This might be the single biggest question I get. The common answer I provide is to only focus on upgrading the nut behind the wheel. Yeah, you.
But clearly there is more to it than just improving the driver - you want to make sure your car is reliable and safe. But other than that, most sedans and coupes less than 10 years old, if in good condition, should be acceptable candidates for learning how to drive on a race track. Even those older than 10 years old, if maintained well, can work very well. Here are some things that I would consider:
Disclaimer: these are all just one person's opinion and ultimately, the decision to put your car on the track in it's current condition, is your responsibility. This blog article does not imply accountability on my part whatsoever.
Run whatcha brung:
This is an old saying from drag racers who would just drive to the strip and race their street car. Since it was normally about reaction time and most competition was handicapped - it didn't make a difference whether you were running 8's or 16's. The same applies for learning how to drive on a circuit track, but I'll add another qualifier. Run the slowest of whatcha brung ... meaning if you have a Honda Civic and a Corvette - bring the Honda Civic. I don't have many regrets about my journey in motorsports, but if I had to do it over again, I would have driven lower horsepower cars longer to get better at momentum driving. That last statement is worth of an article all on it's own, so I'll leave it there.
Safety check
I highly recommend a qualified mechanic to look over your car and ensure it is ready for driving on track. They will inspect things that you might not even think might need to be addressed. I'm fairly mechanically inclined and like to do some of my own work (brakes, suspension, etc), but I still have a qualified mechanic look over my car a couple times each year. I tell them any work that I've done myself so they can look it over to see if I did it right. Some shops may not appreciate you doing your own work because they don't like losing business - but if you do like to tinker yourself, I would continue to find a shop that will partner with you and not give you grief for doing your own work.
At a minimum, if you're going to do your own track inspections here are some things you should check before every event:
- Tire wear levels
- Torque lug nuts
- Brake pad and rotor condition
- Brake fluid level and moisture test
- Brake pedal firmness - (I typically do a couple 60mph emergency stops on an isolated road)
- Seat belts / harnesses in good condition
But I'll say it again, just have a qualified tech to the inspection - it'll be one less thing to worry about as you prepare for your event.
You can stop reading now if it's your first track day.
Brakes
If you're brand new and don't expect to be pushing deep into corners before braking, the factory (OEM) equipment should be sufficient. Please refer to my disclaimer on this - I'm only telling you what my experience has shown with new drivers.
Many people who keep doing track days will eventually experience brake fade. This is caused by a combination of factors: primarily it's because you have exceeded the recommended temp of your brake fluid, it boils, and then with air in the lines it causes your brake pedal to travel longer distances for the same amount of friction (braking force). The solution to this on the track is to slow down and coast into the corners more until it cools down - it's unlikely you'll get it to cool down enough that session, so don't expect to start doing more hot laps, it's best just to come in and let things cool down. Another contributor to brake fade is overheating the brake pads. Factory brakes are designed for normal driving and the occasional emergency stop. Pushing your car to the limit on a race track is similar to doing 3 or 4 emergency stops per lap and factory brakes just don't perform well under these conditions.
Upgrading your brakes to prevent this condition is very personal and opinions are typically subjective, but I'll give you my thoughts.
- Brake fluid: Typically Motul RBF600 will work for most casual track drivers. If you have a heavy, high-horsepower car or fancy yourself as the king of late brakers, Motul RBF660 or Castrol SRF (the best, IMO) might be necessary.
- Brake pads: I'm not going to provide specific recommendations because they would be different for each car. I would seek out online resources for your particular car to find out what track day people like to use for a brake pad on the factory brakes. You can get a full on race pad which will squeal like a freight train on the street and never really work well for daily driving, or a street/track pad which is a compromise for track use, but you wouldn't feel compelled to swap pads from street to track driving. Typically there are brake pad compounds in between full race and a street/track pad and this will allow you to try something meets your specific needs.
To be clear, until you really know that you need an upgrade, I'm recommending just changing the brake pad - OEM rotors and calipers in most cases do the trick. - Big Brake Kit (BBK): I only bring up this topic because I get asked about it all the time. The truth is, a BBK is not required in many cases even for many experienced drivers of sports cars. Sports car brakes today are pretty darned good and a pad/fluid swap will address most driver's needs. The thing with BBK's is that they are commonly done just for appearance purposes, so many BBK providers haven't tested their applications to prove a measurable improvement over factory equipment. Choosing an inexpensive BBK could be a huge waste of money. Please don't mistake what I'm saying above to mean that BBKs don't have their place - because they do. I have an aftermarket BBK on my GR86 because I exceeded the capability of the factory brakes even with track pads. But I did a LOT of research because I've been bitten before. I chose a front BBK and associated pads that met my needs, but would also work well with the factory ABS given my rear brakes were factory - and I purchased it from a company who specializes in high performance track driving. Just be careful here - I've personally been bitten by buying a BBK that didn't work well with the car.
Tires
I'm going to provide a fairly direct recommendation here as well - if you're new to this sport and have not learned to drive a car on the ragged edge with street tires, don't get stickier ones. By street tires, I mean above 200TW (treadwear) - preferably what the manufacturer put on the car. Sticky tires are tempting because of the improved lap times but they significantly decrease the predictability of the car on the edge of traction. To this day, I run a 260TW tire on my GR86 because it's so fun to drive on the edge with such predictability - lap times are not stellar as compared to others, but that's not my goal. As you get more experience, I would focus on learning to drive what you have the best it can be driven - seek personal bests (PBs) versus comparing lap times with people in different equipment.
When you reach the point of being able to confidently slide your car (hearing tire squeal in every corner) and you want to get more grip, I would still recommend making gradual steps - start with a 200TW (commonly called Super 200s) such as an RE-71RS, RT660 or RS-4. Again, talk to people who use them at the track to get recommendations for your specific application. Opinions here will vary significantly.
Obviously, if you're jumping right into racing in a class, you're going to want the stickiest tire allowed to a point. This might push you past learning to drive well on a harder tire faster than desired, but you can always keep a second set of wheels for practice that you can slide around on older or harder tires.
Alignment: If in doubt, or your tire wear is wonky - get one done. But have it aligned to the factory specs even if your buddies are telling you to put a bunch of camber, or a tiny bit of ... whatever. Factory specs, please. After a half dozen track days, then consider deviating from factory specs to make it handle better.
Suspension
I'm only putting this here because I know someone will ask. I high recommend to not do a darned thing to the suspension on your car. Your suspension is tuned by the manufacturer to work well (and safely) in a wide range of conditions. If you purchased the car used with an aftermarket suspension, please have your mechanic look it over. There are many boy racers who put super cheap coilovers on cars just to lower them and, while they probably will be safe on track, they probably aren't something that's going to be better than the original factory suspension that came on the car.
When you get to the point of wanting to reduce body roll and improve handling, sway bars are an inexpensive option. Sport tuned springs can lower your center of gravity and not break the bank - but make sure the spring rates will work well with your factory shocks. Quality aftermarket coilover suspensions are which meant for track use are going to be fairly expensive and the more adjustability will add to the price tag. Coming from experience, more adjustability just creates more confusion for someone new to track driving. Compression, rebound, ride-height - oh my! Just keep it simple.
Oh, and never, ever buy a coilover suspension because it's priced right - $500 coilovers are not an upgrade from a performance perspective.