Aku700

Ok, so I purchased my Porsche about 6 months ago and I have driven the crap out of my 15 MT 991.1 GTS in the canyons near Los Angeles/Thousand Oaks, but I think its time to go to my first track day. So, since I don't know anyone who actually tracks their cars, I need help from you guys, what to know? What to bring, do's, don'ts, etc. Advice would be greatly appreciated. Will be going to Buttonwillow in California, about 2.5hrs north of my location. If anyone wants to form a group for this event on July 7th and/or regular runs in the Los Angeles/Thousand Oaks area, that would be awesome. For the track day on the 7th, drive up night before, dinner and have serious fun next day starting at 8am!!! Since its my first time there, I am required to "hire" one of their instructors there until they feel I can drive safely solo, so pretty smart of them.

Now, you might ask about my experience, in my 51 years on this planet, I have probably driven 1 million miles, ya, that's a lot, driven about 30 vehicles in my life, everything from Prius, Chevy Silverado Z71 off road truck, Honda CRX, BMW M6, X5, 911.1 standard, motorcycles such as HondaCBR900RR, Suzuki Hayabusa, etc, in the military drove tanks, armored personnel carriers, dune buggies, Humvees, dirt bikes, so ya, very diverse realm of experience, but at the end of the day, I love corners and love to drive fast. BTW, I just did 12 laps out at Fontana Speedway with Exotic Motors, they have 1.2m track and I got to drive a 991.2 GT3, JUST INSANE, so kinda got hooked on driving more on track now, love the speed. So much fun, no speed limits, no cops, no crap to deal with. The instructors actually teach you how to drive faster, etc, got my lap down from 1.10 to 1.02, so insanely awesome GT3.

arter

The PCA and BMW clubs probably have the best instructors for beginning trackers. Unfortunately, the local ( LA) ones are in summer vacation mode.
They will start up again in sept. Check motorsportreq.com to track schedules of many clubs.
Speed Ventures, Speed District , Hooked on Driving are other groups in LA that are good to run with.

Suggestions are to upgrade your brake fluid to race fluid and consider a brake pad upgrade also. Beyond that, your car is ready.
Check your tires pressures after each run and try to maintain hot pressures of 35 psi or so. You will have to let off pressure to do that
( and you may have to add pressure back at the end of the day).

Drink lots of water, tracking is hot work.

drcollie

I've been an instructor since 1996 so I've seen a lot of students that are new.

Arter has good advice, if the brake fluid hasn't been changed in the past year, do that. Other than that, don't show up with tires near the wear bars on the tread or brake pads nearing the end of their lifespan. Clean all the crap out of your car and leave it at home. You can do a loaner helmet, but they can be kinda gross - so if you buy one get an S/A rated helmet instead of a motorcycle one. Some tracks/organizations don't care, but some do - and the SA rated one is the correct one.

The biggest thing is ego. YOUR EGO. That is the single biggest obstacle to overcome with a new student, especially one that thinks they are fast (you're not). If you can listen and truly want to learn a good instructor will teach you things that didn't even cross your mind before. If you just want to go out there and drive fast and think the guy in the right seat is a waste of your time and talent, then its going to be a tough day for both you and the Instructor. I have plenty of students like that over the years and when that attitude shows itself I basically just shut up and ride it out - and hope they don't kill me. As you can imagine in 32 years of track instructing I have a lot of stories but won't bore you with them. Suffice to say the students that show up and say "I'd like to learn how to get the most out of my car on the track, can you help me to do that?" Man, they are the ones that absorb the knowledge like a sponge and are the quick learners.

Most of all, have fun. Also note most insurance companies do not cover your car on the track so read your policy before you go and consider buying track day insurance in case you ball the car up.

Aku700

Arter, thanks for the helpful info. Few items and apologize in advance for the novice questions:
1. Where is best place to go for upgraded brake fluid? Is this dealer or other?
2. Same goes for Brake Pads, do you have any recommendations?
3. When you say check tire pressure after each run, do you mean each full lap or after x amount of laps?

Aku700

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Thanks for the info, again, great stuff, so highly appreciate it. Few items, I just installed a new set of Michelin PS4S, amazing tires, I only know that because at the Exotic Motors track last weekend I was very surprised, the GT3 I drove had these tires and wow, they were amazing!!! And ya, I get it about the EGO, I used to drive my sports bikes very hard. When my friends all got bikes after the army, I was the last one to get one and I was always the last one of the pack, but guess, what, after 6 years, I was the last man standing with my bike, all my friends crashed out, ticketed out, broken ribs/legs/etc, removed spleens, road rashes, bikes impounded, etc, so I learned by staying in back and learning how to ride a bike in the canyons. I retired my last bike, the Suzuki Hayabusa 7 years ago, and I can say that in nearly 20 years of riding bikes, I never crashed, had serious close calls but guess what, I rode super defensive and expected cars to turn into me, by riding like this, I avoided most idiots on the road. I then went to the "rock store" in Malibu and I picked up a few new friends that wanted to ride hard. By then, I was always the lead bike and told riders what to watch out for, how/what/whenwhy, etc, so ya I get. And ya, you are 100% right, when I went to the Exotic motors, the main instructor took 3 of us at time to go around the track to get familiar in a Porsche cayenne and wow, this go was so fast, it actually startled me how fast he was, literally had the SUV side ways the whole time, made me realize HOW SLOW I AM, lol. So ya, I not a squid head as most people out there are, I do know how to drive, but not enough to say I know anything about track, totally different and I plan to take it easy. Great advice, really appreciate it.

You in the LA area by chance? would love to chat with instructor who knows their stuff.

arter

Any indy can do brake fluid changes ( or yourself if you DIY).
Buy some ATE 200 or Motul 600 ( each on Amazon or your local car partrs store)and bring it to the Indy to use.

For your first time,use ypur stock pads ( check thickness first, pad thickness needs to be thicker than the backing metal plate at least).
Try not to run more than 20 minute sessions on these pads. If your brake petal feels soft, cut the session short.
Search forum for pads discussions for upgrade options.

For tire pressure, drop pressure to 30 psi prior to going out. Then check pressure right after coming in from your session ( that is your hot pressure).
Your tire pressure will increase 6 - 10 psi during the session depending upon how hard you are pushing them.
Once you set the pressure to 35 psi hot, check it after each session but you maybe able to leave it alone the rest of the day.
Your tire pressure alarm will be going off during the track day, reset it, but watch the tire pressure screen to see what is going on.

As DrCollie says, listen to your intructor, focus on doing what he tells you and have fun, dont try to be the fastest yet...
be smooth and watch out for the other drivers ( be nice).

cas1337

991.1s aren't "point and squirt" cars. You'll need to carry some momentum through corners.

The R/R dynamic isn't exactly intuitive. With enough speed through a corner, you must modulate the throttle. Too much and you oversteer; too little and you oversteer. Sometimes the only way to pull yourself out of the oversteer is to jam the throttle so the rear squats.

Bring a lap timer and a gopro if you have one to allow you to watch your inputs and lines after the sessions. It should go without saying the lap timer is only for you to quantify yourself, not as a benchmark for you to beat.

Pep!RRRR

Aku700

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Its funny you mention that, I just joined PCA about 2-3hrs ago, LOL. However, I noticed on their website for events, literally nothing scheduled for the rest of the year in Southern California for DE/Training/track days. If you can recommend someone in my area, that would be great.

arter

san diego region PCA ( pcasdr.org )
has willow springs on sept 22-23, chuckwalla on oct 13-14, and Buttonwillow on nov 10-11 signup on motorsportreg.com
( they also run at fontana and these other courses again in the spring).

In the summer you can run with golden gate PCA (ggr-pca.org) which run laguna seca ( cool, by coast) or thunderhill ( hot).
Occasionally they run at sonoma ( cool by coast).
their next event is LS on july 7-8 and then thunderhill early sept.

Aku700

-Ok, so pca.org isn't updated/accurate, but I do see them now at: motorsportreg.com, so guess that is main site to visit for events.

tgavem

vodkag

Speed venture is great.

Xtreme speed is OK...they tend to pack their runs and a lotta beginners

I would suggest let the instructor drive your car and you sit as a passenger to watch how he is placing the car on the track, where he is pointing, brake and entry point etc. I find it easier to follow when i am sitting (instead of me driving while he is trying to tell me where to go or what to do).....that's me.

You will def need to adjust your tire pressure depending on how the car react....i havent tracked my 991.1S yet but when I previously tracked my 987.2S and Z4M and M6, my tire pressure are generally lower than what i run on the street (which is should be) but how much and how to adjust all depends on the car and under or over steering etc etc.

do remember to torque all your wheels, bring an extra quart of oil, tire pump and pressure gauge (of course) remember to drink plenty of water during the day (caz is HOT on the track esp in Socal) have fun and drive the heck out of it :-)

usccharles

here is a fun tip I learned by someone on my first track day which has been hugely helpful:

before you ride out, while your seat belt is on, move your seat back for about 2 seconds. tighten any slack on the seat belt and quickly pull down the belt to engage the belt lock, so the belt locks and does not pull anymore. while keeping the belt locked with one hand, push your seat memory button with your other and bring your seat forward back to its original position. if done right, the belt will be tightly holding you down on to the seat. its no five point, but it does wonders in keeping the body secure during your track ride.

I use this method even on normal roads, if i'm out spirited driving. and if you have any passengers riding with you on the track, they will thank you for this tip.

HD2pct

Thanks for this post. I have the opportunity to do Autobahn in Joliet via my dealership as well as the Chicago PCA. It's one of those things where you just need to commit. You either do it or you don't. I love the idea, but what are the downsides? I'd love to hear more from people who did their first track day and their initial feelings and outcomes.