Trackday Preperation Questions

[Snoozin]

Semis on the the front, street tyres on the back is hilarious fun I must say... I ran the Honda like that and found it going sideways under acceleration as the rear couldn't keep up with the lateral grip the fronts were providing. That said, I actually ran faster times with street tyres all around.

[STR]

Where's that photo/slideshow thing of that Civic on mismatched tyres being turned into spare parts at Pukekohe when you need it ...

Not saying that's what *will* happen, but unless you're an old hand on the track, running lots more grip at the front can increase the risk of that sort of crash.

Is this the one you meant??


Have to say I agree on the getting matched tyres front. Sure, it'd be great fun to be drifting around the place, but Pukekohe isn't exactly a forgiving track when you run out of talent...

[Jdawg]

Friend with a tow rope

[Nuty|Mike]

was in the pits for that crash and missus was on otherside watching it come towards her. She wont even drive in the driveway of puke anymore.

Not worth the risk id say

[touge rolla]

A fire extinguisher, someones car usually catches fire.

[molex]

Many good suggestions here.

Having run grippier tires on the front in a couple of FWD cars around pukekohe, I wouldn't suggest anybody else give it a go.

With all due respect to touge_ae101 I don't think he's had much/any experience at pukekohe. When it goes wrong, it can go very wrong... much higher speeds + a couple of places with minimal/no runoff as well as uneven surface and potentially uneven grip levels.

Don't let that put you off however, just be respectful and don't pile in balls out to the sweeper on your first ever lap!

When were you planning on going? I'm going to be there easter weekend.

[Akane]

I think that honduh not only (possibly) run mismatched front and rear tyres, the driver (most likely) does not understand the traction breaking point of slicks are a lot different to road tyres...........

[ch4ng]

Wow, thanks for all the replies guys.

@ Molex: Ill be going on 23 April

@ Kinloud: Thanks. Ill stick to matched street tyres for now.

I found this a while back. Best if a track guru looks over it fist but that's what I'm going from.

http://planetsoarer.com/trackday/trackday.htm

...Street tyres aim for 38 psi cold...Tyres - pump up your street tyres to +45 psi - I know this sounds like a lot of pressure, but street tyres have softer sidewalls - they need the pressure to survive

That sounds like a lot of pressure

@ Touge_ae101: Looks like you like FWD drifting!
We have (sorta) similar cars. What tyre pressures have you run in street tyres (just to get an idea)

Im running 195/55R15[/quote]

[siren676]

Im going to the same track day. Ill hopefully see you there

[touge_ae101]

What tyre pressures have you run in street tyres (just to get an idea)

Im running 195/55R15

yeah i haven't been to puke before but been around manfeild and hampton downs quite a bit.

around 38psi sounds about right. i would check them again once they are warm and bring them down to about 38psi personally.
i have tried dropping them low but yeah not sure if it actually works like it does in a semislick tyre are they just end up overheating too quickly. going to a higher pressure felt a lot better.

if you want a really cheap/easy mod to do that will make your brakes last way longer, cut the stone guards out from the back of your discs. they hold the heat in something cronic and also do a better job at holding stones in where it is more likely to get caught up in the pad than anything else.

we measured it with a thermocouple between my brake temp and Robcam's brakes at megameet (same rotors/calipers) and mine were significantly cooler. made a huge difference and makes road pads last way longer.

[ch4ng]

@ siren, yep see you there!

@touge_ae101: good tip, ill look into that when i get my car up on the hoist in prep for the track.

Got a little list to do now.
Bleed brakes
Rotate tyres
Power steering flush (been putting off since I bought the car)
Remove brake backing plates

Really appreciate all this info guys, cheers

[siren676]

Quick question, can you pass a wof without backing plate/dust covers?

[ch4ng]

Will endeavour to find out tomorrow at work

[siren676]

cool, I may need to remove mine as i have put in bigger disks
and had to bend it back a bit

[RobertC]

touge did you notice an improvement running the higher pressures? I remember at MM i was running 30 psi front and 28 psi rear hot. And i thought you were running similar. (I had loads more grip than when I was running 40 psi hot) On street tyres as well.

[cogent]

wish I could find that post by coryn about how you NEED second hand v8 supercar race slicks otherwise there is no point in going to the track.

[touge_ae101]

touge did you notice an improvement running the higher pressures? I remember at MM i was running 30 psi front and 28 psi rear hot. And i thought you were running similar. (I had loads more grip than when I was running 40 psi hot) On street tyres as well.

yeah i have been advised since then to try higher pressures and it seems to work awesome! it is a different feeling though going to higher pressures the car is more skaty than planted with the lower pressures but i suppose slow to react.

[Stupra]

Video Camera & stop watch.
Get a mate to record your laps and film stuff. Good for recording the good memories of an awesome days racing, promo girls if any and of course having a laugh at the unfortunate crashes and rolls

[molex]

I'll be there and will have incar camera + GPS based telemetry if anybody is interested in really improving their times

[Chelles]

i tend to dissagree. i had semi's on the front for the first 5 or so track days when i first went to the track and only stopped using them cause they wore out to the point where they aren't a lot better than a road tyre.

I tend to disagree: I've run semi slicks on both my race cars, have for the best part of 10 years and find that they are far superior in grip to good road tyre (been there and done that). A good quality semi slick (not Falken Azenis) is going to last longer under extreme driving, be more consistent in heat capabilities (if correct tyre pressures are used) and they are designed for fanging about on the track.
Oh and did I read that right? You only ran semi slicks on the front...

Track driving and road driving are very different.

The biggest thing I recommend you take is your 'sense of self preservation'... have fun, learn and take your car home in one piece.