|
Proven Member
From: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Region: Midwest
Registered: Jul 2005
Posts: 703
Reputation: 
|
[quote=asian312]Articles such as:
- Preparing for your first track day: What to bring, what condition does your car need to be in, etc.
How's this?
Rich
Tips for Taking Your Car on a Track
Here are a few things that will keep you out of trouble. This advisory is NOT meant to replace the advice of a professional instructor, nor will it show you how to drive your car. But it might help you understand what’s going on with your car, and what the instructor is telling you.
BRAKES
Your car has terrific brakes. They will haul your car down from 120+ mph to a dead stop in a very short distance. Alas, they can do that only one time. Then they fade. Therefore, you must pay attention to your brakes before you come to the track, while you are on the track, and while you are resting between on-track sessions. Take care of your brakes and you can run all day.
Pre-Race Preparation
Before you come to the track, install a new set of brake pads in the front, and make sure you have good pads in the rear. The front brakes do almost all the work, and you very likely will wear out a set of stock pads in ONE TRACK DAY. In fact, I have seen el-cheapo brakes fade after three corners (!) at Road America. Therefore, install a set of premium brake pads in front. One good all-around street/track pad is the Porterfield R4S. Here’s a checklist of what you should do to your brakes before coming to the track:
1. Install a new set of front pads. Bring the old pads along as spares.
2. Inspect the rear pads for wear, replace if necessary
3. Purge and replace the brake fluid with new fluid. Ford High Performance brake fluid is inexpensive and very good. Motul is the best.
4. Bleed the brakes all the way around, following the factory recommended procedure.
On-Track Braking
As noted, your brakes will stop the car, but they won’t do it often. Therefore, you must practice good brake management while on the track, or your brakes won’t last the day.
Keep this in mind: If you drive too hard, you will wear out your brakes prematurely. So, instead of trying to set new lap records with your basically stock car, concentrate on driving and braking so that your brakes will last all day or all weekend.
Your instructor will teach you the correct way to brake. What he or she will probably tell you to do is:
1. Apply the brakes FIRMLY for the shortest possible time. Get on, get off. Do not bounce the brakes off the ABS, and do not apply the brakes lightly. The problem is: If excessive heat builds up in the brakes, it cooks the fluid, bakes the pads, and warps the rotors. Therefore, a get on/get off technique applies the brakes quickly, yet minimizes the amount of heat build up. Your instructor can explain it in more detail.
Let me add further advice:
2. Do not apply the brakes at any speed over 100 mph. That seems to be the critical cutoff point for excessive wear. Yes, the car CAN stop from 120+, but you will use up your brakes doing it. It is far better to coast down to 100, and then apply the brakes. They will last much longer that way.
3. Brake Fade occurs when the pads heat up, and no longer stop the car. You can tell when fade happens because no matter how hard you hit the brakes, they will not stop the car. Cure: slow down and let the brakes cool off. They will recover quickly unless they are worn down to their backing plates. Note: If you experience fade, check your pad depth when the session is over. Fade is a very good indicator that your pads are worn down.
4. Boiled Fluid occurs when the brake fluid gets so hot it boils (well, the entrained water in the fluid boils, but the result is the same) and creates air bubbles in the fluid. When this happens, your brake pedal goes to the floor. Cure: Pump the brakes rapidly, and the pressure will return. You must bleed the brakes after the session to get the air out.
5. Do a Test Tap. When approaching your braking point, tap the brakes 100-200 yards before you get there, just to be sure the brakes are working.
6. Don’t downshift to slow the car. You should always be in the proper gear, but don’t use the gearbox to slow the car. Remember: $100 brake pads are much cheaper than a $3,500 transmission, and they do a much better job of stopping the car. Downshift while you are braking, but only to get into the correct gear.
6. Nothing fancy. Forget heel and toe, trail braking, and left foot braking until you have the experience and equipment for it. Instead, concentrate on braking properly:
• Brake in a straight line before the corner
• Complete all braking and downshifting BEFORE you turn in to the corner.
• Don’t brake in the middle of a corner, and don’t trail brake into it.
Braking in the Pits
When you get the checkered flag that ends the session, back off. From this point, until you reach your parking spot, you do not want to use your brakes at all. You want to cool them down as much as possible before parking the car. If the track gives you a “cool down lap,” use it to cool the brakes. If they want you to get off the track immediately, find an area in the paddock where you can drive around to cool the brakes. Five minutes of cruising around should do it.
Now, approach your parking slot slowly. DO NOT APPLY THE BRAKES TO STOP THE CAR. If you do, you’ll put a white-hot pad up against a red-hot rotor, and the two will mate there, create a hot spot, and warp the rotor. Instead, glide to a stop. If necessary, shut the motor off, release the clutch, and let it stop the car. After 10 minutes or so, roll the car forward a half turn of the wheel to put the pad over a different spot on the rotor.
If you experienced boiled fluid out on the track, you must bleed your brakes.
If your pads faded and did not recover, they are probably worn down to the metal, and must be replaced. We won’t cover those procedures here. However, here are some tips for working on your brakes:
1. Bring a set of work gloves. Those brakes get hot.
2. Check your pad depth before every session. A flashlight and dental mirror are ideal. Depending on your wheel style and the space between spokes, you may be able to do this without removing the wheel. Remember, the lower the pad depth, the faster the pads will wear. They can go from 1/8 in. depth to NOTHING in less than one 20 minute on-track session.
3. Check your rotor for cracks. If you see anything deeper than little spidery cracks, check with an experienced driver or your instructor. When rotors get too thin, they crack and break.
4. Do not overtorque your wheel nuts. It’s OK to see if they are loose, and tighten them up, but don’t go round the car with a torque wrench after every session, or you may twist them off. Only torque your lug nuts when everything is cold, or when you swap wheels. (Racer’s tip: Apply anti-seize to your wheel studs once a year, and you will eliminate most twisted studs).
TIRES
Watch your front tires carefully. Look for excessive wear on the outside shoulders. If you can see that the tires are wearing too much, you may want to swap them front to rear or side to side. If you have directional tires, you may be limited in what you can swap. But if you are not limited, try this:
First day after lunch: Swap front tires side to side
Second day, morning: Swap tires front to rear
Second day, after lunch: Swap front tires side to side
GOING OFF THE TRACK
When exploring the limits of your car’s brakes, tires, suspension, and so on, you may find yourself going off the track occasionally. What do you do?
We can’t cover every eventuality, but here are a few observations:
1. Don’t be afraid of the grass. At most courses, the grass is smooth, and you can use it for a runoff. It’s like driving on ice and snow out there so be careful, but in most cases there is nothing to hit.
2. Use the runoffs. That’s why they are there.
3. Don’t jerk the car around. If you put a wheel or two off the track, don’t try to jerk the car back onto the pavement. Get the car under control, straighten it all out, and ease it back up on the pavement. Just like driving on ice.
4. Both feet in. If you find yourself in an unrecoverable slide in the grass or on the track, put both feet in – that is, push in the clutch and stand on the brakes. Push in the clutch so if your car starts going backward, it won’t turn the engine in the wrong rotation. Slam on the brakes so that the tires no longer have any steering ability. In most cases, your car will continue in the direction you were going originally. Your instructor can explain in more detail, but it may prevent your car from suddenly leaping across the track.
TAKE CARE OF YOUR MECHANICALS
If your car is approaching 100,000 miles, you have several things to watch out for, because your car is getting to be “tired iron.”
1. Overheating: Older cars have a nasty habit of overheating, especially when running high boost for 20 minutes at a time. Novice drivers often brake way too much for turns, enter too slowly, shift down to 2nd gear, and then accelerate like a rocket ship toward the next turn. If you see your temp gauge heading for the red zone, alter your driving by avoiding 1st and 2nd gears at all cost. On almost all tracks, you can run the whole thing in 3rd and 4th gear, so stay out of 2nd. Besides, running a high gear teaches you the proper line quickly, because it teaches you to preserve your momentum. Your instructor will explain.
2. Spinning bearings: Older engines have been spinning bearings in record numbers. Be certain that you are running fresh oil, and that it is full. You might even want to stick in an extra half-pint.
3. Avoid knock. You may want to run at stock boost to preserve your engine, run race gas (100+ octane) to prevent knock, install a data logger to monitor knock, or all of the above.
ONE LAST THING
If this is your first or second time on a road course, PLEASE do not try to impress the instructor or the assembled multitudes with your driving ability. If you have stock brakes, street tires, and no experience, the only way you can really impress us is to be extremely smooth, receptive to instruction, and continue to improve all day. Only a tiny percent of us are born race drivers. Most work up to it. Speed comes with seat time, instruction, experience, and better equipment. You are just starting down that road.
As one instructor told me, “Nothing you can do will impress me. I’ve ridden with the best. You may be able to scare me, though.”
Try not to scare anybody. And – most important – have fun.
|
