First time track day pre-maintenance

I have 3700 miles on my GT. Got it brand new last year. 2017 model year. First time doing a SCCA track night in America. Ford service says its not due until 10k miles. But should I go ahead and change the oil anyway? Any other fluids?

I changed out the brake fluid with this:

Castrol SRF Racing Brake Fluid

I think there is no question that you have to change the engine oil and filter before the track event since it has never been done. Concerning other fluids, rear end for example, it says in the owners manual it should be changed after a track event. I would also check every wheel nut with a torque wrench. I'm sure others will chime in with more information.

Castrol SRF Racing Brake Fluid is the bomb! But boo-coo expensive and probably over kill for a first time track day event. I'm currently running Motul RBF600 with no issues and ran my first few track days with stock pads and fluid without issue. It will be an issue later for sure.

Change the engine oil before and after your event. Any high quality synthetic will do.
Change the differential fluid after your event.
You will need to bleed your brakes before your next event. Think about changing fluid then.

Go fast, have fun, get an instructor and listen to him/her. Understand that at your first event, the car is probably much more capable than you are.

I take it these precautions are more for hpde and not autocross, correct?

Track and Autocross place similar demands on a car. However, tracks typically have much higher sustained speeds and much longer run times and put additional stresses on the vehicle.
I've only done track days, but would probably still increase my service intervals likewise for autocross.

morgande said:

I have 3700 miles on my GT. Got it brand new last year. 2017 model year. First time doing a SCCA track night in America. Ford service says its not due until 10k miles. But should I go ahead and change the oil anyway? Any other fluids?

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If it's your first time, fluid choice won't matter...you won't push your car that hard at TNIA. As you get better you can look at putting different engine oil (we have a whole another thread on that).

If you want peace of mind you can switch to a brake fluid with higher wet boiling point. Castrol SRF is good, but Motul 600 will do just fine and is cheaper.

I've ran as intermediate when I bought my Mustang with factory fluids and it was fine.

Grafanton said:

Change the engine oil before and after your event. Any high quality synthetic will do.

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That's seriously an overkill on synthetic oil unless your oil temp gauge dips into yellow for a few laps.

I wouldn't service the brake fluid before your first event, especially if its a TNiA and you're still on stock tires.... unless the specific track is known for being extra hard on the brakes.

I'd consider bleeding the brake fluid after the even though (with the factory Ford fluid).

If you upgrade tires, or start really threshold braking, or the track is very hard on tires, then you're looking at upgrading fluids to an SRF or Motul fluild, but the stock Dot4 fluid should be just fine for your first TNiA. Braking is very track dependent. Some tracks make very harsh demands on the brakes, so it does depend a little.

As for the engine oil, I do like making the first oil change earlier than the factory recommendation, but that's just me. If the day is going to be pretty hot, then changing oil weights and/or going to a synthetic might be a good idea, but honestly you would probably be fine making that oil chance just after the event. If not before, I'd definitely change the oil right after tho.

I went ahead and did a factory oil change today. $50 bucks of security won’t hurt

morgande said:

I have 3700 miles on my GT. Got it brand new last year. 2017 model year. First time doing a SCCA track night in America. Ford service says its not due until 10k miles. But should I go ahead and change the oil anyway? Any other fluids?

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10k? The service interval is 5k. Especially with break in, I would do it before the event (and switch to better brake fluid).

sonicc said:

Grafanton said:

Change the engine oil before and after your event. Any high quality synthetic will do.

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That's seriously an overkill on synthetic oil unless your oil temp gauge dips into yellow for a few laps.

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Might be overkill, but it's in the Track use section of your manual. They also recommend viscosity change. I suppose it depends on how worried you are about your warranty.

Track night was a success. My goodness is this thing capable. I was on novice group. Didn’t push car too hard. I’m gonna start a new thread and share my experiences as a first timer doing Track Night in America. One guy spun his 911 on session 3, at which point I was spooked and quit early. #1 priority was to drive car home! But it was good fun and I enjoyed it a lot

TNiA is awesome, you won't know how your car can grip until you do one event.

I still do oil changes every 3K miles and bleed my breaks every 2 sessions. You are not driving it that hard given it's 20 minute sessions.
But that's just me

Hey guys, I noticed an ever slight squeak noise when braking coming from my passenger rear side (i think). I only notice it during very slow speeds...and its slight. Should I be worried? Would a brake bleed remedy this?

Probably not. Try a couple of harder than street-normal stops.


Norm