated track pads are a much better idea. You're going to be bleeding your brakes before the track day (right?), so it isn't like you're not going to be doing something. What does a GTI weigh? Like 3300lbs? That isn't that light for a track car.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2014 07:22

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 13:01

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

SlapActionJackson posted:

I would recommend the full-face versions.

I would not on a closed car. I did that and I've regretted ever hot, stuffy, glasses fogging moment of it.

Yes, once you are caged and what not, it is a good idea, but as an entry level track day and autocross helmet, do open face. In a non-caged, airbag on, just using a seatbelt case, the helmet is just really for insurance anyhow. It isn't going to make a huge difference if you crash.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2014 06:32

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > The track day and racing thread

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