Got a track related question? I'll try to answer.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by ZionsWrath

In fact the last track day I did they didn't even allow the beginner and intermediate group to turn of traction so I didn't get any experience with that. I was actually thinking to go to some auto-x to get some learning done.

That sucks. It's pretty hard to learn the car's behavior at the limit with the traction control in place. IMO, that should be a joint decision for the student and instructor.

Also agree on the comments above about autocross being a good way to develop car control skills.

[BRZZZZZZZZZZ]

Auto X is absolutely awesome for learning, its also a lot cheaper to start with. I spent a lot of time talking to other drivers, seeing what lines they take, where they brake, what gear they are in at various spots on the course. Yesterday I ended up being a combined 2 seconds quicker than the next closest STX car and driver competing, who has a lot more experience and seat time then myself, and I learned a lot of what made me fast from watching and talking to him over the last two seasons.

[ZionsWrath]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

That sucks. It's pretty hard to learn the car's behavior at the limit with the traction control in place. IMO, that should be a joint decision for the student and instructor.

Also agree on the comments above about autocross being a good way to develop car control skills.

Yea, I was going to ask him but the first thing he asked when he got in was if the traction was on and he was looking at the dash. I still had a lot of fun and felt I learned a lot but there are certain parts of the track I always see the TC light flashing and really want to explore that. I mean I know when the TC starts vibrating the ABS like a mother I've done something very wrong but most of the time I didn't feel intervention and when I did there was a slight abs pulse and that's it.

There was a skid pad session though with trac off that was fun but wanted more time on that

Seeing a few cars go off track I can understand though so I didn't try to make a big thing about it.

[7thgear]

having gone from track to autocross, i'll say this


autocross is a poor environment for learning car control techniques and/or aggressive driving from scratch .


A single day spent with a good coach at a major race track will propel you light years ahead in terms of getting comfortable with your car at speed while feeding you introductory text-book race theory.



Feedback is continuous and gradual. A student that drivers even 0.5% harder every lap will be 10% faster at the end of a 20 lap stint.



By comparison Autocross is like prison for first time offenders. Even with a ride-along you'll spend half the day figuring out just where to go.


Autocross is, at the end of the day, a competition event first and foremost. It is a very technical and mentally challenging competition.


Autocross is a place where you get to practice your talent and apply your knowledge in order to climb the totem pole.


But if you don't know the basics, you're gonna have a hell of a hard time picking them up while crushing cones and going off-track a mere 5 runs per weekend.

[FRStock]

Thinking about tracking my car for the first time.

1. GoPro...is it really worth it?
2. Stock tires/ stock pads okay?
3. Heel/Toe downshifting. How good should I be?

I have an extra set of stock tires so I wouldn't mind wearing them down a bit.

[ImperiousRex]

Originally Posted by FRStock

Thinking about tracking my car for the first time.

1. GoPro...is it really worth it?
2. Stock tires/ stock pads okay?
3. Heel/Toe downshifting. How good should I be?

I have an extra set of stock tires so I wouldn't mind wearing them down a bit.

1. It's not necessary but it can be a useful tool for self evaluation after an event.

2. For a first time it's fine. Stock tires are actually not too bad to learn on but if you're anywhere near threshold braking with stock pads, you'll get pad fading (but it's not a bad thing to experience at least once).

3. You don't have to be *that* good at it but if you're going to use it on track, you want to be at a level where it isn't going to break your concentration from other tasks like braking properly, turning in and staying on track. I would highly recommend just practicing it everyday on freeway offramps (if there's not too much traffic) or empty streets until it becomes 2nd nature.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by FRStock

3. Heel/Toe downshifting. How good should I be?

there is no "good"


you're either comfortable shifting while braking and or turning turning or you're not


once you are, you'll never think about it again


but you can use an HPDE event to practice, but it is not necessary, just another tool in the overall shed of car control skills

[ZionsWrath]

These are my XP10 after 3 HPDE. They look to be wearing perfect, I'm guessing the front have ~2/3 and the rears are practically new lol. I was able to push in my pistons with my thumbs so calipers are OK. However the "dust boots" are dry and cracking already.

I did notice the front rotors are starting to form some cracks. Right now they are less than 1cm in length and I can't feel them but I definitely see them.

At what point should I carry a spare set of rotors? Pads?

[Tt3Sheppard]

What benefits with a stiffer front sway bar bring to HPDE? Will I see more results from a sway bar upgrade in Autocross over HPDE? I purchased a Perrin 22mm Front sway with endlinks, debating on selling them or installing.

[BluByU]

Originally Posted by ZionsWrath

At what point should I carry a spare set of rotors? Pads?

I have only seen info on this regarding cross drilled rotor, so take this with a grain of salt. Shallow cracks running between cross drilled holes is normal. However, when the cracks reached the edge of the rotor, it was time to replace. I would think that similar logic would apply to solid rotors as well.

[CSG David]

Originally Posted by ZionsWrath

These are my XP10 after 3 HPDE. They look to be wearing perfect, I'm guessing the front have ~2/3 and the rears are practically new lol. I was able to push in my pistons with my thumbs so calipers are OK. However the "dust boots" are dry and cracking already.

I did notice the front rotors are starting to form some cracks. Right now they are less than 1cm in length and I can't feel them but I definitely see them.

At what point should I carry a spare set of rotors? Pads?

You will form micro cracks when using the brakes hard. This is actually not too big of an issue. You may consider a little extra time for warm up and cool down before actually parking the car. What actually cracks the rotor is when you have an extremely warm spot and the rest of the rotor is cool causing a large thermal differential in one particular section of the rotor. This is inducing thermal stress into the system.

While we have formed micro cracks on the OEM setup, we didn't find the absolute necessity to bring rotors as the OEM system is quite beefy. If you see the cracks grow, I would go to Partsgeek to pickup some Centric Premiums or Brembo blanks for your setup. They are fairly inexpensive and pretty high quality without the OEM price.

Also, we noticed that running 225/45/17 RS3s caused us to burn through half the XP10 brake pad in a track day with stock suspension and alignment.

[ayau]

Lost the clutch on the ITR yesterday at Road America. It's stock with 137k miles. It won't disengage anymore. Hoping there's no damage to the transmission. Still being diagnosed right now.

Besides frequent fluid changes, what other preventative things can you do to prevent being stranded in the middle of no where? Towing your own vehicle to the track would be ideal, but the cost/benefit isn't there since I don't frequently to go the track.

On the bright side, it's pretty impressive that this 14 year old engine with 137k still pulls pretty hard. Not an easy task to survive 4 20 minute sessions back to back days.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by FRStock

Thinking about tracking my car for the first time.

1. GoPro...is it really worth it?
2. Stock tires/ stock pads okay?
3. Heel/Toe downshifting. How good should I be?

I have an extra set of stock tires so I wouldn't mind wearing them down a bit.

On heel/toe, if you're going to try using it on the track, I would practice it everywhere when you drive on the street. As others have mentioned, you want to be comfortable enough with it where it's basically second-nature.

I've heard stories from instructors where they've almost crashed or run off the course with students who are focusing on heel-toe, and don't brake hard enough or miss turn-in points/apexes.

Stock tires are probably fine, but I would upgrade pads + fluid. As a beginner, the last thing you (or your instructor) will want to worry about is whether you'll have enough brakes at the end of a 100+ mph straight. You don't need to spend a lot. Even cheap Stoptech pads ($110) + cheap ATE 200 fluid ($15) will be enough when starting out.

[ddeflyer]

Originally Posted by FRStock

Thinking about tracking my car for the first time.

1. GoPro...is it really worth it?
2. Stock tires/ stock pads okay?
3. Heel/Toe downshifting. How good should I be?

I have an extra set of stock tires so I wouldn't mind wearing them down a bit.

When I first was learning to heal toe, I got myself decently able to do it on the street, then I picked out a corner that had alot of run-off, with alot of room to recover while on the pavement, and also that was just a constant radius turn (ie. I choose turn 5 at Laguna Seca), and just started doing it there. It made me be sloppy on that turn for a while but in the end, heal-toe'ing on the track is quite a bit different on the street.