The track day and racing thread

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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."

parid posted:

Or just flip the visor up or remove it. That way you don't have to buy another helmet later.

I do that. Still sucks, especially if you have glasses.

Maybe I just have a sweaty head.

nm fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Apr 15, 2014

# ¿ Apr 15, 2014 02:59

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 04:25

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."

smelly cabin filter posted:

XP8s should be fine for a 1200kg ish car right? Or they should at least be better than a mix of DS2500s upfront and 4 year old carbotechs on the rear. Still after two trackdays i'm not noticing any fade, even though between the two events one caliper managed to stick which got hastily replaced.

Mind you the pedal went wicked long at the end it still didnt feel like i'd lost any retardation.

Enough if you're using them on streets. My brother uses them on his Rx-8.

# ¿ May 2, 2014 23:36

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."

smelly cabin filter posted:

I am currently, would they cope with something like an AD08R or an R1R?

Those aren't r-comps. My brother used them with star specs and RS-3s, which are similar. With real r-comps (R6s and the like), carbotech recommends going up a step generally.

# ¿ May 3, 2014 19:15

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."

Bumming Your Scene posted:

Track day cut short again by another valve stem busting a leak. Wtf? What is causing this?

Not using metal valve stems?

What are people using for logging these days?

# ¿ May 5, 2014 00:51

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:

Real or smartphone?

I switched from Trackmaster to RaceChrono and I've been happy with it. I'm looking at the AiM SoloDL in the future.

Real. My smartphone is pretty dumb.

The SoloDL looks pretty awesome. Something linked with a camera would be even cooler, but those all seem to cost $$$$.
Edit: Apparently you can hook one up. Awesome.

nm fucked around with this message at 01:04 on May 5, 2014

# ¿ May 5, 2014 00:56

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:

I've got an HPDE coming up at the end of May with my Z4. This will be my fourth HPDE, and third with this car.

I just called a reputable shop to schedule an alignment, and also asked them to do a tech inspection. I did this for a couple reasons. One, I haven't had an alignment for the car ever; I bought it in early 2012, so I have no idea where the alignment is at. Two, it was in a pretty bad accident while parked in March 2012, and I'd like another shop to double-check the repair work that was done back then, plus one of the track days requires a tech inspection anyway. And finally, I think I'd like a slightly more aggressive alignment for the 2-4 track days I expect to do this year and in the coming years.

I expect the shop will be able to give me some advice specific to the car, but just so I'm not going in completely clueless, does anyone have broad advice for a mostly-street-but-also-track alignment? Based off this short page, I expect I'm looking around -1 or -2 degrees camber and 0 toe on all four corners. Does this sound about right? Anything else I should have them do for the suspension or inspection while they've got it? I'm doing oil, brake fluid, and coolant myself this month, and I've already got a set of track pads and rotors.

Am I wasting my money on the alignment (around $150), and should just have them do the inspection (around $50 alone or free with the alignment)?

In Minneapolis, this is the only real place to go for an alignment unless something has changed.
http://www.thealignmentguy.com/
Also, you can be completely clueless and he'll still set up the car right.

# ¿ May 9, 2014 03:24

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."

TrueChaos posted:

My HP+'s have 4-5mm left. I've got a track day in a few weeks and am torn on if I should replace them or not. Thoughts?

I have been told, but not personally witnessed that pads with what would seem like reasonable life on the street are bad for the track because they can remove from the backing plate or something. Don't know if that is true or just an old wives' tale.

# ¿ May 13, 2014 06:19

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."

jamal posted:

Race cars can have a/c too.

Depends on how good the cooling system is. A lot of stock sports cars are not going to be happy if you go out and thrash them on track in 110 degree weather.

Basic things that will really help:

-aftermarket radiator
-more water than coolant
-real working coolant temp gauge

And maybe an aftermarket oil cooler. My LGT's oil temps got pretty high at Thunderhill in the summer.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2014 02:44

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."

M helmets don't have the fire retardant qualities. That said, there may be other differences, as a car accident in a caged car is a series of hits, while a motorcycle crash is generally one big hit.

I'd get an SA helmet, if not for safety (I still think it is a bit of a crock in an uncaged, airbaged car without HANS), because everyone takes SA.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2014 06:15

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."

NinjaTech posted:

Don't forget that you can change dampers too. Koni sports are typically what people go with.

You also get 1 sway bar.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2014 17:29

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."

nollij posted:

They drove it around for a day but considering they are so packed that getting the car put on the lift is like asking for Jesus to give you a hand job they probably just said "no odd noises among all the loud noises the car normally makes."

I only noticed it because after driving 160 miles back from the shop I noticed oil splatter on the back of my bumper/trunk.

Also, I should note that the transmission fluid is not leaking from the drain/fill plugs which was the first area I checked.

I should also note, my car sat out in the weather so the APR GTC-300 wing looks like a big pile of poo poo after sitting in the weather for 3 months. The clear coat on the entire top side of the wing is hosed. They pressure washed the wheels and sprayed off some of the stickers (Volk stickers that cost $100 to replace; don't actually care that much about this but... come on!).

If you pay these people for a new transmission and they don't fix it without complaint starting Monday, you should out these fuckers.
What a bunch of bullshit. loving internet famous shops are such a crapshoot.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2014 20:01

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."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Exactly. A 40psi max is really, really low too. Normally i see 50ish PSI.

FatCow posted:

Wrong thread bro.

Rivals feel way better on track.

Every single person I've talked to say Rivals get greasy on the track with anything heavier than a miata.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2014 06:16

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."

FatCow posted:

I track a Miata.

I track a front heavy wagon with front struts that get -1.5 degrees on a good day.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2014 19:49

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."

I love ncrc. So cheap. Not that novice friendly though if that applies.
I'd avoid buttonwillow and thill in the summer unless you have no choice and serious faith in your cooling system.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2014 07:48

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."

Ow, my tables

# ¿ Jan 11, 2015 06:47

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."

Low consumable costs.
I love rain days, but only on tracks without walls nearby to gently caress up your poo poo. And autoclub has a lot of walls.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 00:27

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."

Stardotstar posted:

Either that or, if my DD E46 wagon gets totaled, I'm going to buy a wrecked E46 M3 and swap everything over. I'd love to have a wagon as a track car, it's honestly wonderful to be able to drive to events.

Wagons are the best track cars if you're not towing it.
Wheels and tires and tools in the back is easy. Plus you can sleep in the back in a pinch or between run groups. Also, it is basically automotive trolling.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2015 04:37

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."

Neptr posted:

They always did, the idea was to switch from blue to gold so you knew when your system was flushed. They were the same except for the color

Yeah, but the wanna be racers always forgot about that. Super blue always seemed a bit more expensive than the gold for that reason.

# ¿ May 11, 2015 18:16

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."

Seat Safety Switch posted:

I thought it was blue and clear, not blue and gold. Maybe I'm wrong, because I was one of the wanna be racers who forgot that part.

It is yellowish.

# ¿ May 11, 2015 19:07

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."

Bumming Your Scene posted:

How much does life suck on OEM pads? (Stock brembos on a mustang track pack) Left my drat track pads at home.

Not long generally. If you melt your pads how do you plan to get home? Keep a close eye on them.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2015 20:48

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."

Wheels are a consumable if you track a lot and should be inspected every track day. High heat and high forces means something will fail eventually.
My SSR comps cracked after many many track days (previous owner did time attack stuff plus me). I discovered them after I believe I did a few autox runs. The difference is that the SSRs were well made enough that one of 5 spokes being cracked didn't cause a failue quickly enough to nit be discovered. You don't see OEM or high end failures because they get caught at tech or when changing tires/pads.
Cheap wheels may not fail as gracefully. Though cheap wheel owners are probably more likely to fudge thier techs too.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2015 00:56

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."

Phone posted:

I'm pretty sure the club I run with says that if you loop it, just go both feet in. You're not going to salvage the run, so just come to a safe, backwards stop is the best option.

Indeed. I would be curious to see the course design and the exact placement. A properly placed station shouldn't be hittable unless the driver tries to hit it. A lot of course designers cut corners and a lot of safety stewards let them get away with it (and my unwillingness to be one of those guys is why I not a safety steward anymore, because of an incident with the same region scca. . .).

# ¿ Nov 17, 2015 17:12

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."

Fatal accident at buttonwillow today (no details). Be careful out there.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2015 03:28

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."

Remember you're ripping out side airbags and airbag weight sensors in the seat when you swap seats in a modern car.
As a fairly tall guy myself, my recommendation is to try a new car (do you have a sunroof?), deal with the fact your head can't move much, or gangster lean. I've leaned toward the last two.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2016 07:17

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."

8ender posted:

The squeal when he hits the brakes sounds a lot like the metal brake wear tang hitting the rotors.

Some track pads just sound like that. My XP8s kind of sound like that when hot.
Also, no pads would still probably stop faster than that as the caliper would still provide some fiction (and the rear pads would probably be fine). i think someone boiled their fluid.
edit: Except it is making that noise when it fails to stop too. Maybe you're right.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2016 07:25

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."

ilkhan posted:

Speaking of helmets... I'm going to need one for autoX and track use within a couple weeks. Where do people go to even get a helmet? Moto shops would have M rated ones, but would they have AS2015 helmets?

No. The closest place I know to buy a motorsports helmet is at sears point, whcih has a shop that is open even when there are no events. There may be something closer, but I don't know of it.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2016 19:09

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."

ilkhan posted:

I'm waffling on the track day at Leguna next month. Would love to drive it, but its just expense after expense after expense.

Having done LS, it is totally worth it, even though I stayed at some lovely youth hostel (for 30bux) and didn't get any sleep.
Yeah, thill is way cheaper, but not as cool an experence. However, there's a reason I only did it once. The fuel is also even extra expensive if you buy it there.
The other cool thing about LS v. Thill is that you can do it in august without overheating everything in your car including the driver. I turned my ac on one thill day.
The best part about having done a bunch of trackdays in the past is it makes bikes look cheap.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2016 22:56

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."

Also his final comment is, well if he'd inspected them they wouldn't have broken. No poo poo. Wouldn't have meant he still wouldn't be out a set of wheels.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2016 17:05

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."

FatCow posted:

All lightweight alloy wheels will eventually fail under track use. 14 days is a fairly short, but I'm expecting to have to replace my 6ULs any time now.

14 days is extremrly short. That's like a season for some people.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2016 19:35

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."

Ether Frenzy posted:

Yeah, the fact the rest of that forum can't identify that a AMG C63 will be neck and neck with their own cars on any 0-60 run (and probably outpace it rather easily to 140) is kind of shameful, and reading chuckleheads fellate and whiteknight this dude reminds me just how terrible most automotive forums that aren't here are.

This is loving hilarious. I want to buy an E63 AMG wagon and troll mustangs on the track.

Not that I probably would have, but definitely not buying anything from vorshlag. This really tells you everything you need to know about the people who run it.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2016 22:28

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."

ilkhan posted:

Aren't the x63 cars twin turbo V12s with like 600 something horsepower and a torque curve that looks like a mesa?
They SHOULD be neck and neck with just about anything. Because wtf.

TT v8s, but yeah. They're fast as gently caress.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2016 00:45

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."

ilkhan posted:

What am I thinking of then? x65 was V12 and x63 was TT V8?

And just to mess with you earlier x63s were NA v8s (though they also made huge power. A bucket list car for me is an NA RWD E63 AMG wagon)

# ¿ Apr 18, 2016 01:25

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."

ilkhan posted:

I ended up not going to leguna yesterday.

I'm now considering a trip to thubderhill and a trip to leguna both in July at around $750 all told.
Wtf is wrong with me?

Hope you and your car have good cooling systems. Thill gets hot as balls in the summer. Done it once, would not reprat.
Lseca in the summer is sweet. Stay in salinas if you want to be cheap or the yha in monterrey if you want to be reeaaaally cheap (and not sleep).

I loved rain days on tracks with lots of run off. It forces you to be a way better driver and consumable costs are brought way, way down. Also if you have a subaru, you can gently caress with way faster cars -- "your rear wiper was taunting me" -- z06 driver.
The above is only true if you don't hit a tire wall.

nm fucked around with this message at 04:19 on May 18, 2016

# ¿ May 18, 2016 04:17

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."

ilkhan posted:

Scheduled July 10th for thunderhill as my first newbie track day. Gonna be hot.

Haha, nice knowing you.
Do you have an oil temp gauge and/or a real coolant temp gauge?
At least you're not FI (I think.) Wear wicking clothes and drink a gently caress ton of water.

# ¿ May 24, 2016 21:29

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."

ilkhan posted:

Getting anxious yet? Be nice if it cooled down a little for Sat. Im seeing a projected high of 88, which will be a little cooler than the rest of this week at least.

You guys are lucky as hell with this weather.

I haven't done Thill since the major redesign, but the only really scary part is the turn before the main straight. It doesn't look scary, but if you eat oversteer it will be into the beginning of the concrete wall. Everywhere else has a huge amount of run-off which is nice.

If you don't need 100 oct, the gas station in Willows is so much cheaper and a quick drive. Also bring wood for your jack stands, thill really, really cares about that.

If you're up there around dinner time (or lunch if you don't plan on doing anything after), Louis Cairo's is loving awesome if you like garlic (get the garlic bread). It is an old school rice baron restaurant and also the only good restaurant in the county(s).

# ¿ Jul 5, 2016 06:14

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."

What the gently caress is with the concrete walls right next to the track on a new track? I get at older tracks you need that because they were not designed for safety and cars going into oncoming traffic or whatever is bad. But seriously, when you design a new track, you can design for this little thing called run-off.
I hope their insurer is charging some heavy premiums.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2016 00:08

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."

um excuse me posted:

Has anyone had any luck find Puma Speed Cats in a store where I could actually try them on? It seems like they're very difficult online, and nearly impossible at a retail store.

Can't you just buy them at zappos? Free exchanges both ways.
Unless you're not murican, in which case, i'm sorry your country hasn't caught up to our ability to spend mass amounts on poo poo on the internet.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2016 06:50

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."

Bumming Your Scene posted:

I knew speedventures with Fastivus would be a poo poo show. It always is when you got those festivals sharing the venue. Someone wrecking in every single run group, run groups getting held back a slot because of that.. but the PA wasn't working so lots didn't know, so run groups got mixed up, yadda yadda. Before I even got in some dick in a ricer with a maaaasssive intercooler pays the gate fee and just rips some elevens away from the gate person, the autocross people were standing there like what in the gently caress was that? Bailed so early.

I only did auto-x with speedventures in fontana, but I was never impressed with them. Add a bunch of dubbers and well. . .

# ¿ Aug 15, 2016 04:28

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."

jamal posted:

Last time I pointed out something I thought was an issue at a nasa az event and then had three people gang up on me and say it was fine and that I'm wrong..

Reasons I'm no longer an SCCA safety steward #1-12.
One day someone's gonna own SFRSCCA after a lawsuit.

I know people think that lawsuits over autosports crashes are bullshit, but the poo poo they do they don't fix is kind of dumb.

nm fucked around with this message at 07:23 on Jan 15, 2017

# ¿ Jan 15, 2017 07:20

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 04:25

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 dunno. As a former SCCA safety steward, I always thought that if there was an accident at an autox that didn't involve massive driver failures (which may have happened here), there were some course design issues.
I've also seen a huge number of autox course design issues. No one seems to understand how far a car will travel even with feet in. And guess who gets to be the bad guy when they bring it up? (Hence the former, gently caress that bullshit, never ever again. Also, if you autox with the Sacramento SCCA you take your life in your hands unless poo poo has changed.)

# ¿ Jul 10, 2017 06:23

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

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