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How to prepare for my first trackday

PaZeRa

Active Member
Nthusiast
Oct 7, 2019
421
236
43
Poland
Hello Guys,
So finally I will take part in my first trackday in my life. I'm looking for any tips on how to prepare for it.

My main questions are:
1.What pressure should I ran my stock tires?
I guess I dont need pressure meter if we all have pressure sensors inside of wheels.

2. Should I be worried about stock brake fluid overheating?
Its's rather short track with quite short straights, so not much hard braking

3. What kind of gloves are good for our car's steering wheel?

I read some articles about trackdays and I expect that I will be introduced on how to act on track during introductory session in the morning. Still if you have any i30N related tips, please share them with me.
 
1. Start at roughly 2.0-2.2 bar cold and target around 2.5 bar hot (keep an eye on the dash and adjust as required). Lower hot pressures would mean more grip, but the Pirelli sidewalls are very soft and streched already...
2. Nope, the stock pads will let go way before the fluid overheats.
3. Gloves are generally required for suede steering wheels. Anything you prefer and feel comfortable in will be ok with the OEM wheel.

Start slower and at a speed you're comfortable with. Ramp the speed up when you are comfortable, look for braking point markers on the track. If available, check the theoretical perfect lines beforehand.
The car is neutral and really safe on track, unless you do something deliberate to push it (like mid corner lift off).
 
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1. Is it to be expected that track will have tire pump or I ask them about it?
2. How will it feel when stock pads will overheat? Overheated fluid means mushy pedal with lower breaking force but pads?
3. What engine oil temperature should I not exceed?
 
1. Usually that's something everyone takes care of. And also usually you can lend one from other participants. You should only need it if you have a longer drive home so that you pump your tires back up to pressure when they cool down to avoid dash warning and pothole damage.
2. The overheated pads don't impact pedal feel, but you just feel the brakes let go and lose braking power, regardless of how hard you push the pedal.
3. If as you mentioned the track doesn't have long straights - this should not be a big issue (especially with November weather in Poland). It's normal to see 110-120C on track.
 
In general, don't overcomplicate things on your first track day. Just go there and enjoy the car. If you spend too much time looking at tire pressures, temperatures, looking for brake fade, etc. you'll have no time to enjoy driving.
 
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Turn up. Check in. Drive.
If all goes well, it'll end up looking like this:


I wouldn't even worry about tyres unless you're doing an endurance event or something. After twenty minutes you'll come in, the tyres will be warm and then they cool down a bit before you go out again.
 
Thanks for the look at Snetterton once again. Haven't seen it upclose for a long time. :)

One thing is for sure with our cars is that you won't be last. They handle great and are surprisingly fast.
My best recommendation is, when entering corners, to floor the pedal. The LSD is brilliant at pulling you out of them.
Don't forget to select full N mode.
 
Thanks for all the replys guys. It turned out that preparations were not that complecated as you told me. It was an absolute blast. It was my first time on track and also first time of any kind of spirited driving. I was a big pussy for the half of day and kissed last place. On last laps I managed to brake and accelerate fully and do some remotely acceptable cornering. It was funny how perspective change when you drive a car on a track by yourself and not in a video game. I thought I knew what the racing line is but when finally driving I was stupidly cutting corners.

results.jpg

Just look at the i30N on 7th place (dont count the first as its a bug). It was just a 3rd time on track for this guy. He gave me a perspective how good an i30N is. All of the faster drivers were driving track ready cars. GT3 is on its own level, but all other 4x4 evo's and impreza's + focus rs2 had cages and had stripped out interior + the best one had semi slicks. I'm still shocked what our cars can do :eek:

One quick question thou, is this normal that edges of brake rotors got red on the next morning? It looks like a rust od discolour of brake rotos. I got the same effect on my bmw e36 when calipers got seized and overheated one brake to a point when wheel bearing got its grease leaked out. For most of the time I didnt even brake with full force and after 2 hot laps I did one much slower lap. At the end of every 15 minutes session I did 1.5 cooldown lap. I would really surprised if I overheated my calipers in that way

red rotor.jpg
 
My brakes looked like that after my Snetterton session. When I took the car in for a check up on something not related to the brakes a few days after the track event, my dealer pointed out that the brakes had been "very hot" and the pads were down to 25%. Not bad for 6000 miles in nine months. Not bad as in, not good. My driving is heavy on the brakes though. Both on track and the road.
 
Thanks for all the replys guys. It turned out that preparations were not that complecated as you told me. It was an absolute blast. It was my first time on track and also first time of any kind of spirited driving. I was a big pussy for the half of day and kissed last place. On last laps I managed to brake and accelerate fully and do some remotely acceptable cornering. It was funny how perspective change when you drive a car on a track by yourself and not in a video game. I thought I knew what the racing line is but when finally driving I was stupidly cutting corners.

View attachment 15555

Just look at the i30N on 7th place (dont count the first as its a bug). It was just a 3rd time on track for this guy. He gave me a perspective how good an i30N is. All of the faster drivers were driving track ready cars. GT3 is on its own level, but all other 4x4 evo's and impreza's + focus rs2 had cages and had stripped out interior + the best one had semi slicks. I'm still shocked what our cars can do :eek:

One quick question thou, is this normal that edges of brake rotors got red on the next morning? It looks like a rust and discolor of brake rotors. I got the same effect on my bmw e36 when calipers got seized and overheated one brake to a point when wheel bearing got its grease leaked out. For most of the time I didn't even brake with full force and after 2 hot laps I did one much slower lap. At the end of every 15 minutes session I did 1.5 cool down lap. I would really surprised if I overheated my calipers in that way

View attachment 15556
Normal, no worries.
 
I will have my first service next month so I will ask my dealer about my brakes condition. I usually drive quite calmly and had fun mostly from acceleration, especially in corners.

BTW What oil grade do you use? I checked shell website and it showed me that 0W-30 ECT C2/C3 oil is an economical choice. Best would be 5W-30 Helix Professional.
 
BTW What oil grade do you use? I checked shell website and it showed me that 0W-30 ECT C2/C3 oil is an economical choice. Best would be 5W-30 Helix Professional.

That recommended Shell 0w-30 is a very good oil for track use. It has a high temperature high shear value (a measure of how well it performs under heavy load at higher temps) of 3.7 compared to as low at 2.9 for some xW-30 weight oils.

In a car that sees the track often changed regularly (no more than 6 months or 2-3 track days) it will be fine.
 
I used this stuff in my engine last week. But I purchased the filter and plug gaskets from the dealership.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015EDWOZG/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_DmyQFbRKVJWNZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I purchased this for the gearbox because I can't seem to get a similar product anywhere else in the UK. The dealership has a 205 litre drum of the stuff but they're not allowed to sell me individual litres of any amount.

https://ebay.us/cbQGtL
That's what I use in my gearbox.