XpediencY

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share my experience in somewhat of a chronological order... This is actually not only my first time at COTA, but my first track experience ever.

Found out an opportunity to take my car out to the track about a month and a half before, so I decided I needed to get my car somewhat ready:

Bone Stock ISF besides
Michelin PSS 245/275
Endless MX72 Brake Pads (Thanks to Anish R @ SpeedFreaks for getting my order expedited from Japan so that I could test them out on the street before I use them on the track!)
Motul RBF660 Brake Fluid

These pads are hilariously awesome. I decided to bed them in after eating dinner, so it nearly came back up! 100% confidence in the stopping power of these pads.

Awesome for the streets... Initial bite is harder than the stock pads, but not too extreme like I hear with the Carbotechs. Very linear feel with the pedal when paired up with Motul. These get up to operating temperature very fast. I do notice they're weak in the morning driving through the neighborhood and stopping at an intersection as I have to apply more pressure than usual. This is expected.

For this track? I noticed no fade with everything performing flawlessly. This allowed this nearly 4000lb car to brake later than other more capable track cars.

Only negative is that I have a slight squeal only on the rear right pads at light pressure and under 10mph. Probably just an issue with not pairing them up with new clean rotors? Not a deal breaker at all though.

These are a bit pricey though, but I'll likely go with them again next time around.



















They leveled me up after 3 sessions (Blue to Yellow) just in time for some wet driving!









Post race summary:

• Many cars with mechanical issues by the end of the day. (Vipers, BMWs, Porsches) Gotta love Lexus reliability...
• One guy pointed out that my car was leaking oil after a very wet track session. I was like please, this is a Lexus.... Turns out it was just dirty brown water dripping from my car onto the reflective garage floor.
• Definitely can feel the weight in this car, but it's so neutral.
• I feel I can seriously push it a lot harder as I was probably only giving it 80%... Next time I won't require the eyes of an instructor looking at my every move.
• Many people decided to leave when the track started to get wet probably due to only having slick tires. Lots of people turned traction control back on also.
• COTA experience will not translate very well to the street nor other tracks because this is just so smooth. It's a very high speed track with no imperfections.

Many people walking buy giving an awkward look when they see a Lexus in the pits.

Still waiting for official pictures from the track photographer.
This was fun, will definitely do it again.

Videos:
I used Harry's Lap Timer plus gopoint BT1A and RaceRender to compile the data and video, but since I'm only using the internal GPS on my phone, it had to extrapolate the data to smooth out 1Hz. Therefore throttle meter, RPM gauge, and gear position sometimes over and undershoot.

Driven with Traction/Stability disabled. This car is very predictable.

I skipped recording the first session, so here are the rest in post #2

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

What a track for your first event! Linked your videos here for you

XpediencY

Thanks Dave!

speeddem0n

iTrader: (7)

Very nice, my cousin was out there last weekend.

786

my buddy was out there today, sent me snaps of a red 458 Speciale that was apparently wrecking on everyone. your car looks awesome sitting out there with all that proper metal, not out of place at all

v8sten

iTrader: (1)

This is sweet, I wanna do this. Itll be a long day though, coming from Houston. Maybe after the new tires and rear suspension.

I8ABMR

very very cool !! Great track and great track day. Amazing company to run with too. Im going out for my third track day in 2 weeks.

v8sten

iTrader: (1)

did I read this correctly? $2500 to do this?

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com/...ck-rental-form

XpediencY

No, I really don't know what that is on official COTA page.... There are organizations that do it. This particular one was EdgeAddicts. $500 per day, $100 for instructor, $75 if you want a garage.

http://www.edgeaddicts.com/

I think clublexus should organize something with Lexus as a sponsor so we have a dedicated Lexus day...

v8sten

iTrader: (1)

well get on it, i think that would be pretty cool

melbitoast

iTrader: (1)

ahhh...son of a *****!! I want to go out there for a track day!!

How did you find out about this??

XpediencY

My friend told me... I'll probably go next time and give you guys a heads up... Would love to see more ISF's on the track.

DrRick

this breaks my heart. i moved a few months before the track was finished. i had no clue it was gonna be as cool as it is. smh...

those videos are awesome!!!!

hapasaiyan

Looks like a blast. A few questions if you don't mind-

How long did you end up driving for total? How many miles? How many tanks of gas? How much brake pad left?

Thanks!

XpediencY

Did not measure pads at all... Will try to have them checked out when they do an oil change for me.

Suppose to have driven, but there was a 55 minute delay due to oil spillage from a broke down car on the track:
4x 25 minutes
1x 20 minutes

They cut lunch short to make up time, but I pretty much lost count since the set schedule didn't matter anymore.

Track is 3.418mi long. Averaged ~9MPG... Luckily one tank of gas as they charge $6/Gallon in the track for 93.
~25 mile range after driving approximately ~105 miles (Filled up before I drove to the track so probably subtract 30-35 miles to get there). Had to fill up outside of the track to get home.