Unless I missed it, I see no mention of suspension? For a first track day, pretty much anything works, but when all the talk is about boost, brakes, cooling/shrouding, gauges, headgaskets, etc. It make me think cart before the horse.

Seems a recurring noob issue that alot of folks go boost first, when IMO thats the last thing that should happen.

But hey, it's your first track day, so like everyone said, dial it back, slap some decent front pads on, flush/bleed and have fun. You may even decide afterward it's not for you.

I have a suspension plan, I just didn't mention it because I was worried about the drivetrain :).

FWIW, I went suspension before I went turbo.

Just thought I would mention it since no one else has. You are not racing you are participating in a track day. Also this being your first keep your car as some as you can focus on the key aspects of driving on the track.

Enjoy your first track day, and don't beat your self up if you do something wrong. I have never been in a students car on their first day that has not done least one thing wrong. Usually there is a London list of things that were done wrong. However it is understandable why they happened.

Have a great day,
Jared

Another issues not addressed much in this thread is safety equipment. Rollbar is mentioned but nothing else. At the least make sure you have SFI rated padding on the bar. If you have more, great. I didn't bring that area up because OP was mostly asking about reliability components.

Great job. Now the only rec I have (in addition to everyone's) is be mindfull of it being August and "try" to remember to keep an eye on your gauges, even if they are stock. Perhaps even suggest to your instructor to remind you to check them on the straight(s). trust me, you'll be busy, in a fun kind of way.

Also, when you get back to the paddock after each session, never hold your foot on the brakes (unless you have to), and never, never use your parking brake. Bring something to chock your wheel..

Very wise to prep the car beforehand. As fun as trackdays are, the polar opposite is having to miss sessions (or worse) due to mechanical woes.

Another track-day tip:
You can meat a lot of interesting guys in the showers.

I can't believe it took so long for someone to mention this. It's my favorite part of ne track day.:giggle:

*

hustler is an enigma. 95% will never kill brakes like he does. i'm on std. 1.8 with xp10's and love them. if i run them down to 30% pad or so, i can run 8-10 trackdays on the tracks around here.

If you engage the parking brake it will sqeeze the pads onto the rotor. This will result in two possibilities;

Cooking your pads causing them to glaze over

Boiling your brake fluid

the heat would cause a transfer of pad material. basically melt some pad onto that part of the rotor. the next time you drove and applied the brakes, it would brake normally until the pad hit that material on the rotor. it then would grab extra hard and you would get that pulse feeling that eveyone assumes is a "warped rotor". it's very, very hard to actually "warp" a rotor, 95% of the time it isn't.

If this were to happen, is there a fix besides replacing parts?

Probably depends if you glaze over the pads or not. If not you could try sanding down the rotors.

showers? fuck my track sucks. I want a shower before driving an hour home.

yup, you could sand the rotors at the track, or have the rotors turned after you leave. pads could be sanded if necessary but not sure, i've never had glazed pads. i believe thats from riding the brakes more than the issue at hand. i use a wheel chock if i need to park where there's an incline. harbour frieght has a bunch of different styles for cheap.

My advice for someone low in budget.
Remove turbo, go back to na.
Cost difference is many thousands of dollars. My estimate is easily over $5k more in setup and more per track day.
Tracking a FI Miata is a rich man's sport
Once ur na is faster than local spec Miata record, then go back to turbo. By then u would of saved up some money for you to burn through.

I'm going to agree with William. For your first couple of track days the turbo is fine at low boost becasue you are going to suck so bad that the turbo will only get a 50% workout. After your 3rd track day if you decide you love the track then take that thing off until you can get to the spec lap times, then if money alows go big like spoolin, hustler, savington, william, etc. The less power you have in that miata the more it will force you to drive like a man in the corners. Plus on a MCD budget tracking a turbo is pricey. With your setup the most haves for me would be a mild pad upgrade to at least ebc yellow, hp+, etc, ducting(lots of ducting), fresh high temp fluid in the clutch/brake lines, make a heat shield for the turbo, and vent the hood with dremel.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread...ight=track+day

Please list your complete mods including spring rates/sways/tires/rims/etc

Is anyone on here actually running the 01 HG on their car with noticeable cooling improvements? Thinking of that with my 94block/99head...

Last but most over looked items: folding chairs and canopy, Snacks, Gatoraid, and/or water and sunblock. Oh and them GO-Pro camera's are pretty cool, plus you can review your driving lines and braking points with others.