The track day and racing thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > The track day and racing thread

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Stills of this crash were posted in the mechanical failure thread last month, but this youtube fills in some of the details of what happened- turns out nothing broke, he just boned a turn, put two wheels off, and couldn't recover. Fortunately, he did everything else right and walked away. Fantastic accidental camerawork when the in-car cam falls off, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuVgkSIuouY

grover fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Jul 7, 2012

# ¿ Jul 7, 2012 02:24

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 08:27

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

j3rkstore posted:

If you don't have a cage or roll bar I would advise against a fixed-back seat or harnesses. In my opinion its an all-or-nothing package for both passenger AND driver and yes that means it is expensive.

You should be able to find reclining seats that hold you in place better.

Yeah, it's not a good idea to harness yourself nice and immobile in a race seat sans cage, lest your spine become a supplementary B-piller in a rollover.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2012 22:23

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

SNiPER_Magnum posted:

Yes, with who?

I'm eyeing Star Specs are Tire Rack. They are supposed to be on closeout, but it looks more like a JCPenney "sale". One dollar less per tire than the new ZII is not a deal!

With the new BFG Rival coming out and rumored to be as good and possibly better than the ZII (which already looks fantastic), could be a very tough choice. When's Bridgestone's RE11 replacement coming out, isn't that rumored to be soon, too?

# ¿ Jan 24, 2013 04:02

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

SNiPER_Magnum posted:

Get a dedicated track car or get a dedicated daily driver.

My biggest fear was always how to get my mangled heap back home. I need a worthless piece of crap tow vehicle too.

The easy (cheap) answer is to find a friend who trailers their streetable car to the track. That way, your backup plan to get home can be sending your car home on their trailer, while you drive their car back.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2013 03:25

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

kimbo305 posted:

Remember how there was only 1 325 section Pilot Super Sport left at Tirerack, and the local shop was gonna charge me $160 extra? I cheaped out and got 345 sections, which were actually cheaper than 325s on TR somehow, and which people report fitting just fine. How much difference will I feel on the track?

What size wheels? Is it still within Michelin's spec for the tire? If they're not pinched too bad, will probably increase rear grip a slight bit and shift balance a bit towards understeer, but you can compensate somewhat with tire pressures if you feel the need. Or adjust your swaybars/dampers. (does Z06 have adjustable sway bars or shocks?)

The guys that told you the tires will fit should be able to give you more specifics on what the impact will be.

grover fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Mar 15, 2013

# ¿ Mar 15, 2013 12:57

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

G-Mach posted:

Or this happens.*

*Installed by a "professional shop".

I just don't understand people who insist on upgrading seats before installing a cage, practically ensuring their spine becomes a supplementary b-pillar in a rollover. Yeah, I know it holds your butt in place better, but...

# ¿ Apr 8, 2013 22:25

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

92dB at what distance? poo poo, tires alone can exceed that.

# ¿ May 11, 2013 11:45

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

The geometry relationship between camber and toe should be a known factor; if the only thing you changed was the camber bolt, you can do a pretty good pen & paper estimate of the toe change and decide if you need to get a new alignment done or live with it. For my car, increasing negative front camber increases toe out by a small amount, which makes for an easy one-point DIY adjustment between track and street alignments.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2013 20:43

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Impressive crash at ALMS VIR this weekend. Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt, but DAMNED close to being tragic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfvu29GMv8c

# ¿ Oct 6, 2013 00:53

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

the poi posted:

They both grease up more than RS3s. I've heard the same thing about Rivals though, they get greasy reeeealy fast.

ZII and Rivals really like it cold. I wouldn't say they get greasy, but ZII clearly has the best sweet spot "warm" and grip drops off a few tenths when it gets hot- both ZII and Rival are considered to be pretty decent track tires, especially for time trials when you have time to let them cool between runs, but definitely more geared towards autocross. RS3 is more formulated for hot temps; they need some heat in them to work properly but generally hold up to the heat better.

Any of the three would be fine for mixed use; the decision points going to be climate, car, and what you prioritize. You'd likely want a different tire in Arizona, say, than Seattle.

grover fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Jan 11, 2014

# ¿ Jan 11, 2014 15:03

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

nm posted:

I'm getting rivals for the Mazda when they come back into stock, but the Legacy needs tires ASAP. The last tire I think I was happy with on the legacy on teh track was the RE-01Rs. My current tires are worn out Starspecs which neither had the sidewall nor the heat tolerance I wanted.

Yes, but RS3 have weak sidewalls compared to the other top tires, and you can still cook them on the track. Heavy cars tend towards ZII or Rivals for autocross.

grover fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jan 12, 2014

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 04:57

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

Rumors are abounding of an RS3 compound change due to occur with the next shipment. They're supposed to give better cold & wet grip than the present compound, but will be otherwise identical, and identifiable only by looking at the date code on the sidewall.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2014 01:44

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 08:27

grover: Jan 23, 2002; PEW PEW PEW

TrueChaos posted:

200 treadware were already available, no?

Sort of; Hankook just came out one day and said the 140TW thing was just marketing, but that they REALLY passed the 200TW test so they're totally OK to use for all those motorsports competitions that require 200TW tires.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2014 02:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > The track day and racing thread