Track/Street Driving

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by GBowman

Thx guys-we have NJMP which is road courses and auto cross and ATCO Raceway which is the 1/4 mi track. I def like the road course the best, all excellent points above and pretty much what I expected so that is a good thing.

Road courses are a lot more fun, no doubt,but doing some Auto Crossing is a good thing to start with, slower/safer speeds as you learn to "feel the car" and learn how far you can push your tires and car....
A front end alignment will make a world of difference as will the air pressure in your tires,I'd suggest keeping some notes on air pressures and how the car handles till you figure out what works best for your car/tire combo......
On my 65 Mustang I'm using these alignment specs: -1/2 degree camber,+1.5 degrees caster,1/8th inch toe in......made a huge difference in handling and no appreciable extra tire wear on the street,so I have left my front end set at these specs for the last 8 years and it works great on the street as well as the track......
Don't be afraid to go up or down on your air pressures,do it 2 pounds at a time,you'll see a difference in handling,keep adjusting till you find what works best for you......

For those that swap to race pads, what is your procedure for the swap? You don't simply change pads and go do you?

Scott,that's all I did....

David

[Bobcat]

scottj ... several schools of thought on that . I worked with Roush Racing in Mooresville on my pad selection and their brake guy said I had to remove all the old pad material that was deposited by cleaning with Dawn detergent and scuffing the rotor with 100 grit paper , cleaning again and then bed the new pads in . These are strictly race only pads and can never be used on the street . Howevere , I will say that the car stops like it hit a brick wall ...... time and time again with zero fade . The hotter they get , the better they stop and yet cold stops are pretty great too .
Others just change pads and go ... both seem to work ok .

[scottj]

Originally Posted by Bobcat

scottj ... several schools of thought on that . I worked with Roush Racing in Mooresville on my pad selection and their brake guy said I had to remove all the old pad material that was deposited by cleaning with Dawn detergent and scuffing the rotor with 100 grit paper , cleaning again and then bed the new pads in . These are strictly race only pads and can never be used on the street . Howevere , I will say that the car stops like it hit a brick wall ...... time and time again with zero fade . The hotter they get , the better they stop and yet cold stops are pretty great too .
Others just change pads and go ... both seem to work ok .

I'm gotta agree with Roush Racing on that being the correct school of thought. I actually have a set of "street" rotors that I run with street pads. I only use rotors for one or two track days anyway, depending on how hard the track is on brakes.