Private Track Day - What Would Sau Do?

[lilcrash]

Yep definitely go learn some skills in your own car, no better way be safe on the road.

[Tangles]

From a Stagea driver (only daily) who's experienced Mallala's ups and downs.

DO NOT use your stagea UNLESS you have an after market engine oil cooler.

DO NOT use your stagea UNLESS you have track-orientated brake pads.

1st time out I had no brake pads after the second 20min session, 3rd session was metal on metal, and squeeled my way home at lunchtime.

2nd time out had QFM A1RM track pads & they were fine, but cooked the engine in the 3rd session. Home at lunchtime again.

3rd time out damage had obviously been done when the oil/water boiled, ringlands were weakened, within half an hour the engine had blown. Brakes and cooling were excellent tho by this point, but as said damage was already done.

Been without the car since April (drove it a cple times until it wouldnt go any further). Should finally have it back end next week. The costs involved in rebuilding the bottom end has hit me hard, as being a pensioner I cant afford my mortgage (house has been for sale since Feb, under contract for 5months but no end in sight yet. Need to sell to payout the loan, payout the exwife, and have some funds to put me through Medical Science uni studies starting next year). Plus being on a horrible medication called Fentanyl - 80x strength of heroin - mentally it all got to me a fair bit. Got off the meds 3weeks ago and life is looking up again (once the bank is off my back).

In short you Must have: excellent track quality brake pads at a minimum, excellent water cooling & oil cooling. Otherwise you could be playing with fire. If you cant afford to break it then maybe best not to use the car (as Ive found out the hard way).

[Sage222]

id hire a xr6 turbo

bring it back with no rubber!

[KiwiRS4T]

Like Tangles said - if you have the opportunity to use someone else's car do it!

Apart from the fact that a car which may seem fast on the road will not necesarily be competetive on the track and you have a good chance of blowing more than the turbo if you are not carefull.

Your tyres will pack up after a couple of laps - if your pads last long enough you may experience fade or loss of pedal because of the old brake fluid. Everything will get really hot....if you get really into it you will spend most of the time with your foot flat on the accelerator or hard on the brakes. The Mini Cooper, Porsche and any Falcon turbos will leave you in their wake.

Having said that I am a great fan of track days and strongly recommend them if your car is properly prepared. Its just that if you haven't been before it would be great to try it out in a car that isn't yours to see what is involved.

If you do decide to use your own go to the DIY section where there is a "how to prepare your car for a track day" article. And try to get at least a stronger rear anti roll bar installed before you go.And change your oil for a quality fully synthetic oil such as Motul or Agip - a real synthetic is more able to withstand higher temperatures.

[Grungle]

Thanks Kiwi and Tangles, good to hear some other opinions. Those are many of reasons why I asked in the first place - I wasn't sure if they were real concerns or just me being too careful.

My car already has front and rear sway bars courtesy of Dale.

The brake disks were machined earlier in the year. I'll have to check if the pads were done, but changing pads isn't difficult.

100,000km service was done this year by a reputable workshop and was supposed change ALL fluids, I'll check what was done. It needs an oil change now anyway, and I've got 300V sitting around here somewhere.

A trans/oil cooler sounds like a good idea anyway, so I'll look into that one too.

I'm aware that the ARX is a long way from a track car, but this seems like a great opportunity to give it a try. The day is really all about driver training with some quick sessions to put it all together - it's not going to be a full day of thrashing. I'll be able to grab one of the hire cars if I really want to go hard or if the stagea gets too hot.

I'll check out the DIY section too, hadn't thought of that.

I'm told the SV6's can hit 200 down the back straight...

[KiwiRS4T]

Make sure you use the last lap to cool down - no boosting, allow air to pass through your radiator, intercooler, brakes etc.

Put some spare fuel in the car (take it out while you're racing of course) - you will be surprised how quickly you can empty your tank when you spend a lot of time at full throttle!

[Grungle]

So I survived. The stagea is wounded...

It started off well. We did 3 laps under 100km/h learning the layout then we were off. Body roll was minimal (thanks to the swaybars), and traction was great, but when things got serious the poor old ARX floated a bit.

For those not familiar with Mallala, the back straight has a 'kink' halfway along that I was hitting at about 160km/h. It's reasonably smooth, but the ARX was certainly feeling a bit floaty as it got through there at speed. It straightens up and you can keep going to 180, but it runs into a hairpin and by lap 5 the brakes were done.

I came in, did a few cool-down laps through the carpark and went back out. About 4 laps in the brakes were still ok, and with more confindence I hit the back straight flat out. At the end of the straight it hit the speed limiter at 180 (which unsettled it a bit), and I just managed to pull up for the hairpin with my foot on the floor. Through the "S" in front of the grandstand the steering went heavy and I pulled into the pits and gave it a rest for an hour while I took one of the SV6s out.

The commodore's suspension was much better than the ARX's, but it wasn't any quicker. The best I managed was 170 down the straight in the commodore, but the brakes pulled it up reliably for ~7 laps before it needed a cool down.

After lunch I took the stag out again, but it lasted all of 3 laps before the power steering went completely. I got around the rest of the track and parked it in the pits for 3 hours. The fluid in the reservoir cooled down eventually but it's still really heavy. It gets lighter at speed, but it's hard to park. I'll change the fluid and see if I can bleed it tomorrow.

Anyway, a great day in the end. We had my Stagea, 5 x SV6s, an SS ute, a HSV GTS, a GT3, the SAGE ute and a race spec Ford GT out there! Unfortunately the GT40 ended up in a wall just before lunch, but the driver didn't seem worried. He jumped back in his Aston Martin and left while the crew cleaned it up!

After I left a few of the guys ended up in the sand in the commodores - too clueless to realise they had no brakes left and still pushing for 180 down the back straight!

No pics of the stag sadly, I was the only one with a camera... No times either.

Edited November 24, 2011 by Grungle

[bigkevracer]

Exactly what Craig found too.

Solution: http://www.conceptzperformance.com/Cart/description.php?II=479&Car_Type=350Z&UID=20111124012321121.45.143.101

There are cheaper solutions (much cheaper), but it's shiny and has Nismo on it. Stillen do one too which looks pretty good.

I actually ordered one of these through g35parts.com a while ago but their system failed, order didn't get placed, they took a month of nagging to get back to my email and tell me what was going on before telling me it was a 2 month wait to get one.

I'm actually thinking of putting an order in with Concept Z shortly if you're interested?

I was a bit worried when you said the Stag was wounded, but no big deal!

What brakes are you running, out of interest?

[PN-Mad]

FYI, looks exactly the same from the pic to whats on the front of my car.

Try to look for a V35 wrecking, and give them a few bucks for it- save your $160.

[bigkevracer]

I think the Nismo looks a little longer, but I can't see why that V35 one wouldn't suffice.

Is that the standard V35/PM35 cooler? Have you had it on a track?

[PN-Mad]

Yeah, its stock, I haven't had it on the track. Yet...

Really, its just a name/badge that nismo thing. You could get a small PWR auto tranny cooler, plumb that in and still be $70 ahead. Got no idea if running it too cold would effect it, but hey, its just a random thought.

[bigkevracer]

Well my thinking is it might be designed for the car and easier to bolt in... Now I'm thinking M35s won't have the mounting point those kits are relying on!

Cheers for the heads up... will check it out!

[Grungle]

I was a bit worried when you said the Stag was wounded, but no big deal!

What brakes are you running, out of interest?

Yeah, I finished the day better than the GT and the SV6s! Hopefully I can sort out the power steering easily.

Stock brakes. Recently refaced the disks and ran new QFM HPX pads. Didn't change the fluid though - I probably should have but ran out of time.

I'm unlikely to track it again, so I won't bother with the cooler. This was just a good opportunity to see how hard it went.

If I was paying for the day and wanted to do more than 10 laps I would have been a bit disappointed - the power steering cooler is a must for anyone tracking their M35 unfortunately.

It was surprisingly stable with the HICAS too - I was expecting it to be all over the place, but it felt quite light. It turned in better than the commos.

[slippylotion]

What size outlet does the cooler need for the power steering?

[KiwiRS4T]

You can use any cooler for the power steering e.g. the stock S1 auto cooler or a $10 oil cooler from the wreckers...

[Daleo]

You can use any cooler for the power steering e.g. the stock S1 auto cooler or a $10 oil cooler from the wreckers...

+1.

Mid 90's Magnas have a PS cooler that is a perfect size; with beaut isolastic mounts, and they're a bargain!