First Track Day, should i get new tyres??

[Dweezle]

OK, day after the day

Got to Goulburn at 8:30, and was met with POURING RAIN, Wind, and cold..

I had been to a few tracks before and watched some races, always seemed fine.. But today as i watched these guys sliding all over the place, spinning off into mud and close encounters with the wall on the main straight.. i all off a sudden felt a lil TERRIFIED SHHHHHH!!!

Watched them for a lil bit, and went AHHH F**K IT!! IM HEADING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thought i would have to wait, for the next run by the time i got my car up to the marshaling area, but no.. the guy just waved me out.. before i knew it i was driving out the pit exit and onto the track.

I had no idea what to expect in terms of Grip with water just rushing across the track, I had these brand new tyres on, so they where unknown to me also, but i got to the first corner, slowed down to 2nd, turned in and slowly got back on the accelerator... I WAS FINE.. got excited then.. prob helped having a R32 GTR scream past me, get my competitiveness going.. Ok so i know i had no chance,, but it was fun to try..

Went out twice, but the rain got heavier and heavier. I brought my girl with me.. so she agreed to time me with a stop watch. Got back in and first question was.. "WHAT WAS MY BEST", expecting a response much like, "WOW, YOU WHERE SO FAST", instead she laughed at me informing me my car looked like i was standing still compared to the "PRETTY FAST CARS".. LOL BITCH!!!!

So i went back to my garage, had some lunch/breakfast, checke oil, brakes etc.. Rain slowed right up and even a little bit of sun shown through.
I decided i needed to really test out my limits.. like with no spins yet.. I MUSTN'T BE PUSHING HARD ENOUGH!!

back to the linup, around me was a mix of cars ranging from a Mazda MX6, (looked like our cars slightly retarded cousin), r34 GTR, PORSCHE 911, Some seriously beefed up 70's FORD GT and some dirty HONDAS.. HOW ARE THEY SO QUICK GRRRRRRRRR..

The track was very patchy now, dry in sections but still water running across it in others and mud everywhere.. So it was still a little slippery. Pulled out onto the track with a desire to be quicker.

After my first warmup lap i hit the very last corner in 2nd, with a lil slide of the tail, into 3rd, about 130kmh into 4th, then there is the kink before turn 1.. Dont back off.. i kept telling myself."
Hard on the brakes, into 3rd and just tried to keep the speed above 80 exiting the corner, flat out through the bends up to the top of the track, still in 3rd on the limiter, pull hard into the down hill section, dont slip in the mud, down to the corner i still do not quite get, the sharp left... cant quite seem to every get it remotely right... get into 4th before the last right hand corner, hard on the brakes after the 100m marker into 2nd and push the car through it..

WOW THIS COULD BE ADDICTIVE

kept this up for a few laps trying to get quicker and quicker, i heard a roar behind me, looked up and saw the SCARY ASS FORD in my mirror, sideways with smoke going everywhere. moved over to let him past before the last turn, He screamed past, followed by the GTR and he PORSCHE, watched them scream up the straight, by the time i made it to the end of the straight, i could see the FORD stampeding across the grass at turn 1, and then front first into the barrier.. OOUCH!!! Session over folks, big mess to clean up

as they extinguished some lil flames, and pulled the car out, they ended up with oil all over the track, so more time was needed to sort that out. when will people learn MUSCLE CARS SUCK!! hahaha

Got back to the girl with NO FAITH, and she informed me i did a 1:22.. felt alot happier, no idea what a ok time is for a NOOB, but i was happy with that.

She was prob way off with her time.. but hey let me dream


Anyways.. day was awesome, had about 6 runs out there.. the FIRESTONES kept me happy, had incredible wet grip, once the track dried out the started to squeal a little bit, maybe they need more pressure??? not sure.. will have to read up on that.

Thanks everyone for your help
heres 2 vids with some of the day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7cY_sqQAuQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqwxHOb2phc

[rascal]

Great to hear you had a ball, and kept it off the walls.
More important to enjoy yourself than hustle it for lap times on your first track day .

And sounds like youhave found out for yourself that motorsport is addictive...

[Guran]

Great job! It sounds like you had a bit of everything. Wet track days are fun for practicing car control and drifting, but there's nothing like a dry surface to get the adrenalin going. So glad to hear that the track dried out enough to get in some reasonably quick laps. A time of 1:22 is pretty respectable for a noob on a drying track. For your reference, the last MX-5 club trackday was very wet except for a brief period in the afternoon when I managed a best lap of 1:20.81. Get yourself some more practice and your NA6 is capable of getting into the 1:17s on a dry track (my best is 1:17.7). Your tyres will squeal if you're trying hard enough regardless of their pressure, so don't worry about that. And you can walk away from your first track day with video evidence that you overtook a 911 and a GT-R.

Sounds like you've caught the bug now. I hope that we'll see you at the next MX-5 Club trackday at Wakefield Park on 19th October. You don't need to be a member, you will get official lap timing (they use a start/finish in the fish-hook / turn 8 ), a session with an instructor, plenty of tips and tricks from experienced drivers, and be able to gauge your driving skills directly against other drivers in equivalent cars. If you go this route, I'd recommend that you keep your car stock (assuming it already is) before you try modifying it. This way you won't be grouped with much faster cars, and can focus on improving your skills rather than emptying your wallet. You'll eventually reach your limit and by then have a very good understanding of what needs improving on your car. This is the path I'm taking and I still have plenty to learn about driving an NA6 fast.

[rascal]

Guran,

I totally agree about keeping the mods list down, and concentrating on getting the driving skills up, before (instead of?) chasing power.

Having bucket loads of power can quite often compensate for bad driving habits, and then when you come up against cars with same power levels, you'll wonder why they are so much quicker...

Learn the driving skills first, and you may find that you dont need to throw $$ at hp cos you can still beat higher powered cars anyway.
Besides passing through corners/under brakes is waay more satisfying than blasting past them on the straights..

[daffyflyer]

1:22 is pretty damn respectable - First time out (in an mx, have been in other stuff) I did 1:20 in an NA8 Clubman with Exhaust and intake work, so more power and better suspension than yours, and it was bone dry.

That felt like a real effort too, and i did a lot of laps in the 1:2something range!