Track Day Best Practices - MUST READ

ResIpsa

When you open your hood after getting off the track make sure that you also take off the black plastic master cylinder compartment cover.

A clutch cylinder failure at my last track event got me doing some investigative testing (I am preparing to post a thread on my findings later this week). Even with normal street driving, I have measured 10 to 20 degree temperature spikes in the master cylinder compartment after turning off the car. I can only imagine how much the temperature would rise after getting off the track. However, taking off the cover prevents these spikes.

Also, if you drive to and from the track, you may want to practice driving without using your clutch. Don’t overdo it; just practice enough so that you understand the basic principles (which I won’t go into here) of clutch-less shifting. This is a skill that you will hopefully never use.

However, this may save you one day if you find yourself stranded in an empty paddock with no ability to disengage the clutch. It did for me…

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threeseventy

^ great information. I've had clutchlock and it's not fun. "Resp" added

Read T

I can do this easily in my 240sx, but cannot seem to do it at all in the 370z. Is it possible? S-mode on and off?

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sig11

Absolutely. Works exactly the same.

JB1

Word of caution on the wheel chocks, remember to move them out of the way before you move the car. Even if you back away from them they might be sticking to the hot and soft tires, causing them to be dragged into your wheel well and potentially causing damage there. This of course mainly when you use small, light weight ones.

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spearfish25

Might you be alluding to the time my wheel chock stuck to my hot sticky tire and I ran it over????

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JB1

I didn't want to call you out, but yeah that was you

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asdfsammich

All this track talk is infectious!

Thing for me, I know if I go out there I, will instantly get addicted.

What keeps me from tracking vs just running the canyons is the risk of a miscalculation causing an impact (either I make a mistake or someone else does).

How common is that at the events you guys run?

I guess, more specifically, in the SoCal region.


Tapatalk & such etc

threeseventy

What keeps me from tracking vs just running the canyons is the risk of a miscalculation causing an impact (either I make a mistake or someone else does).

How common is that at the events you guys run?

I guess, more specifically, in the SoCal region.


Nobody ever hits anybody out here. Everybody wants to drive their cars home. There are no walls to hit either, unless you consciously crank the wheel on a straightaway- it's all soft sand and silt runoff areas, as opposed canyon walls, bicyclists, and.. CANYONS .

-A reformed canyon run guy.

GSS138

Driving the socal canyons is more dangerous than the track. Simply because at the track the othere drivers are paying attention. And of course a deer is very unlikely to run in front of your car in the middle of the desert

What part of socal you in?

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cossie1600

I would say the average is about one incident overall per track day. Everyone will go off at some point, just a matter of hitting things or just mowing the lawn.

I saw one door to door contact, they both spun off into the same area of the dirt. EVO VIII vs EVO X crime

MightyBobo

I dont think I've ever had a 100% clean HPDE yet. Granted, I've only done 4 full weekends total, but none the less. This last one was the closest, and we "only" had one major event: a mechanical failure on a Mustang's tie-rod caused him to have a wall impact at the end of a longer straight.

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cv129

Subd

asdfsammich

Thanks for the perspective threeseventy. Makes sense.


Tapatalk & such etc

Mike

I've been doing track events since 2004 and have only ever seen one car to car contact event.

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