A day at the Track, what a blast

[Eli W]

Well I just thought I would share my thoughts about my day at the track.

I got the opportunity to join a group of auto enthusiast at Hallett raceway here in Oklahoma. Man, what a great time it was to just let the car run free an clear.

I think every 911 owner should track their car at least one time. You don't need to try and set the new track record, but that is hard temptation to resits once start letting your car run. Running the car on the track really lets you appreciate the design and all the qualities of these amazing cars.

Under normal driving I have found the 915 transmission to be quite good, and it behaves best in street driving conditions with slow deliberate shifts, taking a slight pause in neutral and then going into the next gear results into easy driving and a comfortable drive.

On the track however I found something out about my car. These cars are ready to go! When you are constantly reaching the rev limiter the car is ready RIGHT NOW for the next shift. And my goodness the twin plug likes to take off after 3k rpm, it has pull and thrust after 3k-6k that is very turbo like.

I had to through pretty much all my driving style out the window. Racing is so different, I had to learn the hard way that on the track braking hard and late is the rule of the game. It is about carrying as much speed to up to the last moment and then applying the brakes hard and controlled to bring the speed down for entering the corner and then getting on it after you clear the apex.

I was dragging my brakes early on, and applying them way to early and softly when entering the corner. That is great when you are on the street because you don't want your passenger to hurt there neck. But on the track that is dead wrong you want that hard stop and then quick acceleration.

Learned another thing too, if you street drive on a track it will not only make you slower it also has another side affect. I learned yesterday that you can boil brake fluid, I did not know that.

Towards then end of the first session my brakes started to fade. I had to pump them to get some braking force. We broke for lunch and I talked with my friends that were more seasoned, one of the drivers ran his car at the 24 hours at Daytona. They said my brakes might come back after lunch. Sure enough the peddle felt good after a cool down. Well...... not so much first two turns all is good long straight away going into turn 3rd gear coming out of 4th gear probably doing close to 100 hit the brakes..... and Houston we have a problem. The peddle went to the floor and pumping did not help enough. I really was not panicked.

I had to go through some quick calculations

One I was I'm not stopping

Two this is a nice down hill straight and I'm really keeping up my speed

Three there are trees further down this hill and they are getting closer and they are only about a 100 yards off the track and closing

Four I'm going to hit those damn trees soon if I don't slow down

Five my emergency brakes are a gift from God!

Screeeeeech!

I laid two nice black lines on the track and I kept the car on the straight line I was taking.

I kept my thumb on the lever of the hand brake and pumped it until my speed was down for turn in.

I was alive which was good but unfortunately my time for that run was about 10 seconds off.

I went back into the pits, flushed my brakes with racing brake fluid went back out there and had three great runs and my best time was my last one it was lucky number 13, no joke.

Unfortunately I have now come down with track disease as a side effect of all this, the only thing that can fix it for me is better brakes and fluid and strut tower braces.

Seriously I'm looking at strut tower bracing and am thinking of going with bolt on carbon fibers.

All opinions and comments welcome.

PS, my car now runs better Italian tuneups are no bs.

[Dan J]

This is the whole point of the car

[Olsen911]

Careful now - before you know it, carpet - seats and all other things that are not necessary to drive the car, are going out

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers - Tommy

[Eli W]

Here is a shot of my car, at the track at 7:00 am on a Friday, it really does not get better than that.




Mikes daily, it is Buick not sure of which model though must be new.



Ford Gt 40


And a friends GT3 those cars have serious gremlins in them if you have one I would unload it now! If you need to get rid of one now PM I will give you 20k cash no questions asked and help you avoid all the headaches.

[Eli W]

Yup, I know.

I said everyone should take their car to the track, on second thought don't do it.

Track+911= Cocaine

I swear I'm going to stop as soon as I get these rear seats out and my strut brace is installed I swear I have it under control.

Sure I order new tires today from Tire Rack, what about it?

Before lunch I noticed a bump in the ride coming from the rear right rear it cleared right up over 50 mph you could barely feel it, I found out today that I broke a belt in the tire. Took it to a great tire shop and the Tech showed me you can feel the bump in the tire on the thread. Look you go to the track and you might brake some tires and need to flush your brake fluid. It is all part of the game when you are chasing the dragon.

[Bill Douglas]

It's a great place to learn about understeer, oversteer and throttle steer. Braking as you go into corners - what you can actually get away with...

[Humdaddy]

Hi my name is ... and I'm a trackoholic, sweet mid-year. First things first, powerslot rotors and hawk pads, should help with your brake issues. Then call tire rack for some RE 11's before they're gone.

[Cajundaddy]

Yep, 100+ track days and counting. There is a reason they call it the "track pipe". So far it seems to be easier on family life than heroin addiction though, so there's that...

[BK911]

And so it begins!!

[tirwin]

Glad you enjoyed it!

A couple of years ago my wife bought me some track time in a 911 Turbo as a gift. Problem was someone had put the car into a guard rail earlier in the day. So I got to drive a Gallardo and they told me to come back in a few weeks to drive the 911. Showed up the 2nd time and the 911 was not back from being repaired, so I drove a MB SLS. To paraphrase Charlie Murphy/Rick James "tracking a car is a helluva drug". I completely understand what you mean. I am hoping to finally get my car on a track this year. Keep us posted on your slippery slope! I'd love to hear what direction you go on brakes.

[gliding_serpent]

Glad you enjoyed it. Is is so much fun. A disease really.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by gliding_serpent

Glad you enjoyed it. Is is so much fun. A disease really.

Buddy of mine says "it is the most fun you can have with your clothes on!"

[Eli W]

I think on the braking the car is a narrow body mid year with no ac the car is very light, not a whole lot of mass that needs to be stopped. I have enough brake I just need to maybe switch the pads and make sure I have changed the fluid to race dot every 6mo to keep it fresh. That and get tires and wheels that are for track only.

Found this on rennlist about the track

My best lap time back in September 1985 was 1:46:09 (with a turbo 911).

For comparison, some other figures (run c/clockwise):

M635 - 1:49:63
BMW M1 - 1:43:80
911SC - 1:43 (w/excellent driver) (1:42:00 with my car)
Camaro Z28 - 1:48:26
Toyota MR2 - 1:51:14

FTD (for that day) was 1:37:12 by a Prepared 3.0 CSL (BMW)

My last lap after my near death was 1:44 on a broken tire. I got it bad! Just some more hp or an suspension upgrade, this is the last time I swear!

[michael lang]

Originally Posted by Eli W

this is the last time I swear!

Yeah right!!!

[Jim Richards]

Looks like great fun, Eli. I think you have enough brakes, too. Fresh fluid, maybe better pads (I used Performance Friction PF-97 pads in my old 73E and they were great), and perhaps adding a brake cooling kit.

[Charles Freeborn]

You're hooked. Good news is that the core DNA of a 911 is race based, so you've got a great platform to operate from. I can't tell you how many drivers of other cars - Subaru's, Mini's , etc that have to do all sorts of upgrades (mainly brakes) to let them do DE's, but I can run my 911 completely stock and still have a ball.