BingeTokyo Circuit Days - Track Prep

[Docdoc]

My father and I are heading down to the hotel, he wanted to check out the Corvette museum and the car show. He was driving the FR-S in traffic and having a heck of a time rolling down the window. He was trying to just crack it open a bit. We have stopped for food.

Docdoc

[Docdoc]

I just completed the day at the track. I had a great time and all though it was not a “race” event, I did push the car to the limits of the tire I ran with. I also attempted to get a “good” lap time and I think I did rather well. I came in at 2.47 on the best time. I will post the results on Sunday night. I was able to keep up with the most cars on the corners with only a few of the high end Porsche cars getting ahead. Overall it was a great day. However, a guy I met there that was running a nice BRZ track edition car unfortunately wreaked. From my understanding, and I hope he jumps on here, he is a good guy. Took a high speed corner too quickly and with the negative chamfer of the track his car lifted off and went into a barrier. It was definitely a slap in the face, that we are still pushing the platforms to the limit at times. He was OK, and was able to walk away from the crash. More photos to come later.

Docdoc

[Docdoc]

As promised a few photo's from the event. I'm in the orange 33 2014 FR-S.










The BRZ tS that wreaked a little later in the day. Was a sad loss...

[Docdoc]

So as a bit of a wrap-up to the event I did want to share a bit about what I learned from the experience and what may help me when I track again.

1. I did not bring the best of shoes - I had a plan to bring a nicely broken in pair of converse all star shoes, though I left them behind and had a hard sole leather shoe that worked, at the end of the 2 and half hours on the track, my feet were hurting. I may grab the pair of driving shoes I have been eyeing on Amazon.
   
2. My tires were good but they could have been better - I was running Bridgestone s-04 pole position tires that had good grip, but I was fighting them though most of the more difficult corners, and I think dedicated track tires may have helped. *I ran with what I came down on the car with.
   
3. I was having trouble with shifting - Since it was my first time on the track, I was shifting in the corner when I should have just stuck with a gear while downshifting before the corner. This sometimes made the car jerk a bit mid turn, I was able to keep it under control but, During the last two rounds I was able to focus on the apex more by having it all done before the corner.
   
4. I pushed my car to the limit - I made sure to ring out the engine were ever I could and if the tires were not fighting for grip I felt I was not pushing it enough so I went faster. I believe I hit ~110 MPH on the straight before I had to hard break for the upcoming S turn. This was good and bad, first I was able to keep up with a 400+ hp Cadillac, Mainly cause he weighs so much and has to brake before a turn much earlier then me. I also spun out the car twice. I did not damage it, and I just waited till their was a opening in cars on the track and pulled back on the track.
   
5. The engine was fine - I made sure to keep a eye on the engine temp and did not see it get to hot, however it was in the 50's, Though I think I may still get a oil cooler and a way to log the temps. As if I run in the summer the engine may need the oil cooler. I did however see a Honda s2000 bring it in early one session for a overheating engine. I think he may have had a bigger cooling issue however.
   
6. Find a good Instructor - I asked the presenters of the event if their is a instructor I could go with. They handed me off to William, that was basically a race car driver with a highly modified s2000. I went with him for his warm up lap and he ended up passing about 4 cars even though his back tires kept losing grip. He was a impressive driver and I learned a lot from him. I suggest finding someone at the event that knows the track and drives a rear wheel car similar to the GT86.
   
   Overall though it was super fun to do and I did it rather cheaply compared to some of the people there.
   
   Docdoc
   

[Jamestl]

Sounds like you had a great time! Sucks about the BRZ though - that car is beautiful.

On your notes - it seems like you may have pushed it a bit harder than your skill level. You mentioned not completing the shifting prior to turn in and spinning a few times - you may want to focus on the basics first before trying to hang with the faster cars. Most orgs I’ve ran with have a two spin a day and you’re out rule so be careful. Focus on the fundamentals first (consistent braking, shifting, apex, etc) and you’ll naturally get a feel for where you can improve. Data acquisition can help a lot too. Lastly if you can run with orgs where you have a consistent teacher in the passenger seat it’ll help you get up the curve much faster. NASA does this for their DE1 group (every session you'll have the same person for the weekend) and they’ll be at NCM in two weeks.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by Docdoc

I did not bring the best of shoes - I had a plan to bring a nicely broken in pair of converse all star shoes, though I left them behind and had a hard sole leather shoe that worked, at the end of the 2 and half hours on the track, my feet were hurting. I may grab the pair of driving shoes I have been eyeing on Amazon.

Being comfortable is important!

Originally Posted by Docdoc

My tires were good but they could have been better - I was running Bridgestone s-04 pole position tires that had good grip, but I was fighting them though most of the more difficult corners, and I think dedicated track tires may have helped. *I ran with what I came down on the car with.

Your tires can almost always be better...what's important for someone that is new to the track especially is a tire that is communicative and consistent. An ultra-sticky tire might make the car faster, but it won't make you a better driver.

Originally Posted by Docdoc

I was having trouble with shifting - Since it was my first time on the track, I was shifting in the corner when I should have just stuck with a gear while downshifting before the corner. This sometimes made the car jerk a bit mid turn, I was able to keep it under control but, During the last two rounds I was able to focus on the apex more by having it all done before the corner.

This can be a tough thing to get a feel for but also something that an instructor *in your car* can really help you with.

Originally Posted by Docdoc

I pushed my car to the limit - I made sure to ring out the engine were ever I could and if the tires were not fighting for grip I felt I was not pushing it enough so I went faster. I believe I hit ~110 MPH on the straight before I had to hard break for the upcoming S turn. This was good and bad, first I was able to keep up with a 400+ hp Cadillac, Mainly cause he weighs so much and has to brake before a turn much earlier then me. I also spun out the car twice. I did not damage it, and I just waited till their was a opening in cars on the track and pulled back on the track.

You almost certainly had a lot left on the table in places you don't realize. Do you have in-car video?

Originally Posted by Docdoc

The engine was fine - I made sure to keep a eye on the engine temp and did not see it get to hot, however it was in the 50's, Though I think I may still get a oil cooler and a way to log the temps. As if I run in the summer the engine may need the oil cooler. I did however see a Honda s2000 bring it in early one session for a overheating engine. I think he may have had a bigger cooling issue however.

Get an oil cooler and a way to track oil temps.

Originally Posted by Docdoc

Find a good Instructor - I asked the presenters of the event if their is a instructor I could go with. They handed me off to William, that was basically a race car driver with a highly modified s2000. I went with him for his warm up lap and he ended up passing about 4 cars even though his back tires kept losing grip. He was a impressive driver and I learned a lot from him. I suggest finding someone at the event that knows the track and drives a rear wheel car similar to the GT86.

Yes. I'm surprised you didn't have an instructor in your car with you?

For your first track day you really shouldn't be that concerned about laptimes or which cars you pass. It's about getting comfortable with your car at speed and getting to know the track day process. It does sound like you made some progress and just getting out there once is huge so that's great! Keep going and make sure your car is properly maintained (brakes, oil cooler, tires, etc). Set yourself up with some in-car video and maybe a datalogger so you can start doing some post-trackday analysis. You're doing great so far.

- Andrew

[Docdoc]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

Yes. I'm surprised you didn't have an instructor in your car with you?

For your first track day you really shouldn't be that concerned about laptimes or which cars you pass. It's about getting comfortable with your car at speed and getting to know the track day process. It does sound like you made some progress and just getting out there once is huge so that's great! Keep going and make sure your car is properly maintained (brakes, oil cooler, tires, etc). Set yourself up with some in-car video and maybe a datalogger so you can start doing some post-trackday analysis. You're doing great so far.

- Andrew

Ya, I did have William run with me on one of the sessions, He was was the one who let me know about the shifting, and also to focus on touching the "blue spot" on the turn apex. I focused on braking and downshifting before turns, and trying to ensure I stayed on the line. I was not uber worried on track times, though I did want to keep up with cars that I knew had instructors in them as they were running the line.

A in car video recorder is definitely high on the list.

Docdoc

[Docdoc]

Originally Posted by Jamestl

Sounds like you had a great time! Sucks about the BRZ though - that car is beautiful.

(that car *was beautiful.) Ya it was, I hope the guy is able to get back in another and keep practicing driving.

Originally Posted by Jamestl

On your notes - it seems like you may have pushed it a bit harder than your skill level. You mentioned not completing the shifting prior to turn in and spinning a few times - you may want to focus on the basics first before trying to hang with the faster cars. Most orgs I’ve ran with have a two spin a day and you’re out rule so be careful. Focus on the fundamentals first (consistent braking, shifting, apex, etc) and you’ll naturally get a feel for where you can improve. Data acquisition can help a lot too. Lastly if you can run with orgs where you have a consistent teacher in the passenger seat it’ll help you get up the curve much faster. NASA does this for their DE1 group (every session you'll have the same person for the weekend) and they’ll be at NCM in two weeks.

The NCM track has good run off's and I did take it a bit easy still. I left traction control on the first two sessions before tuning it off and the third was one of the spin outs. I was able to keep it stable the next 4 or so sessions. I did not hear of any spin rule, but unlike most events the amount of seat time was significant. I was probably on the track for 140 minutes or so between the sessions. I also only really pushed it on the last 2 or 3 sessions. I made sure to do a warm up tire lap, as it was a tad cold and also when waived the checkered flag a good half a lap to full lap of cooling down the engine and brakes. I may have push it a bit hard at times, but I have about 120k experience with the chassis over all.

Docdoc

[Docdoc]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

For your first track day you really shouldn't be that concerned about laptimes or which cars you pass. It's about getting comfortable with your car at speed and getting to know the track day process. It does sound like you made some progress and just getting out there once is huge so that's great! Keep going and make sure your car is properly maintained (brakes, oil cooler, tires, etc). Set yourself up with some in-car video and maybe a datalogger so you can start doing some post-trackday analysis. You're doing great so far.

- Andrew

Ya, I’m pretty good on maintenance, I like to keep up with it. I believe that if you properly do proactive maintenance you should “never” (things still happen) be stuck broken down on the road. I just did a oil change as I was 1k till due but since I was hard on it at the track, I went ahead and replaced it and the oil filter. I also will be rotating the tires later this week. The transmission oil was swapped with nicer Motul 300 gear oil at ~12k miles ago, so I should be set on that for a bit longer.

Docdoc