Every now and then I will take off my STILLEN hat and make posts that have nothing to do with the company and are only related to my personal thoughts on a subject...This is one of those times.
I have spent almost all of my life around cars. Whether it be watching my Dad race in the IMSA series or helping clean the windscreen of his car all the way up to working on the pit crew of one of the local NASCAR sanctioned series in our area. I've also built/prepared and raced/driven numerous different types of vehicle's...Off-road prepared desert trucks, go-carts, formula cars, tube chassis race cars...Even dirtbikes and streetbikes...I have been very fortunate to have a pretty high speed life. The most important thing I learned from all of that...Preparation and expectations are key.
If you are going to go to the race track, prepare your car. It's just like taking your car to a show. Before the show you wash it, detail it, and get everything perfect. Well, before you go to the race track you better go through all the key points...brake fluid upgrade, oil cooler upgrade, brake pad check, brake rotor check...and more! Before I go to the race track I do a nut and bolt check on every component of the suspension. I also look under the car for any leaks or loose bolts or loose body panels, hoses too close to anything...Basically just a general inspection. Check your tire pressures, check your lug nuts...
Going to a race track in any car, without proper preparation is asking for a problem. I'll admit that my practices are probably overkill but having seen some of the things I've seen, in my opinion it's worth it to me to take an hour or two to prepare the vehicle I'm about go 100+ MPH in...
If you think about it, every vehicle on the road is "race-bred." Every vehicle has adapted some form of racing technology to work for street use...For example, I would not take a Ferrari F430 from the showroom to the race track..."But Kyle, it's a Ferrari!!!" Yea...it's still a car that was never intended to go to the race track every day. Can it be driven on the track? Yes, but to push it to 10/10ths you're going to need to properly prepare it. Even if those preparations are minor, there will still be some work to do to it...
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