Need advice for Thunderhill
yea id say leave everything stock besides the fluid. it gives you a good learning platform. My friend with an evo went out with his heavily modded car with coils sways and a lot of other various suspension bits and was spinning every lap he took. I passed him easily as i had somewhat learned how my car handles since i had gone my first time with just springs.
IMO (like many others here), the first time around, decent pads and fluids will be more than enough for you to enjoy yourself. My first time with the 08 on Thunderhill I experienced pretty bad brake fade after the second session so I took it pretty easy the rest of the day, but it was still a blast Like the gf said, we may be there on the Nov. event as well. We'll be in the 08 dark grey wagon.
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I'm really glad I didn't mod the car until after I started tracking it. It helped me to understand exactly what I didn't like about the car's handling and address it directly instead of just throwing parts on it.
Once you start tracking it, you'll want to mod certain aspects of the car. And once you do that, you'll want to track it so you can test the changes. It's a vicious cycle.
Once you start tracking it, you'll want to mod certain aspects of the car. And once you do that, you'll want to track it so you can test the changes. It's a vicious cycle.
A good point was brought up about kissing your pads goodbye after the event. It would be a good idea to bring that replacement set along with fluid and tools to replace everything to the track.
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1) Replace fluids: motor oil change, new brake fluids, tranny oil if possible - don't go track with old gunky oil. If the weather report is hot, synthetic will take the heat better.
2) brake pads - I wouldn't trust some random pads that the previous owner put in. T.Hill is a fast track.
3) Focus more on a good line than speed, utilizing the entire width of the track. Slow in/fast out > Fast in/slow out.
+1 to what CharT said. Once you have a feel for how your car does on the track, it will give you a better idea of which mods you want to get, and what order you want to do it in.
Have fun!
2) brake pads - I wouldn't trust some random pads that the previous owner put in. T.Hill is a fast track.
3) Focus more on a good line than speed, utilizing the entire width of the track. Slow in/fast out > Fast in/slow out.
+1 to what CharT said. Once you have a feel for how your car does on the track, it will give you a better idea of which mods you want to get, and what order you want to do it in.
Have fun!
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+1 for brakes. When I went to TH last winter the only things that bothered me about my car was brake fade and the tires getting oily in the afternoon.
Last edited by saqwarrior; Oct 27, 2009 at 10:37 AM.
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OP, TEAM is a great group to go with and Thunderhill is a great track to start with (and I still love it).
I went bone stock on my first track day. Don't bother modding your car at all except making sure it's running fine, you have at least 50% brake pads all around, and tires above wear bars.
You don't need stainless steel brake lines unless yours are worn, which I highly doubt. After so many people told me to do it, I put SS lines on and it hardly was noticeable... because my stock lines were still in good shape when I did it. Wasted my money.
It's your first track day, so even though stock fluid and stock pads are not adequate, I doubt you'll be fading them. However, if you are to do any mod at all, flush the fluid with Valvoline Syntech DOT4 brake fluid or other recommended fluid. On my 2nd track day, my fluid boiled at Laguna Seca.
If you plan on letting your instructor drive your car, you probably want fluid and better pads because he'll be able to boil/fade them easily.
Go out an learn learn learn. You're gonna have fun fun fun.
I went bone stock on my first track day. Don't bother modding your car at all except making sure it's running fine, you have at least 50% brake pads all around, and tires above wear bars.
You don't need stainless steel brake lines unless yours are worn, which I highly doubt. After so many people told me to do it, I put SS lines on and it hardly was noticeable... because my stock lines were still in good shape when I did it. Wasted my money.
It's your first track day, so even though stock fluid and stock pads are not adequate, I doubt you'll be fading them. However, if you are to do any mod at all, flush the fluid with Valvoline Syntech DOT4 brake fluid or other recommended fluid. On my 2nd track day, my fluid boiled at Laguna Seca.
If you plan on letting your instructor drive your car, you probably want fluid and better pads because he'll be able to boil/fade them easily.
Go out an learn learn learn. You're gonna have fun fun fun.
Last edited by chimchimm5; Oct 27, 2009 at 12:19 AM.
