so this upcoming year im planing on road racing my evo. i never road raced so im all ears on advice and input before i get myself into this sport..

last yr i signed up with nasa but never made it to an event cause my car wasnt ready( had bad tires and breaks, money was tight.. then i broke my arm). so this actually will be my first year racing.

also when i had the broken arm i had a cast obviously, but because of it i had hard time reaching 5th gear which at one point i misshifted on top of 4th and messed up the motor.. now the car is under construction.. i want more power so im fully rebuilding the motor and thinking of upgrading the turbo.. i was thinking of precision 6262.. i was thinking of doing 2.3 stroker but keepin 2.0 seems cheaper and saves me more money for other things i need and want to buy.. i also will daily the car here n there...

now what i wanna know from u guys is, what do u think about me goin into RR with modded car with no track experience.. im no dumbass driver on the road but track is different..
should i ease up on the mods or should it be ok?

should i leave the suspension stock or should i upgrade? i heard from some its better to learn on stock suspension..True or False?

now how do u get placed in HPDE classes?

can i take or is it required to take a class first before u get track time?

what are the requirements to get on the track?

i know so many questions some might be stupid so please dont bash me here lol, but i figured id ask some peeps here with track experience..

id also be interested in tagging along with any locals to any events


thanx,
greg aka GEVO

 

Best way to learn and gain skills road racing is to start in a slower car. Then progress to your Evolution. Rent a car or register for a school; Skip Barber, Russel ect...

 

Should do tires, brakes, and suspension way before power. (Good alignment is a given.)

Very simplified list:

1. Brakes, brakes, brakes - a set of race only pads.

2. Tires - good condition extreme summers (Z1*, RE11s, etc.). Heck, I have tracked on good all-seasons.

3. Suspension. Get the most out of what you have.

4. Power.

HPDE - you will start in novice.

Requirements - car has to be in top working order, no leaks or fluids or mechanical defects. Good helmet. Comfortable shoes and clothes.

 

u will waste your time on stock suspension/settings and a fast motor.. Get a 25mm sway bar and a decent alignment.. switch to Motul600 brake fluid or u will boil the stock fluid. Forget about power, the car has more than enough power for the stock suspension and brakes.. I'm at around 330whp and the car over powers my stock suspension(on top of that i have every bolt on suspension/frame strenghtening bars with an aggressive alignment)

 

In your boat, since your forced to build the engine, and have the sense to do it right rather then doing it cheaply, i'd use the smallest turbo you could find. If you can't use your stock because it's full of metal or what have you find another stock one and bolt it back up. This will keep your cost even further down so you can spend that cash on suspension and brakes and SEAT TIME. Cause the motor is only going to make as much power as the turbo you bolt on. Plus smaller, more spool friendly ones will be MUCH more beneficial in the long run.

Senior Binary (jid2) is a perfect example - he likes to race, was just getting into it, and had to redo the motor. Being the mechanical geek he is () he built it up big. Now he's taking 10x longer to get faster because the car is WAY above his comfortable driving level. And he's no stranger to the track either. It's just an example of going the opposite direction. Search for his posts as they are quite informative. Also scroll down this board as there are several hundred others who asked the same question and have answeres.

 

Long story short, people who are new to HPDEs have a great deal to learn. As a beginner/new comer to HPDEs you need to start in HPDE 1. And if you modify your car, all you are going to do is cripple your learning curve. Simply put, you will learn at a much slower pace than someone who is learning on a car with no mods. And like already noted, there are countless threads about your question. If you dont take advice from people who actually know what they are talking about, you will learn the hard way...plain and simple. If you have the courage to read my posts (supposedly my posts are long), there is some general advice on my website, which is in my sig.

 

well thanks all of you for your great replies and knowledge..

now what i wanna know is how crazy do you get with the suspension?

my car has 96k miles so what route should i take? its alot of wear and tear on the suspension in that many miles

 

suspension bushings go a long way and if your daily driving your car they are not the noticable.

A larger rear sway bar. I used the Tanabe and it works wonders.

Race pads, good tires and some coilovers..

the alignment, tire pressures, spring rates, rebound/dampning all play a huge roll.

It takes time. I'm still working on mine

 

do you guys mess with the camber?

what type of coilovers do you guys run?
i have a hook up possibly on megan coilovers.. anyone run those?

 

Suspension is very complicated....my advice is keep it simple unless you have a suspension tuner you can work with. Not a shop that slings a ton of power parts....but a shop that specializes in suspension. Or do a lot of reading, not just on the forums. A lot of the "popular" coilovers really do suck, but big shops push them because they have a popular name and people really don't know any better on suspension.

I would recommend doing at least 1 track day on your stock stuff....but you have almost 100k miles so your shocks could be on their way out soon.

Bilstein HD shocks with a good set of springs (our GTWORX springs or Swift), front and rear swaybars (whiteline is good and cheap), and a good alignment will be an easy to set-up, simple, long lasting solution that dramatically improves handling and still has good ride quality.

Unfortunately the Bilsteins are backordered until the end of time, but it looks like there may be another option soon.

I recommend stock suspension, stock power, and upgraded pads/lines/fluid to start.

EDIT: And avoid the Megans.

- Andrew

 

Megan's are crap, but they're better then stock. However some would argue that Bilstein HD's with some springs are better then both. Coil wise, good track coils can go anywhere from $2000 to $12000 depending on what you want and what you need. Again we're just answering your questions. It's obvious you love buying parts and doing the research like the rest of us, just be patient and beat on the car a bit before you spend time and $$. We're gonna beat tires, brakes and seat time into your head until you go crazy from it

 

This.

Stay at 300 whp, get some good pads, fluid, tires, a rear swaybar and some swift springs on MR struts.

Go to the track and spend your money on track days.

My experience was: racing rally cars for 2 years, doing track days at Miller Motorpark 1 year at 300 whp (easy safe track), doing a few days at Pacific Raceways at 300 whp (gnarly track, not safe). Then I built my motor, switched to E85 (466 whp), spent a year fixing problems with the car in-between sessions at the track and it is scary to drive.

It's really easy to make an EVO dangerous, these stupid things are fast. Forget that 6262, few have the skills/experience to handle a car with that kinda power at the track. My car doesn't really make that much power compared to all the crazy guys on this site with street/drag race setups. Don't be fooled because everyone is making 500-700 whp these days. That will get you into BIG trouble on the track.

Save your parts money until you hit the track, then you'll know what you need.

 

well i clearly understand the fact that tires, break pads, fluid, and alignmnet are a must and play a huge factor... the reason i just wondered bout the suspension is cause i think mine is already goin to ****.. front seems higher and shocks dont look to hot..with 96k miles i figured i was due for change..

im just gonna end up testing the car out first.. but still i have to open up the motor see whats exactly wrong and fix it..

does wheel size matter? 17s or 18s? do i want as wide tire as possible? or keep it fairly stock.. whats a good track tire size? 245, 265? 40,45,? 17s, 18s? etc

 

255's on the stock 17" wheel are a good place to start. Use a nice high performance street tire.

 

OP - congrats on wanting to get onto a track, its a blast. As most above have said, other than the basics (brake pads, fresh fluids, maybe tires), spend the $ on yourself first by doing as many HPDEs as you can. If your shocks are blown, then yes, replace them. And don't confuse HPDEs (lapping) with racing. Most people do lapping, not racing.