Thank you! I actually just went to your link above

Brake pad is around 60%. Brake fluid was flushed about 12k ago, should I go ahead and flush it while I am doing oil?

 

#1 rule of track driving = be safe.
#1 safety feature on track = brakes.

Do yourself (and the others on track with you) a favor and bleed your brakes with a high quality dot4 fluid before going out on track. Mileage isn't a good indicator of the health of your brake fluid.

Don't mess around with brake failure. Cheap insurance against a bad situation. Also do a full brake test before heading to the track - get on the brakes hard, get the ABS working, etc...

 

Ditto!

next check suspension and alignment, make sure you have the rear toe in, keep the back end from getting real nervious going into 1,5, and Canada.

If your unsure about the car, prep to your satisfaction so your confident you and everyone and everyone else is good. Road america isn't a place to be nervious, you need to confident in what your doing and driving. I've been racing super bikes or DE there since 2000.

Good luck to you, it's one of the best tracks!

cheers!

 

Just curious, how does one just "swap" and put in new pads at a HPDE...

Not worried about the mechanics of doing it, but about the possibly poor braking after doing this...

Your current pads are bedded in, as your rotor isn't a perfectly flat surface. That's why they brake really well...

Wouldn't throwing on new pads, potentially cause poor braking for the first 20-30 miles? At least until they bed in?

Wouldn't that cause issues on a track, since you really don't know how good your brakes are really going to be?

Or is it really as simple as just throwing on new pads and going back to your current pace the next lap?

Puzzled...

 

Its actually pretty easy to "bed in" new pads at an HPDE. Put the new pads in, then drive down the parking area drive way and apply moderate brake pedal pressure to make sure things are balanced. If balanced and no pulling, you can stand on the brakes from 60 MPH a few times and they will bed in. Alternatively, after the brief checkout at the parking lot, get on track, be prepared to give lots of passing signals to upcoming cars, drive at a slower pace but do a few threshold braking before corners. After 1 or 2 laps, the new pads will be bedded and up to temp.

 

Thanks... surprised that they bed in so fast...

 

Yup. The 500 or so miles for bedding that most manuals recommend refers to street driving. Hopefully, you never have to do threshold braking on the street!

 

Lots of great prep advice already given. Have a blast at RA. Nice long track at 4.1 miles. Laps Inc promises lots of track time. Please give us some feed back on that. I'll be there May 17 for a track day with a bone stock 2005 996 tt s cab.

Just returned from Porsche's 2 day precision driving school at Barber Motorsports in AL. They run those cars bone stock for 150 days a year of aggressive driving with just tire and brake changes. These cars just excel on the track! German engineers don't sweat the details just so the car can sit in a garage.

Please let me know about your day. Be safe and enjoy finding your personal limits on the track.

 

Here's a great video of Porsche driver Patrick Long taking you through the corners of Road America. Very helpful for learning braking points, turn in, etc.


Let us hear about your day.

 

And the most important brake check is every lap. On the straights tap your brakes to make sure you still have brakes. Brakes have a tendency to die right before the hardest braking corners.

 

I just left my mechanic shop. We flushed the brake fluid, performed an oil and filter change (from 0-40 Mobil 1 to 15w-50 Mobil 1), and we installed the Porterfield pads without sensors. I didn't even really need to bed the brakes just yet as I have no issues stopping at all.

I know the 15-50 is too thick below 50F, but I'll be changing it out anyway soon enough.

The oil had only 2,000 miles and was still see-through and clean. Not a single visable piece of plastic or metal in the oil or filter.

I'll report back after the event. Hopefully all goes well.

 

Oil pouring out is still see-through

 

Let us know how your weekend goes, you're going to love those brake pads. You'll stop on a dime and will never fade for the whole weekend. Be safe!

 

Above all else, get lots of rest, drink tons of water and enjoy. I can already smell the brats!

 

Awesome! Please share your experience!

I have changed oil and will change after the event as well. Brake fluid will be changed before the event. Brake pad is confirmed by the shop here again its 60% and I will check between sessions.

However, would be great to hear your feedback!