Track forum general chit chat.

[NoCarrier]

I usually do the drive home after. For Laguna (4.5h), Sonoma (6h) and Thunderhill (7.5h) I'll go up the night before and get a cheap hotel, then after the track day just load up on coffee and Red Bull and put on some good podcasts or an audio book. For those ones I'll carry my track tires in the car, but for closer trips I'll drive to the track on them.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Grip Addict

Thinking about stretching out to some new tracks in 2021. Sadly, those new tracks mean I will have to drive 5+ hours. (If you care, the tracks will potentially be head south 5 hours to VIR and head north 5 hours to Lime Rock Park)

Those who trek long distances to the track solo, how to you make the best of it to make it less mind numbing and make it safe.

It could be done in a day, but I will most likely drive the day before rest in a hotel, attend the event, then drive home after the track day.

I welcome any tips/suggestions on what you do even if it is as simple as you crack 5 Red Bulls or something silly.

The trick is to just have transit days before and after the event.

[NoCarrier]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

They are just getting started

Originally Posted by tsk94

Those are at half tread depth now lol. This is when they get fast.

When these tires came out and were really competitive, people would have them shaved to this depth from NEW and start running them like this. So yes, they still got days left in them.

Those dimples (holes) throughout the tire are what you use to gauge the rubber remaining, when they disappear then they are done.

Originally Posted by roastbeef

depends. for laguna? yes, they're ready for another day. i wouldn't take these to auto club or big willow though. those tires look very well worn and even. i'd say they have another day in them at least.

Originally Posted by dparm

Absolutely use them, but check after each session. Run to the cords. I'd bring a spare set with if you're doing a 2-day event, those may not make it a full weekend depending on how you drive.

Love it. Thanks for all the feedback. I was pretty sure the dimple holes were the reference but it feels so wrong that the rain tread is all gone and the tires are "just getting started", haha. Pretty amazing the mix of price, speed and longevity these things offer.

Now to address the blown strut and snapped lug bolt from Laguna...

[MaximusB]

Originally Posted by Grip Addict

Thinking about stretching out to some new tracks in 2021. Sadly, those new tracks mean I will have to drive 5+ hours. (If you care, the tracks will potentially be head south 5 hours to VIR and head north 5 hours to Lime Rock Park)

Those who trek long distances to the track solo, how to you make the best of it to make it less mind numbing and make it safe.

It could be done in a day, but I will most likely drive the day before rest in a hotel, attend the event, then drive home after the track day.

I welcome any tips/suggestions on what you do even if it is as simple as you crack 5 Red Bulls or something silly.

I’m the same boat. All the tracks near me are at least 4 hours away. The closest one distance wise requires a 2.5 hour ferry ride. So I head out the day before and stay a night at hotel or Airbnb. Get a good night rest, do the track and drive straight home after. So far I don’t find driving 4+ hours home right after tiring with the adrenaline. Helps if you drive back with a group of guys from the track.

For the track where I have to take a ferry. I wake up at 4:30am to catch the 6am sailing. Nap for 2.5hrs, do the track, back to ferry, nap 2.5hrs, drive home.

[Grip Addict]

Originally Posted by Grillpt

Between the two, VIR hands down.

Seven hours for me. Drove down on Friday, did a few ride alongs, rested. Drove and instructed Sat/Sun, drove home Sunday night. Not my brightest hour.. but you're two hours closer.

Buy insurance, it's stupid fast

Is that straight as long as it looks on track maps? lol

I saw some E92 M3 footage on the track even some slower drivers seem to peg the 140s

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Grip Addict

Is that straight as long as it looks on track maps? lol

I saw some E92 M3 footage on the track even some slower drivers seem to peg the 140s

There's multiple configurations at VIR. But yes, you can get some real speed built up depending on how brave you are through the climbing esses.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by NoCarrier

Alright Nitto NT-01 guys... do these have another track day in them? They've seen 3 days, 21 sessions, 150 laps. I set a PB at Laguna on the last lap of the day on Sunday, so they seem okay. I don't want to do anything stupid though.

As others have stated, those are ready for a hot lap. Grip it and rip it. You’ll know they’re done when the cords show.

Originally Posted by dparm

My quest to become a full-fledged Texan took a big leap forward today. Got myself a tow rig!

Ye-f’n-ha! Looks nice. To really fit in you need to lift it, put off road tires on it and never, ever take it off road. Do yourself a favor and make a checklist for trailering. Helps you not rush and prevents an unforced error. Driving home in a quiet, comfy vehicle has benefits.

Originally Posted by roastbeef

i wouldn't do a four hour drive, track all day, then a four hour drive home. that is too much. there is a track in central california that is about three and a half hours away and its on the borderline of being too far.

laguna seca is about a four and a half hour drive for me and its too far for a turnaround trip. i'm pretty beat after a track day and just want to eat, have a few beers, and hit the sack. if i tried to drive home, i'd probably fall asleep. plus, when you're tried, your decision making starts to suffer. think about changing a tire in the dark after a 15+ hour day. no thanks.
air bnb has been great.

I guess you wouldn’t have approved of me racing 3 days at Thunderhill and then driving home to Vegas after the last race on Sunday? Yeah, that was too much as we got home about 3am. However, driving back from Buttonwillow was a piece of cake. I once drove my 325iS on 5 cylinders back from Laguna after my wife broke a rocker arm between 5&6 (rode the rev limiter instead of short shifting...). Yeah, staying over is better, but you can do a track day and drive home.

[roastbeef]

the quickest thing to a turnaround trip was a three day laguna seca trip. we drove up one day, stayed at an airbnb. got there kinda late and had fast food. tracked the next day, went to one of our favorite restaurants, hit the sack. next morning, took a quick walk up and down the main drag and then hit the road. felt like too much of a time crunch with me, the wife, and a dog.

if i could just jam up there and camp, then come back the next day without trying to make it a nice weekend getaway, it would probably wouldn't feel like a rushed trip. we just like the carmel area so much we go up for the weekend sometimes without hitting the track.

i also do this weird thing where i feel fine departing on a trip, and the humming of the tires lulls me to sleep. i hate it. only on return trips. i'm conscious of it and avoid it.

[Bartledoo]

roastbeef the two times I went to PIR I drove back to Seattle in the evening on the same day and was about to nod off. Just added 95A trans mounts...I think I'll be good now

[derbo]

Originally Posted by NoCarrier

I usually do the drive home after. For Laguna (4.5h), Sonoma (6h) and Thunderhill (7.5h) I'll go up the night before and get a cheap hotel, then after the track day just load up on coffee and Red Bull and put on some good podcasts or an audio book. For those ones I'll carry my track tires in the car, but for closer trips I'll drive to the track on them.

I'm want to do willows spring (5h) and chuckwalla (8h). Both of those are long drives from SF Bay area.

I haven't been to buttonwillow in awhile either since it's 3.5hrs too. It's tough to do a one day trip for sure. Right more during COVID I've been sticking to the locals Laguna seca (2h), Sonoma raceway (30min), Thunderhill (2h)

Like others said, before and after travel day is totally needed

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by Grip Addict

Thinking about stretching out to some new tracks in 2021. Sadly, those new tracks mean I will have to drive 5+ hours. (If you care, the tracks will potentially be head south 5 hours to VIR and head north 5 hours to Lime Rock Park)

Those who trek long distances to the track solo, how to you make the best of it to make it less mind numbing and make it safe.

It could be done in a day, but I will most likely drive the day before rest in a hotel, attend the event, then drive home after the track day.

I welcome any tips/suggestions on what you do even if it is as simple as you crack 5 Red Bulls or something silly.

I live in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Closest track to me is NOLA which is about an hour way. But I don't really love the track that much and prefer to travel to get to other tracks.

VIR is 14 hours away. Road Atlanta - 9; barber - 7; MSRH - 6; ECR - 9; COTA - 9; WGI - 20.

This year I made it to VIR and MSRH once, Road Atlanta and ECR twice.

I tow my car.

For VIR, I'll get up early and leave around 4 AM. For the others I try to time it to arrive when the gates open. I always try to sign up for 3 day events but usually only do the morning sessions on Sunday. I usually try to drive straight home afterwards. With VIR, I have to stop overnight.

I prefer to wake early to drive and be off the road by 8 PM. On long drives, I usually stop every 2 hours either for pee break or fuel. Inevitably I'll nap for 20 minutes at rest area at some point. I listen to a lot of podcasts.

VIR is awesome track and is top 3 for me. There are 3 very fast straights. Top speed is on the back one for me, but you can hit 140 on the front and on climbing esses if you have big brass balls. My coach is 157 in his race car there. If I lived 4 hours from there I'd drive it every month.

[94jedi]

If any of you guys ever make it down to VIR, let me know. Would love to meet up w/ you guys. Can't imagine trailering a car, tracking all day, then driving home that night. Must be exhausting.

[94jedi]

So question for you guys on "seating position" in the e9x platform - I'm nowhere near ready to jump to a racing seat(s) (hell, I'm still an HPDE virgin - hoping to fix that in the spring) but is there anything that can be done to improve (lower) the OEM seating position? Seating pos. in my F10 M5 was much better (although overall that thing was a numb boat lol). I can imagine this is one of the many reasons folks move to a racing bucket. Just wondering if there's anything you guys have done to improve the OEM position (it goes w/o saying that I've adjusted the seat to the limits of OEM settings; it's basically bottomed out).

[turbo_joe]

Originally Posted by 94jedi

If any of you guys ever make it down to VIR, let me know. Would love to meet up w/ you guys. Can't imagine trailering a car, tracking all day, then driving home that night. Must be exhausting.

I plan to go a couple times this coming season, its about 4.5 hours for me. I normally go to Summit Point, its only 1.5 hours

[dparm]

Originally Posted by 94jedi

So question for you guys on "seating position" in the e9x platform - I'm nowhere near ready to jump to a racing seat(s) (hell, I'm still an HPDE virgin - hoping to fix that in the spring) but is there anything that can be done to improve (lower) the OEM seating position? Seating pos. in my F10 M5 was much better (although overall that thing was a numb boat lol). I can imagine this is one of the many reasons folks move to a racing bucket. Just wondering if there's anything you guys have done to improve the OEM position (it goes w/o saying that I've adjusted the seat to the limits of OEM settings; it's basically bottomed out).

Are you seated in a position like this and still unable to get low enough? FWIW they taught us nearly the identical thing at Bondurant.

[slowdown_dan]

Originally Posted by 94jedi

So question for you guys on "seating position" in the e9x platform - I'm nowhere near ready to jump to a racing seat(s) (hell, I'm still an HPDE virgin - hoping to fix that in the spring) but is there anything that can be done to improve (lower) the OEM seating position? Seating pos. in my F10 M5 was much better (although overall that thing was a numb boat lol). I can imagine this is one of the many reasons folks move to a racing bucket. Just wondering if there's anything you guys have done to improve the OEM position (it goes w/o saying that I've adjusted the seat to the limits of OEM settings; it's basically bottomed out).

Install cobra nogaros with the lumbar support cushions if you want to dual duty the car. BK oem slider mounts and the e30 sunroof buttons if you still want to retain the power slide on the rock solid oem sliders. Throw in some quick fit pros and you're ready to rock.

The increased connectIon to the car was so valuable to me to be able to push lap after lap near or at the limit and feel the tires breaking away that it really helped my confidence. No more bruises on my knees from bracing against the door cards and console were a bonus. People talk about "favorite upgrade so far" and mine is seats. It's the part of the car you've got the most physical contact with.

In fact when I see others who track their car with money into brakes and sus, power upgrades etc and then stock seats I think "they must not know".

[94jedi]

Originally Posted by turbo_joe

I plan to go a couple times this coming season, its about 4.5 hours for me. I normally go to Summit Point, its only 1.5 hours

I'm sure there's one already (or will be) but I'll keep a look out for VIR track day posts in the main forum.

[94jedi]

Originally Posted by dparm

Are you seated in a position like this and still unable to get low enough? FWIW they taught us nearly the identical thing at Bondurant.

Thanks. I've watched a few videos and tried to make sure I'm setup/adjusted correctly. I have 2 sets of setting w/ the memory buttons; #1 is street driving (things are a bit more relaxed) and #2 is "spirited" driving (or what will be my track settings) which is much more like the vid you posted.

[turbo_joe]

Originally Posted by 94jedi

I'm sure there's one already (or will be) but I'll keep a look out for VIR track day posts in the main forum.

I will keep an eye out, planning to attend some of the Nasa events there as of right now

[b4hand]

Originally Posted by butte2butte

The increased connectIon to the car was so valuable to me to be able to push lap after lap near or at the limit and feel the tires breaking away that it really helped my confidence. No more bruises on my knees from bracing against the door cards and console were a bonus. People talk about "favorite upgrade so far" and mine is seats. It's the part of the car you've got the most physical contact with.

In fact when I see others who track their car with money into brakes and sus, power upgrades etc and then stock seats I think "they must not know".

this x100

[derbo]

Originally Posted by butte2butte

Install cobra nogaros with the lumbar support cushions if you want to dual duty the car. BK oem slider mounts and the e30 sunroof buttons if you still want to retain the power slide on the rock solid oem sliders. Throw in some quick fit pros and you're ready to rock.

The increased connectIon to the car was so valuable to me to be able to push lap after lap near or at the limit and feel the tires breaking away that it really helped my confidence. No more bruises on my knees from bracing against the door cards and console were a bonus. People talk about "favorite upgrade so far" and mine is seats. It's the part of the car you've got the most physical contact with.

In fact when I see others who track their car with money into brakes and sus, power upgrades etc and then stock seats I think "they must not know".

I totally know! I think I didn't feel comfortable deleting the stock seats yet. There are a few Creature comforts that would be deleted:

Heat, memory module, power seats, side airbags.

Recaro sportsters with side airbags and heat would check off the most boxes to keep but it still deletes the memory module and potentially the occupancy sensor in the passenger seat. I'm 100% not convince the sportster is any better on track use based on my test drives in my friends car. It seems for my size, I would still need a harness to really be held in well.

I'm not that tall at a monstrous 5'7, so a Schroth QuickFitPro allowed me to not sacrifice the stock seat creature comforts and gain a harness and head restraint.

My ideal setup without a cage:
Pole Position ABE + BK Harness bar + Schroth ASM 6pt FE for track use
Pole Positions ABE + 3pt belt + harness bar removed.3pt for street use

But again, the lost of side airbags without added protection for me seems to be a sticky point in my mind, so I'm back to QFP. Something about putting a full cage in an E90 seems sacrilegious.

[911r]

Originally Posted by b4hand

Anyone seen these?

Yes, a little less than $5,000. Tom has tweaked the valving & spring #s beyond the already beefed up OTB KW Competitions too. Don't believe anyone runs them in NA (yet) .. but between MCS / JRZ (non-remote) 2-ways they don't seem like a HORRIBLE alternative. KW Competitions are very tried & true in the EU/Germany.