Considering open trackday with MS3

A

aciurczak

I'm considering taking my MS3 out to an open track day at Thunderhill in a few weeks. A private club has rented the track for the day, 3-group format, with instructors if wanted. I've done 15 - 20 motorcycle trackdays (at Thunderhill as well), but haven't been out there on 4 wheels yet. This track is a 3 mile long road course, with some very fast sections as well as some tight stuff.

http://www.thunderhill.com/

For folks that have taken the stock MS3 onto a road course like this, any suggestions for a track newbie?

- using stock bridgestones, recommended pressures?
- DSC off? TSC as well? Leave both on?
- Will car handle better with full tank (better balance) or almost empty tank (less weight)?
- Any prep work that I may be overlooking?
 
aciurczak said:
I'm considering taking my MS3 out to an open track day at Thunderhill in a few weeks. A private club has rented the track for the day, 3-group format, with instructors if wanted. I've done 15 - 20 motorcycle trackdays (at Thunderhill as well), but haven't been out there on 4 wheels yet. This track is a 3 mile long road course, with some very fast sections as well as some tight stuff.

http://www.thunderhill.com/

For folks that have taken the stock MS3 onto a road course like this, any suggestions for a track newbie?

- using stock bridgestones, recommended pressures?
- DSC off? TSC as well? Leave both on?
- Will car handle better with full tank (better balance) or almost empty tank (less weight)?
- Any prep work that I may be overlooking?
Click to expand...

Turn driving aids off. Don't need no computer telling you how to drive.

Just enough fuel to get you around the track (burnout)

Remove your spare and tools for a little less weight. Back seats if you want too :)
 
aciurczak said:
I'm considering taking my MS3 out to an open track day at Thunderhill in a few weeks. A private club has rented the track for the day, 3-group format, with instructors if wanted. I've done 15 - 20 motorcycle trackdays (at Thunderhill as well), but haven't been out there on 4 wheels yet. This track is a 3 mile long road course, with some very fast sections as well as some tight stuff.

http://www.thunderhill.com/

For folks that have taken the stock MS3 onto a road course like this, any suggestions for a track newbie?

- using stock bridgestones, recommended pressures?
- DSC off? TSC as well? Leave both on?
- Will car handle better with full tank (better balance) or almost empty tank (less weight)?
- Any prep work that I may be overlooking?
Click to expand...

December 9th, right?

I was gonna go there with my Protege! Alas, I have to go to the airport. :(
 
Things to know:

Be prepared to empty your car of anything loose. CD wallets, sunshade, etc. Taking out the spare tire is a good idea too. Also, depending on how well fixed you floor mats are, you may want to remove them too (don't want those sliding around under your feet as you try and brake into a corner). But I wouldn't bother taking everything out of your car until you get to the track; nobody's going to mess with a pile of your stuff at the track. The main point of removing things isn't weight savings, but to prevent having stuff flying around the cabin and distracting you.

When it comes to fuel, I wouldn't worry about empty tank/full tank if you're not racing. In my GTI 1.8T, I like to put a few gallons of 100 octane unleaded into my tank to bump the 91 to an effective 93-94 (good protection for turbo cars when they're being run at high revs and high loads a lot). Having a full tank is nice because your mileage is going to suck on the track, and interrupting your day to fill up is easily avoidable. You can probably expect to get between 10 and 15 MPG (the two times I've gone, I've got 13 and 14) and you will probably drive somewhere between 50 and 100 miles on the track.

As noted above, check your brake pads. When you get to the track, you're going to want to put a few extra psi into your tires to resist heat buildup which can cause chunking of your treads (street tires are not made for track temps). Lastly, I would bring a tire chock of some sort (whether it be specifically designed for that purpose or a piece of wood or a rock or whatever) so you can park your car in neutral with the parking brake off without having it roll away. You're going to want your car to idle for 30 seconds to a minute after you get off track to run oil through your cooling turbo and also you don't want to use your parking brake because your pads might stick to the rotors when they're hot.

When on track, stick to just a few laps at a time to save your brakes. At any sign of them starting to get too soft, get off and let them cool. Even if they don't start to get soft, get off after a few laps and let them cool. I went to two track days at Buttonwillow and the first time I did about 5 laps at a time and my brakes were fine but the second time I did about a dozen at a time and I burnt my pads to a crisp and grooved my rotors bad (a couple hundred dollar mistake...)

When it comes to traction/stability control, try both to see what your car does. It's quite educational to see how your car's electronic systems operate. Personally I mostly left mine off but I did a couple sessions with my TC on and it's certainly worth trying out. If thunderhill has a skidpad, definitely try that...I did it at Buttonwillow and it's really an eye-opener to see what traction control can do to save your ass.

If this is the December 9th event, then I'll probably see you there. I'm in a gray 2004 VW GTI 1.8T. Cheers.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the tips so far! The event is on Sunday, November 18th. Tonight I will go through the insurance policies for exclusions. Our motorcycle policies are fine covering on-track incidents as long as it is not a racing event, but I'm not sure if our auto policies are as forgiving.
 
Yeah, as far as all the weight savings suggestions--> screw that. Just show up and drive. Get an instructor to show you the line and ride with you for a session or 2. While it probably won't be quality advice, it will be better than nothing. And remember, a good day at the track doesn't mean that you set good laps times- a good day at the track is being able to drive home. I'm guessing this is your first track experience so be smart and don't push the car and YOUR abilities to the limit.

And when you get home- or maybe even at the track after all the sessions are over, bleed your brakes and check those front brake pads. If you take your pads out of the calipers, remember to pump up the brake pedal before you drive off- I speak from experience on that one! I lightly rear ended a first gen RX-7 while leaving the track after switching back to my street pads. It was a very minor hit, but it could have been worse if I made it out to the highway before knowing about it.

Have fun and take/post pics!
 
Couple days to go, car is ready, and I guess I am as well. (drive)

I'm well informed about recommended tire pressures for motorcycles on track, but have heard conflicting information for street car pressures. Mazda's recommendation is 34f/32r for street use. I tend to use 35f/33r for just a bit firmer response.

For on-track use some folks recommend to use a few psi higher than normal in order to keep the tires together and overheat less. Others recommend the exact opposite; dropping the pressure a bit for better grip. For folks who have used the stock Bridgestones in track conditions, what pressures worked well for you?
 
This is a bit of a sticky situation since you have street tires. But here's my take on it- because they are street tires, I would go with MORE air pressure to reduce flex and heat. If you had race tires, then go with less pressure so you warm up to the optimal heat/pressure.
 
It was great fun, the car performed great all day. I ended up going +2 psi F/R, and they held up well all day. They slid pretty easily around much of the track, but any street tire is likely going to do the same thing. I posted a full writeup (for folks with time to kill (sleep) ) at this link.

Thanks again for the help.
 
rule of thumb: never track a car you can't afford to total (this is for all forms or racing, track days, etc). The only reason this is different from every day driving is generally, insurance companies don't tend to be friendly to the cars they cover being on a race track.




Other than that, what everyone else has said is good. Get a good set of brake pads, bleed your brakes, take all the loose stuff out of your car, slap on a helmet and have fun!
 
For what its worth, I had a long conversation with my insurance agent over this, and I was confident that my policy was not excluded if I had managed to bin the car on the track. The exclusions state that the car can't be used for racing, or in a timed event. An open trackday / driver instructional day is well within the terms of the policy. Luckily, I didn't need to test this.
 
I went out for another open trackday last Friday. I shared the car with a friend (so the person not driving could watch my little one in the paddock). I set up a cruisecam camera mount, so was able to record some in-car action this time. For folks who haven't taken their cars on track yet, I highly recommend it; it's terribly entertaining! Here are links to 3 youtube videos of the afternoon sessions:

1:00 PM session:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wlVoB4MN1U

2:30 PM session:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ws_N7tHyOE

4:00 PM session:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxLxIVFTOIE

Here's a link to all of the on-track pictures.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
    • Like
FSZE Protege5 Track Build
4 5 6
Replies
101
Views
35K
wladymiro
W
A
Jzilla Trackday Fall 2014 - A Sunday Kind of Love - @AMP
Replies
10
Views
2K
AMOC
A
31N007
    • Like
Off Topic 3L Swappin' Contour
2
Replies
23
Views
4K
31N007
31N007

Latest posts

Back