All of the tracks I have been to have tons of run off. Cant imagine anyone doing any damage to a track unless they flew off and hit a wall and even the walls are designed for impact. Plus tracks have their own insurance. They have to have it . Unless you explicitly sign something they have no real recourse and they cant physically hold you there. If they have rules like that I am sure they would have to make the drivers aware by law . Sounds odd to me ( not saying its not true.....it just sounds very odd). It would be like a racer suing the track for damage to his tires. There is understood inherent risk involved with both parties and both should be insured

 

Yeah I'm definitely going to have to see if that's a factor, as a rookie I'm sure to be more likely to blow off the side, or not, if I'm a chicken...haha. Either way I don't want to be stuck with a $1000 turf bill!

 

Apparently they are not charging for turf anymore, but if you hit the Armco, you're paying.

 

I always get insurance for my car when going to the track. When I bought my race car I got a separate yearly policy to cover it when stored. Then I got another policy for my races and HPDE's. All of its agreed value so that's nice.

 

Thanks man. Great idea.

 

Yeah I did some road racing at Watkins Glen a couple years ago. That track has zero run off and they definitely charge you if you hit the armco (metal guard rail) A guy in one of my races took out three pieces and it was $1500!!!!!

It all depends on the track I guess. Seems like it's usually from the ritzy tracks. Like Monticello in NY. They charge for turf damage, or at least they did. IMO it should be the tracks responsibility and I do wonder if they can legally do that. I never remember signing anything that said I agree to it but maybe it's hidden in the liability waivers you typically sign at the event???

End of the day, just don't hit anything

 

A set of toyo proxy888 and carbotech brake pads will make the biggest difference beyond your personal skill level out on the track. The car has more ability than most of us have skill.

 

Since brake pads seem to be the number one recommendation, and I've read that most of you guys are running carbotech, I did a bit of research on their website. They have pretty specific requirements to 'bed' the pads before use, when you guys are hitting the track are you changing the pads from your OEM day-of, day-before to bed the pads? My guess is you only do it once and they're good to swap in and out on track days. I have project mu pads right now that are getting low (previous owner installed) and plan to go back to OEM so I may pick up two sets or one OEM one carbotech. How much life does a track day eat out of a set of pads and are you guys swapping out front and rear on track day?

 

for reference GEICO will cover collision as long as its a DE event. There can be no " racing, demolition, or stunting of any kind". I called twice and they said as long as its not a race , its covered.

I rock it stock all day and all night. On the track , or off the track the oem set up is perfect. I have been on 4 different tracks and have never been able to max any higher than about 110 mph on a straight ( and I was on a track where the back straight was a landing strip for small planes ) . Some guys claim 140 mph lol. I want to see video if its true. Haven't seen 1 yet). Unless you are maxing it like you are on the Mulsane straight at LeMans ,stock is fine. Lexus set this car up for exactly what we are doing. DD with track days maybe 3-4 times a year. I don't have time to be swapping parts out every time I head to the track. I may do a set of track wheels and tires and even that is already a big pain in the *** to have to have them swapped for track days and swapped back out. I would consider that because I have a tire place 2 feet from my office . My rear PSS are toasted after only 4 k miles.

To each his own but I would try it stock first then upgrade what you feel needs to be upgraded for the amount of track time you will be doing....if you even need an upgrade

what I did when I decided to hit the track was to visit our buddies over at Sewell Lexus for the CL parts price. I got new pads and rotors for $500 shipped. Thats about $500 less then the dealership. I ended up needing new pads when I first bought the car used but they have been fine after 3 track days and not even a squeak nor squeal. The Brembo rotors are excellent and designed for this car.
Bottom line is if you can get oem parts through sewell for aftermarket prices I would stick with stock. They will be more streetable . Race pads will not feel so great on the street, especially this time of year.

 

SCCAforums hit 140 on the banking at Fontana. I don't doubt him at all.

Stock brake pads might work fine for some tracks, but they will not work at all at others. Carolina Motorsports Park will melt the stock pads. So will Autobahn in Illinois if you are experienced..

Rear brakes last forever. I am still on my original rear rotors and I've got one set of street pads, one set of race pads. Never wore out either set.

Front brakes die fast at the track. I get two track weekends out of a set of front Carbotech XP-12s. That's 8 sessions of 20 minutes. I am on my third set of front rotors. The pictures of the rotor carnage are documented in this forum. Your rotors will crack before they will get too thin. You'll also need to replace your dust boots on the calipers because they will dry out and disintegrate from the heat after 5 or 6 track weekends. This is a heavy car and it works the brakes very hard. I personally do not recommend running the stock pads at any of the tracks in the Southeast, I think it's a bad idea.

Conversely, the OEM Bridgestone tires wear like iron at the track. They do get greasy about 15 minutes into a session, but I ran my first set through three track weekends and still got 30k miles out of the rears. Fronts died sooner from inside edge wear.

When I go to the track, I bleed my brakes in the morning before any sessions start. I check wheel lug torque at the beginning of the day, at lunch, and at the end of the day. I do this because I grew up around race cars, and to finish first, you must first finish, so these maintenance items are critical to ensuring you won't be trailering your car home unexpectedly.

I run Brembo LCF brake fluid 24x7x365 even though they say it is for racing only. I bleed it often enough to not be worried about it. One of the Chief Instructors at a track weekend says he runs the cheapest DOT3 fluid available. He said he'd rather have the fluid boil and let him know it is time to back off than to have his pads fade to uselessness. You can pump boiling fluid and get some braking, overheated pads do nothing useful no matter what. I'm not sure I agree with his approach, but it is another way to put a circuit breaker in the system to prevent overexuberance.

You don't have to do any of this. You can take your car to a mechanic and ask for the car to be track prepped and you can just drive it all weekend. I'm not so trusting of other's work.

 

Were you talking about me? I pulled up a random dry lap and took a quick screen grab. Looks like high 130s in this lap at the start of the braking zone. I haven't gotten around to editing the 2+hrs of footage from the whole weekend. Too much going on with the family holidays.

Thanks for the tip about Geico. I have them too but was too nervous to only use that insurance. I ended up getting a single policy from Lockton

I was fortunate. Roebling only has 2 main braking zones. It will be interesting testing the brakes at other tracks. I both inspected the car myself and took it to Gran Turismo East for a tech inspection.

Edit: Side note, this was with a passenger and in the novice group. Imagine how much faster I'd be if I actually knew what I doing.

 

The front straight at Roebling is stupid fast. We were hitting 150 in a 2004 GT3 and the guy I was riding with was taking it easy. The real trick at Roebling is getting onto the front straight with a lot of speed. If you get it wrong, you're headed track left into the grass at a very high rate of speed.

 

How does a square setup run on these cars? Pretty neutral?

 

Check out this thread for a complete discussion of a square setup for track use.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/roa...k-weekend.html

 

I have gone threw a set of front rotors and pads at my local track thunderhill racewaypark. . As lobox said the oem tires are die hard. Now i only run the brakes hard when a mustang or porsche trys to pass me Lol I do need a brake solution for sure. Though. The list never ends!