Track ready?
 

Well I'm thinking about tracking my car at the end of this month, and if all goes to plan I will have my voodooII kit on by then.

I have a 37mm koyo with about 20/80 coolant water mix, and I'm considering putting some watter wetter in. I'll tune the voodoo card and bipes using my wideband on the conservative side. Do I need an oil cooler to keep the oil temps under control? This should be at about 8-9psi.

Am I going to fry anything else if I track it?

Oh and I have axis ultimate pads, RT-615, and will have act "xtreme" clutch in by then.

Thanks, this is going to be my first track day, and I know that I should have done this na first, but for me on the street na wasn't really cutting it.

Watter wetter is good - don't use much (way less than they reccomend) unless you want your water tank to look like algea pond. Axis pads are great - I've been running these for 2 yrs now and havn't managed to cook them yet (cooked stock pads in one run down the mountians). I also run the koyo 37mm - this + water wetter and 80/20 mix stopped my overheating completely.. Oil cooler is always good if you got extra $ - might as well throw in oil filter relo kit when you do it. GL on gettin the car ready - tune, tune and tune some more b4 you track it :-) Wouldn't want to see a post on cooked turbo or motor..

get dedicated track pads.

Ya, I would go to a dyno and get it properly tuned, but I have literally no funds as of now, so the wideband and a conservative tune is the best I am going to get as of now. I would get an oil cooler, but if other people have run on tracks without them, then I think I should be ok with my relatively low pressure setup.

I'm thinking of scrounging the $$ to get a begi rad cowl cover thing for more flow over the radiator, but I'm not sure if I need it. Like I said, I just want to know what I need to not cook my engine/turbo.

Pay attention to your temp gauge, and oil pressure gauge.


The oil cooler is a wise investment, I've had mine save my ass several times over. Also as was mentioned at 8 psi if you are actually driving anywhere close to fast you'll want a more track oriented set of brake pads the Axis won't cut it.


I'd rather have an oil cooler than that cover to divert air into the radiator, hell you can do that temporarily with a roll of gorilla tape.

okie which axis pads are you all hating on lol, my friend tracked for years on Axis ultimates (ceramic composites) and never had a problem, I could see there being issues on Axis metalmasters or lower grade Axis but their Ultimates have held up well and don't destroy rotors.

if you burn through a set of pads....do you really wanna try driving home on the backing plates?

I doubt they'll last.

Is your friends car turbo?

They are adequate on NA cars on tracks without heavy breaking zones.

At 6psi on street tires I can make them smoke after 3 laps at my local track if I hustle the car.

Friend raced '94 turbo (Aerodyne) and '99 10AE(Aerodyne then, now ubercharged). The '94 is a dedicated track car - he was running powerslot rotors / Axis Ultimates in this car for a long time and evenually moved to big brakes (willwoods). He is very picky about brakes, car anything etc.. tested many diff combos and this is what he settled on. Not saying it's the word of god or anything but I've not been able to cook mine and I regularly drive the car 8+ hrs straight in the mountains running hard and yes I know it's not quite the same scenario but going downhill for a long time (and w/turbo) and lots of extreme braking they seem to be fine, IMHO I'd rather have a spare set of pads and replace as needed then wear out the rotors.

Okie now I'm curious - what are you guys running for street / track and dual purpose ?

Street: Napa Blanks and Hawk HP+
Track: Seperate Napa Blanks and Hawk Blue


driving up and down moutains is nothing like trying to stop a miata at 130mph for a hard right with no run off over and over and over and over and over again for 20 minutes.

I was able to cook my Hawk HP+s, which are regarded as being a tiny bit better than the Axxis Ultimates, on STOCK power on STREET tires. If you really intend on pushing the car hard, you're going to need track pads. At 13psi at Buttonwillow, the HP+s were a joke. 13psi at Thunderhill, Porterfield R4 pads, no problems at all once they were bedded in.

Just don't drive them on the street. I have two sets of rotors and two sets of pads; HP+s for the street and R4s for the track.

The racecar uses Hawk Blue in 300zx calipers, which are perfectly adequate for a 2500lbs S13 at 350RWHP.

The miata which does daily driving and instructional laps around the roadcourse uses Axis Ultimates, but I don't push the car hard with students. They hold up to easy demonstration laps with a passenger in the car, but if I was really racing with it, I would have at least Hawk Blues.

I have been more than happy with the axis ultimates (on the street)

I never thought that a brake pad could make such a difference:bowdown:

Lol, this has kinds become a pad thread, not that I am in any way opposed to that. And on that topic, I think from what I've heard my ultimates should be ok for my first track day right? I just don't want to go dumping $200 that I don't have (seriously, I am now broke) on race pads and another set of rotors, when I may not need them for a while. If I do get track pads I guess I'll go with hawk blues but as I said, that will come next time.

And on the oil cooling stuff, I think I will just try and get a temp gauge (hopefully cheap, any suggestions??) and leave the cooler until I have some bloody money! I need to sell more of my stuff lol.

Thanks for the info. And advice on oil temp gauges, or cheap oil coolers would also be good (maybe I could somehow get one).

The car should be fine as is.

Make sure all the cooling is taken care of. Undertray, top cooling plate, coolant mix, etc.

Invest in ATE super blue brake fluid or the Amsoil equivalant.

have fun.

Sorry to jack the thread lol didn't mean to .. but good feedback thx guys. oh and +1 on the super blue :-)

If you really are broke, the gas costs are going to kill you. Expect around 12mpg.

this man speaks the truth. I'd just get the longest lasting streetpad though. You'll love blues on the track. You can brake so deep, its wacky.

Everyone here likes something different for brake fluid, but I like motul 600. Make sure you bleed the night before. If you're going out on race pads, you won't be able to bed them on the street...at least I could not.

You're going to have so much fun. Make sure and get an instructor. Have fun steam rolling much more expensive cars.

my stock 1.6 car burns 9 gallons every 100 miles of track action.