First time going to the track? Here's how to get started! Please keep in mind that this guide is written for safety and reliability; performance modifications are secondary for the purpose of this guide. As always, YMMV.
1. Car Prep
2. Driver Prep
3. At the Track
Car Prep
First few times at the track:
Absolutely necessary
- Check your oil level
- Make sure tires have at least 4/32" of tread left (put a quarter in the tread, and if the tread touches George's head, you're good)
Recommended
- Fresh engine oil (if you haven't changed within the last few thousand miles)
Nice to have
- Upgraded brake pads
- Upgraded brake fluid
- GoPro Camera (watching yourself is an EXCELLENT way to learn)
3rd-5th times at the track:
Absolutely necessary
- Check your oil level
- Make sure tires have at least 4/32" of tread left (put a quarter in the tread, and if the tread touches George's head, you're good)
Recommended
- Fresh engine oil (if you haven't changed within the last few thousand miles)
- Upgraded brake pads
- Upgraded brake fluid
- Fresh transmission fluid
- Fresh differential fluid (see a trend here? proactive maintenance is key to a long life!)
Nice to have
- "performance" tires (Hankook RS3, Dunlop Z1/Z2 Star Spec, Bridgestone RE-11, Yokohama AD08, Toyo R1R, Federal 595 RS-R)
- GoPro Camera (watching yourself is an EXCELLENT way to learn)
6rd-10th times at the track:
Absolutely necessary
- Check your oil level
- Make sure tires have at least 4/32" of tread left (put a quarter in the tread, and if the tread touches George's head, you're good)
- Upgraded brake pads
- Upgraded brake fluid
Recommended
- Fresh engine oil (if you haven't changed within the last few thousand miles)
- "performance" tires (Hankook RS3, Dunlop Z1/Z2 Star Spec, Bridgestone RE-11, Yokohama AD08, Toyo R1R, Federal 595 RS-R)
- GoPro Camera (watching yourself is an EXCELLENT way to learn)
- Fresh transmission fluid
- Fresh differential fluid
- GoPro Cameras, or some sort of video device (smartphones with cases work great!)
Nice to have
- Adjustable coil-over suspension
- Aftermarket Rims
- Data acquisition (Aim SOLO is a great option, as is Harry's Lap Timer for the iPhone and Trackmate for Android)
Maintenace
These are merely suggestions; adjust intervals as needed. The best way to determine is to use used oil analysis from a company like Blackstone Labs or Dyson.
Engine - normal oil change interval, as long as your oil cooler is suffient and keeping your temps under 250F (stock oil temp is read post-cooler, so oil temp peak is higher)
Brake fluid - Whenever the feel degrades, or your reservoir is dark
Clutch fluid - once a year (use leftover brake fluid from a bleed)
Trans/Diff - Every 5 days, or 15k miles, whichever comes first.
First few track days:
- Get yourself an instructor or mentor! Try to find someone who drives a similar car. An experienced FR-S or BRZ owner is best. Alternatives include S2000, RX-8, RX-7, and Miata owners. The goal here is to find yourself someone who is familiar with RWD momentum cars. You want to avoid Mustang/Corvette instructors as they tend to teach a different style of driving.
- Pay attention in the driver's meeting. Knowing all the safety regulations is critical.
- Be open to what everyone has to say to you. You may not necessarily agree with everything that is suggested to you, but at least give it a shot, and then decide if it works for you or not.
- Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
- Brake in a straight line. Take advantage of your ABS; press the brake down to the floor when braking in a straight line. Your car stops a lot faster than you think!
- Don't use your brakes on the cooldown lap. When coming into the pits, roll around for a few minutes to give the brakes time to cool down. Don't use your hand brake when you park; leave the car in gear. It won't roll away.
- Watch your traction control lights. When is it blinking? (in-car video is awesome for this). If its blinking, it probably means you're asking the car to do something that it can't do. Try not to do it.
- Don't fixate on the car in front of you! Your mind automatically wants to send you to where you're looking. Instead, look at the apex of the corner ahead of you.
- Check your tire pressure when you come off of the track. Generally, you want to be sitting between 35-39 psi (hot), right when you get off the track. You'll probably need to let some air out.
- Remember to fill your tires back up to 32-34psi (cold) before you leave!
3rd-5th track days:
- By now, you should be comfortable with using the ABS on your car. Unfortunately, that REALLY heats up the brakes, and you may have felt some brake fade! Now, we're going to focus on learning to not use it. When you feel ABS kickign in, back off on the brake pedal ever so slightly. It'll take a while to learn to do consistently, but it'll result in less heat in the brakes, and quicker stops.
- Stay hydrated!
- Try to use ALL of the track width. It's OKAY to drop 2 wheels at times.
- If you are comfortable with it, drive with Traction control and Stability control off. Be careful; if you had the lights blinking before, the systems were probably saving you from a spin! However, ultimately, you'll need to drive with the systems off to extract the maximum potential out of the car.
- Ask for specific feedback from instructors/mentors. Focus on one or two aspects of your driving at a time.
- Focus on on-track awareness. Where are the other drivers around you? What's going on further down the track?
- Start to focus on the next few corners ahead of you, instead of just the one in front of you.
- Don't focus on your lap times. Instead, focus on technique and smoothness. Lap times will come naturally.
6th-10th track days:
- Are you stil driving with Stability and Traction control on? Try it off! Be careful though!
- Are you using all the the width of the track? Try to go closer to the edges (where applicable) without going off. Are you using berms as recommended by instructors?
- How is your awareness? Try to spot incidents before flags go up.
- Seek feedback on aspects of driving you feel you're struggling with, or parts of the track where you feel you can go faster, but are unable to.
Seat adjustment:
- First, put your butt all the way back in your seat, so that there is no gap between your lower back and seat.
- Depress the clutch and gas pedal. Are you able to push both all the way down without any strain at all? If not, adjust the seat position (forward and backward only) as needed
- Next, "straighten" the back of the seat, so that you're sitting fairly straight, and the side bolsters on the back of the seat are supporting your torso; the FRS/BRZ seats are spectacular in this aspect. Now both your lower back and your upper back should be touching the seat. Adjust or flip the headrest around if its getting in the way.
- Adjusted properly, you'll probably never change this seating position for seat driving, because you don't get any fatigue!
Rest
- Get plenty of rest the night before, especially if you are driving to the track the day of!
- Take caffeinated beverages of choice as necessary (I'm a caffeine fiend).
Things to take:
This all fits into a $10 toolbag from Sears/Craftsman about 10x8x8 (very compact!) that stays in the car full time:
- Cordless Impact
- Extra battery for cordless impact
- Mallet
- All sockets that I need to work on the car (ONLY the sockets needed)
- 14, 17, 19, 21 impact sockets
- 1/2" drive swivel socket
- Work gloves
- Wheel lock keys
- Hex key ratchet all-in-one tool
- tire gauge
Glove compartment (all of this also is in the car full time):
- Small spray bottle of quick detailer
- high quality Flashlight (Surefire, LED, Li battery, 30+ hour run time on low setting)
Trunk:
- can of engine oil (300V only for me)
- disposable gloves, stored in the styrofoam donut on the spare (costco)
- Torque wrench
- bag of microfiber towels (Costco)
Situational, track-day specific stuff:
- Extra brake pads (usually keep a set of street or race pads in the trunk anyways, I swap on a whim)
- Bottle of brake fluid (can bleed the OEM system with 1 bottle if you're not excessively wasting fluid)
- Extra rotors (won't need to on the BRZ, but my s2k EATS rotors....)
- Floor jack (Harbor freight makes some very affordable ones)
- Jackstands
- sunblock
- Foldable cooler
- Water
- Ice (purchase at closest gas station to the track, dump before leaving)
- Coffee/Energy drinks (I'm a caffeine fiend)
- Multitool of some sort (leatherman, swiss army knife, etc.)
- Paper towels (or napkins from fast food joint of your choosing...)
- Helmet
- Driving shoes
- Extra socks
- Foldable chairs
- painter's tape