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nollij posted:Good luck! Ridge isn't so bad in the wet compared to portland. I still haven't gotten the car back sorted (needs a re-tune on replacement injectors).
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Jun 8, 2017 20:05
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What's a good brake fluid in TYOOL 2018 for a heavy car, street tires, and not wanting to constantly fiddle with maintenance? I expect to do a few track days a year in my stock Chevy SS and don't plan on pushing too hard, but figure new fluid is a good idea. Also, registered for SCCA Track Night at Auto Club Speedway on the infield course on 2/24.
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Jan 31, 2018 02:33
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Track Night in America has been well-run with a good focus on safety in the Seattle and SoCal areas: passing zones and required point-bys are strictly adhered to (marked straightaways only for Beginner & Intermediate, Advanced allows point-bys in other areas), and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for track time that already has some understanding of how to drive and behave on a track. The lack of in-car instruction means it wouldn't be my first choice for a complete novice, but I'd think some GT or Forza and a few autocrosses would be a good idea before a track day even with instructors. Also, most of the cars at TNiA are street cars if not DDs: make sure your car is safe and your brakes & tires can handle some heat, but you don't need to do a ton of prep. I'll be running with SCCA TNiA again in a couple weeks for Big Willow on 3/15, just waiting on Tire Rack / UPS to deliver my new wheels & tires: stock asymmetric staggered RE050s aren't awful, but the outside fronts are getting pretty beat up and I can't rotate them in any useful fashion. I'm pretty sure the 18x9.5s and 275/40-18 RS4s on their way will make this better, or at least give me more shoulder areas to kill before buying more tires.
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Mar 6, 2018 21:50
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I'd agree that SCCA Track Night is a good intermediate playground or refresher (at least on the West coast, based on Blaise's comments about safety procedures at their Northeast events), but I wouldn't recommend it to novices. A bunch of other supplementary experiences (autocross schools, video games, etc) might be good enough on their own, but having an instructor in the car is very valuable for your first track days. NASA AZ continues to be well organized, and I'm glad Arizona Motorsports Park has worked out noise compromises that allow it to be open.
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May 20, 2018 19:22
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BlackMK4 posted:Are you in Arizona? I am for this weekend: living in San Diego means it's 3 hours minimum to get to a track, so I decided to visit family + drive AMP. Did yesterday and the first 2 sessions today in HPDE 2, finishing out the day in 3.
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May 20, 2018 20:59
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Pacific Raceways does in fact eat cars: last I talked to the event director that runs SCCA Track Night there they've started mentioning the repaved section that ate a Camaro in the advanced group on my first day there last year. There's a pavement transition just past the apex at the entry to the dragstrip, note the twitch at 2:27 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpC0xtMVDvg&t=147s. You can avoid it by staying away from the apex, but that's bad for your lap time! The Ridge is a much better track if you're interested in keeping your car. Also, that's a good reminder that RLI/Hagerty track day insurance is about 30% cheaper at SCCA Track Night events than others- I pay about $150 for SCCA on insuring $42k at a 15% deductible, and it's $225ish otherwise. I'm glad insurance exists to make it feasible to put a car on track that you can't afford to write off, but I also guess a lot of young & invincible types just assume they'll never screw up.
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May 31, 2018 06:02
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Clutch and brake. Don't stall the car, and use the brakes to scrub off as much momentum as possible, now that you can't pick where it's going. Unrelated, signed up for NASA-AZ at AMP, October 13-14. Maybe it won't be absurdly hot.
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Sep 15, 2018 00:42
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Dark green Chevy SS, HPDE 3.
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Sep 15, 2018 00:46
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I was less lucky with AMP this weekend: first session out a Miata in comp school (doing their off line driving exercise) locked up and plowed into my back door / suspension as I turned in at the end of the main straight. The good news is that the other driver admitted it's his fault and he's paying for the repairs, so among the outcomes of someone else running into me on track this is fairly good 
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Oct 15, 2018 18:06
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I recently picked up a Black Armor Composite Solo: for a $200 SA2015 open face it's pretty nice. It's less comfortable than my Arai GP5W (L size in both), at equal weight, but it's a lot cheaper for a passenger / autox / 2nd helmet.
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Apr 17, 2019 21:31
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Today's lesson: do not undertorque your brake bleeder screws. One of mine backed out 5 laps into the last session of the day, and I was fortunate that Arizona Motorsports Park has a ton of runoff room at the end of the 110mph straight where it let go and dumped all my fluid. Could have been a lot worse!
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Oct 11, 2020 04:06
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BlackMK4 posted:Looking at roughly $6k all said and done. That's almost exactly the cost of my door shell + suspension arms + bent rear 1/4 + wheel hit at AMP! This is good to know, especially since track insurance is one of the things I'd be looking to skip with a dedicated (cheaper) track car. So long as I'm taking a 5-6hr road trip to events and only having parking for 1 car, I'm planning on sticking with the SS for the foreseeable future. After 11 days, my RS4s are shot, though: I have some outside shoulder chunking with bits of steel cords visible. I'm not sure whether to add more camber & caster to the car and move up to NT01s or just get another set of RS4s (but 10mm narrower, as 265/40-18 is the only 18" size that currently exists).
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Nov 4, 2020 20:25
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RLI for me is $220/weekend (up to 3 days at the same facility) on $34k insured with 15% deductible. It's not cheap, but it's easier than either not tracking a newish car at all or risking a big loss. Also, nothing about this hobby is cheap. edit: also, it's for your car and track damage only. Liability is on you. heffray fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Nov 4, 2020 |
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Nov 4, 2020 20:37
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KillHour posted:How do people feel about SCCA HPDEs? They do WAY more events near me than NASA and are cheaper to boot. COVID concerns make this a more even thing, but a classroom session and a couple laps bunched up behind a pace vehicle are not a Novice program I'd feel comfortable with.
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Feb 24, 2021 06:41
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BlackMK4 posted:Was hoping to take a shot at one of the local TT4 records I've wanted for a while, but we aren't running the AMP CCW config (unexpected) like normal on Sunday. That'll have to wait until December. 
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Oct 21, 2021 06:03
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(crosspost moving from the New Cars thread, since it's not a New Car issue)KillHour posted:I feel like an RS3 would just compete with my FoRS for my time and I'm already planning on putting a harness bar and oil cooler in the latter. At least in NASA AZ, this would fail tech inspection, unless you're also doing a roll bar & racing seat. Harness bars and a harness would block the seat from collapsing or you ducking out of a 3pt belt during a rollover, which is a significant safety risk.
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Oct 22, 2021 22:29
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Halfway through my first day (NASA AZ, HPDE3) at Chuckwalla. It's good, it'd be absurdly hot here in the summer, and every apex is significantly later than I would have guessed.
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Feb 19, 2022 22:00
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Do you want to maintain separate rotors for track use, or just swap pads? One of the big advantages with G-loc is that you can swap between their street pad and track pads without re-bedding. I would not run R12s on the street much, they're loud. I'm happy with R12/R12 in a 4000lb, 415hp Chevrolet SS on Hankook RS4s for track use, and I swap to their GS-1 pad the rest of the time.
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Jul 20, 2022 20:26
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Starting with R10 is fine, and if it's too loud you can swap down to GS-1. If you're doing events every month I'd probably stay on track pads, if it's 3 per year with big seasonal breaks it's nice to not sound like a bus. G-Loc has a lot in common with Carbotech: some family members split off to form the new company, and the products are more alike than either is to most other brands. Bite is fine at low temperatures, dust is mild, and "easy to modulate and release" can also be described as "squishy" if you don't like them. You may want to use the same compound front and rear if your ABS isn't dumb. Going lower on the rears is mostly for non-ABS cars.
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Jul 21, 2022 05:58
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Good HPDE4 weekend for me: brakes and cooling worked well, killed some outside edges of tires, figured out how to find slightly faster laps late Sunday. My front strut mounts are shot, which these cars do often anyway. To Do list for next event are replacements for the strut mounts, flip the tires, and maybe springs / rear subframe bushings to firm things up.
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Nov 17, 2022 05:19
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This past weekend there was a 1-2 second difference in TT4 vs TT5, the combination of more shock shaft diameter, +90whp, 282mm of tire, and no points for suspension or brakes should be good for that much time! I was looking at bumping up to TT4 after a couple more weekends in DE4, and am just resigned to not being competitive: my best laps this weekend were very high 1:13 to mid 1:14s, and the new track record for that class was a 1:08.5. I'm sure I can make the car better and find more time, but probably not enough to make a 3900lb SS match a 300whp average 3000lb M3 race car. I also need to learn to manage tire heat, after cording an outside front V730 in two days. Toe is 0, - 2 camber is low but reasonable, and I'm guessing it's just a matter of adding too much steering angle and scrubbing speed down to the apex in long sweepers instead of optimizing for exit speed. I never had to worry about this with RS4s, but the Kumhos are actually possible to overheat on my car.
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Mar 13, 2023 18:17
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I swapped the camber plates (not really plates, the strut tower design is dumb) back out for urethane mounts because I couldn't make them not clunk when hitting bumps, and they only added .7deg anyway. I also added offset LCA bushings that add about 1 degree, so I can get a bit over 2 but don't want the NVH penalty needed to do 3. Other options would be to get lower offset wheels and slot the strut bolt holes, but there's not much clearance there unless I grind the knuckle down so get more tilt. Or move the LCA further, which would have to be weird and very custom. The V730s were new this weekend, after cording the outside corner of a front RS4 at Chuckwalla. I'd be more unhappy about this if it wasn't a $175 tire. That was the 5th weekend for the RS4s, which seems more reasonable. The tearing on the outside is about 1" in from the shoulder, which seems like more of a heat/load management problem than camber. I'm not sure about Attessa, but that weekend does look more feasible than anything else before summer. I was also thinking about the PCA Buttonwillow weekend May 5-6 posted about upthread, and have 16 days of HPDE3-4 in my NASA passport so maybe PCA would even let me drive without an instructor! heffray fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Mar 13, 2023 |
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Mar 13, 2023 19:15
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Pretty good track weekend: I like the track (Atessa / Podium Club CCW in central AZ), car is working fine, and I didn't break anything. I went for a ride in a competitive TT4 car, and learned that I need to be smoother with my inputs, focus more on getting down to the apex and exiting corners cleanly, and stop overdriving corner entry. This went better in my last session Sunday, and I picked up a bunch of predictive time but didn't put together a great lap. I also realized that I'm not sure I can improve my driving enough to find 11 seconds compared to the fast cars in TT4, even if I add 20mm of tire and some aero. I also don't really want to spend $20k on blower / fender flares and 315s / aero even if I could fit 500whp into TT3 or 2, and I still don't have parking for a second car.
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Mar 27, 2023 19:17
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I like Podium Club, CCW is the better layout. Now expecting to miss that PCA Buttonwillow weekend: with my current job, Friday afternoon to Sunday turnarounds (with working onsite on Friday and Monday) are pretty rough to do a solo 6hr drive on each end. I have a good range of parts on order for the off season though: bigger, adjustable sway bars front and rear, and Improved Racing windage tray and pan baffle. I haven't noticed oil pressure issues, but zero times sounds like the right number of times to lose oil pressure in a banked left sweeper.
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Apr 18, 2023 00:43
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BlackMK4 posted:Also, about when I was talking about getting a different car or whatever - I ended up buying an Elise from Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch that was an arrive and drive for the owner in their Lotus Cup series or whatever, I pick it up in about ten days. No real plan for it yet and I'm not selling the BRZ off until at least after NASA Nationals in September, but it popped up and checked all of the boxes of what I'd been looking for with one. Nice! If you have the space for it, having an actual race car for race car duty makes a lot of sense. I'm registered for DE4 next week at Podium Club in the C5 Z06. It's been an adventure learning all the things that usually go wrong in C5s on track, and trying to resolve them before they ruin my weekend. I've done brakes (EBC SR11 pads, SS lines, rotors, SRF), water and new hoses and maintenance items in the cooling system, remote clutch bleeder and SRF, upper control arm bushings, and wheels to support the 275/35-18 V730s I already had. I rebuilt the drivers seat but the back still wobbles, like every other 97-2013 Corvette. I'm trying to postpone buying a radiator, hood vents, and camber lockout plates.
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Mar 7, 2024 20:03
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BlackMK4 posted:hell yeah, podium club will be a good test with the long straight Things I learned about the C5: the ABS system is not trustworthy, the chassis is generally good, it's a 2 speed transmission on track, and the seat is both awful and on par with everything else I've driven. Also, if you install an adjustable clutch stop to limit useless pedal travel and set it at ambient temperature, you'll need more travel when everything is hot. Once I adjusted it so I could accomplish all 4 shifts per lap, things improved. Maybe once I get a gas pedal extension I'll consider 2nd getting out of the hairpin, but 3rd covers everything up to 100mph and 4th to 148. I was guessing my ABS issues were due to using the same pad front and rear (EBC SR11): this wasn't the case, I have one flat spot on the left front tire and several flat spots on the front right. The pads were great though, adequate stopping power cold and more once heated up, no fade, and typical dust and noise. I miss having good fixed calipers instead of PBRs from 1984, but might as well burn through this set of pads before getting something like the Wilwood Aero 6. Temperatures were fine: 265F oil at the end of a session, coolant was around 220F. I expect to add oil cooling, a bigger radiator, and hood vents eventually but am happy to postpone that for a few more events. I have plenty more work to do to the car, but expect the next time I have it out will be October for AMP due to schedule conflicts and the long summer break.
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Mar 18, 2024 19:52
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I'll see you out there, but I'll be bailing out early Sunday to go pick up the Lotus.
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Update on my ABS: somehow the front wheel speed sensor harness was flipped, so it was cycling the inside front if the outside tire started to lock up, while thinking the locked wheel was fine. Thanks, Corvetteforum poster that had previously messed this up on his own car and posted an mspaint diagram of the correct layout. At least this is an easy fix, and I had extra tires anyway.
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Mar 19, 2024 17:28
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Pull all the rotors and look at them? Heavy vibration under braking (due to pad deposits) was the thing that convinced me to move away from GM stock Ferodo pads on my SS. They never had fade issues, but had problems with deposits: maybe check the rear rotors if you weren't also running track pads there. In Corvette news, apparently the number of track weekends a brand new normal SKF rear wheel bearing can handle is less than 1. I've ordered an SKF X-tracker hub for that corner, and will do the other rear one and ARP extended studs before my next event. Looking at Apex Pro data from my first C5 Z06 weekend compared to my Chevrolet SS: I'm seeing cornering loads in the low 1.2 range, compared to running out of grip around 1.05, with the exact same tires (275/35-18 Kumho V730). Losing 700lb and adding front upper control arms seems to matter. Now that the ABS and clutch are working, I'm excited to see how much faster the new car goes (in October, when I'll actually be free for an event).
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Apr 10, 2024 17:31
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Add more front camber (good luck), or more spring or sway bar? I did a similar new to corded outside edge in one weekend in my SS, and learned that 2 degrees of camber with front struts is not enough with a pair of long/fast 180s in the same direction, and I would benefit from more slow in / fast out and give up some entry and midcorner speed to preserve tire life. That's going to be harder in a 110hp momentum car.
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Apr 22, 2024 23:57
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