Quote:
Originally Posted by Neebs
It was awesome! Waaaaay too much fun. I think I may be in trouble now because I can't wait for the next time TDE is at MSRH  . Can't believe I waited 2 years to take this car to the track...
The car held up like a champ - what an incredible machine it is. The Stoptechs did well too - it was a cooler weekend and 2/4 sessions on Sun were wet due to rain, so all that prob helped the brakes. I should be able to get at least one more track day out of them if not more (haven't looked closely, but there is plenty of pad left from what I can tell).
Also, I have to say, I was super impressed with Driver's Edge. They run a very tight ship with great instructors and informative classes. Solid organization. They also promoted me from green group to blue (or at least that is what my instructor told me) for future events despite it being my first track day, so now I have even more of an incentive to run with them again
One more thing - really appreciate all the help you all provided here. Thanks again. |
Awesome! That's what we like to hear!
If you can't wait until Driver's Edge is back at MSRH, definitely check out Texas World Speedway. It's an easy track to learn but more difficult to master. It's also relatively easy on brakes, and since it has both fast turns and long straights, it rewards both Miatas and higher-horsepower cars. There's something really fun about building up a bunch of momentum and being able to keep a lot of it, compared to other tracks like CotA where you have lots of tight turns that you have to drop your speed way down to negotiate. Additionally, it's looking like Texas World Speedway may be closed sometime next year to be demolished in order to make way for housing complexes, so get out there while you still can.
I'm glad you had a great experience with The Driver's Edge. It's definitely not uncommon. I ran with them for my first event and have felt absolutely no need to look anywhere else. My worst instructor has been merely "fine". Most of them have been good to amazing, and I've never had a downright bad instructor. They do indeed have HPDEs down to a science.
As for your StopTech pads, I think I got 3 or 4 weekends out of them at Texas World Speedway when I was in Blue group, so you can absolutely keep using them. With street pads (even street performance pads like these) you generally want to stop using them at the track when the outboard pad is down to about 40% of its original thickness. For tracks that are extremely hard on brakes like Eagles Canyon or CotA, you might want even more pad thickness than that just to be safe (or just bring a new set in a box if you confirm trackside service will be available at your event). There are two reasons for this early replacement. One is that the stock brakes are sliding calipers, which means that the inboard pad (that you can't see just looking through the wheels) will always be more worn down than the outside pad. And the second reason is that as a pad gets thinner, it can't cope with heat as well, so not only will the second half of your pad wear down faster than the first half, but you'll experience brake fade sooner out on the track. You can of course run those StopTech pads right down to the bitter end if you're only driving them on the street, but you can't go to the track that way. Race pads on the other hand can usually be run much closer to the end (especially when used with street tires) since they're designed to handle much higher heat loads. This was another reason that steered me toward the BBK. The easy pad swaps allowed me not only to use race pads at the track, but also to stop throwing out my StopTech pads early just because they were no longer good on the track even though they had plenty of usable life left on the street.
And lastly, definite congratulations on moving up to Blue your first weekend out!
Did you get a chance to actually run in Blue during that event, or will you just be Blue next time you go? And if you ended up letting your instructor drive your car around, what did you think of that??
Glad you had a great time, and once again, congrats on your new addiction!
