Quote:
Originally Posted by Datka
I don't know if you Cali guys have been at WGI, but after one warm up lap you are good to go. But this time I am going to take your advice and will take it easy for two laps. Especially when running these tires and aero for the first time.
BTW, if anyone reading this has never been at this track, I would highly recommend it.
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It just depends on the tire and the situation.
If a person drives their car to the track, runs on Pilot Super Sports and it's 70ºF in the AM, then the brakes are already warm from the drive to the track and PSS don't need any warm up. Even if that person ran a more performance oriented tire that needs some warm up, the brakes would already be warmed up so they could mostly concentrate on the tires. The brakes would just need a couple solid presses.
If a person trailers their car, runs on an R1S or a hard compound slick and it's 48ºF at the start.....different situation. Better warm all that stuff up.
Later in the day, once the car has been run on track, I don't need two laps of warm up. Even after long rest periods, the brakes come up to temp very quickly, so I concentrate on getting some heat into those tires and I'm good to go after one lap.
Also, with 15-30 other cars on track with you, you can't just be dragging your brakes and over-slowing before a turn or jamming your brakes suddenly on the middle of a straight with no warning while trying to warm things up. You'll cause havoc out there. So, it's better to be patient, and at least for that first session of the day, get two laps in.
Anyway, I'm only saying all this so that people don't just jump on the gas with a tire like an R1S or a Michelin slick when it's cold because I can tell you from firsthand experience what happens. The rear of the car steps out, and you ain't getting it back. Spin City. And at a track like Buttonwillow, aero won't help save you because the final turn onto the straight is around 60mph, so the aero isn't doing much.
Once those R1S's warm up though-----life is good.
I would love to get a taste of some East Coast tracks (and COTA). But I want to do stuff like that in my car, so-----do I smell ROAD TRIP?!!