First Time on Track. What am I going to break?

[focus_7]

Hey all, been invited to go to a Speed off the Streets day down at Wakefield Park next week. It will by first time on track, and the first time taking my car.


I'm just asking for general advice, experiences and gems of knowledge on what to expect for my first time on track.

My biggest concern is not being able to drive back at the end of the day, what can I do to safeguard against this?

I'm driving a ADM sprinter with bigport 4age conversion. Body has done 450,000+km, 4age has done 135,000km. It's on 14x7 SSR with Adrenalin Re001 tyres.

[maxhag]

Good to see your hitting the track for the first time. You will love it.

When it comes to "what will break", it a pretty open question, that really comes down to how it was built and put together.
Saying that, if all components are working and the car is built well, then I would prob say the T50 gearbox would be a medum risk item. What clutch do you run?
Are you still running the ADM S series diff?

If you come off the track hard, you may want to take some spare tierods.

Eitherway, treat it as a learning experience, and have fun.


Let us know how you go.

[Konakid]

Shouldnt break anything if the car has been maintained well.

Track days are all about tyres and brakes though so make sure your pads and rotors are in good condition and you have fresh fluid and bleed. Tyres need to be in good order, re001's will be a good compromise between grip and wear, just make sure to give them a cool down lap after a few hard laps if you feel them getting greasy/understeery.

Check oil and coolant before you start and after every session too.

[focus_7]

Cheers guys, running an Exedy HD clutch and standard S-Series Diff. I suppose I'll just keep an eye on my temps and and try learn the car and track a bit better.

[McLEVIN]

Haha I had my first day a couple of weeks ago. Took all my tools, jack zip ties, spare hoses and a set of wheels. Of course nothing went wrong but if it did of course it would be something I didn't bring. You can't prepare for every possible thing...maybe take a spare wheel/s just incase. I dont know how far the track is from civilization if it is far tow rather than drive as it save having it towed.

[Matt]

Hopefully you won't break anything, just take it somewhat easy until you learn the track well. Go for passenger rides with other people who have driven the track a fair bit.

Have fun, you'll love it

[Willofan]

Put a new fan belt on before you go and take the old one with you.

Like said, you can prepare well, but it is always the $10 part that can ruin your day.

Have fun and enjoy

[evil86]

You'll be fine, make sure you have a alloy radiator and some decent brake to maximise track time. If not you will be overheating and or brake fading, which will cause you to lose alot of track time.

[LittleRedSpirit]

Try to have enough money for a tow truck just in case.

[focus_7]

Thanks for the advice all! Just got back from the day and all is well, car didn't go bang and I had an absolute blast. Improved on my best time every session and the tyres and brakes managed to hold on reasonably well during the day. Only thing now is long after the track and the brake pedal has gone very spongy, I'll probably be taking it in tomorrow for a full brake pad, shoe and fluid change.

Absolutely spewing though, 4th out of 5 session of the day and I planned on hitting a few PB's hit one with a time of 1:21:74, then looking at telemetry the next lap was literally a second faster before the last corner, except on the last corner I had a fuel surge so the car didn't pull out of the corner as it should have, and I lost 2 seconds on the last sector. if I'd had 2-3L extra fuel I would have made a low 1:20 easily, which was my goal for the day.

[Konakid]

Good stuff man, if the pads are high temp good ones then you may have lust glazed them, can remove them and rub them on cement to clear the glaze off. If they are jsut cheap stock pads, get some high temp ones.