forhamilton

I've heard so many different things regarding maintenance when tracking. Bottom line is I was confused and not wanting to neglect the car or waste money. I called one of the most reputable P car techs around. His suggestions were as follows (and I was a little surprised):

-oil change every 1000 track miles
-transaxle fluid change once per season
-brake fluid flush twice per year and use a pressure bleeder or vacuum system

That's the basics. Of course, pads, rotors, tires, etc as needed.

Thoughts? You guys re-align the car once per year or after a solid pounding? Am I missing anything?

drl

Most people here probably change oil, flush brakes, and realign more often than that for track use.

Horstair

Right on as far as the P-Guy said. On the alignment, do one every time you put new tires on...

911rox

- Oil change sounds right (every 1500 track km / or 5000 km track-street driving combined, whicheva occurs first)- at least twice yearly on my mix of use...
- For transaxle, it depends on how frequently you track but once a year is safe... If you do heaps of events, it may need to be more frequent
- i use SRF for brakes, full flush yearly, bleed before every second track day.
- spanner check suspension/brakes etc every second track event
- Alignment will depend on how aggressive you are. If you use the curbs alot you'll throw it out quickly not to mention potholes and crap roads. I align twice yearly and do 5-6 x 400-500km trackdays... I wouldn't be aligning just when you replace tyres unless that is very frequent... These cars go out of alignment pretty quickly due to their stiff setup...

utkinpol

regarding to suspension good practice is to get a bottle of red paint and mark lines across most nuts/bolts there in front on crossmember, arms, etc. that makes it very easy to notice if anything gets loose. be diligent and do this check yourself. also check nuts on strut upper mounts under the hood.

big nut that connect fork arms to LCA also likes to get loose. if you track a lot develop a routine to check all that stuff when you bleed your brakes.

AudiOn19s

+1 on this. I do all my own mechanical work and self tech so I have a routein I go through to check torque values on major components every time I"m under the car prior to an event. I can get through it in about 20 min so it's not a huge deal.

I completely flush the brake system twice a year, and bleed enough to make sure there's fresh fluid in the calipers before every event.

Oil changes ever 6 individual days

Transmission oil every 6-8 days. It's best just to put it on the same rotation as the oil so I can do it all at once.

Alignment twice a year if I'm not otherwise making tweaks to my setup.

I don't feel like I'm ever throwing away money with these intervals. I'd much rather be safe than sorry when it comes to fresh fluids to insure they are doing their job.

tcsracing1

For alignments, depends on your suspension.
Stock suspension rubber will not hold alignment very long on track.
Adjustable monoball stuff locks in alignment longer.

SRF brake Fluid will last a year unless you track like every weekend or something.

Considering the speeds you travel you would want to make sure all the suspension bolts are not loose after a weekend session and prior to a track session. (everything from LCA to sway bar links.)

a visual inspection is warranted under the car. (check sway bar bushings etc)

treat the car the same one would treat an airplane.

GTgears

Gearbox oil once a year? That's going to cost you a lot on rebuilds in the long run. Change it every 8-12 hours of track time.

Also, a lot of people don't realize that a high percentage of wear occurs when the gearbox is cold. It takes close to 20 minutes to come up to full operating temp. The first session of the day always take it easy. That does NOT mean short shifting. Short shifting puts more wear on it because it requires the synchros to change the speed of the gears more. Within 5 minutes of start up the engine is warm enough to shift at 7000rpm+ The gearbox wants to be shifted above 6000rpm at a minimum.

Taking it easy in the first session means that you don't shift quickly or put the gearbox through any aggresive downshifts. After the first session, unless it is 50 degrees out, the gearbox oil temps will never drop down too much between sessions and you can get on it hard immediately after your outlap.

drl

Good points above. I can mever keep up with people blasting out of pit lane first thing in the morning in 50ish degree temps.

Regarding fluid intervals....i change engine oil every 5 days, gear oil every 10 days, brake flush every 10 days. All these numbers are +\- a day or two depending an track day conditions and my own personal logistics. Doesnt make sense to me to base fluid change on number ot times per year - needs to be based on amount of track use.

Serge944

Shifting 500 rpm short will substantially extend your engine life too.