So my son and I went to our first DE last weekend. It was fantastic. However, with two drivers using the same car, it used twice as much fuel and tires and brakes, of course. I'm wondering what is prudent in terms of driving the car reasonably hard, and for how long, without unreasonable risk of damage. There were three run groups each running 20 minute sessions. He'd run for his 20 minutes, then come in and 5 minutes later I'd be out for my session.

I'm especially nervous about brake pads, as it seems they're now shot (we've done a couple of auto crosses this spring too - it wasn't ONLY the DE).

Any advice on how to continue to share the car without abusing it?

Any advice on brake pads in particular? From what I've read, people seem to love what they have and hate everything else; objective comparisons are tough to come by. Obviously, longevity is a big concern so I'm leaning toward the Frodo DS 1.11.

 

I've done this with my GT3. The only issue is if the sessions are back to back, the tires won't grip as well as the prior session because no cool down. Otherwise, the car does just fine. Never had an issue with brakes or overheating the engine/tranny

 

Plan to replace tires at the end of a weekend if you both run both days, because even if they have some life left it won't be much at all for the next weekend. Other than that, if you get PFC 11 or Ferodo DS1.11 pads they should easily last a few double-duty weekends (and bring a spare set for a trackside replacement if needed?), and the AP Racing rotors should help a lot too. Between the two pad options, PFC seems to trade some track bite and modulation for quieter street manners, while Ferodos are better on track if you'll put up with a bit of noise, though still not much. I have Ferodos in a box still waiting to be installed, but that's what I read.

Also, get Castrol SRF brake fluid to dodge what would otherwise be a pretty frequent bleed schedule.

 

Geez, what a killjoy with all that negativity.

1) First DE on Dunlops which run 2-1 rear
2) Swap tires side to side to make'em last. Per the OP there were 3 sessions each for a total of 12 for the weekend
3) No need to go to SRF, OEM will be fine for now.
4) Spare pads - you forgot the tech inspection and the biatch it is to change pads on these cars.
5) OEM rotors are fine, no need to jump to others right away in this situation.

 

There's clearly only one solution here which is to buy another GT4.

 

Biatch to change pads? That's disappointing... How long of a process is it for, say, just the front wheels?

 

30-45 minutes for both wheels if you know what to do.

 

IMHO I didn't think this was negative at all. Just a straight forward answer on the realities of what is going to be needed. Better safe than sorry.

To OP, definitely take some precautions and the car will be fine. Youre going to have a blast!

 

Get the Tarett stud kits for the calipers and the brake line brackets if you haven't already. Won't make it easy, but will make it much easier and spare you from having to technically replace ostensibly single-use caliper bolts every time you remove the caliper. But yeah if you're doubling up on the car, that's even less time for a trackside pad swap, unless maybe it's over lunch or on Saturday night of a 2-day event.

Swapping tires left to right might get a bit more life out of them, but my point was that if you put 4 days' worth of track time on tires in a weekend and DON'T replace the tires after that, you won't get very far into your NEXT event at all, which would have you writing off two sets of event registration fees and whatever other associated costs you have (lodging, etc.) And while ExMB is right that fronts wear 2:1 on tread, if you only swap the fronts out, you can end up running new fronts with heat cycled rears, which may or may not be acceptable to you from a performance/handling standpoint for the savings.

I agree that swapping to other pads and rotors isn't necessary upfront, but the other options I mentioned will last longer than OEM, so it's worth doing when the time comes -- which will be soon for you. SRF isn't "necessary" either, but brake bleeds are just one more annoyance to deal with, and it can be easily eliminated if you're willing to spend $60 rather than $15 for brake fluid.

 

Track days is a little misleading since some can have 5 or more session. The OP stated 3ea in his case. So a better measure would be heat cycles.

Got a link where you can find SRF for $60 (incl S&H?)?

 

FWIW, that's what I do with my son...


You'll just go through consumables more quickly; also, when we go back to back, we make sure that whoever goes first pays attention to the time and takes a proper cool-down lap before the checkered flag.


We also share a budget endurance car, so we're used to it.


Cheers
Rich B.

 

Amazon, even includes Prime Shipping.

 

This in particular has me concerned. I wouldn't think that pads should be shot after effectively 2 driving events by folks at their first DE. I wouldn't think that the addition of a few autocrosses would impact that much, either.

Admittedly, I haven't gotten behind the wheel of a GT4 yet, but I'd expect pads and rotors to last more than a few driving events based on my experience in other cars.

 

This in particular has me concerned. I wouldn't think that pads should be shot after effectively 2 driving events by folks at their first DE. I wouldn't think that the addition of a few autocrosses would impact that much, either. What makes you think they're shot? What's the pad depth?

Admittedly, I haven't gotten behind the wheel of a GT4 yet, but I'd expect pads and rotors to last more than a few driving events based on my experience in other cars.

 

For brake pads you might consider the Pagid RS29 (Yellow) pads. They are considered an "endurance" pad due to their low wear rate. Using them may save you the trouble of an overnight change of brake pads or missing a session or two due to worn brakes.

Uncle Jed