David993S

Those are the ones who should stick to Autocrossing.

Glad you had a good time overall. Good advice given here and once you sort out a couple of minor issues, you'll have even more fun. I always liked Blackhawk - it's a really fun, short track. Be sure to watch brake pad wear as Blackhawk is hard on brakes.

dgmark

I was at Blackhawk on Friday for a shakedown run getting ready for the next club race. Your experience with point buy's and traffic is pretty normal for Blackhawk in the novice group as the events there attract many new drivers with no track experience. I make a point of standing at the start finish flag stand at some point during the novice run groups and they do a good job of policing the run group to keep everyone safe.
Keep at it and try to make the Gingerman 2 day event at the end of July. It is a very relaxed event and the track is not as congested

B-ran

It was Track Night in America hosted by Scca, so no instructors sadly. But for the money, still a bargain to get an hour of track time for a hundred fifty bucks!

B-ran

My understanding with the thermostat is that once it's wide open at temp it's just wide open and the standard vs. low temp won't make a difference in that regard. That's why I was thinking of the third rad since I've read others have used them and found the temps to stay lower. But I do plan on taking the bumper off tomorrow and cleaning out the rads again and inspecting them. I did that late last year as well, and there was a ton of crap in them, but I would bet they hadn't ever been cleaned before then, since I found a bit of newspaper in their from 2002 lol

TonyTwoBags

During a 50-odd mile loop yesterday I peaked at 221F for coolant temps on steep switchbacks, then quickly dropped back under 200F on the downhill straights. Then hovering around 195-200F on the highway back.

It seems the 2-radiator setup does a good job of cooling when given a chance, but things get hot in a hurry when there isn't much airflow hitting them (<50mph).

rogazilla

I did my Track night in America 2 weeks ago. My oil pressure sensor was all over the places, so I took it easy and cut session short to cool down. last session of the day as I pull off the track after chasing an evo I got the 'low oil pressure' text message but not the light. It came on for a second and went away. My oil pressure gauge was showing just a hair under 1 bar but it quickly went back just a hair above 1. 200 miles home without problem. I do think my oil pressure sander has failed since it shows 1 or 2 when I have ignition on with engine off and it does this brief jump every once in a while at idle.

Wanted to post about Temp though. The ambient temp at CMP that day was 101f first session and the last session of the day was still 98F. My temp went to the right edge of the 0 of 180 but never went higher. the drive to the track it was at the left edge of 0 of 180 and on the way home it was actually just a hair left of the 0.

After I got home I also found a very tiny leak on my bank 2 cam actuator as I was inspecting the oil pressure sender to look at the leads before I replace it. Now I am sure I have to replace the sender but I am debating if I should try to replace the actuator cover first and see if that stops the leak or go ahead and replace the actuator while I have the cover opened... Engine drives fine and no problem through the rev range.

Mike Murphy

Geez, I hope there's not much junk in there from only 1 year ago, or else I'll have to be pulling bumpers more often than I thought

Mike Murphy

Thats exactly how mine ran at the track, although my ambient temps were in the 70s and 80s, way lower than yours.

jandackson

mine ran the same. Did Tracknight in America at Thunderhill where ambient was 104+. Car ran just to the right of 0. Then I came in and noticed the reservoir was leaking. I bought low temp tstat, water pump and expansion tank and will put that in this weekend. Gonna take the bumper off and clean proper too.

I freaked a bit at the temp gage position too. But will see what happens after I get the cooling system checked out.

Slakker

You guys realize that Porsche programmed this cool little light to come on when it gets too hot by their standards, right? Just make sure you are using an oil that can handle the higher engine temps of track use and you will be fine.

jandackson

Thanks Slakker for the reality check. Too much forum reading for me. I will however try your suggestion on water wetter.

pontifex4

Glad to hear you had fun -- regarding tires, you almost certainly built too much pressure while on track.

The best way to prevent that from happening is to come into the pit area from the track once you feel them getting greasy to immediately bleed off hot pressure, then go back out. You likely only need to do this once per day if conditions don't change dramatically.

Quadcammer

fwiw, I did a track weekend at NJMP. My 99 boxster has the stock 2.5L with a third radiator, 160 thermostat and a new waterpump and the coolant temp would go to 102c and stay there. This is basically me being at WOT the whole lap (not much power in this car).

I think the third radiator is a good idea. It weighs practically nothing, its cheap, and it helps.

Now if I could keep the thing from smoking halfway around the track from the AOS, I'd be in business.

Slakker

Get your oil level to mid point on the dipstick after sitting overnight and without starting the engine. Your AOS smoking issues will disappear.

rogazilla

That's good to know