Prepairing For Track Day!

[Baysidebluebnr34]

Hi all,

I will be going to time attack track day (www.timeattack.com.au).

It's going to be Hot!

So, next next thing is to prepair the car, what to do?

[Bunta]

Flush brake fluid, Buy an oil cooler and flush the coolant too!

[hrd-hr30]

-check your brake pads before you go. QR will use a bit of your pads up.

-new brake fluid is a good idea as Bunta said. and it probably wouldn't hurt to use a good 600deg fluid in whatever brand you like.

-if you have time, it certainly won't hurt to run some ducting to the front brakes - QR is hard on brakes.

if you are pushing hard on normal street pads you will more than likely get brake fade before the end of your 5 hot laps. if that happens, don't panic, there is stil a surprising amount of retardation available even if the pedal is on the floor, but a few pumps would help too. back off, but stay out on the track to help cool the brakes with some airflow over them. just make sure to keep an eye on your mirrors and wave people past on the straights.

-make sure your coolant system (incl hoses and belt) is in good condition before you go. it will be HOT out there on the track in November. Might not hurt to take some coolant with you just in case the car gets a bit hot on the track.

-change your oil if its anywhere near being due for it, or if its a very 'thin' oil. Due to the heat out there you will probably want to go to an oil with a slightly higher hot viscosity than you need for the street. Do R34 GT-R's suffer from oil surge like the R32 GT-R does? I always run an extra litre in my car for this purpose, but you might need to ask someone who knows the 34's better.

-oil cooler is a very good idea, but not essential for 5 laps.

-oil catch can could be a very good idea, but normally is only a problem with high revs and high cornering G's, which isn't really an issue if you're on street tyres.

other than that, on the day make sure you start with plenty of fuel and have checked your oil, water, and tyre pressures before you start. On most road tyres I'd be running something like 35-38psi on the track. And you can expect the front left to cop a hiding!

remove your spare and jack from the boot, and the babyseat could probably come out too

When you park in the pits after a run, do not pull the handbrake on - it can cause rotors to cool unevenly and warp/crack through conduction with the contact of the pads, wether they are drum inside the rotors or use the calipers. It's also a good idea for the same reason to roll the car back or forward a couple of feet every few minutes until the brakes have cooled off a bit.

Also pop the bonnet when you stop in the pits - it will let alot of heat out of the engine bay.

On your cool down lap (which is nothing like enough to cool everything down), keep your speed up enough to encourage airflow through the rad & engine bay, and over the brakes. Use the brakes on your cool down lap, but only very gently - this will help dissipate some heat out of them better than staying off the brakes entirely.

you'll have a ball! Paul runs a very well organised day, and its good fun being there with all the other Skylines and other imports.

[smurf80]

Thats is probably one of the best posts I have ever read.

Cheers

Chris

[frankxinyu]

very educational.......

as for the oil surge, how likely is it to happen?? should i at least get a sump baffle kit befoe i start going hard??? what about oil pump?? how long would the stock one last?? heard some nasty stories abou the N1 pumps recently, makes me wonder.....

[djr81]

very educational.......

as for the oil surge, how likely is it to happen?? should i at least get a sump baffle kit befoe i start going hard??? what about oil pump?? how long would the stock one last?? heard some nasty stories abou the N1 pumps recently, makes me wonder.....

Oil surge will happen if you don't have enough oil in the sump. So over fill it.

You don't need a baffle.

Stock one should outlast the rest of the engine.

Stories about N1 pumps only surface when the install is done incorrectly, don;t worry about it.

Also, when you get back to the pits leave the motor on with the bonnet up & let it idle for a few minutes - this keeps things circulating & will help cool it all down.

[hrd-hr30]

best thing you can do for the longevity of your oil pump and the drive collar is to stay off the harsh factory rev limiter.

franky, it will be fine with an extra litre of oil in the sump. No need for sump baffles for the occassional track day - especially if its on street tyres. Even on semi slicks it will be fine. that's how I've been running my car.

[r_speedfreak_r]

hey i got a general question for track use. what tyre pressures will give the best grip and agility. I run 40psi everyday but i was thinking a lower tyre pressure would give more contact surface area. however lowering tyre pressure too much would sacrifice steering response time and run the risk of rolling the tyre off the wheel am i right?

[frankxinyu]

best thing you can do for the longevity of your oil pump and the drive collar is to stay off the harsh factory rev limiter.

franky, it will be fine with an extra litre of oil in the sump. No need for sump baffles for the occassional track day - especially if its on street tyres. Even on semi slicks it will be fine. that's how I've been running my car.

cheers, i will be doing my turbos soon, and the engine will come out to make everything easier. then i can do something about my oil control just to stay on the safe side of it...lol

as for the rev limiter, i have never hit it with the way i drive it......never since i got the car, so it is a good sign,lol

[maccattack]

hey i got a general question for track use. what tyre pressures will give the best grip and agility. I run 40psi everyday but i was thinking a lower tyre pressure would give more contact surface area. however lowering tyre pressure too much would sacrifice steering response time and run the risk of rolling the tyre off the wheel am i right?

Keep your pressure where they are. You are right about rolling a tyre off the rim, which can happen if pressures with street tyres are too low and you catch a ripple strip at the wrong angle. 35-40psi ensures you have good sidewall tension and don't get the tyre folding under itself.

[r33_racer]

100mph tape over your balancing lead. Vibrations can take your confidence out of the car.

With semi slicks we used to run 26psi cold. After a few laps they would grow to about 32-35psi. This will happen easily in summer obviously cause of higher ambient temp and track temp.

Cooling efficiency is of the utmost importance especially in summer, so think logical as to what is going to get hammered by the heat in your engine bay: wiring, i/c hoses, water, oil and vacuum hoses/lines. People with aftermarket management, chances are in the heat knock may and probably will starts occuring so if you can be aware of the engine warning light or handcontroller be prepared to retard ignition timing a few degrees to help save those rings/pistons. Last thing you want to do is push your car to limit safely on the track and it starts rattling because the tune is near the limit. In my experience so far whatever the highest knock was on the dyno whilst tuning, on the track it is about 30-40 higher!

Edited September 27, 2006 by r33_racer

[jmac]

I also use some octane booster. This is possibly controversial in some quarters but for me it worked great, got rid of my knock values on the PFC entirely (never see one over about 24 now). I use Nulon Pro Strength Octane Booster at the recommended strength (one bottle/tank). You can get it at any Supercheap or Repco, about $21 a bottle.

Also my car CHEWS fuel like you wouldn't believe. Last track day I did probably 90% of the sessions (missed the Sportsman sessions due to failed HICAS lock bar) and got through a full tank of fuel (65L) and almost all of the extra fuel I brought with me (40L). So I'd recommend picking up a couple of the larger 20L jerry cans, stick a little octane booster in 'em, fill em up and stick em in the back seat so you're not having to do a dash to the nearest servo with 98 octane half-way through the day. Those with factory tunes might not use QUITE so much fuel though, lol.

Another good tip for getting my water temps under control was simply to send the radiator away to get reconditioned. Costs about $100. My car's only a '98 but the rad was pretty full of crap and now I only start to see the needle get past half-way on lap 5, whereas before I had to back off on lap 3 for a cool-down. I'm also using Redline Wetter Water which seemed to help too.

[jmac]

100mph tape over your balancing lead. Vibrations can take your confidence out of the car.

Never heard of this before! Care to elaborate a little? ('scuse the iggorance)

[Col-GTSX]

Thought about this topic quite a bit the other night...

I thought most has been said, but i just wanted to add that I personally take lunch...

Most important to take lunch... There is no food at QLD raceway and you need to come with the esky and some sandwich's...

With out lunch you cannot have a good day...

This is a serious post as i have been to a trackday with no food before...

[r33_racer]

if your rims are balanced with lead weights when you get new tyres fitted to them, after some racing when the rims get extroadinarily hot from the all the laps plus the high speeds they can fly off and then your wheels go out of balance and you get vibrations through the steer. So racing trick is to stick some 100mph tape over them to hold them onto the rims Though slicks with all the peel build up will also cause vibrations until it runs off as well incase anyone is running full slicks and cant work out why they are getting steering vibrations with their lead still attached. After a lap or two it runs off on its own so if your too lazy to rub it all off then no dramas.

We also use the octane booster, but it only drops our knock by about 10 points, but it also depends on how much you get normally from the tune. So obviously it will vary from car to car. Weve been using the Martini one.

Edited September 28, 2006 by r33_racer

[r_speedfreak_r]

Cool, this topic has been ver helpful. One last question i only got a very average amount of power at the rear wheels but i still cant seem to get the power to the ground powering out of corners it always just ends up as a bit of a drift. Would the best option be A just put up with it and go hard B put the stocko's on the rear, your only gonna fry the tyres anyway might as well help save the hip pocket or C Power later when your car body line is straighter.

[r33_racer]

adjust rear suspension, whether spring rates, swaybar settings

adjust ride height possibly

try some larger rear tyres if budget can allow it

try to power on a little later on in the corner exit

different gearing if possible, try a gear up whilst exiting a corner if ratio and power is too low and high for that particular corner

If you change to stockos you will only ruin your times everywhere then which is no fun. Try to change your cars setup to aid in faster corner exits or try and play with your driving style and see what works and what doesnt.

[51jay]

Thought about this topic quite a bit the other night...

I thought most has been said, but i just wanted to add that I personally take lunch...

Most important to take lunch... There is no food at QLD raceway and you need to come with the esky and some sandwich's...

With out lunch you cannot have a good day...

This is a serious post as i have been to a trackday with no food before...

Good point...lunch + plenty of fluids (non alcoholic ) is very important

Just to keep things in perspective our TOR car GTS25T has nil engine mods, we added an oil cooler and lost the muffler...thats all. We do have a modified suspension, Rotors were stock with red stuff pads f/r.

The car ran 127 laps of the Nat circuit in the Qld 500 with absolutely nil problems. The tires lasted , the pads lasted....just. The Skyline basicly is a good reliable car and CAN take a bit of a thrash without getting your knickers all knotted up. Going as fast as you can on shitty tires is just as much fun as it is on good tires. The main thing is to actually get out there and enjoy...not ..waiting until you have got this done or that done. If you can drive a stock GTST to it's limmit you will be quicker than a lot of modded cars and a few GTRs.....Have fun with YOUR car

See you out there

[r33_racer]

Yeh but the trick is actually being able to safely push the stock car to the limit and be able to hold it there all the time, rather then always pushing it over the limit and losing time. A modded car is alot easy to drive and hold near the limit so to say as its been built to do that.

[r_speedfreak_r]

cool, thanx for your help. One final question i re-read the timeattack website and it says when a car is behind you ready to overtake, you must indicate when they are clear to do so and not have a car next to you during a corner. When they are over taking are you suppose to back off the throttle so the over take can finish sooner & also since tail gating is dangerous how do you know if there wanting to overtake or they just happen to be similar speeds but may of had a better corner to take up the space? Since the whole day is based of consistence it would seem pretty stupid to be constantly slowing down to let others pass and then be slown down by them.

Edited September 29, 2006 by r_speedfreak_r