Nissan 370Z Forum - Track Day Best Practices

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But then what is that blue lip in the pic above? Hehe.

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Originally Posted by Mike (Post 2940328)

get a stillen bumper then. My car ran about I think 30 degrees cooler than Russell from Z1s at road atlanta last time we were both there, and my times were a little faster. The larger bumper opening and me not having an ac condenser are about the only mechanical differences between our cars.

my car is on the AE cooler now, and my bumper is cut up top on either side of the Nissan burger for upper radiator airflow. im just talking about when my front end was un modified and only on the 34 row cooler.

I also have the grill cut out. i dont think a stillen bumper is getting more airflow then my ghetto track bumper LOL

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...894892298f1ea6

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar (Post 2939902)

Good for you! Driving Schools are necessary. Some are structured differently than others, and I really prefer the sorts of grassroots-style DE events where former students are turning around and helping the newbies through the process. But the bottom line is it's pretty hard to get decent at driving without someone there pointing out your mistakes, telling you how to improve, and harping on the basic habits. And that's not just the mechanical skills of the situation, but the psychological ones too. Things like lifting up your vision and scanning constantly to be aware of traffic and flags and incidents way ahead of time, and not letting your ego (or stress, or emotional state, etc) control your decisions on the track. That part was especially difficult for me at various stages. You have to be driving exactly to your rational capabilities, which also implies being able to rationally evaluate yourself first; you can't be driving harder than your skill allows for due to ego overload, and you can't be driving weaker than you're capable of due to fear or stress either - both of those mistakes can send you off the track if they hit you at the wrong time. These things carry over into other areas of life as well.

No matter how awesome a driver anyone thinks they are in everyday life, the first few real track events are always a real eye-opener as to how bad you really are at driving and how much there is to improve on. I really think everyone who owns a sportscar or is into cars owes it to themselves to at least do a handful of light DE weekends at some point. You don't have to stick with it as a major hobby, but you get so much out of just those first few experiences that they're always worth it.

Amen Bro!!! :tup:

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Originally Posted by carlitos_370z (Post 2942098)

Amen Bro!!! :tup:

I agree as well, if every driver on the road was just do 4 DE track days, the world would be a better and safer place.

Can I run with just the factory oil cooler on the 2014 model? I'm not sure how effective it is, but if I'm not pushing it to 10 on the track and ambient temps are low (60s), I should be okay right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar (Post 2939902)

...You have to be driving exactly to your rational capabilities, which also implies being able to rationally evaluate yourself first; you can't be driving harder than your skill allows for due to ego overload, and you can't be driving weaker than you're capable of due to fear or stress either - both of those mistakes can send you off the track if they hit you at the wrong time...
.

:tup: Thanks for that great information. I especially found the quoted part above helpful. :tiphat:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbenj10 (Post 2944402)

Can I run with just the factory oil cooler on the 2014 model? I'm not sure how effective it is, but if I'm not pushing it to 10 on the track and ambient temps are low (60s), I should be okay right?

It really depends on how hard you push it. I ran mine a few times on the factory cooler and was fine. If you stick with it though you will quickly find out you will want to upgrade the cooler. :tiphat:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbenj10 (Post 2944402)

Can I run with just the factory oil cooler on the 2014 model? I'm not sure how effective it is, but if I'm not pushing it to 10 on the track and ambient temps are low (60s), I should be okay right?

Depends like said. A properly vented hood will only help!

I did not see what was looking for with the obligatory search...

Question: (I've run a few setups with brakes at the track but am still a bit of a tech noob.)

I'll be changing my pads from hawk ceramics (which I run for DD) to hawk plus pads for my track day this week.

1. Do I need to "resurface" my rotors when I change my pads and how do I do it... (a bit of light sanding??) Or can I just swap and do a few quick "pad bedding" maneuvers to get my pads ready to run?

2. It's been about 6 months since my last fluid bleed. I have a few bottles of RBF 600 on hand. How do I know when I've bled out all the old fluid and have new dry fluid all the way through the lines? (I hear new dry fluid is a good safety tip to avoid boil off/fade)

I could have some brake shop do this stuff for me, but I'd actually like to start doing it at the track between heats (if i notice my pads wearing down on track weekends) and be able to swap my pads at home. (before and after track days.)

Just do it yourself, buy a one man bleeder and spend $100 on tools to make job faster. With the hp+, you will be changing rotors soon anyway

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurfDog (Post 2947976)

I'll be changing my pads from hawk ceramics (which I run for DD) to hawk plus pads for my track day this week.

1. Do I need to "resurface" my rotors when I change my pads and how do I do it... (a bit of light sanding??) Or can I just swap and do a few quick "pad bedding" maneuvers to get my pads ready to run?

You probably don't need to muck with the rotors. Technically it would be more-ideal to kill the previous transfer layer first, but honestly you're more likely to do harm than good trying in many cases. Definitely don't have a shop put them on a lathe. If you do decide to try it, just scrub the surfaces with garnet paper (not sand paper), ~200 grit.

Bedding the new pads will be important. The mfg will have directions for how to do it, and with HP+ you can definitely do it on the street before you get to the event.

Quote:

2. It's been about 6 months since my last fluid bleed. I have a few bottles of RBF 600 on hand. How do I know when I've bled out all the old fluid and have new dry fluid all the way through the lines? (I hear new dry fluid is a good safety tip to avoid boil off/fade)

If you fully bled the fluid 6 months ago, you'd probably be ok to just bleed the calipers this time around. If you really want to flush the whole thing, just guestimate and use about a bottle per corner as you bleed the calipers (more in the rear than the front; longer lines). If the fluid's truly aged, you'll see the color change from darker to lighter when you start pumping out new fluid.

Quote:

I could have some brake shop do this stuff for me, but I'd actually like to start doing it at the track between heats (if i notice my pads wearing down on track weekends) and be able to swap my pads at home. (before and after track days.)

Swapping pads on our cars is relatively easy. Doing it yourself is always better if you can, because nobody cares about your car more than you do (especially not some random dude at a brake shop).

Gosh I hope not! I've got the 2 piece floating rotors from z1. Rebuilding them seems like a PITA. I'll definately try to cool them well before parking to minimize warp. I'd like to get at least a year out of them.

If your going to be using real track only pads that will be rock hard when cold then use them with repeated stops at slow speed to scrape the transfer layer off from your street pads. Follow that by bedding your track pads.

Once done at the track do the same thing to scrap the transfer layer off again with cold racing pads then put your street pads back in and bed them.

Running real track only pads while cold is pretty much the same as using a lathe on your rotors, one of the many reasons you should not daily drive with real track pads.

Awesome advice. Track only pads only on the track though