will be running 20 minute sessions on a road course. My car is completely stock and it will be in the upper 80's to upper 90's tommorrow. Wondering about cool down time. Also should I change the oil before I go or after. I am about 500 miles shy of oil change time. I also plan to bleed the brakes before hand, but do I need to do it after as well.

One more thing, would airing down the tires about 5psi a piece be worth it or not with an awd car. the last time I tracked a car, it was an RX-7 which is entirely different beast.

Thanks

 

I would definately do an oil change before. Maybe even afterward as well. My Opinion.

 

Dibs on your trunk and wing.

 

You will generally bump tire pressures up, as temps will be much higher, I think I ran about 38f-35r, cold. I also allowed a 3 min cooldown with hood up and heater on after my last track day, and kept hood up till the following session. I kept boost at at street level (21-22psi) but ran 100 octane to keep knock away, thats about all I can think of, watter wetter or blue ice if youre still running antifreeze. I just watch tire wear relative to outside edge of tire, where tire is rolling, and kept adjusting tire pressure to keep from going past the outside edge. Your gas mileage will be horrible if youre pushing it, i was getting around 9 mpg, so bring some fuel if you run 100. Good luck, remember slow is fast, be smooth and predictable, and slow in fast out till you get a good feel for your car.

 

When you going to pit, make sure you doing a cooling lap.
After when you park your car, do not use the parking break. Just stop and stop your engine.Leave it in gear ,if it want's to move.

 

Excellent advise!

Definitely change your oil before you go. As a rule of thumb, always hit the track with fresh oil. You may want to change it afterwards but the world shouldn't end if you don't. I'm basing this on 4x20 minute sessions per day over two days; if you see more track time than that I would definitely recommend a change. Also as you get more experienced on the track and spend more time at WOT you will want to start changing the oil after each event.

Since all of this is brand new to you, I would recommend starting with the stock tire pressures and leaving them alone for the first day. Focus on your driving, not the car's set-up. For the second day I would suggest lowering them a pound or two first thing in the morning.

I don't recommend mid-day tire pressure changes at all until you are experienced enough to really understand what to look for in tire behavior and wear. The first time you come off the track and all four tires are hot and at different temps & pressures trying to adjust the car can be pretty intimidating. It's easy to make mistakes at that point. First thing in the morning the tires are cool and all everything is even - it's easy to make changes then.

Most importantly focus on driving, being safe & learning; don't loose focus and spend all your time tweaking the hardware. Oh and have lots of fun!

 

Change your drivetrain fluids to before and possibly after as those will also take quite a beating on a trackday. Definatly run some type of race gas-prefably unleaded 100 as this will not mess with your afr or your 02 sensors. But if that is not available some leaded race gas will not hurt-it will make your afr go rich but will keep the knock down and possible engine damage. Your 02 sensors should be ok from using some leaded race gas for one track day.

 

thats messed up... good luck! hope you do well, enjoy!

 

If race gas is not available lower your boost down. Really at the track you'll find that even a stock Evo is very powerful in the corners. Def do some cool down laps or drive easy in the cool down area for 5-10 minutes after each session. Monitor your tires for wear after each session as well. I ran 35r 38f as well when I went.

I never use the e-brake at the track and think it's great general advice but would "welding" even occur since the e-brake doesnt use the rear pads / rotor (it has it's own brake shoe inside the rotor).

 

I have done 2 track days with my stock 2006 IX. I started with 35 psi F/32 psi R and had 42 psi F/38 psi hot. I dropped the fronts 2 psi and the rears 1 psi which gave me my hot target of 40 F/37 R. Maybe not optimum pressures but the car handled nicely and tire wear was very acceptable. This was on a 70 deg day, so if the temp is close to that, try starting with 33 F/ 31 R (cold).

I put in ATE super blue, don't know if its necessary but it can't hurt. Be wary of brake fade, I got quite a bit and had to slow down to cool the brakes. I've since installed Ferodo DS2500s on the front and will try them out Aug 16.

No need for race gas or octane boosters with the stock engine/tuning. I agree with the advice to change the engine oil.

 

Uh. What?

not really sure where you are going with this, but if you'd like to buy my wing, make me an offer, it's in the basement.

 

I've driven my car on about 12-14 track events + several all day events on "The Draqon,Deals Gap", not to mention several days a week, aggressively driving it "***** out" on my little "test roads". I regularly hit 7500-7800 rpms in my shifts(depends on what gear I'm in of course, 280/272 cams w/FPGreen turbo,etc.). I have about 26K miles on my car with no problems. I'm running 22 psi to red-line (off the WG) with a mix of 93 & 110 & a conservative tune. I change my oil @ 2500 miles w/ RP oil, not after every event.
While I can't speak for others, I always run less pressure up front than the rear as this helps the car track better, usually about 2-3 psi, 32 up front & 34-35 rear. I ALWAYS do a warm up lap on my tires & brakes, then make about 3-4 laps and check my temps. Based on what I feel the car doing and what my tires read, I air up or down accordingly. I always run track pads on the track w/ SS brake lines & Motule 600, no brake fade. I run Nito NTo1's on the track & Bridgestone REO-1R's on the street(they are my rain tires too).
If you don't have a background in HP driving, hook up with someone @ the track to help you get the layout. I highly recommend attending some driving schools or hiring an instructor, it's well worth it!

 

BTW,
Always start out easy, getting the feel of the track(it's great if you can print a layout of the actual track so you can try to visually memorize the turns), once you get comfortable and get a feel for the track, gradually start taking it faster each pass. Just be careful to stay @ 80% of your ability(easier said than done) as that will give you some room to work with if you mess up. Also, trust your gut instinct, as it will usually save your but, I know I didn't two weeks ago on Sebring in the rain and made 1 more lap when I felt I should have gone in to change out my tires to my street tires(I had R compounds), needless to say, I did a 180 in a turn and slid against a wall(minor scrape on the rear fender & cracked tail light), live & learn.
Hope this helps, have fun & be safe!

 

Excellent advice so far... only thing I didn't see was, as far as the stock tires go, there is a roll-over indicator on the sidewall of each tire. As you look at the sidewall of the tires, you'll see a small triangular arrow pointing towards the outer edge of the tire. This is the roll over indicator. After a session take a look at this indicator, you'll be able to tell how much of the tires is in contact with the track by the color of the tire/rubber.

If you see this marker being scrubbed off you know your tire is rolling over too far in the corners. If the tire wear isn't near the tip of this mark then you can probably let a little pressure out. Ideally the tire should be rolling over just to the tip of this mark.

Also, some of my other good 'rules of thumb' for road course/HPDE events are...

- Never drive 10/10ths. 7/10ths is the most I'd drive at a HPDE event with my daily driven Evo. Even if you're frustrated... never drive right to the edge of your ability or the cars limits.

- Don't let yourself get into the 'red haze'. My friends and I refer to it as this, but it's when you start driving like you're in a race and not at a HPDE event just having fun. I've let myself get into this state of mind on the track and it's not good. Don't let poor drivers get to you, it's not worth getting into trouble just to try and prove you're a better driver.

- If you do find yourself going off track, don't try to be a hero and keep the car on the track. You're much less likely to get into trouble if you go straight off the track with the brakes on, instead of sideways trying to recover.

Anyways... have fun, I know after my first event I was definitely hooked. The Evo is a GREAT road course car!

 

use Motul brake fluid, bleed it in - flush out the old, do a oil change and keep you tires above 34,35 psi hot.