Track Prep

[StingertimeNC]

I got a Conquer Helmet on Amazon for less than $200 at the time, make sure it's for Motorsports, not motorcycling. Here's the one I bought for my son, also pretty nice. I've been using them for a couple years now and no issues at all. Check the Organizers instructions for minimum Snell safety rating. Like Snell 2015 or Snell 2020, etc.

I also bought some gloves. well worth $100. Hands get very sweaty. I actuallky bought mine at the track's shop on site, have used them for several years as well. Maybe DSimpson brand...

I would change the brake fluid to a good Dot 4, Hi temp fluid, Like Motul RBF 660. I did this once in my previous car, and bled them maybe two years later and it was still going strong. Typically 4 track days per year.

Pads will likely be fine since you won't be going flat out, but if you love it, start thinking about pads just for track days. Hawk has several options that aren't expenbsive and should be sufficient for use for 2-4 track days depending on how hard you go at it.

Depending on ambient temps, you might start off with 34-35 psi front and 30 psi rear. You should easily pick up 3-5 lbs of air pressure throughout a 20-30 minute session. But you need to check, or watch your guages, and see how high it gets. Adjust accordingly for each session. A target of 41 front may be overkill, but 39psi or so is probably great and safe enough.

All my opinions of course.

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[evanescent03]

agree with playing with settings. Nannies can save you if you make a mistake, but can also cause excessive heat (and therefore wear) in the brakes/tires and cause some pulled power on corner exit as well as unpredictability. With a new car/track I like leaving more of the Nannie’s on and watching for flickering of the ESC/DSC so I know where it’s helping me. When I turn the systems off I use caution there (key is to be SMOOTH .. gas, brake and steering). Turning off Nannie’s too soon (before skill/experience allows) can help with smoothness but again, MANY variables and something you should think about before doing it. Nannies are good safety measures but many folks will also say they don’t allow you to extract everything from the car and inhibit the learning process. Highly nuanced discussion.

Talking this through with your instructor is helpful.

 

[JesseP]

I have about 3600 miles on the vehicle and will be close to 5000 by the time of the event on March 20th. I'll get with my local dealership for the oil change and rotation prior to. Do I use recommended oil from the dealership (0w20 full synthetic) or ask them for something more viscous?

I was not planning on changing the brake fluid at 5k miles, but willing to do it if I need. This event calls for only four sessions. Once with a pacer car then three open track. I don't see me pushing myself too hard on my first track day as I get used to the vehicle at higher speeds. As an aside, these brakes are the best I've ever experienced on a stock vehicle. I can stop on a dime when needed. I understand track driving is different and don't want them to get too hot.

I'll wait to see what instructors say as far as the psi goes. I was a little worried after I watched a video on YouTube where one of the guy's tires collapsed in a turn and commenters were saying it was due to the psi being too low for track conditions.

Good call for the torque wrench, snacks and water. I'm sure they will have stuff available there to eat and drink as well.

Also, do I wear normal clothes like jeans and a t-shirt? Should I have gloves? Thanks for all the help.

 

[evanescent03]

I have about 3600 miles on the vehicle and will be close to 5000 by the time of the event on March 20th. I'll get with my local dealership for the oil change and rotation prior to. Do I use recommended oil from the dealership (0w20 full synthetic) or ask them for something more viscous?

I was not planning on changing the brake fluid at 5k miles, but willing to do it if I need. This event calls for only four sessions. Once with a pacer car then three open track. I don't see me pushing myself too hard on my first track day as I get used to the vehicle at higher speeds. As an aside, these brakes are the best I've ever experienced on a stock vehicle. I can stop on a dime when needed. I understand track driving is different and don't want them to get too hot.

I'll wait to see what instructors say as far as the psi goes. I was a little worried after I watched a video on YouTube where one of the guy's tires collapsed in a turn and commenters were saying it was due to the psi being too low for track conditions.

Good call for the torque wrench, snacks and water. I'm sure they will have stuff available there to eat and drink as well.

Also, do I wear normal clothes like jeans and a t-shirt? Should I have gloves? Thanks for all the help.

some places have a food snacks spread, some don’t. Best not to assume and sometimes it’s a hassle depending on where you’re parked.

4 sessions is a good first event. Pace car tells me they probably cater to newer drivers which is a good place to start.

Brake fluid should be fine based on everything you’ve said. oil change seems like cheap insurance at this point but I don’t have evidence that it would make your engine last longer either …. I’d check the manual or Civic Type R forums for weights recs. Oil type is another highly nuanced discussion and I’m no engineer. I’d check the manual, maybe someone else has input here.

Clothing should be comfortable, temperature appropriate, cover skin and not melt in event of fire. Some folks go full nomex suit & gloves early on. I have a friend who uses basic “mechanix” gloves that are grippy … it’s probably not 100% necessary… if you think they’re cool, probably not a waste of money for some decent gloves & not super pricey (also not cheap).

You gotta realize that there is no end to the rabbit hole of “track day preparedness”. I saw someone close once … he had Ferrari 458 styled race cars (plural) and a Ferrari semi truck for track side support. This was hooked on driving HPDE lol. full racing suit, fire suppression, 25-pt racing harness and roll cage, carbon fiber helmet with Hans, etc etc etc … be careful going beyond the basics of fresh-ish stock fluids, adequate pad material and tires. adequate can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.

My bottom line: don’t try to prepare for a 24h race but also pay attention as the weekend unfolds. I’d the tires are falling apart or the brakes are going south then back off or call it for the weekend.

 

[optronix]

I have about 3600 miles on the vehicle and will be close to 5000 by the time of the event on March 20th. I'll get with my local dealership for the oil change and rotation prior to. Do I use recommended oil from the dealership (0w20 full synthetic) or ask them for something more viscous?

I was not planning on changing the brake fluid at 5k miles, but willing to do it if I need. This event calls for only four sessions. Once with a pacer car then three open track. I don't see me pushing myself too hard on my first track day as I get used to the vehicle at higher speeds. As an aside, these brakes are the best I've ever experienced on a stock vehicle. I can stop on a dime when needed. I understand track driving is different and don't want them to get too hot.

I'll wait to see what instructors say as far as the psi goes. I was a little worried after I watched a video on YouTube where one of the guy's tires collapsed in a turn and commenters were saying it was due to the psi being too low for track conditions.

Good call for the torque wrench, snacks and water. I'm sure they will have stuff available there to eat and drink as well.

Also, do I wear normal clothes like jeans and a t-shirt? Should I have gloves? Thanks for all the help.

Yeah I know the vid you're referring to, Zygrene's unfortunate trip into the gravel at Laguna Seca. You definitely should be cautious and aware that things can and do go badly wrong on track days BUT- Zygrene is a very experienced and good driver and he pushes that car HARD as hell, I'd argue too hard, and he concedes as much at times during his videos. He admits he still has yet to master the FWD platform and has driven RWD cars basically his entire track life up to this point... He did also come and say as a postmortem that he almost certainly was running the PSI too low, but even still to push a tire to literally de-bead from the rim is pretty crazy. I know he swears that the tire failing is why he went off but I still kind of feel like there's no way he could actually know that for certain, and it would just make so much more sense if the tire came off while he was sliding through the gravel but I clearly don't have nearly enough data to make that call.

You do have a few miles on the car which is fine, you could probably go either way with changing the oil considering it's your first time out and effectively only 4 sessions as a novice track driver. Your oil will almost assuredly be fine but it's one of those "peace of mind" things that definitely wouldn't hurt to do. As for what oil to use, there's probably many schools of thought on that topic. Personally I'm ok with factory oil for less than or equal to 2 track days a year. Any more than that and I'd start to take heavier precautions and likely change the oil myself. Some folks will tell you that you absolutely must use AMSOIL 5w-20 and should only change it when the Blood Moon falls on a Tuesday. You'll find your own truth eventually...

 

[bpebler]

Yeah I know the vid you're referring to, Zygrene's unfortunate trip into the gravel at Laguna Seca. You definitely should be cautious and aware that things can and do go badly wrong on track days BUT- Zygrene is a very experienced and good driver and he pushes that car HARD as hell, I'd argue too hard, and he concedes as much at times during his videos. He admits he still has yet to master the FWD platform and has driven RWD cars basically his entire track life up to this point... He did also come and say as a postmortem that he almost certainly was running the PSI too low, but even still to push a tire to literally de-bead from the rim is pretty crazy. I know he swears that the tire failing is why he went off but I still kind of feel like there's no way he could actually know that for certain, and it would just make so much more sense if the tire came off while he was sliding through the gravel but I clearly don't have nearly enough data to make that call.

You do have a few miles on the car which is fine, you could probably go either way with changing the oil considering it's your first time out and effectively only 4 sessions as a novice track driver. Your oil will almost assuredly be fine but it's one of those "peace of mind" things that definitely wouldn't hurt to do. As for what oil to use, there's probably many schools of thought on that topic. Personally I'm ok with factory oil for less than or equal to 2 track days a year. Any more than that and I'd start to take heavier precautions and likely change the oil myself. Some folks will tell you that you absolutely must use AMSOIL 5w-20 and should only change it when the Blood Moon falls on a Tuesday. You'll find your own truth eventually...

Zygrene really has been a helpful & honest person in the track scene! I’d agree he & Gridzilla might have some of the best out there. I didn’t realize I was talking with him on FB about his new coilover setup until I backtracked & thought, “wait a second, is that the same guy??” LOL

 

[StingertimeNC]

I agree on the stock setup. It's probably fine, but if you plan on a few track days a year, it won't hurt to change the brake fluid. But again, you will likely do fine as you're probably not going to exceed 80-90% of the cars max capability.

The track organizer I always go with recommends cotton clothing vs. synthetic fiber clothing. Typically jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt are perfect. Sneakers are fine. You can figure out the rest once you do a couple track days. Brake pads, hans devices, etc. etc.

Oh, what are your guys thoughts on 5w-30 oil? That's what I was going to put in before my next event. My first two track days were done on the original oil. I still only have 2k miles on the car after 4+months of ownership, and I'm still on the original oil. I'll change it before next event for sure.

 

[JesseP]

Looking for gloves, a balaclava and a helmet have been tough. I want to invest in something that will last for a while and protect me, but not spend an arm and a leg. I found a pair of Track Armour gloves that are SFI 3.3/5 Nomex and an Alipnestars balaclava that seem fairly decent quality and not too expensive.

I really want to try on some helmets to find a good fit, but not sure where to go for that. I'm south of Atlanta and don't mind driving to try on some stuff. What should I be searching in google to find a place?

 

[bpebler]

I agree on the stock setup. It's probably fine, but if you plan on a few track days a year, it won't hurt to change the brake fluid. But again, you will likely do fine as you're probably not going to exceed 80-90% of the cars max capability.

The track organizer I always go with recommends cotton clothing vs. synthetic fiber clothing. Typically jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt are perfect. Sneakers are fine. You can figure out the rest once you do a couple track days. Brake pads, hans devices, etc. etc.

Oh, what are your guys thoughts on 5w-30 oil? That's what I was going to put in before my next event. My first two track days were done on the original oil. I still only have 2k miles on the car after 4+months of ownership, and I'm still on the original oil. I'll change it before next event for sure.

5w30 seems to be recommended for track use & warm weather. I’m sure Mobile1 synthetic would be just fine from what I’ve gathered. Oil analysis results seem to be great with 5w30 from what folks have shared anyway.

I was also going to ask you since I’m looking at it now - how much quantity Motul RBF 660 would we need? I’m going to add the Paragon titanium brake shims also since the tracks near me I’ll be on are smaller & pretty tight.

 

[StingertimeNC]

You really just need one bottle, although in an effort to make sure I've totally swapped it out and the reservoir is topped off I usually use about 25% of a second bottle. It's a little wasteful as once you break the seal on the bottle it's not going to be good for very long. Also it's tough to pinpoint exactly when the lines are completely flushed out unless the old brake fluid is super old, in which case it's much darker than the new fluid.

I think I am going to go 5W-30 on my oil right before my next event.

amazon link to fluid:
https://www.amazon.com/Motul-MTL101...1708225245&sprefix=motul+rbf66,aps,124&sr=8-4

 

[bpebler]

You really just need one bottle, although in an effort to make sure I've totally swapped it out and the reservoir is topped off I usually use about 25% of a second bottle. It's a little wasteful as once you break the seal on the bottle it's not going to be good for very long. Also it's tough to pinpoint exactly when the lines are completely flushed out unless the old brake fluid is super old, in which case it's much darker than the new fluid.

I think I am going to go 5W-30 on my oil right before my next event.

amazon link to fluid:
https://www.amazon.com/Motul-MTL101...1708225245&sprefix=motul+rbf66,aps,124&sr=8-4

Thanks!

 

[Gregg]

Looking for gloves, a balaclava and a helmet have been tough. I want to invest in something that will last for a while and protect me, but not spend an arm and a leg. I found a pair of Track Armour gloves that are SFI 3.3/5 Nomex and an Alipnestars balaclava that seem fairly decent quality and not too expensive.

I really want to try on some helmets to find a good fit, but not sure where to go for that. I'm south of Atlanta and don't mind driving to try on some stuff. What should I be searching in google to find a place?

I'm fairly certain that Discovery Parts is located in Dawsonville and has a showroom at AMP. Best to give them a call at 888-748-RACE. I know you said that you don't want to pay an arm and a leg, but when it comes to helmets you should ask youself one question -- "How much is my head worth?"

 

[JesseP]

I'm fairly certain that Discovery Parts is located in Dawsonville and has a showroom at AMP. Best to give them a call at 888-748-RACE. I know you said that you don't want to pay an arm and a leg, but when it comes to helmets you should ask youself one question -- "How much is my head worth?"

I had some local guys also recommend Discovery Parts at AMP. I went on their website and it appears they rent helmets for a day. I should be able to try on and rent the first day and decide if I want to buy a nice helmet afterwards.

 

[evanescent03]

I had some local guys also recommend Discovery Parts at AMP. I went on their website and it appears they rent helmets for a day. I should be able to try on and rent the first day and decide if I want to buy a nice helmet afterwards.

good choice. and then spend as much as you see fit… remember, the $$$ goes up most for features and gadgets, not safety. I think greggg has a point that you shouldn’t get a helmet that doesn’t offer full safety ratings.

also, I recommend a full face with visor to prevent catching a rock or other debris in the face at 150mph.

let us know how everything goes!

 

[bpebler]

What’s the reason for making sure the windows stay rolled down? That was new info to me at the HDPE seminar.

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