Hello,

I'm interested in doing a track day in my 2005 WRX300. I just wanted to know what to prepare before taking it on the track.

I have bought some new wheels and tryes, and will not use my road tryes on the track. I am going to get it serviced and the oil changed before the track day, is there anything else to watch out for?

The other thing I was thinking of changing is the brakes, as I don't like them at the moment. They work OK but feel a bit crappy, wooden and there is no bite at the start of braking. I was thinking of doing a change of braking fiuld and getting new pads, what pads to people recommend baring in mind it will be mostly used on the road.

 

Performance Friction Z compound. They’re ok from cold and are quite quiet.

Speak to Alyn at AS Performance for these.

Other than that, as long as you don’t go mental, it should be fine. Do you have any gauges?

 

Thanks for the brake pad recommendation, I'll take a look.

No gauges, in fact my car is nearly stock and I'm working to put it fully back to stock, I don't mind changing brake pad compound and small things

 

I wouldn't take an Impreza for a track day. Not unless you loaded lol

 

Like I said then, dont go mental, especially on long corners. If you're just out for a bit of fun and a bit more flat out than the law allows on the road it can be heaps of fun. Oil pressure and temp gauges wouldve been nice to monitor whats going on and alarm for high temp or low pressure.

Take cool down and warm up laps seriously.

The impreza has a few issues when pushed hard on track, you can get oil migration in the sump from the pick up, causing loss of lube to the crank and causing premature big end bearing failure. The other main issue is fuel starve where you've effectively got the same issue of fuel away from the pump in tank causing leaning of the fuel mix, detonation and imminent death of a piston..

 

There was a nice low mile classic I was trying to buy, only been used on track since imported. But guy ended up selling to a neighbour in the end. It wax back up on eBay month later. Guy took it out on one track day and cambelt went. Ponker just tracked it without even servicing it the tool.

 

keep your fuel tank full it reduces the chance of fuel flow issues , service it after a track day not before, unless you have not serviced it for some time , if you do the pads make sure you’ve done a fair amount of mileage to bed them in before you go on a track , drive with the aircon on all the time , the extra fan being on helps to cool things down , i had the three gauges in an sti jdm impreza , aircon on dropped the oil temp by around 15 degrees centigrade , they are great fun on a track , they don’t always like a long sustained high speed run so don’t nail it all the time , have fun if you feel like you are getting confident slow down lol

 

Tracked my classic and newage many times with no issues.

 

How many times is many times?

 

Done full days at Blyton Park twice now no issues on the JDM Blob 106000 miles and a Kinugawa GTX2971r mapped by Andrew. Look after it and it will be fine, keep the tank above half if your on sticky tyres, be mechanically sympathetic, keep checking fluid levels and go have fun.

 

you drove it there, so need to drive it home.

Slower in faster out..

your car and you`ll both get tired, so rest. Hence prefer open pit lane rather than sessions

Have fun and not an accident.

Dont race some spotty young kid in a nissan Micra might be Charles Leclerc.

150miles on track equates to 5,000-20,000 road miles

tyre pressues most important, a cold wheel and tyre @ 34psi can get up to 50+psi Hot.

eg R/H track i start mine nsf 22, nsr 24, osf 24 & osr 26. So hopefully @ 32psi all aroun when Hot but then check again asap after session. check
Again every session or if wet. You will need to pump up on way home etc.

enjoy

Tony

 

drink plenty of water-concentration= dehydration
Trev

 

here is one of my sessions at C.Combe Rallyday 2019
laps are a bit poor due to enforced butt plug in my exhaust.


tony

 

Me and my mate have been looking for a track car wouldn't use my scooby though, thinking small hot hatch.

 

Why wouldn’t you use one on track?

 

I've recently been tracking around 'The Ring' - albeit a new car , it take sit's toll!!

Drove the GP circuit also and that made the brakes go like jelly just after 7 laps. Don't stamp on the brake pedal too hard too often .. you'll just ruin your car and the experience.

 

Iv been taking mine to the ring every year for the last 4 years. Sometimes twice a year averaging 4-5 laps a day spaced out over a long weekend. Never had a problem just brakes get a little hot towards the end. Then again all depends on how your cars setup too

 

20 +, many videos on YT,
Over driving is the key, then your tyres are your weakest link,
1st time I went on road tyres the tread was melting, But I have done that at J27 M1 before on an entertaining evening,

Treat a track day as if it was the road but no speed limits, so don`t think you are Jason hot potato, but hone your steering inputs and using the throttle to turn the car more, skills you struggle to really practice on a public highway,then build on those skills,

Hollywood at Donny is awesome once you know how to balance the car on the throttle,
And you will find that you use less brakes the better you become, as you can now carry speed thru a corner that you were scrubbing off earlier, so makes ya brakes last longer.

 

Nail on the head

 

☝️ Exactly as above. My first time on road tyres and they squeal like a pig when they get too hot! The more and more laps you do the less you use your brakes so harshly etc. Basics id say is a decent suspension setup, good compound pads like PFZ. Semi slicks like NS2R’s and a MUST is racing brake fluid! When you want to start shaving seconds off of your lap times is when I would look into other bits like anti-lift kit Bush is anti-rollbars two-piece discs track focused geometry And weight reduction.
Have a look at a friend of mine on south east scoobys YouTube channel. Ginola videos. Still a oem block and keeps up with ring taxi’s at the green hell!

 

NS2R isn’t a semi slick tyre. The AR1 is

 

Well technically it is but the ar1 is just even more focused than the ns2r