Originally Posted by lobuxracer

So I spent the weekend at Carolina Motorsport Park on a track known for being very hard on brakes. Some things you'll absolutely want to know for your track day:

1. You'll need to remove everything from your car that isn't attached with a fastener, including the spare, jack, and anything in the glove box. Bring a container with you to hold this stuff.

2. You'll need to get rid of your locking lugs. You're going to be checking torque on your lugs during the day, if you have locking lugs and somehow you manage to lose your key, your day is pretty much over. If there is another Lexus that took you to the track you can borrow lugs from it (Big THANKS to Dave's LS for contributing at the track!)

3. You will absolutely want REAL track pads. I ran Carbotech XP12's in the front and XP10's in the rear. The fronts got hotter than hell itself, but the rears hardly did any work at all. I'll explain more about this later. The F is a heavy car and it's going to use a LOT of pad in the front.

4. Bring REAL brake fluid. Don't go cheap here, buy Motul, Brembo LCF (that's what I ran), or some other quality fluid. Again, the F is a heavy car and it will tax the brakes when you get some speed up. Speedbleeders or Earl's Solo Bleeders will make this job a LOT easier.

5. Bring a floor jack, 21mm 1/2" drive socket, 1/2" drive breaker bar, 1/2" drive torque wrench big enough for 76 ft-lbs, 16 oz hammer (ball peen works well), a 3/16 pin punch, a 13mm wrench and an 11mm wrench for the front brake bridge bolt and the bleeders respectively. A plastic bottle with a 3/16" clear vinyl hose is also handy for bleeding brakes, but not essential. Engine oil IS essential. I burned a quart in the first 120 minutes on track. Mechanic's gloves are a MUST unless you want to put your dirty brake dust covered hands on your F's leather steering wheel. If you are pitted on dirt or grass, you'll also want a piece of wood/plywood to put under the jack to stabilize it and prevent it from sinking.

6. Study the track map. If there are more right turns than left turns, put more pressure in the left front tire. If there are more left turns than right turns, put more pressure in the right front tire. Your rears will likely be OK at stock pressure +1 or +2 psi. At CMP, I needed +5 psi in the left front to get the wear marks off the lettering on the sidewall.

This should be about all you need to do to prepare. You'll also need driving gear sufficient to meet the sponsoring organization's requirements. It can vary a LOT, so be sure to check on helmet requirements and be sure to bring long pants and at least one long sleeved shirt in case they're particular about clothing.

Once you get your instructor in the car and you're ready to get out on the track - TURN OFF THE VSC!!!! You're learning to drive the car, not compensate for the nannies, so turn them off. Also, when you start getting some speed up, the nannies will be persistently flashing at you which means they're hitting the brakes on the car. This means your brakes will overheat (AMHIK) and you'll be entering a slow turn off a fast turn, step on the pedal and have it sink almost to the floor. Again, AMHIK. When you cook the highest temperature rated pads the manufacturer makes, it's pretty clear the brakes aren't getting sufficient opportunity to cool. This was the case at CMP, and I lost my brakes 20 minutes into the fourth half hour session. The pads were bleach white and the paint on the rotor hats was blistering.

Your oil temp will get very hot. Mine got to within one bar from the top of the scale. Fortunately as I got faster over the two days, the oil temp dropped, but still went to 2 bars short of the top. This is why you want to be sure you have a full load of oil and TOP OFF after the first day of a two day event.

You're going to get between 5 and 6 miles per gallon. Get used to it. I killed a full tank of gas in three half hour sessions.

Finally, remove your engine cover (it retains too much heat) and remove the engine cover surrounding the brake fluid reservoir. It won't change anything with the heat, but it surely will make it easier to NOT spill brake fluid all over the engine compartment when you are adding new fluid after bleeding your brakes. Please DON'T AMHIK.

If anyone else has hints or helps for tracking their F's, let's post them here and maybe we can turn this into a sticky for the track junkies.

I hate to say it, but you guys who think you can drive fast on the street are sadly mistaken, and only taking the F for 1/4 mile runs is a shame for such a capable car. I ran bone stock, down to the air filter, and had no trouble passing LOTS of slower drivers - I was also able to stick with the sole GTR there driving onto the back straight into the kink. The F is VERY predictable, and even with low air pressure in the front, it puts in a respectable showing.

Pics to follow. Sorry, no video cam so no video.

Oh, yeah, the F feels FANTASTIC in 100+ mph turns!