First Track Day, Freaking Out

Alright, I'm signed up to run my first HPDE at Limerock on Sept 10th. I'm taking my 1982 Datsun 280zx.

Tires: Nitto NT-05's. I plan to drive to and from on these, rather than change at the track. OK? They're brand new, with about 100 yards of street driving!

Brakes: Porterfield R4-S pads, new rotors - these have a couple hundred street miles on them, that's it.

Brake fluid: I need to flush - Valvoline is ok?

Helmet: Zamp SA-2005; this is the minimum.

I'm freaking out about the brakes. I've read people say that the R4S's will fall apart, and others say they hold up fine. Same for the fluid. So, coach me, knowledgeable GRMers! Show me the way!

PS I don't remember the last time I've been this excited for something... cannot, cannot, cannot WAIT

Hahaha. It will be as good as you think it will be. Rock on!

And just bring spare pads. And flush the fluid with ate typ200 or better racing fluid. I use Wilwood EXP. It will be fine.

Bring spare pads, and know that, if you have an instructor, he probably won't be pushing you to the point that you fry your brakes on your first track day, in the Novice class.

You'll do just fine. Regarding the brakes, bring a backup pair and keep an eye on them. Between sessions you'll have time to inspect them. If your eyes (or nose) say that something's up, back off.

Just remember, it's not a race. There's no trophy for fastest ever track day participant.

There's a trophy for bonehead maneuver, but that is usually a wrecked car.

Pay attention, try a couple of different instructors and focus on following lines and smooth inputs. Speed will follow and your braking points/amounts will change as that speed increases.

I'm sure you'll do fine and remember, it's better back off a bit and collect your thoughts/courage than to push. That takes more "balls" than the folks that go hard and fast for a single lap and destroy their cars, etc.

Flush with high-temp fluid. Personally I'd use something like ATE instead of Valvoline -- brake pad fad is progressive and obvious (you have to push the pedal harder to get it to stop), but brake fluid boiling can happen a lot faster and is harder to deal with. The $10 difference between a can of ATE and a can of Valvoline is cheap insurance.

R4S will probably be fine, the thing to remember is that if they start to fade the right answer is to start lifting on the straight, not to just push harder on the brake pedal. Doing that will destroy the pads in short order. :)

If pushed hard, full tread-depth tires have a tendency to chunk at the track. If it's your first day you probably won't be pushing that hard, though.

You should end up getting a lot of track time at SCDA event.

At a bare minimum, make sure the fluid you flush with is DOT4 instead of DOT3 for the higher boiling point. I always run ATE fluid in carsI drive hard like many others here, but it can be hard to find locally.

Learning the track is the challenge before you. You'll still be learning it in your last session, and in subsequent visits. Just work on that. It helps me at a new track to try to late-apex everything initially, and look for exit speed. I've never driven Lime Rock, sadly, but I don't think it's known for being hard on brakes. Somebody who knows will correct me if I'm wrong. You'll learn faster the more you can relax. Enjoy yourself.

The strange thing about my first track day was the size of it all. The track is sooooooo big. It took me a while to work up enough speed so that the car was behaving properly and wanting to go where it was supposed to. I didn't actually have fun until the second day of the weekend. Now I love it and can't wait for my next fix, but it can be a strange thing at first.

For brakes:

As noted, get some DOT4 fluid. ATE, Motul, whatever. The DOT4 means it'll handle higher temperatures than DOT3, and there's no downside.

The R4S is a decent street pad for track use. It'll probably work okay, although that depends in part on the course and the amount of airflow to your brakes. I've run turbo Miatas on a kart track with those pads. If you can smell them, ease up on them.

Overheated brake pads smell bad and the pedal feels good but nothing happens. They'll come back as they cool. Overheated fluid means the pedal goes soft and you have to pump the pedal, and you need to bleed the brakes to fix the problem.

I started with the SCDA in HPDE 1 at Lime Rock. They had an excellent program, well organized and staffed. You'll have fun. It's a fairly short track with lots of turns so your pads will probably be fine. I ran Ford heavy duty DOT 3 brake fluid back then and flushed before track days, never had any fluid issues.

In reply to mikeatrpi:

Stop listening to the internet so closely. They'd have you believing that nothing shy of F1 brakes will ensure you a swift death.

That said, you'll be on your brakes pretty hard while braking for the right hander off the main straight, going from 100 or so down to entering the esses at 70 or so. You'll likely smell your brakes after braking into the esses off the main straight.

Your car is light enough that I doubt you'll completely fry a set of fresh brakes by the end of the day.

My 99 Civic Si didn't even go through a fraction of its brakes at an SCDA event at Lime Rock, but then again, it has more in the brake dept. than a 280ZX.

Your instructor will help ensure that you don't wreck your car/burn your brakes out in the first 5 minutes/convert to an undesirable political affiliation, so just go out and have fun. Eyes up, look ahead, be aware of your surroundings.

As an instructor I'll pass on some things I work on that may help give you an idea of what to expect although your actual instructor may have a different style:

Overall I just want you to know where the track goes, where the turn stations are, to be smooth and have fun.

Beyond that...........caution this will be long winded (possibly disjointed as its late)

I try to get students to pick one gear and stay in it as that will allow them to focus basic lines. At the same time I will nag about not shuffling you hands on the wheel. Shifting and shuffling uses up brain power you need elsewhere.

At my local track you can stay in 3rd, this limits straight away speeds. Its much easier to nail the turn in points/speeds if you're not rushing up on corners. If you approach a 50mph corner at 65 mph it's easier to judge then 75. Did I also mention don't shuffle your hands.

If you're not completely overwhelmed to the point of hyperventilating I will introduce the concept of rotating the car via the fine art of trailing the brakes. Coming off the brakes smoothly is one of the most important concepts you'll ever learn.

It's simple as this; as you turn into the corner you start easing off the brakes at the same rate you wind in the steering. 90% brake 10 % steering then 80/20, 50/50 all the way to 95% steering 5% braking. You're just resting your foot on the brake to keep weight on the nose of the car so it keeps turning.

This is easier, safer and faster. Most newbies have a habit of popping off the brakes just as they enter a corner, this unloads the front end to the point of causing understeer, I want to eliminate this habit right away as it is a big reason why people go off the road especially as they advance. Either they understeer off or they stuff in a bunch off steering to counter the understeer on turn in and get snap oversteer mid corner.

Next I'll use a constant radius double apex corner and show simple throttle steering.

As we go past the first apex on steady throttle I'll tell you to slightly increase the throttle, which will make the car roll out towards the track edge, then slowly & slightly ease off which will make the car "rotate" into the second apex, then hold steady throttle to keep the car on that trajectory. Once we go past the second apex you can do the standard unwind the wheel roll into the throttle at the same rate exiting the corner.

Note we do this at 40-50% speed.

Many people will tell you that trail braking and throttle steering are advanced techniques that should be left for when you have more experience.

Here is why I disagree. If you start be steering the car from entrance to apex to exit like your street driving you will have to unlearn this. If you watch videos, be they Pros or a competent track day driver, you'll see that drivers turn the wheel twice per corner; once to turn in and once unwind the wheel exiting, the rest of the time you are using brake and throttle to put the car on a trajectory. This is the place you want to get to. If you are learning to play baseball, tennis or golf there is no "beginners swing" so my philosophy is learn the proper technique from the start.......even if you suck at it at first. (It's OK to suck at this because everyone did at first). It's also easier on the car.

Now with all that said; you are not going to master these techniques your first weekend, you will likely not even string together one good lap, you will be completely overwhelmed, it won't matter because you'll be a way better driver and most importantly have a blast.

Tom

Spend as much time with an instructor as you can. Break the track down into manageable chunks. Learn one corner or set of corners at a time, then move onto the next one when you are comfortable with the proceeding corner. Don't worry too much about the brakes, you shouldn't be that hard on them your first time out. Practice technique first, speed will come later. Have fun!

First off: glad to hear about another 280zx getting a track workout! And with regards to brakes: I ran some really E36 M3ty ceramic pads at my first track day and they held up fine. Just dont overdive any part of the car and have fun.

Lime Rock is one of the freebie tracks you get with your initial iRacing membership so you could learn the track layout in advance of your HPDE. Listen to your instructor, leave your ego at home, and have fun!

Chill, you're not only better prepared than I was for my first track day, you're better prepared than I am right now.

Prepare yourself to have your mind 100 percent cleared of all concerns and distractions.

Just listen to your instructor. All will be fine.

Thanks for reminding me, I should flush the brake fluid in the Miata this weekend. (never done it so it's probably due....)

Question related to the advice: everyone recommends bringing extra brake pads for when you "cook" them. Does this mean that the charcoaled pads are trash? Do they get relegated street duty? I don't understand what's going on here.

Kudos to you for taking out a 280zx. You're going to have a lot of fun. Just make sure the car is solid before you go, so you don't have to think about anything but driving. Being excited is okay, but being tense isn't. I'm convinced that the people who tinker with their cars the whole damn time just need something to do with their hands. Working on hot cars in the paddock isn't my idea of a good time.

Those brakes are marginal. They're going to be okay for one track day, but probably toast by the end. Good fresh fluid is a good idea. And bleed the clutch if so-equipped.

Ideally you can show up with a just tire gauge, bleed off a little air when they come up to temp, and forget about the car.

gamby wrote: Stop listening to the internet so closely. They'd have you believing that nothing shy of F1 brakes will ensure you a swift death.

So true. Same with suspension. The Miata guys are convinced that if you don't have at least 800 lb springs, your car will collapse on the first corner. But they'll also tell you not to run R comps...

Overheated brake pads might crumble. If so, trash 'em. Sometimes they'll glaze. You can often bring those back with a proper bedding. But usually, they just wear really quick.

Lime Rock is not hard on brakes. A quick stab and trail in big bend then a tap going into the uphill. No need to brake on the down hill.

I once drove my Escort GT with no preparation except a little more air in the tires for a full session. No problems.

I had a friend with a Sentra SER. Cooked the brakes in short order. He had installed a full air dam but forgot to allow for brake cooling.

My ZX2SR never had a brake problem after many session using Hawk HP+ pads.

Anyway, don't overthink the problem. Just go and have fun.

The 280z is a pretty light car. Your brakes will be fine. Lime Rock isn't crazy hard on brakes, really. Just start slow and work your way up to speed.

Honestly, if you are able to follow all of the advice given here, you'll probably be lapping people that have several track days under their belt. Lots of good info here!

The most important thing to pack for a track day at Lime Rock is big set of attachments....