I have been doing DE/ open track for the last 3 years with an '86 Porsche 944 turbo that has been set up for track events. EX: roll bar, full coilovers, gutted ect. To give you an idea I run 1.04 /1.05 at Limerock, not blistering but plenty fast.
I decided about six months ago to pick up the EVO for a dual use, everyday driver/track car. This weekend was my first time at the track with the EVO. I did the bare min in preparation with the car: allignmnent, brake pads and brake fluid.
All in all I felt the Evo was an excellent choice for track use. I run in the intermediate run group which draws an array of cars from e46/e36 m3s, Bosters, 911's of all types, sti's and a slew of vette's(remember Pocono is a NASCAR track those vettes love long straight aways) I was very impressed with the EVo's performance, the 4 wheel drive allows you to drive the car anywhere on the track due to the huge amounts of grip. Turn in and steering feel is great although power steering maybe a little over bolstered. Brakes were very good and strong all day w/o fade. At the end of the second day I did develope a decient brake shudder that was still there this morning on the way to work, although not as bad. Pocono runs part of the track on the tri oval and part in the infield. The transision from the Oval to the infield has you braking from 135 mph to a second gear hair pin, so this was a real test. I went with the Ferodo ds25's and ATE super Blue fluid.
I was also very happy with the stock issue tires. I was running 35 front and 30 psi rear cold that got me to 43 f 37r hot. Grip was excellent all day, but the car has signigicant understeer and was hard to rotate. The tires also scream/squeel like crazy, this should help any track newbies. After 2 days I had put quite a hurting on the front tires. The car only has 2700 miles and 2 track days and they are starting to get to the wear indicators. The outside shoulders are fairly rounded off. BTW I went w/ 1.6 camber in the frount, tring to find a happy medium between street and track. Any more camber and It will be a pain in the **** on the street.
All in all I was very impressed with the car and so were the other cars in my run group. I was consistantly faster than some very well prepaired and drivin cars. The only thing I would like to do in the near term is get a set of harnesses and maybe a rear sway bar. Anything that can be done to losen up the rear would help lap times and the level of FUN.

 

Good write up, I love reading about EVO track days, hope to be doing Pocono next year . Did you run with PCA at this event? How come you didn't run higher tire pressure in the rear-this should help somewhat with your understeer?

 

Getting ready for the Winter ?

I'm heading down to Summit next month - I'll let you know if I've prepeared well .

Early next year, I will be pre-registering form several track days there - you should let me know if you'd be interested?

Take care, mmud

 

Ran with PDA, good group of guys. I think adding tire pressure in the rear would've given them more grip, I would have to have gone too high to lessen grip, so i went lower.

 

Hey

 

Hey Meanmud, good luck at Summit, believe me you will get addicted! Lots of R compound tires will be shipping to you work ! Let it snow! I forgot to ask, what are you doing for winter tires?

Howie, I think you are mistaken about the tire pressure issue...I believe more pressure give less grip

 

I posted the same thing in your other thread in the general section, but try more pressure in the rear and a little less in the front. I was getting very a very good response when both front and rear were 41C HOT. That equaled aprox 32F/35R cold. Depending on track and ambient temps.