Typical track day maintenance costs?

Thinking of getting a GT350 and have been lurking. I am curious what the track day costs would roughly be. How often should you change fluids and brakes with track days?

How many track days a year? I figure I'll do about 3 or so plus a full season of autocross (12 events or so...?) and I'll change out my fluids once a year and just watch stuff like brakes and tires.

Postell said:

Thinking of getting a GT350 and have been lurking. I am curious what the track day costs would roughly be. How often should you change fluids and brakes with track days?

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- The MPSS tires are holding up well. Sport cups will wear faster but of course deliver more grip. MPSS tires are a great tire to learn this car's limits.
- The front brakes pads will wear fast depending how aggressive you are with brakes. After two HPDE days (5 - 15-20 min sessions) the front pads on mine need changed out at $200. Rotors are holding up well. Complete rotor set $1K
- Camber plates extend the tire life along with the handling benefits. $250 -$550
- Install catch cans...many options ranging from $250 to $400.
- Brake fluid change is recommended- $150 for racing fluid http://www.torquebrakefluid.com/

Bottom line it is a great car to track with minimal expenses in comparison to many track ready cars.

Add $400 or so per weekend for track day insurance. Hopefully you'll never have to use it, but it takes just one poor decision by another driver to make you have a very bad day, with a very expensive repair bill.

I would also add $100 or so for TrakkTape, if you want to keep the paint looking nice and you don't already have a PPF (or even if you do, really).

THX 138 said:

Add $400 or so per weekend for track day insurance. Hopefully you'll never have to use it, but it takes just one poor decision by another driver to make you have a very bad day, with a very expensive repair bill.

I would also add $100 or so for TrakkTape, if you want to keep the paint looking nice and you don't already have a PPF (or even if you do, really).

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Good points...mine has PPF so never crossed my mind. Check with your insurance. My policy is still in force as long as it is not a competition. The underwriter confirmed this for HPDE's.

Regarding expenses, as the old saying goes; "if you have to ask, . . . "

+ 1 for insurance. The real expense is going to be balling up the car in turn 1. You may be the next Schumacher, but it won't matter when someone else takes you out, a wall jumps out on front of you, a tire fails, or you money shift it. Never take anything on track you can't afford to walk away from imho.

cjgt350 said:

- The MPSS tires are holding up well. Sport cups will wear faster but of course deliver more grip. MPSS tires are a great tire to learn this car's limits.
- The front brakes pads will wear fast depending how aggressive you are with brakes. After two HPDE days (5 - 15-20 min sessions) the front pads on mine need changed out at $200. Rotors are holding up well. Complete rotor set $1K
- Camber plates extend the tire life along with the handling benefits. $250 -$550
- Install catch cans...many options ranging from $250 to $400.
- Brake fluid change is recommended- $150 for racing fluid http://www.torquebrakefluid.com/

Bottom line it is a great car to track with minimal expenses in comparison to many track ready cars.

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So two track days per a set of pads? that will add up how many miles are on your car? My last track weekend was 8 24 minute sessions.

I would add tow hooks to your list

I was told to look for Drivers Ed events. Those are still covered under most policies.

cjgt350 said:

Good points...mine has PPF so never crossed my mind. Check with your insurance. My policy is still in force as long as it is not a competition. The underwriter confirmed this for HPDE's.

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What company?

Get it in writing.

Afaik I've checked with over 10 companies in the past and it is not covered

firestarter2 said:

So two track days per a set of pads? that will add up how many miles are on your car? My last track weekend was 8 24 minute sessions.

I would add tow hooks to your list

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You can definitely get more life out of the pads safely. I got 3 full 2 day weekends out of mine(intermediate solo driver) plus 8000 miles, and they still had plenty of life left for street use. I only changed them before my 4tg track event because they were below the minimum for the event, but they were fine for the street.

firestarter2 said:

So two track days per a set of pads? that will add up how many miles are on your car? My last track weekend was 8 24 minute sessions.

I would add tow hooks to your list

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For me yes but I am aggressive going deep into braking zones. 1800 mi. Stock pads are good but soft thus wear quickly. Will be running Pagid pads next season. I have tow hooks as well...not a necessity but good to have.

http://www.lmperformance.com/811777...yellowstuff-performance-brake-pads-front.html

Has anyone tried these pads?

For those that have commented that their auto insurance (or insurance in general) will cover HPDE, it will not. You may even have a challenge getting a AAA tow if the car has a mechanical or incident and is stuck at the track.

I can add that OE pads will be good for about 3 events for beginning to intermediate drivers. Be ready for some heavy-duty dust remediation.

In my opinion and experience, a "race" brake fluid is not necessary for average HPDE use in THIS car. The Ford OE is fine and can withstand a decent level of track use given the heat capacity of the rotors and calipers. Having said that, Motol RBF 600 (~ $17.95 pint) works great, and Torque or Castrol are solid choices, but 2x the price of Motul. These days, I run Torque for race use.

As mentioned, the MPSS is a solid performance tire and should be good for 4-5 events, or more depending on how you drive and set up the car (alignment). It's a hard tire to be for all around performance and streetability, and seems to do well on this platform.

I don't think we've seen much longevity or cost / value information for the aftermarket brake pads that are now available, but those are definitely options.

Not accounting for your event fees, HPDE / track insurance, fuel, travel / lodging, etc., if you're looking at 10 events per year (at least 2 days / 8-10 sessions per event), figure on at least two sets of tires, three sets of brake pads (depending on compound used), several brake fluid bleeds, at least three oil changes, and depending on your other fluid choices, probably at least one tranny / diff fluid change. Budget accordingly.

I'm basing my estimates on only a few track events in my GT350, and lots of track experience in other cars. As with everything, YMMV.

I think our cars are pretty efficient on consumables for what they can do out-of-the-box.

Sprintamx said:

In my opinion and experience, a "race" brake fluid is not necessary for average HPDE use in THIS car. The Ford OE is fine and can withstand a decent level of track use given the heat capacity of the rotors and calipers. Having said that, Motol RBF 600 (~ $17.95 pint) works great, and Torque or Castrol are solid choices, but 2x the price of Motul. These days, I run Torque for race use.

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I changed my stock fluid and was shocked how much moisture was present. I don't believe I boiled the fluid but it certainly was hot enough to break down.

Sprintamx said:

For those that have commented that their auto insurance (or insurance in general) will cover HPDE, it will not. You may even have a challenge getting a AAA tow if the car has a mechanical or incident and is stuck at the track.

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Some insurance policy exclusions are written where they are excluded and others do not. You can't categorically state they won't cover them.

cjgt350 said:

I changed my stock fluid and was shocked how much moisture was present. I don't believe I boiled the fluid but it certainly was hot enough to break down.

Did you experience fading or a soft pedal?

Some insurance policy exclusions are written where they are excluded and others do not. You can't categorically state they won't cover them.

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If you can find an example of a standard, general policy within the past 10 years covering an track-related incident--where the owner didn't lie--I'll be pleased to be wrong about this. But, this is one of those aspects people will have to decide for themselves.