First HPDE at RPM
 

Hey guys!

I'll be heading up to Raceway Park of the Midlands this coming weekend for my first HPDE in the Z. Of course, I wisely selected a rainy weekend to start road course instruction.

In preparation, I've swapped the brake & clutch fluid for RBF600, and the brakes to Carbotech XP10f/XP8r (holy crap these things are great!). I've added the yaw sensor delete switch, and I have an FI oil cooler coming tomorrow that I'll put on before I head up to Iowa. The tires are A/S3+ with about 2k miles on them.

So, I've driven reasonably fast cars a bit fast, but nothing like this, and certainly not in the rain. I did some holiday laps at VIR in a 400HP FD RX7, but that was tame, and only got up to maybe 100mph on the back straight.

Do you guys have any last minute suggestions/tweaks or tips for handling rain in the Z?

Thanks!

Yes, you'll be fine have fun!

Rain days things to bring,
Something to keep the interior of your car from getting soaked, plastic bag or towels if you have to keep windows down for the groups rules like NASANE often requires.

If you don't have a place indoors to park a container to keep water out of all the stuff you bring.

Extra pair of dry socks and shoes.

An ez-up canopy 10' can easily cover you and your car if you need to do work at the track. Don't forget to properly secure it!

you might to leave things at home, that you would have to take out of the car
ie: floor mats, carpet in the hatch area, it is also normal to take the spare tire and items out too.

A hint, you might want to put the tow bar, in the front of the car just in case....

have fun and enjoy,,,,

In the rain. Be smooth with your inputs to the car. Try not to be jerky. If you feel that you might be in over your head in the rain trying to keep up. It's ok to slow down to your comfort level. Never try to drive over your abilities. And have fun. :driving:

I hadn't put too much thought into the "getting wet" portion of a rain day. Thanks for making me consider that, because yup, windows down.

Thanks! Hadn't planned on leaving too much home, but now that you mention it, I can absolutely leave all the carpeting and such.

I've never paid too much attention to my steering inputs so this is going to weigh on my brain. I really appreciate the advice and I'm sure I'll have a great time as long as I keep her off the wall :)

one other thing, depending on the temperature or not stay hydrate, drink plenty of water....

As Rusty stated, be in your own comfort zone... I am sure they will tell you about point and pass, but drive where you feel comfortable and don't worry about the others....

All of us, started at the beginning and all it is about learning...

Thanks guys for all the tips. I put most of them to good use.

I had a total of 180 minutes of drive time over the weekend, across 8 sessions (all 20 minutes, save the last that was 40 minutes). Saturday started with a wet track that dried out over the course of the day, and Sunday was damp and cold to start, and then it poured the rest of the day.

I ran the whole time with the yaw sensor disabled. I think that was the right choice, even though I spun out 3 times. I started learning to feel and correct the car slipping in the wet.

I did get to start pushing it pretty hard in the dry on Saturday. I could definitely feel I was hitting the limits of the A/S3+ in the carousel (5/6) and the turn onto the front straight (14), and they were squealing like lil' piggies. The Carbotechs were amazing and the oil cooler kept the car below 205 the entire time.

They pushed me up to HPDE 2 for the final session, so I guess I was doing something right!

Now...to maintain patience for the next one :)

Thanks again for all your pointers!

Glad you had a good time. You made the right choice on the yaw sensor. With it and the VDC engaged. It will do some funky stuff. Like applying a rear brake caliper to correct for the rear stepping out. Only to point you in the wrong direction. :eek:

Did you take notes?

That's exactly what I had read about the VDC/ABLS, and I was hoping to make the car as predictable as possible for my first time out there. Even if it was "less safe."


Pages and pages of them. I need to spend some time going over and consolidating them. We covered a lot of material and I kept track of tire pressures, temps, where the grip was, general behavior of the car, and words of wisdom from the senior drivers. Lots to keep track of.