Should I or Shouldn't I??? That is the question...

Now there is debate among trackdayers on if it is ok to track a daily. I own a 2014 Chevy Sonic LTZ turbo; which handles well but it is an automatic :( (Only bought auto due to wife's request) I threw a Trifecta tune at it, and K&N drop in filter. The car prospectively puts down 160hp/180ft lbs. torque (no Dyno). Coming from 138hp/148 ft. lbs. torque crank horsepower, it is a big jump... well long story short; the wife has granted me permission to do more track days (have done a few in the past) as she has had to listen to me whine and complain for the last several years not being able to do them.

Now with this story behind me, it brings me to my first question... IF I SHOULD EVEN CONSIDER DOING THIS... my car still have factory warranty and I even have a payment on the car still. But with current or even near future (according to wife 10 years until we are buying a effing house... will not go into that) living arrangements (ie. small apartment no garage (they are available but wife no likey) I am really throwing around the idea. So anyone willing to lend some garage space for let say free? I am only kidding... Or am I??? LOL lets be a little serious here...

Now my second question, What prep should I do to the car to make it as safe and harmless as can be?? I am thinking I should at least install a trans cooler and gauge to keep the temps down. I have also sourced track appropriate brake pads and fluid. Should I consider flushing and running Synthetic transmission fluid? since the transmission is sealed and of course (stupid gm...) no dipstick; a flush and fill of this transmission is a pita... but with only 21k miles; I think I should be alright. Another lovely (stupid gm...) engineering insight is that the car has drum brakes... a $22k car with drum brakes? who knew but anywho Porterfield does have R4s shoes that could handle track duty.

I am only planning on running a few track days a year, primarily at Mid-Ohio... Would it be wise to run the car with a little less haste? meaning basically run the track at lets say 85% speed or a little more... I would be happy running with the novice or (HDPE 1 group) as I will be running with the Great Lakes region of NASA.

Thank you for reading my convoluted crazy thread... Hopefully you will find light at the end of the tunnel and somewhat understand where I am coming from. Just do me a favor do not put yourself into my shoes because one thing is for sure that my feet stink a little too much... HEHEHE! TMI!!! ok I will go back into my closet and be quiet now :(

~Elijah

Track pads up front, don't worry about the rear drums, change the brake fluid, don't try to win the track day world championships and you'll probably be fine. I doubt the transmission fluid needs changing.

Can you afford to fix it or replace it if you crash?

Never track anything you truly care about or can't afford to walk away from. It's a lesson you don't want to learn the way my dad did. Stability control went haywire and put him into a wall on the front straight. Totaled his brand new z06. Not one he was willing to ball up and walk away from. Broke his heart and ain't been back on track since.

I've done track days and time trials and instructed for years. I've raced wheel-to-wheel about five years. I'm honest and pragmatic, and this is the advice I give my friends who ask:

"Don't take anything to a race track you can't afford to write off"

You probably won't. Actually, the overwhelming likelihood is that the car will leave in the same shape it arrived. I'd estimate that out of all my days spent at race tracks I've only seen a relative handful of cars truly written off.

But there's a million moving parts. I don't know if you're a naturally talented driver with enough seat time to have developed the counterintuitive skills to save things when it's gone wrong. Your car has HP mods but they're unnecessary for track time. Better brake pads and fluid, tires and an alignment are what will help a student learn more. How much seat time do you have? What kinds of cars? Ever do karts? Motorcycles?

Ask yourself "What happens if I run wide on a corner exit, drop a wheel, try to save it and shoot across the track, straight into a tire wall?"

This is the #1 dumb thing students do to ball up their cars. It doesn't happen often, and a good instructor will have identified and remedied the symptoms of what could become this kind of behavior. But, just in case...

The session has been black flagged, EV ras been rolled and you're standing next to the car that is balled up, not covered by your insurance and still has a payment book.

Is this a financial deal breaker for you? If so, don't do it.

I recently received a plea to donate to a gofundme campaign to pay medical expenses for a guy who...

Had a huge motorcycle road racing crash - "The Big One" - while uninsured

And I was all "What kind of idiot races anything without health insurance" E36 M3, as a dirt-poor bicycle mechanic motorcycle road racer I ponied up like $100/year for catastrophic coverage in case I did "The Big One" and used up my Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Having fun is important. But never with unacceptable risk.

Yeah, you could track it...or you could drop 2-4 grand on something that will run at an only slightly slower pace and not make you rethink your entire life if you wad it up at the track

What kind of track day is this? I know some of the insurance companies here will actually cover you to a good extent if the track day is considered a "sanctioned high performance driving event" or something, because you are bettering your skills as a driver and should (theoretically) be a safer driver on the street because of it.

Then again, this is all hearsay, I might just be blowing steam. Worth calling your provider though.

In my opinion, it's a hell of a lot more fun to go to the track or any other risky event in a car you don't care much about, even if it's slower. You can really beat the snot out of a car you don't need to get to work the next day.

I'll pile on here as well, go buy a cheap Miata and track that. Payments+track= bad idea.

Weather it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous board posters or take arms against the sea of Miata's. To crash to make payment and opposing end them.. . . . Ok I will stop

if you can't afford to leave it there … don't do it … period

just because you plan on driving at 75% doesn't mean that someone else won't come spinning back onto the track and wipe you out (I've seen it … on a new car that he'd only made 3 payments on)

a wadded up DD can also play bad with the SO at the home front .. regardless whether she gave her "permission" or not

if you can afford it, buy a Miata, a Honda, something stupid cheep … work on it in your driveway and get it track ready … go have fun

I have a new Sonic 1.4T 6MT … was even offered a free session when I was at a NASA event without my CRX … nope nope nope thanks just the same

Ugh, I used to parrot the "If you can't walk away from it, don't take it."

Now I'll say, "If you can't afford the Lockton Affinity deductible, don't take it."

kinda the same thing

It seems to me that the general consensus really is not to take it to the track... I really appreciate the honesty of the remarks and really do not want to hurt the car.

I have been trying to talk to the wife about buying something appropriate for the track for about 2 years now and her first comments were as to where I would put this car. Which she does have a point since we live in an apartment complex that frowns upon doing work in a parking spot. I used to do all of my own maintenance but now am forced to use the dealership to do all of my maintenance. I am at least happy with the dealership, but in all honesty it is cheaper for them to do the work factoring in the time and money spent for me to do the work myself.