This thread was made to follow the progress of track days and my car.
I finally hit the track. Had some good friends with me, it was an awesome experience and it will definitely not be my last. I signed up with NASA, and participated in HPDE 1 at Summit Point Main. I had an awesome instructor, he gave excellent instructions to start me out and consistently advised me. I can’t say enough about him because I was driving better with him in the car. Some things I learned, I need to find confidence in my brakes, after a few lock ups in the rear it instilled some doubt and it affected me a lot. Especially in braking zones for turns 1 and 5. I need to focus more on hitting my marks and commit to corner entry. I also discovered how the track changes throughout the day, it was really greasy this last session on Sunday, tons of rubber through 5 and 6. Some things with the car, it has way too much power for a driver of my skill, also since I have an H swap the cable shifter is lousy and I mishifted twice in this session, I really need to pay attention to the 3-4 shift. Gladly they were the only times I did this but I am working on some way to improve the shifter. The tires on the car are old Dunlop Direzza DZ 101’s ~6 years old and it shows. But I will run the last 2 events this year with them and replace them next year.
Some basic specs on the car:
1st Track day 6/7-8/15
H23 VTEC with Euro-R transmission
Fidanza flywheel with stock clutch
Koni/GC 500/400
OEM swaybars
All bushings replaced with energy suspension
Hawk HP+ w/ Blanks front
OEM Honda pads rear
Team Dynamics Pro Race 1 wheels
Dunlop Direzza DZ-101 ~6 years old
32psi all around
I weighed the car there, 2343 without driver
This video is big so I linked it. Sorry for the lousy GoPro mount I didn’t realize and will have it sorted out for August. Also it died before the session ended as you will see.
FYI the green DB2 is running 100 treadwear tires and is caged with 12k/10k coilovers.
New tires, new clutch, and suspension upgrades how would your confidence be with those upgrades?
Those three upgrades would help mine lol, but hey you did awesome bro, your confidence is in you!
its your first time there bro you kicked ass! But hey seriously a bigger rear sway bar always is a nice upgrade or front lower tie bar from Cusco stiffens it up a lil
And nice pass on the dc ahhhhhhhahaha
too bad you couldn’t catch that other g2 was waiting the whole time
Ugh found out the August event at summit point is cancelled. Pretty depressing.
[QUOTE=Mnda90;2328303]New tires, new clutch, and suspension upgrades how would your confidence be with those upgrades?
Those three upgrades would help mine lol, but hey you did awesome bro, your confidence is in you!
its your first time there bro you kicked ass! But hey seriously a bigger rear sway bar always is a nice upgrade or front lower tie bar from Cusco stiffens it up a lil
And nice pass on the dc ahhhhhhhahaha
too bad you couldn’t catch that other g2 was waiting the whole time[/QUOTE]
I am going to hold off on tires until next season, my tires still have some life left and will burn them up. But yes, tires will be a major improvement. The clutch is stock so I am not sure upgrading it will get me anywhere, the engine makes close to stock torque. As far a suspension goes the car handles well, I have not reached the limit yet, possibly when I install new tires I might see the limit of the suspension. Thanks for the kind words. The other G2 is my friend, his car is running 100 treadwear tires and ITR brakes so it was really tough trying to make up any ground in the corners and under braking, he had a significant advantage.
Always stoked to see more people tracking their G2’s!
Tires will make a HUGE difference, especially if yours are that old. They’re likely pretty darn hard by this point and weren’t even top of the line when they were new. I suggest trying to buy tires around the spring time, IIRC this seems to be the time when all the new compounds come out. There are some fantastic performance street tires these days.
If your clutch isn’t slipping then I don’t see a need to upgrade, this is road racing, not drag, so generally you don’t need a crazy clutch unless you have massive amounts of power. OEM or something like the organic Exedy Racing clutch is plenty for most of us.
Looking squirrelly around 7:32. I like it! Nice driving. Keep up the good work. Colin is right about spring time for tires. I’d definitely stick with a 200 treadware until you’re reaching their limits. Rival S and Direzza Star Specs seem to fit the bill (as long as they’re not 6 years old! ) I’m curious about the Kumho Ecsta V720…
Nice!! Car looks great man. Keep us updated as you progress. Checking out the track seems to be a big theme for a lot of people this year. I’m hoping to do some instructor led HPDE sessions next spring. Also, doing a Legend or Type R brake upgrade might a budget friendly mod to add to your list too.
You guys have any idea why my brakes are doing this? That raised black line was much wider and there was a few splotches of that around the middle of the rotor after the June track day. I have never seen this. Running Hawk HP+ pads, centric rotors.
Those brakes look awfully familiar…
(rotor on the right is stock sized and was used with HP+ pads)
What tires are you running now? How do the brakes feel on track? Are you getting any fade? Is this the first wear you’re seeing? Have you been “warping” rotors at all or seeing cracks in them? As I progressively got faster it became apparent that my stock brakes with HP+ simply weren’t cutting it due to the heat. I ended up changing to ITR calipers with Hawk Blue (race) pads and everything is good now. I have a feeling that I likely could have kept the stock sized brakes and simply stepped up to a race pad. But when this was happening I wasn’t sure if that’d do it and my calipers were old and wanted to do an “overhaul”. Replacing the entire front brakes with the stock sized setup was almost as expensive as upgrading to the ITR so I went that route to ensure I had the brakes I needed plus should give me plenty of room to grow.
My only complaint about the ITR brakes is that they’re heavy, really, really heavy. If I were to do it again I’d consider S2K calipers (still might). There are also some options from Wilwood as well that aren’t too expensive. Or if you’re baller you could always opt for some Spoons
Depending on the condition of your calipers, how much pad material you have left, and how much room your wheels have for brakes you may want to try out some entry level race pads before upgrading the whole thing. Just sorta depends on your situation and personal preference with where you’re taking the car.
(PS - I can’t get over how ridiculously clean your car is!)
[QUOTE=Colin;2330346]Those brakes look awfully familiar…
(rotor on the right is stock sized and was used with HP+ pads)
What tires are you running now? How do the brakes feel on track? Are you getting any fade? Is this the first wear you’re seeing? Have you been “warping” rotors at all or seeing cracks in them? As I progressively got faster it became apparent that my stock brakes with HP+ simply weren’t cutting it due to the heat. I ended up changing to ITR calipers with Hawk Blue (race) pads and everything is good now. I have a feeling that I likely could have kept the stock sized brakes and simply stepped up to a race pad. But when this was happening I wasn’t sure if that’d do it and my calipers were old and wanted to do an “overhaul”. Replacing the entire front brakes with the stock sized setup was almost as expensive as upgrading to the ITR so I went that route to ensure I had the brakes I needed plus should give me plenty of room to grow.
My only complaint about the ITR brakes is that they’re heavy, really, really heavy. If I were to do it again I’d consider S2K calipers (still might). There are also some options from Wilwood as well that aren’t too expensive. Or if you’re baller you could always opt for some Spoons
Depending on the condition of your calipers, how much pad material you have left, and how much room your wheels have for brakes you may want to try out some entry level race pads before upgrading the whole thing. Just sorta depends on your situation and personal preference with where you’re taking the car.
(PS - I can’t get over how ridiculously clean your car is!)[/QUOTE]
Still running those old crappy tires, I have 1 more event this year in November that I will run on those tires, then I will replace them in the spring before the first event of 2016. The brakes feel great on track my only gripe being I have had a few problems with rear lockup, after a warm up lap and the heat is in them they work well. I was not getting any fade on track. Yes this was the wear after the first track day, the rotors were brand new the Friday before I left. I have not driven the car much, maybe 100 miles at most since the last track day. I have not warped the rotors and after a thorough inspection there aren’t any cracks that I could see. I can imagine that with some 200 treadwear tires these pads would probably start showing their limits. I have roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of the pad left, and after November that event will probably take them down to around 1/4 life. Did you ever run the stock brakes with something like a DTC-60? I am considering just doing that next spring also, there is a DC2 in my group of friends that does just that and he is pretty fast. I have already invested in a replacement caliper for the passenger side, so I am a little unwilling to upgrade just yet. Especially if the stock equipment can hold for at least another year. I would like to focus my money on safety next year rather than upgrading performance. And thanks for the kind words, she has sat in a garage her entire life, that is probably 95% of the reason its that clean.
If that’s the case then I would suggest you just continue to run them as-is. You may want to get a second opinion but IMO if you aren’t having fade or needing to replace rotors frequently then I don’t see a problem with the discoloration. As your skill level increases and when you move up to stickier tires you may begin to reach the limit at which point you are getting fade or going through rotors at an accelerated rate. When you get to that point you can decide whether a race pad or a full on brake upgrade is right for you. As you said you should be able to get away with the stock sized brakes and race pads - I mean look at ITA classed cars, they run the stock sized brakes with upgraded pads. If you’re really really pushing it then maybe you would want to add some ducting to keep things cool as heat is one of the reasons why larger brakes are better, not just the increased pad area.
You’re gonna have such a HUGE smile on your face when you first hit the track with new tires
So I was able to work some overtime and have the funds available to get a set of tires. I’m looking at the Potenza RE-71R’s in 205/50-15. Any of you guys have experience with these?
They’re supposed to be great tires. I’ve had the RE-11’s before and they were great. I’ve had multiple sets of Bridgestones over the years and they’re definitely my preferred tire brand.
) I’m curious about the Kumho Ecsta V720…
