First Track Day

[GlazierGlaze]

Hello everyone -

I'm very new to the track day experience and will be heading out to Autobahn Country Club here in Chicago in July. I've been looking into some pre-track day safety precautions and misc. items.

Some questions:

-I've been told that the brake caliper paint (Dark Blue) turns green from the heat up front. Any way to keep this from happening?

-I'm thinking of switching my brake lines to SS lines as a safety precaution. I know quite a few people think the stock lines are sufficient, however, I daily the car 6 months out of the year, and I'd assume I have a bit more use than most of the people out there tracking.

-I'm looking into dedicated track pads, specifically SPC 08s for the fronts. Any comments or additional suggestions? Also going to do a brake fluid flush and switch to Castrol SRF.

-Track day insurance - Stockton?

-Tires - Right now I have 265/285 RE11s... guessing these will get roasted in 1 day?


Anything else I should know about or be worried about? Very nervous, but also very excited. Thank you!

[YMB_M3]

1) I am certain that you are not going to change the color of your calipers on your first track day, especially not on street tires. Don't worry about this.

2) No need for SS lines, I daily my car year round and have done 25 track days so far with no issues. If you want to upgrade anything before your first day you can replace your OEM brake fluid with a high temp fluid. I recommend Castrol SRF.

I would even hold off on purchasing track pads until you are sure you are going to continue the hobby. The OEM pads should be sufficient for a novice, but it is something you will want to upgrade in the next few track days.

You also won't burn through a set of RE11s in one day as a first timer (or have too much wear), but make sure that you are running proper hot tire pressures throughout the day.

3) Get an instructor, don't drive over your head, and don't get too upset when a Miata passes you- it's inevitable on your first track day lol.

[bd307]

This is very true

Originally Posted by YMB_M3

1) I am certain that you are not going to change the color of your calipers on your first track day, especially not on street tires. Don't worry about this.

2) No need for SS lines, I daily my car year round and have done 25 track days so far with no issues. If you want to upgrade anything before your first day you can replace your OEM brake fluid with a high temp fluid. I recommend Castrol SRF.

I would even hold off on purchasing track pads until you are sure you are going to continue the hobby. The OEM pads should be sufficient for a novice, but it is something you will want to upgrade in the next few track days.

You also won't burn through a set of RE11s in one day as a first timer (or have too much wear), but make sure that you are running proper hot tire pressures throughout the day.

3) Get an instructor, don't drive over your head, and don't get too upset when a Miata passes you- it's inevitable on your first track day lol.

[redpriest]

The progression is: blue -> green -> black. Mine are both charred over, lol. You have to be using track pads and really working it to get it that way, I would imagine.

Use RLI for track day insurance - Lockton is only cheaper if you buy in bulk, and I don't think even then. I used to use Lockton extensively, but they started adding tons of exclusions. I think you'll be fine on those RE-11s - like others have said, you have to watch pressures like a hawk. 40 hot is too much, I like to aim for mid 30s hot.

[Pic18]

I agree with the others but would actual recommend getting track pads (Pagids/PFC) even though it is your first time (assuming you know how/are comfortable changing pads yourself).

The reason I say this is that if you do get comfortable and push the car a bit, or the track is a brake heavy, you could get some pad smear with the stock pads that leads to uneven deposits. Assuming you leave it in MDM mode, this issue will only be exacerbated as the traction control will also use the brakes heavily. If you do get deposits it can lead to brake judder and be a pain to get rid of and ultimately lead to you buying track pads to "clean" the rotors anyways.

There is a lot of "what if's", but I think the pads are a good upgrade and likely solid investment to avoid most braking issues. My only other advice, as cheesy as it sounds, is that smooth is fast. Except for straight line braking (where you can be aggressive) try and make all inputs smooth to avoid upsetting the car. Jerky movements not only slow you down but hurt the experience as traction/stability will kick in more aggressively and make the ride not as enjoyable.

[Wizard11]

In addition to prepping the car, prep yourself. Drive the track with a simulator, do a goggle search to see where you can find one in your area. I find YouTube videos helpful too, its not the same as driving the actual course, but it does give you some idea of the track and how fast the corners come up, braking points etc. When you get to the track you will already have some idea of the track and will learn more from the instructor.

[GlazierGlaze]

Thank you for all the feedback!

I'm actually planning to hopefully have Stefan from Zima Motorsports in the car with me (he instructs with the group I would be using for the track day). I will reconsider the lines, but I think for sure flush and pads will go on. I'm comfortable changing the pads myself.

Planning to drive in MDM, I have Euro MDM coded on my car. I was wondering, should I consider flashing back to stock for my first times out? I have BM3's stage II tune on my car.

[IrvineTim]

Originally Posted by YMB_M3

1) I am certain that you are not going to change the color of your calipers on your first track day, especially not on street tires. Don't worry about this.

2) No need for SS lines, I daily my car year round and have done 25 track days so far with no issues. If you want to upgrade anything before your first day you can replace your OEM brake fluid with a high temp fluid. I recommend Castrol SRF.

I would even hold off on purchasing track pads until you are sure you are going to continue the hobby. The OEM pads should be sufficient for a novice, but it is something you will want to upgrade in the next few track days.

You also won't burn through a set of RE11s in one day as a first timer (or have too much wear), but make sure that you are running proper hot tire pressures throughout the day.

3) Get an instructor, don't drive over your head, and don't get too upset when a Miata passes you- it's inevitable on your first track day lol.

What he said except, IF A MIATA PASSES YOU, sell your car, you do not deserve your M

[clutchdj]

Stay in mdm and work your way up. Move your seat up. If it feels uncomfortable then you are probably in a good seat position. Legs should still have a slight bend WITH the brake pedal fully compressed. You should not be able to lock your knee under full braking. 90deg bend at your elbows. With arms stretched out, your wrists should be able to dangle across the top of the steering wheel. Head should be about a hand width away from the Roof (~4"). S55 has a flat torque curve so remember the more steering angle, the less throttle you use. As you straighten out the wheel you can roll back on. Someone mentioned it but definitely get an instructior than can identify all clipping points for you. Have fun.

[///Mongo]

I've done three track days completely stock. I am now ready for track pads and I will probably need new tires after the next track day (the shoulders on my front two tires are showing significant wear). You really don't need anything but a helmet the first couple of times.

For what it's worth, I used MDM the first day after which I turned traction control completely off. Off is the way to go.

[GlazierGlaze]

Do you guys have your rotors cut each time you swap out pads?

[Pic18]

Originally Posted by GlazierGlaze

Do you guys have your rotors cut each time you swap out pads?

When you say cut do you mean resurface? If that is the case no and to the best of my knowledge you cannot resurface drilled rotors. Basically the issue with swapping pads comes down to re-bedding the brakes. Most track pads have a short bed in process that includes a set of repeated almost stops followed by a cool down period, while street pads are usually bedded in over time in normal driving (both processes differ by pad and manufacturer).

If you plan to swap you can change pads a day or so before and try and bed (or bed in your first track session). After the track day/weekend you usually would leave the track pads on a day to a few days to "clean" the rotors then go back to street pads and bed if necessary.

[GlazierGlaze]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback provided. I went out yesterday and had an absolute blast. It's addicting, the car performs so well at speed. Suspension is really bang on, planted and good feel of what the car is doing.

I had four sessions of 30 mins each. Session one I was just getting the hang of the line, but by session two, I was blasting away focusing on my brake point and rolling into the throttle out of turns. The instructor I was with was really top notch, looking forward to working with him again in the future.

Prior to heading out I had the brakes flushed with Castrol SRF, installed SS lines from Challenge Motorsport, and installed PFC 08s up front. I started noticing a tiny bit of brake fade heading into session 3 and then some more in session four. Temps were around 86 degrees with the sun beating down on the track all day, so by the time I got out there for my last session mid afternoon, track was pretty hot. Admittedly, I forgot to bleed my tires down a bit further heading into session four and ended up running close to 36lbs at about 130 degrees on each tire. I was targeting 34/35 per tire. Not sure if this impacted my driving that much, but in my last session, I was pushing fairly hard (including setting 3 of my best lap times for the day) and had just passed some of the back marker cars in my session for the 2nd time when I spun the car coming into North 7 turn too hot. I ended up putting both fronts and my left rear off track. Back end snapped around and I naturally panicked before trying to correct and couldn't catch it in time. Thankfully, I was able to avoid getting too far off the track as the tire wall on the inside of that turn was about 100 feet from the inside edge. Learning experience to say the least, perhaps partially contributed to by my tires, but I think largely due to confidence and I was struggling to hit the apex in that corner most of the day and was hellbent at carrying speed while hitting the apex there my last session out.

Overall, my instructor said that he was hugely impressed with my performance for my first day out and recommended moving up to intermediate. He said that I naturally have quite a bit of talent in terms of where I put the car on the track, and said that if stick with it, I could be one of the really good ones. I was very happy with that. Going forward, have to work on smoothing out my braking and coming off throttle. Registered for two more events before the winter.

Cheers!