I got registered as a guest for the Austin event at COTA and thought I wasn't going to be able to drive my own Z. However, a participant in my group did not show, and they let me drive my Z on the track. There were a total of 12 laps in 4 sessions in your own car in the afternoon at full speed (there is some track time in the morning but it's slower and more designed for the instructors to gauge your skill level). I spent the first three laps getting my car inspected and ready for the track (no decals tho
). I did the next three laps and reached about 260F oil temps as we were about to pit; I was cooled to around 210 before we started the next session. After 2-1/2 laps I hit ~285 oil temps - luckily we were just starting the last 1/2 lap cool down when I was contemplating radioing to the instructor that I needed to back off. I then let the car continue to cool down in pit lane while the fourth session was run (great photo op). However, immediately following that, I got to drive a stock 2013 370Z Nismo and a 2013 GT-R Track Edition
Note that I have a 2011 without an oil cooler, and I was fully aware this would limit any track time. While I was really, really hoping, I wasn't seriously
expecting to get on the track with my own Z, so what I got was an amazing surprise. I installed EBC slotted front rotors and Hawk Performance Ceramic pads and flushed the stock brake fluid with ATE Super Blue less than a week before the event. I've run Mobil 1 5W-30 oil for most of the life of the car, and at the time of the event, the clutch fluid and power steering fluid were stock, and the transmission and diff fluids were Redline. I should mention that I had also recently tuned the car with EcuTek software (in May), and I was running Nitto Invo tires with a good amount of tread. The car had over 35K miles on it, and I was impressed at how well it performed overall. Even when it was pulling timing due to the heat, it was still driving hard and a hell of a lot of fun. Hopefully, you guys get some cooler weather in Oct in FL than we had in TX in June
