Track day prep

[Mach VII]

Going to revive this dead thread because I have a couple questions;

Just signed up for a track day at Thompson (SCDA in the Green group), and I'm wondering what I should do in addition/instead of what I have planned;

Definite:

• Brake Fluid flush (RBF600) prior to session since it's been in for a year, then a bleed after the session
• Oil and filter change after track session (Penn Platinum 5w-30/FL-500S with about 2k miles of street mileage currently, not sure if people would suggest changing before the session over after)

Possibly (I've heard conflicting reports on how necessary doing these would be at this point):

• Transmission fluid change (Currently at 51k miles, would swap to BG Syncro Shift II, transmission feels a bit rough anyways)
• Diff fluid change (I swapped the factory GT diff for a 3.73 PP torsen diff, and filled it with BG Ultra Guard 75w-90, currently has 13k miles on it)

Do you have stock brakes or have you updated to the PP Brembos in front? I did my first ever track day at Thompson a month ago and could hit 120+ at the end of the main straight and braking down to 40-50 mph for the first turn quickly had the fronts smelling real bad and my instructor advised me to back off. I am on standard (non-PP) brakes. Besides that the car had no issues other than my lack of skill, Mods are PP bracing/STB in front and 19x10 wheels with 285/35/19 Conti ECS's.

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[HourlyB]

If I were you considering how old your fluids are I would change Trans/Diff. I try to change mine at the end of each track season or on the 5k mile mark or so if I'm tracking but really depends on track time. Yours have a lot of street miles so I would change regardless. Better a few dollars for fluids than thousands for transmission/diff.

Oil with only 2k miles should be fine.
Brake fluid should be fine as well RBF600 is good for 2 years.

Gotcha, so just wondering, this car is my daily, would you suggest still changing it every 5k miles? I'm not planning on doing more than 1 session a month for the spring/summer, at most. Most of the driving it will be doing is suburban/highway stuff, so I get changing it at the end of summer, but every 5k seems a bit much.

I wouldn’t change the diff fluid for a green run group and novice driver. It might be a limiting factor but I’d guess not for a new driver. If its a very hot day, maybe yeah replace with 75w140. If you continue tracking, just leave the 75w140 in it full time. Consider bringing an electric fan and pointing it at the diff to cool it between sessions.

For the oil, i would not go to the track with oil at the end of it’s life. If its pretty new then send it, but if you’re 8k into a 10k interval, change it first. If you’re 4k/10k then maybe just change it afterwards. The main deal is track use is hard so you don’t want oil which is breaking down from use, you want oil in good condition (doesnt have to be new), and the oil will be somewhat deteriorated after the track day, which may be fine if it was new to start, but you won’t want to drive another 8k on the street afterwards on it.

I wouldn’t do transmission oil just because of the track day, although if you’re doing the diff oil anyway, its not too bad to do the trans oil while you’re under there. I didn’t find the syncro shift II to really be any better than stock BTW, maybe even notchier while cold.

I usually do 5k miles between changes, but I'm aware that this is fairly short for a synthetic oil like Pennzoil Platinum, hence why I wanted to do the change after. But if it's safer to start running on fresh oil I do that instead.

I was thinking of going to the BG syncro just because I've had decent experience with their Ultra Guard and OP sells a combo kit, would you choose the Ravenol oil?

Do you have stock brakes or have you updated to the PP Brembos in front? I did my first ever track day at Thompson a month ago and could hit 120+ at the end of the main straight and braking down to 40-50 mph for the first turn quickly had the fronts smelling real bad and my instructor advised me to back off. I am on standard (non-PP) brakes. Besides that the car had no issues other than my lack of skill, Mods are PP bracing/STB in front and 19x10 wheels with 285/35/19 Conti ECS's.

I did do a swap to Brembos on the front, as well as a cooling duct.

The last thing I want is for the brakes to decide that slowing down isn't their job lol.
I've got the same wheel set up, but I've got Goodyear Supercars based on some recommendations.

 

[bnightstar]

Gotcha, so just wondering, this car is my daily, would you suggest still changing it every 5k miles? I'm not planning on doing more than 1 session a month for the spring/summer, at most. Most of the driving it will be doing is suburban/highway stuff, so I get changing it at the end of summer, but every 5k seems a bit much.

This is what I have in my owner's manual regarding track day use and maintenance:

Using your vehicle on a dedicated road course may result in degraded function and failure of major systems such as the engine, transmission and rear axle due to the overheating of these systems. If you intend to use your vehicle on a dedicated road course, we suggest that you equip your vehicle with racing-type coolers to protect these three systems.
In addition, if the vehicle is subjected to dedicated road course use, we recommend the following vehicle durability maintenance:

• Change your axle lubricant and friction modifier after the initial (first) hour of high-speed operation; thereafter change the axle lubricant and friction modifier every 12 hours (under these conditions).
• Change your transmission oil after each event where your vehicle is subjected to individual on-track sessions exceeding 15 minutes.
• Change your engine oil and filter after each event.

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