Noob to the Track world.. Need help with setting up car
 

Ok going to my first track experiance in about a month up at Watkins Glen. Im trying to get a parts list together from what ive gathered from the forum and want to make sure i dont miss anything.

GTM Oil cooler (obv a must)
brake pads (swap them for the track day)
High temp brake and clutch fluid
Sway bars (Stillen?)
Tires (BFgoodrich gForce TA KDW - not the best for the track but they'll do)
Spacers

My big question is would putting lowering springs in be a bad idea.. I think it might be bc the shocks and springs arnt matched for each other (not ideal for racing) and im not looking to put coil overs in at this moment. i want to learn how the car handles first. Also is their anything that i should add or subtract? Looking at around $2000 limit to get started. minus the tires bc i have those.

Thanks in advance fellas

Looks like a sound start. Just make sure the oil is relatively fresh (changed within 1000 miles).

I would also forgo the spacers for the track, I haven't had good luck with those under track conditions. Although given that your tires aren't that sticky they may hold up. Some clubs don't even allow spacers that are larger than 6mm.

The lowering springs will help lower your center of gravity and if they only have a marginally stiffer spring rate they will still match up to the OEM shocks fairly well. A lot of the aftermarket lowering springs are variable rate so it is possible that you may end up with more body roll. If I were you I would try it once without them so that you have a comparative reference.

For the sway bars the Stillen will do fine and matches up to the stock suspension a little better. Given your tires I would probably run on the low or middle setting for the rear.

i plan on chaging the oil about a week before the even bc sat the 30th im going to a drag strip with some friends. Im kinda upset about the tire choice but ill have to live with it for now unless my buddy lets me use his stock GTR rims and tires. Ill hold off on the spacers bc i dont see anything about that in the rules. Anything else i should look into? also would a 19 row oil cooler be big enough for a 3.4 mile track? they do 15 min sessions. I dont plan on tracking the car very often but you never know.

It is a big track with a lot of fast full throttle sections, the car will get hot. With the 19 row I think you will okay for 15 min, but if you haven't bought it yet I would definitely consider the 25.

I havnt pulled the trigger on anything. Ive been researching a lot about everything and it seemed people could get away w a 19row but only for daily driving in hot places. Most people that track their car go for the 25 and 32. So ill just go for the 24 and play it safe

You also do the velcro+aluminum block off plate thing, if the 25-row ends up being too cold for daily driving in the winter up there in the northeast (e.g.: http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...off-plate.html). Whereas if you go too small, you've gotta buy another core and replace it, etc. If I were you I'd just go larger right off the bat.

I was hitting 260F at the Glen in 70 degree weather after 15-20 minutes, I would get for the 25R minimum. Instead of wasting money on crappy tires and sway bar, just get some good tires and call it a day. The car will handle fine with the stock springs, tires make more of a difference anyday.

I plan on getting a Thermostatic sandwich plate so i shouldnt have a problem with that. But i do think ill be getting the 24 row.

Unfortunately im stuck w the crap BFgoodrich tires bc i bought them before we decided to go to the Glen. Unless i do just the cooler and tires.

With the 25+ row setrabs and cold (as in, freezing or close to it) weather, even the thermo plate won't protect you from running too cold. The block-off plates are easy to make though. (and of course, you most definitely should use a thermo plate).

agree

i made the mistake of not building one when i had the bbumper off. now its nearly impossible to sneak my hand in it. i used painters tape last winter

Heck I have to start blocking air flow at 50F or so on the highway. I just tape cardboard or plastic on the front fascia. Easier than having to fish something inside.

I would recommend the 200F thermostatic plate if that's an option as well.

Ok 25 row oil cooler and make a block off plate. got it

As for tires. I know the ones i have arnt great. cossie1600 you meantoned to go for tires rather than sway bars. Any suggestion on tires? I did a driving school for firestone a while back and we had RE-11s on 3 series BMW's and those tires were awesome. Any other suggestions? Comments? Should i just go their on these tires and see what its like?

I think that the Yokohama Neova AD08s are just as good as RE-11s if those are hard to find. They may be a little bit more unsteady in the wet but in dry they stick like glue. I ran my RE050As until they were scary in the rain and switched after that point. You might consider that as well.

You can't go wrong with the AD08s, RE11, XS or the Direzza Z1 or even NT05. It all depends on how much you want to spend and what level you are at. It's an expensive set of tires regardless, freaking sucks.

I loved the RE050's on the car, I went through the rears in 12k and the front in 16K. I like to drive hard lol. I have the Goodrichs on now but if they wont perform well on the track id rather put the money into tires rather than other susp parts that wont make a difference bc my tires suck

Yea i noticed that when i got the tires on my car now. How are the NT05's I had the 555R's on my old muscle car and thought they were a pretty good tire. i know the RE-11 are a lot, along w the rest of the tires for our cars


I Dont plan on tracking my car ALL the time but im def going to a couple track days with some buddies every now and again. Maybe like 3 times this summer. Not looking to go pro.. yet lol

if your standard is set to the re050, any tire i mentioned will be better. i had my re050 for 700 miles before i sold them for the re11, which was faster, quieter and rides better. i think life is around the 10 to 15k range

i have a video of how the re11 performed at the glen on the re11, youtube it. the car is just fine, i wish the time was a little quicker, but it can only be as good as the driver. i just dont think i have it anymore like i did a few years back. the goal is to drive home safely first and not drive as fast as i can than go home second

I really like the AD-08s, they behave a lot like an R compound. I'm running them this weekend at Barber, as I spun and corded the side of one of my hankooks slikcks last weekend and they are on national backorder.

I love my NT05's. I think for the money they are a good choice

They come in 19s now?

I was looking into getting the NT05's. My cuz has a set of Hoosier R6's for the rear of my car that he said I could have. Now how bad would it be to run two different tires front to rear on the car.

Options are
1. get a set of nt05's
2. Run r6's in the rear and nt05 in the front
3. Get the Hoosier for the front and pray it doesn't rain lol

I think my best bet is to run nt05's

NT05's front and R6 rear would be pretty horrible. You need to match compounds front and rear if you want any control over the car.

That's what I was thinking. I'm just worried about having Hoosiers and it raining. It'll cost me 200 more to buy 4 nt05 tires then two hoosier r6's for the front. But w the nt05 I Could still drive on the road

thats w RE11's correct? those are supposed to handle great in the rain.

oops sorry wrong thread. they are pretty good rain tires, not great. its better than stock for sure

What do you guys suggest for oil, brake fluid, brakes (i know a lot of you run the X10's), basically im looking for the bare bones to get on the track and have a good time.

on a stock car, a good synthetic oil like pennzoil is fine, thats like 55 bux with labo. i use amsoil dot 4 for brake fluid, bleed them before the track day, thats like 25 bux if u do it yoursel, but there are many others in the same price range. i recommend xp8s on a stock car with stock tires as 10s are way too aggressive (i have both in my garage right now). you should be okay other than that, oh yeah you probably need an oil cooler. you might want to learn how to change brakes yourself if you dont know how.

Fresh premium synthetic oil: Redline, Edge, Pensoil Plat are all fine.
Brake fluid: any high temp fluid, Motul, AP etc.
Brakes: XP8, Hawk DTC 60

Ill be doing everything myself. I used to be a mechanic and went to school for it (Not enough money in that business). I plan on swapping my tires out for the NT05's. Should i still go with KP8's? Ive found an oil cooler just waiting to figure out what else im getting so i can try and order from one place and save on shipping rather than order eveything seperatly.

Thank you sir :tiphat:

nt05 is a non r comp, you will be fine.

Went to poconos and the glen and had way more fun in my car then i ever had. Back to business. i plan on running the car stock for the rest of this season but next season i plan on doing a bunch of suspension work to the car. heres some more questions for you guys

Tire Pressure
I ran 32psi front and 30psi rear. my car seemed like it wanted to understeer a tad. could be from the car being stock or going in to hot into turns. should i adjust them down a hair?

Coilovers.
Plan on getting KW Variant 3 coil overs. From what i read your best bet is to have the compression and rebound setting seperate for the best adjustablity. comments?

Sway bars.
Not a lot of research done here but i noticed the stillen ones are adjustable. Any other suggestions?

Alignment.
I remember seeing specks on what to run but havnt been able to find them lately anyone have a link or know them of hand? plan on getting adjustable control arms and what not.

Pressure:
Tire pressure requirements depend on the tire and the car setup. You're best bet it to either ask what other people run for that tire (on a similar car) or use a pyrometer to take temperature measurements inside/middle/outside. Generally speaking slicks like slightly lower pressures than street tires. You can tweak tire pressures to balance understeer/oversteer. For understeer decrease front pressure or increase rear pressure, take note of resulting tire temps and wear patterns. Reverse for oversteer.

Coilovers:
2-way adjustable is nice for fine tuning a setup but is probably overkill for a novice.

Sway bars:
Stillen, Hotchkis, Whiteline, all adjustable. The Stillen is a little more compliant, the Hotchkis is the stiffest.

Alignment:
This is what I run, your mileage may vary.

Front
Camber -3.5
Toe -0.02

Rear
Camber -2.0 (would like -1.8 but don't have the longer arms)
Toe -0.10

the tire pressure seems too low to me, chances are that you overdrove the car slightly. z tends to understeer in stock mode anyway, just compensate with your driving for now.

the coils are over kill but id rather have to much than too little with them. thanks for the alignment specs. as for looking at the tire temps what am i looking for?

Cossie those where cold temps not hot. i fogot to check them hot. they were around 40 2-3 hours after a race. i would think theyd have to go down a hair. but im new this.

Low 30's is what I run hot for pressures on the V710 slicks, but that is with coilovers. On a stock setup you might need more pressure to prevent rolling the tires over.

For measuring temperatures you are primarily checking for evenness inside to outside. It is okay to have the inside hotter than the outside or the outside hotter than the inside as this will happen when camber challenged. The goal however is to have the middle of the tire temperature fall equally within the two. Alter tire pressure to get the middle temperature in the ideal range.

For most of these DOT slicks the ideal operating temperature is 180-200F. Go too high and they will start to feel greasy.

so after some hard work and saving im semi in the market for a set of coilovers. right now i have like 1200ish to spend. My car will only be tracked maybe 4-5 times at most a year. so not looking to go crazy and spend 3k on coilovers. any suggestions? my first thought was BC BR coilovers. opinions are welcome. :)

The BC BR's are going to perform roughly the same as the more expensive ER's for most of the session. The damping force and spring rates can be made the same, only advantage to the ER is separately adjustable rebound and extra fluid reservoir.

I got my ER's used, cost about the same as a brand new set of BR's and they were in great condition.

So all in all they wouldnt be that bad correct?

They would be good. Depending on your tolerance for comfort on the street I would consider go up 2K on the spring rates to 12K/10K.

ahh im not worried about comfort on the street. Im young enough to stand it haha even tho my back already bothers me :ugh2: