First Trackday Experiences
 

Not a completely novice driver, as I did HPDE's back around 2010 with my old S14 (that NA KA24DE was a warrior for surviving with 150k on it), but I finally managed to get off my *** and back on the track.

I hope this helps any considering tracking their car

7/6 - Thunder Hill 5 mile
8/3 - Sonoma Raceway

Track setup:
2015 Nismo manual
Z1 34 row oil cooler
Z1 PS cooler
CJM Active Baffle Oil Pan
Z1 Anti-Starve Fuel kit + added on/off switch

275/40/18 Nexen SUR4G
18x11 +16 Enkei RS05RR

Aragosta Type R (14k/10k)
factory nismo swaybars
SPL FUCA, all 3 rear arms and ASB mounts

Sparco QRT EVO XL
Schroth 4 point ASM

Bell Racing Diff Brace + Rusty modifications

OEM Akebono
Z1 2015+ Nismo bumper brake duct (stepped down to 2 inch from 2.5 inch)
Stillen brake duct hose and plate
Endless MX72 pads
titanium brake shim
Z1 2pc rotors
Motul RBF600 at Thunder Hill
Endless RF650 at Sonoma

Gonna dump some thoughts:

1) If you live in California and you are interested in track experience, you have no excuse. We are BLESSED with so many good venues: Thunder Hill, Sonoma, Buttonwillow, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs. Most people will be within a day's drive of one. Make it a trip with friends, stay overnight, do something.

2) Best mod for the car is seat time. Nothing replaces the experience

3) Related to #2 - survivability mods are worth the money. Gotta keep your car running if you want that seat time. They are more valuable than any suspension or power mods when starting out

4) Ambient temperature makes a big difference! Thunder Hill was 108 degrees, cars were experiencing issues left and right. I lost my clutch after lap 8 (session 2, so there was an hour or so of cooling). It affects the car and the driver, as well. Sonoma Raceway was around 80 deg average. That plus switching to RF650 meant i never lost brakes or clutch

5) No room for ego. The current setup is much faster than I am currently capable of driving. Realize its about learning not laptimes or staying ahead of a Miata or GR86 out of pride

6) Related to #5. Since our cars can basically fit any tire size, we are at a huge advantage compared to other cars. Those Miata and GR86 (And probably the Subie crowd). My 275 square setup is not even close to the most aggressive here, the grip we can put down is nuts. It's alot of runway

7) Sonoma Raceway is definitely my favorite track. Nostalgia from running it in Gran Turismo aside, the elevation changes keep things extremely interesting, and there are several turns that demand a non-traditional approachg that force you to focus and remember what to do. It's actually very gratifying to execute the things the instructors tell you to do for specific turns. You have turn 3a being a blind off-camber turn that gets the car VERY light going into a wall if you aren't careful; you have a decreasing radius downhill turn 4, and a mini carousel to turn 6. So many unique situations, it's a blast.

8) Buy a goddamn seat and harness; test fitment on your helmet and get on the track

9) The paddock is better than any car-show you'll ever visit. Forget your cars and coffee or Concurs ********. MX5, GR86, S2000 and FWD Hondas are ubiquitous as are Corvettes, GT3s and M-cars, but you also find all sorts of exotics, plus full on race cars from teams testing their stuff. It's just a wonderland for car nuts

10) Might be time for a diff. As i got more comfortable I was getting alot of chirping from the inside rear tire on exit

Not relevant to everyone but I want to stress that this current setup, after reading a buncha stuff here by more experienced drivers, was able to get me to and from the track reasonably comfortably. This isn't a daily driver, but it's really only driven on the street lightly. I was still able to go around 80 miles each way without any shenanigans. All I really had to do was replace the license plate with the tow strap.

A support car with a friend would have been nice. If you really want to bring stuff, you will hit storage limits. I brought a 2 ton jack to Thunder Hill, and thats your entire trunk. tools, fluilds, helmet, and thats all the rest of the space

I bought a spare bumper and run it for track. It can also be cut up for more ducting in the future. It's real handy to not have to worry about ruining bumper, when you still want a decent looking car for non-track

Great write up. Your car is well set up. When you go with friends its even better. Hope to catch you out there one of these days.

good to hear and that you have it sorted, heat is always a killer of cars no matter what you are driving. Setup sounds good.... Just enjoy

During that 100+day thunderhill, my group had a couple of M440 sedans that managed to keep running with no issues. Those aren’t even full M cars - believe that’s a performance package on a regular sedan, basically. BMW must have a shitload of cooling on them

Is this you? They posted the pics on facebook. Sonoma event.

If so, nice car man! Looking fast.

Very nice write up. Top next mods I'd say are Sway bar, 5/6 point harness, or diff.

Yup

Gratuitous track shots:

https://i.postimg.cc/rwPvFcPg/IMG-0474.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/63jHzhxc/IMG-0462.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/tRzP0g10/IMG-0455.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/L67TJXmq/IMG-0471.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/xCvm1ftz/IMG-0456.jpg

I dig how the two round ducts turned out but they’re currently ducted into nothing. I switched to the Z1 inlet which replaces the DYRL. The area where the round ducts can just be cut open to larger, rectangular shape, and the ducting behind it can be installed to route air to the radiator

Holt chit, you make my car look like a hooptie. The nismo body kit looks so right.

How did you do with turn 2? That was definitely a tricky turn for me. I feel like I can be faster. Just scary.

I had been to Sonoma before, so even though it was many years ago, after the first lap, I remembered what it felt like. The instructors said to get almost all of your turn-in done before entering T2 and especially T3a, due to the elevation change making the car light at the apex.

On the other hand, I was totally over estimating turn 1- it’s a gradual left, but i was letting up thinking I had to account for the turning - but the instructors pointed out that the turn is slightly banked so it’s possible to carry ALOT of speed through T1. After watching other advanced groups blast through it barely an adjustment, I started taking t1 more aggressively, which meant hitting T2 with more speed, which meant adjusting how how to slow down and remembering to turn in.

It’s not a early turn in (that’s how you hit a wall), but it’s scrubbing speed early to get thr car pointed where you want to end up

Also, I don’t think you need to track all the way out since turn 3 is quickly approaching

Here is Edgar Lau, pro racer and lead instructor:
https://youtu.be/M_U8ccNei8Y?si=F31-HvrqhisRq8Yu

They showed this as an example, although there are differences for us bc he is taking a line meant to account for wheel to wheel tactics

Cool beans. Ill remember this tip next time out.