Are you running BBK or stock calipers/rotors?

Willwood bbk using STI rotors in front, stock caliper/rotor in back

I finally got back out to the track after a 3 year hiatus. There was COVID and multiple write-offs as we all know. This would be my 3rd ever track day and 2nd at Mission. I thought I signed up for Novice because I knew I wanted an instructor to go over the lines with me again since it's been so long. I may have signed up for Intermediate or got moved into it - I don't know. Fortunately, 325ismsport was kind enough to hop in with me all three sessions. I definitely needed his guidance, because first lap out I was like oh fuck I'm in over my head - this car is fucking fast.

https://i.imgur.com/EbqhQVs.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/a2jMosY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/40kFDqR.jpg

Car setup:
Powerstop Track Day pads (developed and used by Bondurant/Radford Racing School with Challengers/Camaros - pigs)
Castrol SRF
Hankook RS4s (Dated 2019 from my last track day - 255/35/18 and 235/40/18)
Volk Racing ZE40 (BMW set up - 18x9.5+40 F; 18x8.5+30 R)

As it turns out, three years away from any kind of performance driving is a long time and the first three sessions were spent getting through all the bad habits I picked up. Namely, bitch braking - aka reverse trail braking - braking light then hard. This resulted in overheating my pads and not knowing whether my braking performance sucked or if I didn't push the pedal hard enough.

Well at the end of session 2, I ended up losing the entire left pad going into Turn 3. According to the GT4 behind me, all he saw was a big black dust cloud and he just hoped the Nismo would power out quicker.

I find it odd that my brakes didn't smoke while everyone else's pads were smoking after Session 1. I checked if I had pad life left after S1. Further to that, even though my brakes were softer than peak performance, at no point did I really feel a loss of brake pressure until this specific instance where I pressed hard in - there was nothing. Pressed in harder and it went straight to the floor.

https://i.imgur.com/d95zNzX.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/sYvWe3J.jpg

Needless to say, that was a brown pants moment. Here's a video.



I'm not sure if the car jerked left because:
1. my brakes failed
2. I thought I could still make the turn
3. I was aiming for run off and hoping the nismo gtfo of the way

I'm always overprepared - extra fluids, pads, tools, floor jack, jack stands, but I never thought I'd be actually having to use it. I ended up spending lunch swapping back to OEM pads.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/pOyFuOk.jpg/IMG]

Check out this pad smear LOL. There's a whole streak of dust where I reversed into my spot.

https://i.imgur.com/OPJqGcq.jpg

After all that drama, I ended up piecing it together for a PB of 1:20.86. I tried using RaceChrono's picture-in-picture function but its too hard to sync up so here's another two videos. (I talk to myself a lot lol)



Coles notes:
- If you feel the braking performance get softer/worse, back the fuck off.
- Cooldown laps means do two slow laps and not just a few slow turns
- Brake harder and don't be a pussy lol
- Don't try to outbrake people, shit happens.

go buy a lottery ticket, really lucked out there.

as a gentle reminder to those, mission is extremely hard on brakes specially as u get quicker, spend the little bit more on track day pads unless you're a very light miata, your life is worth the extra 100-200$

on other tracks with more cooling time between large brake events, the less expensive track day pads are probably sufficient. mission is an anomaly

hahaha damn 325 was so mad at you

Well deserved. I'd be mad too LOL

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there's a difference between PSA (track day spec) and PST (track day)

https://www.powerstop.com/resources/...ght-track-day/

they dust crazy amounts, i would only use on nice wheels if ceramic coated

Unfortunately the FK8 application only has the non-spec version. I would have gotten spec if I could.

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Those FK8's are so quick even with novice drivers... I had some students with them and they rip. But yeah - dedicated track pads are a must.. Better safe than sorry

Also off to a good start this year.. Did a Porsche Club of America instructor course so can instruct with a bunch of clubs now in trade for track time. Also got in 4 lapping days so far and am registered for a 12 hour one this weekend. Car is still alive and set some PB's recently. Will post some vids later from Saturday's event

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4ad25ec9_h.jpg

And a quick flyby about to catch a AP2

I've always been curious about tracks in Edmonton/Calgary. Maybe one day I'll have enough money to trailer across Canada and track in every province LOL

i'd like to try that new rocky mountain track, but the towing fuel bill would be pretty insane

My whole goal that day was to be sendy thru T9 as I knew my brakes didn't have that much material to attack the mission zones

We are spoiled here currently in Edmonton. I bet there is 1-3 events every week. There are 3 tracks here currently:

-Stratotech Park: smallest of the tracks but really technical. Super hard on brakes/tires.

-RAD (Castrol) Raceway: medium sized track with a tight technical section but also some fast speed corners and a banked corner as well.

-Strawberry Creek: this is a private track of some rich dude that opens it up for private events. It can be run a number of ways and it's the longest of the tracks. Doing my first event here in August wirh some guys from BC actually.

-Rocky Mountain Motorsports Park: new track just outside of Calgary. Looks amazing. Can be run many different configurations. Has big elevation changes and some very technical corners. Hope to run this one soon.

Was stratotech the old kart racing track?

Yes - the old go-kart track but now mainly used for trackdays/drift events

Damn that would be insanely tight!

It actually isn't all that bad. It's totally adequate for cars as well. Here's a fast lap that shows the track well

LOL~ I can see how it is yet another brake killer course -- just like Mission.

wow u guys can use 3rd gear for turn 1? i guess thats what having torque feels like BibleThump
2nd time at mission and final session so I decided to grab an instructor since i paid for them anyways!

Your instructor coached you well.

A couple quick points I noticed:

- When you are preparing for T3, try changing your hand positions. Instead of keeping you hands at 3 and 9 o'clock, put your left hand a 12 o'clock, and your right hand at 5 o'clock. You might want to do this before you start braking for the turn. This works really well for some cars because your arms will not be crossed over / hand-over-hand while you are in the turn, and that gives you a lot more fine control during the turn.

- Downshift to 2nd when you are braking into T7a. You're taking T7a / T7b / T8 in 3rd gear where your car doesn't have very much torque. You're setting yourself up for the front straight in T8 / T9, and you're setting yourself up for T8 in T7a / b. When you have more jump and is ready to pounce coming up to T9, you'll be much faster by the end of the front straight.

- Aim wide when exiting T9. At any given time, your front tires only has a limited amount of traction. If you use more of it for turning, you have less of it for acceleration. If you take a tight line exiting T9, you're asking your front tires to turn more and accelerate less. Aim wide on the T9 exit (towards the outside concrete wall) means you are asking your front tires to turn less and accelerate more. It'll pay big dividends since you're speeding into the front straight. The longer distance from going wide doesn't matter very much since the higher speed at the end of the straight will more than make up for your loss (of time) from going wide in the beginning.

Just some feedback but that GoPro mounted way too low lol, all I see is steering wheel

When your pedal hits the floor you don't end up in a concrete wall like mission though.

Thanks for all the tips! will try to apply that on my next track day (hopefully july 25th!)


yeah for sure! was experimenting with the cam position. i was trying to emulate noriyaro's setup with the cam attached to the chin area of the helmet (or at least thats what my friend said). my helmet already hits the ceiling so the only camera placement I can prob use next is on the right side of the helmet :concentrate:

Driving with little or no energy or thought, this is what driving purely on instincts looks like