Who has "tracked" their car?

[douglas vincent]

ie, who has taken their car to the track and run it during a club day? I plan on doing at least one this year, and hopefully more, depending upon disposable cash flow. First I need to upgrade (meaning REPLACE) my front struts and install new brakelines, brake pads and brake fluid. I am not out to win, cause I cant, but I dont want to fail or wreck.

If I end up doing the track day(s) in the hotter months, I suspect I will have to modify my cooling system. But as it is I am ready to whine!

[Yukonart]

With you there.

Autocrossed the STee several times, just haven't made it to a track, yet.

I also need to:
replace brake pads
upgrade brake lines
upgrade brake fluid
purchase a replacement RE750 and shave it down to run the other three

I want to at least get my track cert from Pacific Raceway . . more or less to get all the safety stuff and basics down. Also not wanting to compete so much as I want to improve my skills and see what the car is capable of.

[BAC5.2]

I will once the car is done, or at least to a stable condition and setup to provide me a capble and competitive car. I'm not out to WIN, but I am out to enjoy the fruits of my labor .

I need:

New brake rotors
New pads
Tires

Then all the engine and tranny and suspension work.

[douglas vincent]

I just checked out the latest EuroTuner mag. They put up about 10 or so euro cars against the imports and lost soundly. But they were very gracious. I would love to get in on one of those "time attack" things. I would lose soundly (unless I drove someone off the road!) but I would have a blast!

[legacy92ej22t]

I'm pretty sure that William (Brat4X4) has had his SS out at Beaver Run a few different times....

[Legacy777]

I'm planning on going up to texas motorsports ranch whenever the next event is. They just had one, and hopefully they'll have another before summer, so the temps will be lower.

The car's pretty much setup how I would like it, brakes, suspension, etc. I'll have the adjustability of the struts if I want to do any fine tuning. My tires are close to being done....I'm sure I'll nuke the tires when I'm up there, but I'm expecting that.

My only concern is harness/seatbelt. The auto seat belts don't do a thing for keeping you in your seat, and I'm not exactly sure how/if I can rig a harness of some sorts to help keep me in the seat so I can drive instead of being tossed around.

[scottzg]

The auto seat belts don't do a thing for keeping you in your seat, and I'm not exactly sure how/if I can rig a harness of some sorts to help keep me in the seat so I can drive instead of being tossed around.

Duct tape.

I ran in autox 4 times last year. I'm not sure if ill run at all this year . Pretty much every wear item on my car is due for replacement.

[greg donovan]

i rallycrossed my FWD sedan for quite a while and will continue now that my brother owns it.

[LaureltheQueen]

no way in hell i'd try tracking my car.

I have, however autocrossed it, and had a lot of fun

[Brat4by4]

If you get on a road course, first off all there will be NO competition. I'm not going to get into it all, but we are all far from being able to compete in a road race. Many, many steps to get there.

Most courses hold like an open lap day. The point is you go out to have fun and hopefully learn something (or get that go really fast bug out of your system, I am reinfected and MUST get to BeaveRun as soon as possible). More than likely there will be passing restrictions and other rules to keep the driving easy. They do NOT want you trying to pull fast lap times. The idea is to get some seat time and experience and you get to enjoy their track, and they make a quick dirty buck.

Oh, and by the way, BeaveRun has free instruction on their lap days. And it is the driver... not the car. The guys with dedicated track cars will come with rentals when their cars break, and they run in the advanced groups because they are too fast in a stock Hyundai for the intermediate groups. The first time I went with my Legacy it had blown struts and I was passing Porsches and other high dollar cars like they were going out of style. The second time I went, I was easily lapping people on a 1.53 mile course within a 20 min session. Also passed a Porsche 996 on the back straight (highlight of the day). And my car is slooow. Whether you pass people is up to you as the driver and hardly anything else (with decent tires).

And by the way... the Legacy is NOT my daily driver. If I wad it up (which isn't the point of an open lap day) it will really really suck, but I will just hop into one of my other cars and go to work that next Monday.

[jamal]

I've thought about it. I'd kind of like to not do it in my daily driver, though. With the new parts I'll soon have and be installing, it will definitely be tempting to really see how it handles. I was in a road rally Saturday, though. It was awesome, and I'm definitely going to do it more. I posted about it in the seemingly never read motorsports section...

[Legacy777]

Brat brings up a very good point.....whether the car is a daily driver or not.

My car used to be, and that was one of the reasons I wouldn't autox it. Now it's not a daily driver, and I've done the stuff I want to it, so I look at tracking it as a way to relearn how the car drives, and have some fun.

[BAC5.2]

It's hard to justify tracking a highly modded daily driver. Things can easily go wrong.

I would have NO problem tracking a factory performance machine like a Viper or a Ferrari, and daily drive it.

[Brat4by4]

I would have NO problem tracking a factory performance machine like a Viper or a Ferrari, and daily drive it.

You're still hitching a ride the next day when you wreck it...

[BAC5.2]

I'd still have a second beater car incase I wrecked it, but I would absolutely daily drive a factory performance vehicle that I tracked. I don't like the idea of having a car that I can't enjoy all of the time.

[georryan]

I have not tracked my car, but I know a guy who has tracked his 91 SS at Leguna Secca and Thunderhill. He has a BPM exhaust, the liberty turbo, some headers, and he has changed out the stock lifter and rocker assembly to the n/a ones.

He said that with his AGX struts with Eibach springs, and bigger brakes, he was out cornering everything there. (still needs better brakes though). He didn't know if this was only because they didn't know how to drive or if it was representative of his car.

He did say that he loved the setup and that the gearing was perfect for the track.

He said the one car that showed him up was a viper, but that was only in the straightaways, not in the corners.

I wish I knew more in detail, but I don't.

-Ryan

[NuwanD]

I've done a few track days and they are a blast... definately use some decent tires to really get a feel for the G's your car is capable of, and make sure to use tires that will last the entire track time... you don't want to cut your day short if you start seeing cords. I usually go for lapping days where the track is booked for 3 hours, and spend the entire 3 hours out there (minus refuelling).. the car is more than capable of doing it as long as it has been taken care of.

Definately go over the brakes before the day and get some good pads and fluid as well as bleed the fluid thoroughly... fade is a bitch, and make sure your rotors are nowhere near being warped cause that will show up at the track.... fresh engine oil is also a good idea.

Take a pump and tire gauge to adjust your pressures while you are there. Make sure to keep the tank above 1/4 tank to avoid fuel starvating in the long sweepers (the reason I sild off a track once)

Have lots of fun, drive with the windows up and make sure to wear a helmet even if it is are not required.