I will be going to the race track for the very first time, Im very excited. but!...what should I know or do before going to the track? stock brake pads gunna cut it? tires? motor oil? im only going for the day. Help would be great!

-Sam

 

All depends on how hard you push it.

 

well...im not pro or anything...i wont be pushing it too hard. Just some spirited driving. btw...should i take some of that blue tape with me? what is that...masking tape?

 

helpful turn by turn-


https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....t=buttonwillow

 

its painters tape

 

Blue painters tape will certainly help others identify the first timer at the track. Bring lots of it. Tape the ENTIRE car. In fact, get in the car, and have a friend tape down the seams of the door so you'll have better aerodynamic effect.

Here's some serious advice though. Bring water. Lots of it. Drink it regularly. Buttonwillow is basically a desert environment and is dry. And hot. You will dehydrate rapidly. Make sure you drink one entire bottle of water every hour. On the hour. Make sure you're going to the bathroom regularly. Make sure when you pee, the stuff coming out is clear and not yellow. It will help your mental concentration, and you'll thank me the day after the event.

Also, lock your ego in a box and keep it outside the track. Ego and track = wrecked cars. There are going to be people faster than you, period. If you can check your ego at the door, the faster you'll learn how to do this stuff.

Last, make sure you have an instructor with you as long and as many sessions as you can possibly get. if they can't provide you an instructor, stay away. If you don't have a good instructor in the right seat, it'll take you on average about 5-10X the amount of seat time to actually get "good" at doing this.

That is all.

 

One of the key factors is that most people come to the HPDE events in the car they are going to run on the track, and they need it to get home. Nobody wants to wad it up into a ball, and certainly nobody wants to hurt themselves or anyone else. So safety is priorities one, two and three. The community benefits from having all of its members abide by and spread the rules and behaviors that promote safety, and then fun can be had by all. This is not a game, taking a car at speed and to the limits (something you should be nowhere near doing anyway for quite a long time); but you need teachers to show you how and bring you along slowly and deliberately. The car has limits and you have to learn what they are and how to recognize them. You have more limits, and you have to learn those too. Focus on what you do not know and cannot do, and you will be amazed not only at how vast the universe there is, but how quickly you learn and progress, and that is fun and rewarding. As Hack says, get instructors as often as you can, it really adds to the experience very positively. Different people learn different ways. I happen to study and read a lot, and take measured incremental steps upwards in a very deliberate and programmed way. Could I go faster? Sure. But the problem is, the faster you go, the more icky your OTE is going to be. So think it out and know what you are doing before you go do it, and what to do and how when you lose it, and you will lose it if you do this enough, so that you will be able to save your car and yourself when it happens.