Quick and dirty guide to track prepping your car
 

First time going to the track? Here's how to get started! Please keep in mind that this guide is written for safety and reliability; performance modifications are secondary for the purpose of this guide. As always, YMMV.

1. Car Prep

2. Driver Prep

3. At the Track

Please don't hesitate to add to this; I'll update the posts as I think of stuff.

Car Prep

First few times at the track:

Absolutely necessary
- Check your oil level
- Make sure tires have at least 4/32" of tread left (put a quarter in the tread, and if the tread touches George's head, you're good)

Recommended
- Fresh engine oil (if you haven't changed within the last few thousand miles)

Nice to have
- Upgraded brake pads
- Upgraded brake fluid
- GoPro Camera (watching yourself is an EXCELLENT way to learn)


3rd-5th times at the track:

Absolutely necessary
- Check your oil level
- Make sure tires have at least 4/32" of tread left (put a quarter in the tread, and if the tread touches George's head, you're good)

Recommended
- Fresh engine oil (if you haven't changed within the last few thousand miles)
- Upgraded brake pads
- Upgraded brake fluid
- Fresh transmission fluid
- Fresh differential fluid (see a trend here? proactive maintenance is key to a long life!)

Nice to have
- "performance" tires (Hankook RS3, Dunlop Z1/Z2 Star Spec, Bridgestone RE-11, Yokohama AD08, Toyo R1R, Federal 595 RS-R)
- GoPro Camera (watching yourself is an EXCELLENT way to learn)


6rd-10th times at the track:

Absolutely necessary
- Check your oil level
- Make sure tires have at least 4/32" of tread left (put a quarter in the tread, and if the tread touches George's head, you're good)
- Upgraded brake pads
- Upgraded brake fluid

Recommended
- Fresh engine oil (if you haven't changed within the last few thousand miles)
- "performance" tires (Hankook RS3, Dunlop Z1/Z2 Star Spec, Bridgestone RE-11, Yokohama AD08, Toyo R1R, Federal 595 RS-R)
- GoPro Camera (watching yourself is an EXCELLENT way to learn)
- Fresh transmission fluid
- Fresh differential fluid
- GoPro Cameras, or some sort of video device (smartphones with cases work great!)

Nice to have
- Adjustable coil-over suspension
- Aftermarket Rims
- Data acquisition (Aim SOLO is a great option, as is Harry's Lap Timer for the iPhone and Trackmate for Android)


Maintenace

These are merely suggestions; adjust intervals as needed. The best way to determine is to use used oil analysis from a company like Blackstone Labs or Dyson.

Engine - normal oil change interval, as long as your oil cooler is suffient and keeping your temps under 250F (stock oil temp is read post-cooler, so oil temp peak is higher)

Brake fluid - Whenever the feel degrades, or your reservoir is dark

Clutch fluid - once a year (use leftover brake fluid from a bleed)

Trans/Diff - Every 5 days, or 15k miles, whichever comes first.

First few track days:
- Get yourself an instructor or mentor! Try to find someone who drives a similar car. An experienced FR-S or BRZ owner is best. Alternatives include S2000, RX-8, RX-7, and Miata owners. The goal here is to find yourself someone who is familiar with RWD momentum cars. You want to avoid Mustang/Corvette instructors as they tend to teach a different style of driving.
- Pay attention in the driver's meeting. Knowing all the safety regulations is critical.
- Be open to what everyone has to say to you. You may not necessarily agree with everything that is suggested to you, but at least give it a shot, and then decide if it works for you or not.
- Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
- Brake in a straight line. Take advantage of your ABS; press the brake down to the floor when braking in a straight line. Your car stops a lot faster than you think!
- Don't use your brakes on the cooldown lap. When coming into the pits, roll around for a few minutes to give the brakes time to cool down. Don't use your hand brake when you park; leave the car in gear. It won't roll away.
- Watch your traction control lights. When is it blinking? (in-car video is awesome for this). If its blinking, it probably means you're asking the car to do something that it can't do. Try not to do it.
- Don't fixate on the car in front of you! Your mind automatically wants to send you to where you're looking. Instead, look at the apex of the corner ahead of you.
- Check your tire pressure when you come off of the track. Generally, you want to be sitting between 35-39 psi (hot), right when you get off the track. You'll probably need to let some air out.
- Remember to fill your tires back up to 32-34psi (cold) before you leave!

3rd-5th track days:
- By now, you should be comfortable with using the ABS on your car. Unfortunately, that REALLY heats up the brakes, and you may have felt some brake fade! Now, we're going to focus on learning to not use it. When you feel ABS kickign in, back off on the brake pedal ever so slightly. It'll take a while to learn to do consistently, but it'll result in less heat in the brakes, and quicker stops.
- Stay hydrated!
- Try to use ALL of the track width. It's OKAY to drop 2 wheels at times.
- If you are comfortable with it, drive with Traction control and Stability control off. Be careful; if you had the lights blinking before, the systems were probably saving you from a spin! However, ultimately, you'll need to drive with the systems off to extract the maximum potential out of the car.
- Ask for specific feedback from instructors/mentors. Focus on one or two aspects of your driving at a time.
- Focus on on-track awareness. Where are the other drivers around you? What's going on further down the track?
- Start to focus on the next few corners ahead of you, instead of just the one in front of you.
- Don't focus on your lap times. Instead, focus on technique and smoothness. Lap times will come naturally.

6th-10th track days:
- Are you stil driving with Stability and Traction control on? Try it off! Be careful though!
- Are you using all the the width of the track? Try to go closer to the edges (where applicable) without going off. Are you using berms as recommended by instructors?
- How is your awareness? Try to spot incidents before flags go up.
- Seek feedback on aspects of driving you feel you're struggling with, or parts of the track where you feel you can go faster, but are unable to.

Driver Prep:

Seat adjustment:
- First, put your butt all the way back in your seat, so that there is no gap between your lower back and seat.
- Depress the clutch and gas pedal. Are you able to push both all the way down without any strain at all? If not, adjust the seat position (forward and backward only) as needed
- Next, "straighten" the back of the seat, so that you're sitting fairly straight, and the side bolsters on the back of the seat are supporting your torso; the FRS/BRZ seats are spectacular in this aspect. Now both your lower back and your upper back should be touching the seat. Adjust or flip the headrest around if its getting in the way.
- Adjusted properly, you'll probably never change this seating position for seat driving, because you don't get any fatigue!


Rest
- Get plenty of rest the night before, especially if you are driving to the track the day of!
- Take caffeinated beverages of choice as necessary (I'm a caffeine fiend).


Things to take:

This all fits into a $10 toolbag from Sears/Craftsman about 10x8x8 (very compact!) that stays in the car full time:
- Cordless Impact
- Extra battery for cordless impact
- Mallet
- All sockets that I need to work on the car (ONLY the sockets needed)
- 14, 17, 19, 21 impact sockets
- 1/2" drive swivel socket
- Work gloves
- Wheel lock keys
- Hex key ratchet all-in-one tool
- tire gauge

Glove compartment (all of this also is in the car full time):
- Small spray bottle of quick detailer
- high quality Flashlight (Surefire, LED, Li battery, 30+ hour run time on low setting)

Trunk:
- can of engine oil (300V only for me)
- disposable gloves, stored in the styrofoam donut on the spare (costco)
- Torque wrench
- bag of microfiber towels (Costco)


Situational, track-day specific stuff:
- Extra brake pads (usually keep a set of street or race pads in the trunk anyways, I swap on a whim)
- Bottle of brake fluid (can bleed the OEM system with 1 bottle if you're not excessively wasting fluid)
- Extra rotors (won't need to on the BRZ, but my s2k EATS rotors....)
- Floor jack (Harbor freight makes some very affordable ones)
- Jackstands
- sunblock
- Foldable cooler
- Water
- Ice (purchase at closest gas station to the track, dump before leaving)
- Coffee/Energy drinks (I'm a caffeine fiend)
- Multitool of some sort (leatherman, swiss army knife, etc.)
- Paper towels (or napkins from fast food joint of your choosing...)
- Helmet
- Driving shoes
- Extra socks
- Foldable chairs
- painter's tape

reserved

reserved for future use

Great write up. I'd suggest a section about checking tire pressure to avoid under/overinflating since that will be extremely detrimental on a track, safety and speedwise

Won't believe how many first timers get the drag racer mentality and want to run 22 PSI thinking lower means grippier...

Great guide. You didn't mention anything about tranny or diff fluid. I'm guessing a more constant diff fluid change is needed then the recommended service interval Toyota says to follow correct? I'm not sure what you recommend but i've heard changing the diff fluid every other time you change motor oil is good for cars that see hard use.

A couple instructors have mentioned being around the recommended PSI is good for a first timer. Maybe 1-3 PSI less in the rears for a RWD car is good as well.

Good write up.

In our cars the traction control light flashes before you are doing anything stupid and sometimes when you are doing stuff right (trail braking for me, any braking near bumps, etc).

I push people to turn it off as early as possible otherwise they rely on it. I met an instructor recently who made the comment that his DSP (or whatever BMW calls it) light flashing made him realize he was pushing too hard... yeah.. an instructor.... I've noticed with my BRZ that the traction control system in sport mode kicks in all the time at sebring, with it off, the car doesn't doing anything bad and since it's not activating much faster and *SMOOTHER* driving is possible.

Yeah.. I heard that all the time with my S2000. Otherwise "they snap oversteer". I ran 2-3psi more in the rear. :shrug: With the BRZ I've been running equal pressures so far.

Very helpful write up. A couple of comments:

Please be aware that many organized clubs forbid having any loose articles in your glove compartments, or even such objects as floor mats.

In case of hard impact and/or roll, glove compartments open and and loose objects can hit you in the face , etc. floor mats can bunch up under the pedals and interfere when quick reaction is a matter of ...

It is "recommended" that you remove all heavy loose objects from your trunk, especially if the trunk compartment is accessible from the interior.

Even cd's or cassette tapes should be removed from the stero systems in the car.

Bring a sheet of tarp, and remove and lay everything on it, then you can put them back in the car at the end of the day.

One other pointer when adjusting the seat and your reach; with your back against the backrest and your shoulder fully touching the backrest, put your arms out straight. Your hands should go "past" the steering wheel such that your wrists rest on the wheel. If not, move seat forward and try again, holding your shoulder tight against the backrest.

Awesome list. Slowly getting things together in hopes of trying some events this season.

Driver prep: all the usual stuff but 8-10 hours of sleep. Length and quality of sleep has been the definitive deciding factors in a few races of mine between winning and not.

I had one where I ran out of "mental tenacity" with about 4 laps left and the gap just grew and grew. Looked at all the data, checked the shocks, tires, brakes etc and when I studied the lap times and the video it was.... "reduction in mental acuity".

This reduction in mental acuity not only happens faster and more severe with a lack of sleep but also will onset earlier and harder if your body is out of shape.

I went through instructor training last year and their (PCA) preference was to generally leave driver aids on. Makes sense - job #1 is to not let the student wad up the car. My struggle from the right seat was trying to "feel" for electronics. A few times a student would make a mistake, and I was 90% sure electronics stepped in. But damned if I could feel it.

The FRS is my first car with electonics, so maybe experiencing some electronic corrections myself will help out.

PCA's preference is to let old guys who can't drive be safe on track, but *instructors* should not have aids on IMO. You want novices to? Great, go ahead. But how is an instructor going to teach someone with a 93 911 RS America with no aids how to control the car if they don't know how to drive their own car without aids on? That's the problem with instructors using driver aids.

You'll feel the aids in the FRS for sure. Turn them off, and you'll wonder what the heck the computers were complaining about :) I left them on at first in the BRZ while getting used to the car. It was a mistake.. they were constantly engaging and all they really accomplished was me having to wonder why the car had that bad of a traction problem.. turned them off and it was great. :thumbup:

Eventually the aids will just hold you back as a student too. They are not exactly smooth in these cars, they cause additional rear brake wear and they engage well before there's any risk of anything happening. IMO no experienced student should learn to rely on them for track driving.

I leave them on for street driving of course, I see zero benefit to turning them off on the street.

I sat in a FRS with all the driver aids on and I firmly believe that if the student didn't have the aids, the car would have spun. At that track, I think it would have been a very definitive experience to understand what happens when you continue to steer through a corner with excessive gas. On top of that, the aids won't teach the driver how to use their hands in the event of a slide.

I don't want my students to wad up their car just in the name of "learning". It's not like the east coast tracks are F1 tracks with fancy groomed runoff area. Its track, grass, then something hard. IMHO skid pad and autox are the places to turn off the aids when getting started. I do think having some experience driving with the aids will help me as an instructor. You think "identifying" with a 93 RS America is hard, try jumping from a stock 944 into the ubiquitous GT3's we've got in the novice group around here.

I doubt too many PCA instructors around here drive with the aids on.

just my opinion, dont go do this and crash: turn it all off, take instruction and learn. thats why tracks have gravel at the edge of a corner, paying for instruction is the best upgrade you can do when you're at a track, do it.
most good instructors will take you round the track reallly slow at first, then faster or not based on your abilities..tell them youre a noob if you are, no shame there.

I love taking rides with instructors, always room to improve lines, techinques etc, on a new track, theres nothing better than going out with someone who knows where to put your ass on a corner

them stacked tires before you hit said wall are a hundred yards out. or hopefully far enough at your instructed entry speed to not be an issue!
traction aids are NOT for the track. defeats the purpose if youre trying to learn or improve YOUR skills

when you get to where you dont need a coach or a nanny, you'll know, but most everyone can benefit seat time and instruction, atleast their 1st time round a new track, simple

The type of instruction is quite important. I believe students need to ride with their instructors after they get a feel for the track so they can understand the differences between excessive speed and proper speed. This important so they can build up their confidence and understand the differences between their abilities and what they can achieve. :w00t:

I never suggested that, and in fact I think Novices should leave them on. With some experience, they are a negative though. At some point the aids absolutely do prevent progression. I dunno, I guess I just want students to continue to progress. At events I run we won't let novices or even intermediate students run R comps and strongly suggest aids stay on for the novice group (at the end of the day that's up to the driver and instructor though).

Tons of GT3s here also with R Comps and brand new drivers.. it's somewhat ridiculous actually. I wasn't picking a hard to drive car as the example, but rather one without aids..

My original point was just that the slip light flashing doesn't mean the driver/student is doing anything bad in these cars and that relying on the aids by never turning them off is, IMO, a bad habit. The Instructor bit was just an example of a case why it's bad.

I agree in general, but not all tracks are as friendly for offs. I've been in tire walls before, it's not fun. I did learn a lot doing it though :)

I generally try to do a quick interview with my students to determine where they're at in terms of driving development. I ask what cars they've driven, and what kind of "spirited" driving they've done. If this is their first time doing anything high performance with a car, electronic aids are going to stay on. If they've been canyoning for years in a 240 with no aids, and want to start learning to master their car, the aids are probably going off.

It's pretty easy to gauge where students are with a quick interview based on their attitude and what they're talking about. It's also pretty easy to gauge if they have a good feel for their car on track when you're sitting next to them. It's not uncommon for me to recommend a student to turn aids back on, or to turn them off in the middle of a session based on how they're doing. I've been known to turn the aids off without telling them from time to time if I feel comfortable; I'm in the car with them and I certainly am not going to risk wrecking.

I think we just see 2 different, district but effective teaching methods. Every instructor will be a bit different in their methodology but the end goal is usually the same or similar.

I'm just glad I had 2+ years (consistant) of autocross experience before I started track days, made the transition quick and easy with little instruction other than learning lines.

I learned my most important lesson running with the fast group, running into the tire wall! That's when I understood there is more to the two warm up laps! Just getting the tires warm on the first session of the day is not enough, and you need to let the tire carcous soften up too, especially if they have more than one trackday on them. At PR in WA we have no run offs! We have concrete barriers, and the fastest lines are how close you wanna get to them!

I was running my stupid little car with all the 911's, building on gapping a 911 Turbo through the corners, when going through one of high speed corners, the car was getting sideway as usual, no biggy, except that the stupid TC decided to take back control (no option to turn off TC on the car, it's full time) and decided to counter my handling by flipping the car in a reverse slide!!! That's when the car spun in opposite direction going into the tire wall.

After that event, I spend the entire first session warming up all systems in the car or the motorcycle before I go full on!!

On the learning curve, I would "never" recommend any novice or experienced driver with a brand new car to head for the track! Trying to trail brake into a corner from 130mph is not the time to learn the car's dispositions!!! That's why there are Driver Skill Days, offered by all clubs including PCA at an affordable $75. That's where you explore and learn the capabilties of the car under various conditions.

Even though I've been around the race tracks long enough and know the track I visit intimately (racing cars, motorcycle, as well as bicycle all on the same track, and I'm familiar with every inch of it), my plan is to take my new FRS to a Skill Day before I venture out on the track.

I would also not recommend to deck your car out with all the track goodies, and full set up. I'd do it in steps. Going to a track with full suspension set up and aftermarket parts will change the composure of the car drastically, e.g. How the factories set up cars for safer under steer will fast change into oversteer if you are not accustomed to the various changes made to the handling.

So, don't be overzeleous, take it slow, modify in steps and gradually, make sure you understand the limits if every mod you made and make mental notes, see which direction gives more improvement, and most importantly, continue to learn no matter how advanced you think you are. Even Michael is still trying to learn...

Even when you are advanced, it's still a good idea to ride with other instructors and learn from their strengths. You may think they have nothing to teach, but even a slower instructor could open your eyes to something you were not aware of before if you keep your eyes open.

I'd like to see this since it take a "pedal dance" to completely shut things off in the FR-S!

Seriously though, I have a question:

What are you currently using for a harness in your FR-S. Are you using the stock belts? Do you lock the inertia reel, or just go loose?

I will be (hopefully) tracking my car later this spring, and am wondering what others have done. [I have been an instructor for the BMW club for many years.]


My $0.02: I have the student help decide whether or not to turn off the driver aids. I certainly try to convince them to turn them off if I feel their skill level has reached the point where it is holding them back. For myself, I can't stand driving on the track with them on [thanks again Mike for the pedal dance post]. I just finished instructing at our winter driving school on snow and I much preferred it after doing the pedal dance. On the street in the winter I leave all the driving aids on. The stability control saved me from spinning a couple of times this winter on icy highways/freeways.

100% stock interior. The OEM seats are spectacular in this car, and will hold you in place rather well. I personally would never recommend a harness and harness bar with OEM seats.

This is an excellent thread. I am glad I happened upon it today.

This needs to be a sticky!

second

3rd.

Great advice! Thanks for pointing me to your thread.

yes, why is this still not a sticky? :) @Dave-ROR @Guff

Yep. Sticky Please.

Great thread.....Mike is 100% spot on in all his recommendations.....

Bottom line is get out there and have FUN.....get instruction and slowly modify your car as your ability needs it....starting out with a very fast, highly modified car just teaches bad driving habits!!!!

Quick question about spare tires. I'm currently running 225/45 on 17x8's. Would the OEM spare tire be good enough, or should I bring two of my OEM wheels/tires?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Subbed

OEM spare is fine; if you lose a tire, make sure the spare is on the front.

In other words, if you lose a rear tire, put a front on the rear, and put the spare on the front. If you lose a front, just put on the spare in the front.

If you somehow magically lose two tires, I'm sure someone will give you a loan.

I drove this car with a spare on the rear. Holy CRAP it felt awful. I would BABY it onto the throttle and the car would walk sideways (easing onto it while cruising or after a shift). Definitely move it to the front.

Remember, you have a mechanical LSD. The spare ALWAYS goes in the front :)