thats not at all what he's saying.

He's saying it's a common sense item. Much as you wouldn't go out and do 120 on sub 100 speed rated all seasons, you shouldn't expect the stock brakes, to overly handle the job in front of them.

(granted, the evo comes with a fairly sticky tire stock, but on a normal car, you'd be stuck with all seasons)

Again, another safety thing not mentioned here (safety of the car), would be to more actively change the oil, and take a quart with you to the track. Stuff we take for granted, because it's in our track "box", but a n00b wouldn't think of. (gallon of distilled, extra brake fluid, etc.)

oh yeah, and turn the boost down a pound or two, if you're able

 

No boost controller but my "track kit" includes extra oils (engine, trans, gear), Motul brake fluid, a boost / vaccum gauge, all the goodies.

Triny, not arguing at all. I think we are just passing each other with our point. I worry about "safety" items such as wheel stud kits (ever lose a tire on track? Ouch), proper fluids, proper equipment including pads, rotors, tires, rollbar.

Thomas

 

I did 2 different track days at VIR in my '03. The first one it was snowing just outside of Danville so I kept the snow tires on & still killed almost everything that was stock except high end Porsches, Z-O6's & Vipers. I was hitting 135 mph at the end of the back straight, just before roller coaster. As you say, exit speed at Oak Tree effects terminal speed and on snow tires I wasn't exactly nailing the corner. My next event was on stock Advans which helped. It is very exciting to go thru the uphill S's at 110 mph and be thrown around by the G-forces-for me it was the all time track high.

My only mods were Motul 600 & a competition alignment. You might want to consider some after market paint protection. After 2 years I had approximately 1000 paint chips in the front (something about chasing porsches w/sticky rubber at 125mph). The biggest single improvement will be race rubber. Since you already know how to drive you will not need much else. My stock brakes were flawless-they would slam me against the seat belts every time the ABS (Wh/you don't have) kicked in. A set of front stock pads was good for about 1 +VIR's, rears were worth 3.

 

Congrats on the new purchase. You won't regret it.

I've been tracking my cars for about 8 years now and have been a driving instructor through NASA as well as other organizations for the last 3 years. A couple things I'd like to bring up (and maybe add to the pot) concerning your NEW car.

1: It's NEW! Which means everything in it and on is as well. The stock brake lines are fine for the first 10,000 miles or so of med. to heavy track use (2-3 days a month) if your just HPDE'ing it.
2. brake fluid upgrade is nice but not necessary just yet. Maybe do it when you change out the lines.
3. change the pads right away for track use. Makes threshold braking much tidier. (I like Performance Friction or Carbotech)
4. stock tires are great but give up the ghost after a few laps. Upgrade once you have a few track days under your belt. As stated above: 255 series Toyo RA1's work well and last!
5. add a larger rear swaybar and bushings. A big, HUGE, MASSIVE difference.
6. I question using a 'bolt-in' cage. Why? Well, the Autopower, for instance bolts to the floor (so far so good) but then bolts to the rear fender housing (not so good). It's just thin sheet metal back there and any type of meaningful roll-over will punch those bars right through the metal. I've been warned by many a race shop to avoid this type of rollover protection. I know the alternative is a weld-in cage or nothing at all. I'm just telling you what I've been told.
7. oil change after every track outing. synthetic obviously.
8. change all other fluids early and often (10,000 miles). They degrade quickly.
9.Leave the engine alone (for now).

Enjoy!!!

 

stock brake fluid does need replaced, if you're serious at all.

and the bolt in, is not a cage, it's simply a roll bar. If you decided to weld it in, you're simply going to weld to the exact same spots. If you welded a bar, with no end cap on it to the frame, thats gonna offer less protection than the "foot" on the bolting plate. If you have honest worry about it poking through, get a larger size piece of metal, and bolt it through. It is spreading the load the best it can in a passenger car, for a simple roll bar.

 

A proper cage would penetrate through the rear wall and attach (welded) to the upper shock mount turret's, where the metal gauge is thicker (double-walled I think) and not to the rear wheel well.
I'm not saying that changing the brake fluid to a DOT 4 is a bad thing, just not a necessity (yet).
One thing I've noticed with many an Evo driver on the track is that they are on the brakes WAY too long. That's what heats up the fluid. Using firmer more progressive pedal pressure instead of long and drawn out stabs works for me.

 

cage, there is no cage.

it's a roll bar. Many people see a piece of metal in a car, and all they know is roll cage, which a bar is not, big difference

And yes, i agree, a properly done cage is the safest, however for the bulk majority, a roll bar is far superior than nothing else

And as far as brakes, many people during track days are on them far too long, however you should not push progressively harder, you should push down to the limits, and ease off during turn in. Your heaviest braking pressure should be your initial touch on the brakes, to bleed off the most speed, quickest. Helps keep the car settled, and enables you to react to changing conditions if you're forced to stop quicker than you had planned.

Stock fluid just can't handle 125 to 30, then 100-50 twice in an 80 second span. For that matter, neither can the clearcoat on the calipers

 

Brownbos FTW. Mine look like burnt toast.

 

yeah, coming in and seeing the clear peeling, and thinkin, man, i'll have to do that later tomorrow, and then coming in... and seeing it completely gone and thinking to myself "well, that was easier than i thought"

 

also, take everything we've all said with a grain of salt, but theres a good amount of fairly good knowledge in this thread from some moderate, to more heavily experienced people.

Good mix i think.

 

Agreed and appreciated.

Question, I searched here, DCEvoClub, Google, my user manual, etc. I crawled under w(as best I could) and around the car; Where are the stock (if any) tow points? If they don't exist, which aftermarket ones provide a clean install?

Thanks all!

Thomas

 

if you find any, let us know. without custom fabbing something, there really isn't anything. theres one tiny hook that was a bolt on under the side of the intercooler, but any aftermarket intercoolers would block it, theres a tow hook under the bottom rear, but the best way to tow the evo, from the front, is probably around the center of the strut tower bar

 

Lots of good information in this thread.

 

I found a few online. I don't know anything about the structure under the bunper so I wouldn't know where to mount which way...

http://www.kingratmotorsports.com/products.php