Well, it's official. I'm doing my first track day in a month...

[chrisl]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Absolutely not...

Well, it isn't getting changed this time at least, so it'll have to do for now.

[Takumi788]

Originally Posted by dradernh

Vid, just for you - I may be instructing at your event; if I do, I'll stop by and check your ride out.

Thanks for the video. I have been watching Watkins videos like crazy. This definitely helps. Is this in a twin?

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

[dp1]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

Sub'd -Just registered for Watkins Glen HDPE through NASA. Love the fact that this thread is so troll free. Lots of great advise.

If it's the one at the end of April, I'll be there also for both days.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

Thanks for the video. I have been watching Watkins videos like crazy. This definitely helps. Is this in a twin?

No, that car is an E36 M3 race car with the same on-track weight as the twin, 2X twin power, big aero, 1.95g grip, and 2:01 lap times that day - definitely a different animal. For reference, depending upon how much time you have at the Glen, how your car is set up, and assuming stock power, you'll probably be running somewhere in the 2:20s. The main use of the video is to see the racing line, regardless of how fast your car is.

[Takumi788]

Originally Posted by dradernh

No, that car is an E36 M3 race car with the same on-track weight as the twin, 2X twin power, big aero, 1.95g grip, and 2:01 lap times that day - definitely a different animal. For reference, depending upon how much time you have at the Glen, how your car is set up, and assuming stock power, you'll probably be running somewhere in the 2:20s. The main use of the video is to see the racing line, regardless of how fast your car is.

I had a feeling. That car sounded very different than a twin does. Looking good though, very solid line. Great video and thanks a lot. I've never done Watkins but I have raced dirt cars and autox for 10 years.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

[chrisl]

OK, for what it's worth, here's what my pads look like right now - they all seem like they have plenty of material to me (fronts more than rears, but that's expected since they were replaced quite a bit more recently, and besides, the fronts wear out faster anyways). Actually, from what I've heard at least, the biggest thing I'm concerned about with the brakes is the cross-drilled rotors - I've heard they tend to crack when you put a lot of heat into them, and I'd prefer not to have to replace the rotors if I want to do more track days. I'm definitely curious to hear the opinion of more experienced people in that regard though.

Front right:


Front left:


Rear right:


Rear left:

[Rescodna]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

Sub'd -Just registered for Watkins Glen HDPE through NASA. Love the fact that this thread is so troll free. Lots of great advise.

Hey Takumi - do you happen to mean the ones on April 28th and 29th?

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by chrisl

OK, for what it's worth, here's what my pads look like right now - they all seem like they have plenty of material to me (fronts more than rears, but that's expected since they were replaced quite a bit more recently, and besides, the fronts wear out faster anyways). Actually, from what I've heard at least, the biggest thing I'm concerned about with the brakes is the cross-drilled rotors - I've heard they tend to crack when you put a lot of heat into them, and I'd prefer not to have to replace the rotors if I want to do more track days. I'm definitely curious to hear the opinion of more experienced people in that regard though.

Front right:


Front left:


Rear right:


Rear left:

Can you get me pictures of just the rotor surfaces, both inside and out?

[gdrider77]

I will just leave this here for you. I put this together today, it shows the track, turns, map, names, etc...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBmJ6TCcHGk&list=PLgGF0twfMLyCkOC5NhJBfLUO qmocw8_1o&index=4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBmJ6TCcHGk&list=PLgGF0twfMLyCkOC5NhJBfLUO qmocw8_1o&index=4[/ame]

[Takumi788]

Originally Posted by Rescodna

Hey Takumi - do you happen to mean the ones on April 28th and 29th?

Yessir. I'll be there. I'll be in the whiteout FRS with bronze rims.

Sent From Joshs HTC One M8

[dp1]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

Yessir. I'll be there. I'll be in the whiteout FRS with bronze rims.

Sent From Joshs HTC One M8

Cool, I'll be there in the argento frs

[Rescodna]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

Yessir. I'll be there. I'll be in the whiteout FRS with bronze rims.

Sent From Joshs HTC One M8

Awesome - I'll be there too.

I signed up for HPDE1 because this will be my first time out /w NASA but I've driven there before with TrackMasters. If you're interested, I posted some info on what I did to prep for my first trackdays and some of the lessons I learned about our cars on my blog - http://edandocs.blogspot.com

I also noticed that you're also local to the Syracuse area. I don't know of any local car clubs or people that do regular meets but if you do please PM me the details. I wouldn't mind getting together with other like-minded people.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

Yessir. I'll be there. I'll be in the whiteout FRS with bronze rims.

Originally Posted by dp1

Cool, I'll be there in the argento frs

Originally Posted by Rescodna

Awesome - I'll be there too.

You guys should paddock together to max the twins' presence for the other drivers.

[chrisl]

Well, now that the event is over (it's raining pretty hard out in Byers today, so I decided not to head out - I got in a fair amount of track time yesterday though), I learned quite a bit both yesterday at High Plains and a week ago at Pueblo Motorsports Park (where I went down for a day of open lapping with a friend). Here's a summary of the lessons I learned:

1) I learn a track much, much faster without an instructor in the car. I'm not saying instructors are a bad thing, just that at Pueblo (with no instruction), I learned the track within 10-15 laps or so, and at HPR (with an instructor in the car), it took me the better part of the day (50-60 laps). For me, listening to an instructor saying things like "brake brake brake" or "turn in" or "unwind" takes enough concentration that I can't spend nearly as much brainpower paying attention to the geography. I think my ideal situation would have been to get 5-10 laps at the beginning of the day with minimal to no instruction (just so I could learn the track), followed then by tips and instruction based on what I had been doing.

2) Watching track videos doesn't do a thing to help me learn a track. I watched a number of videos of HPR before I went out there, and I still didn't have a good idea of the geography at all. Something about actually being/driving on a track helps me far, far more than simply watching videos. Interestingly, driving a track in a video game does seem to help me learn it (though I haven't ever driven in person on a track that I've learned in a game, so I don't know this for sure), but I couldn't find a good video game with high plains raceway in it in the weeks leading up to the track day.

3) Porsche stock brakes and whatever fluid my dealer put in (I don't know if it was factory fluid or not) seem perfectly adequate for track use (though it wasn't that hot out there either of the days I went, so this may change on a really hot day). I never experienced a hint of fade or any other braking issues, even after running quite a few laps where I was threshold braking every lap down from 120+ to 70 on the main straight at Pueblo (not to mention a number of other braking points around the track).

3a) The brake pads, however, will wear out astonishingly fast under track use. My wheels are covered in brake dust, and the pads are quite noticeably thinner than they were prior to the two track days (I'll take a picture to do a side by side in a bit, to compare to my "before" pics above). I'll definitely be getting race pads before my next track day to mitigate this incredible wear rate (and fortunately, pads are really easy to swap on a Cayman).

3b) I didn't notice any issue with the stock rotors cracking near the drill holes. My instructor however (who tracks his own Cayman) did say he goes through about 1 set of rotors per track season (7-10 events), primarily due to cracking

4) Porsche factory alignment has some negative camber. It does not, however, have enough negative camber for significant track use

5) Caymans understeer at the limit. A lot. Even under power.

5a) They do, however, oversteer if you come into a corner too hot and lift/brake in the middle

And finally,
6) Track days are a huge amount of fun, and a great way to learn a lot about how your car behaves, as well as improve your driving skill. I think it's a great idea for everyone to try them at least once