Well, I did my first [car] trackday today at California speedway in Fontana. This was the Nissan Performance Fest through Speed Ventures. They ran an exceptionally well organized trackday.
I'd ridden fontana several times before on my motorcycle but a first for my car.

WOOOOOOOO.....HAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAA..

who knew cars could be so fun.

there was every kind of car out there. even a true to life NASCAR running in the race group. then there were the factory race vipers, two of them. guy pitted next to us was running a SWEET 73 porsche 911 carrera RS (full race). crazy stuff. yeah, plenty of 20-somethings with their ricers...the squids who park them in the corners. seriously.

My instructor was David Muramoto, senior editor of Nissan Sport Magazine. Gridding, I told him about my motorcycle experience and specifically on this track. He let me run my lines before critiquing my driving. Except for not holding tight to apex's and not using the full track on turn exit I did pretty good my first session. those things didn't happen again.

Car is amazing, even in stock form. It has its drawbacks though, and those would become more apparent in the following sessions. The bumps and dips in T3 and T9 made the dynamic stability control kick on repeatedly even though the car was planted just fine. I turned it off for the following sessions. Car felt fine, but tended to understeer. Second session I got the car fishtailing pretty badly in both directions coming out of T9 but recovered it and kept on the throttle. Most of the day I could feel the car plowing a bit, particularly through the double apex T5-6. I could also feel the rear start to slip a little on various corners but nothing to bother me.

Second session was when my instructor driving his G37 loaner, instead of being in my passenger seat, and I played follow the leader. That upped the pace a bit as you can imagine my chasing a racer...lol...thats when I got the rear to step WAY out exiting T9. By the end of session 2 he said I should move up to the intermediate level. For various reasons I couldnt though. The last 2 sessions were almost like open track and I was running hot, consistent laps, having a ball.

This is when I realized the car driver dynamic is the same as the motorcycle rider dynamic at a trackday. There were quite a few Corvette Z06's (in particular, but other fast cars) in the beginner group: guys with more money/ego than driving skill. I'd be all over their tail through the infield, they wouldnt wave my to pass (thats a little different than motorcycle trackdays too-front car directs rear car when to pass in the beg/int groups). They'd blow corners all over the place (T12 was a favorite). Then they'd leave me for dead on the front straight, only to have me on their *** by T4. Erratic lines (or no concept of lines), no smoothness, etc. from most of the beginner group-to be expected I suppose.

The final session of the day saw my instructor gridded behind me so he followed me the entire session. THAT was fun. We ran almost open track seeing very little traffic so the laps were hot. I was hitting my brake points, apexes and tracking points consistently lap to lap.

The day would not be complete without a full spin though, now would it...
Cool down lap, last lap of the day and I'm running full pace. Come out of T12 the late apex right, into the series of lefts and the rear gets sideways on me...I over correct and go the other side, then back and forth again. The last time it gets completely sideways and I go sliding/spinning into the grass. There's grass and dirt flying in my car and all over me, lol. Car completes its spin/slide ending up in the middle of the track facing reverse just before T16...barely missing the concrete barriers. Turn car around and head straight over to the pits...what a f'ing blast.
David comes by and thanks me for the "show", explains where it went from 'almost recovered it' to 'lost it' and comments on the consistency of my laps and lines.

For a stock car, stock suspension/wheels/tires/etc, it did pretty damn good. Funny to have some of the other race level drivers coming over asking if the car was stock and what kind of HP it had, lol...

I am DEFINITELY taking the G out there again. That kicked ****.


anyway, just passing along my excitement. carry on, nothing to see...

 

welcome to the club man.

now go get some suspension mods, track wheels, r-compounds, and shave the seconds off those laps.

it's an addiction man!
pricey! but WHAT A RUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHH!!!!

-DRU

 

Pablo:
It was nice to meet you, and glad you had a good time out there and brought your car safely home. It was a beautiful weather day and we had no mishaps and no scratches all weekend in our group for newcomers, which was great of course. Hope to see you out there again.

Here is the link to the pdf article at Nissan Sport Magazine on driving the course, which might make more sense now that you have attacked the challenge and have the ability to compare and contrast your experience of this weekend to words on a page. Of course your background on a motor bike are a huge advance leap forward in this respect also. Except for the Roval which they keep the bikers off, probably for preservation of lives.

http://www.nissansportmag.com/images...a_Speedway.pdf

Keeping to the optimum driving line was the biggest challenge most of the new students had, and that is to be expected for the first timers. So much sensory input and overload, coupled with the new sensation of extreme speed and braking, there is a real limit to how much can be absorbed and acted upon. The toughest parts to learn were, not surprisingly, the compound turns at the end of the Roval, the buttonhook hairpin at the end of the eastbound infield straight, and the double compound turns at the end of the westbound infield straight......and for some the 110 degree right to left with the tire wall behind. But, most of the bigger mistakes out there on picking the driving line were by the folks who were not in our group, but had been out a few times and were without instructors. The newbies all had a person in the right seat coaching them where to place the car on the track constantly. That did not keep them on the driving line, by any means, but it certainly kept them off sections of the track that were truly bizarre, and where some of the uncoached group drivers were frequenting! It was a good day and I am glad so many got a chance to experience and appreciate the unleashed potential of the cars, and some of their own personal improvement in controlling it.

 

glad to hear that a person with a stock G can have fun. Most of the threads that u read about tracks are complaining how big and heavy G feels. In reality even in stock form its a well balanced car. Even though i have never had a track day (can't wait to have one though), i can imagine how it felt. My suspension mods came after a year of owning the car. That is when i felt that i could NOT get anything more out of my car after pushing it in various ways in stock form. Then u appreciate every single mod u do. Most of the people have fully built G right after they get out of the dealership and those are the ones who end up getting sick of the car and end up selling it.

Good luck, enjoy the car.

 

Congrats on your first trackday. These cars are amazingly fun to drive in stock (or near-stock) form, and can surprise a few people.

Check sig vids for my old car at RoadAmerica, and listen to Eagle1 - he knows his stuff.

 

We had DeeDee Lopez out there in her immaculate G35coupe, basically stock with a couple of mods like stiffer sways, catback exhaust and CAI, some upgraded pads and brake fluid, and I think that is about it. She was ripping through the Roval at 125mph+, doing upwards of 130-135mph in the front straight, and having a very good time with the technical challenges of the infield. Did not loop it, though we got loose in the corners a couple of times and also pushed a couple of times, but all good. Very commendable driving for a first time on a most challenging and potentially intimidating track. And the almost stock G was an excellent performer. I have to say in all candor, if I had a choice to pick between her car or a bone stock new G37S coupe for track performance.....DeeDee's car all the way.

 

I had NO idea that you and Ed from yesterday were one in the same...good to meet you too. I am going to have one of my staff do that track map we talked about for you in photoshop.

 

Pablo that would be awsome! If we had something that when enlarged made for a map that had a three inch wide track lane, we could use markers to illustrate the line for different turns and it would enhance the learning experience a lot.

We will also bring dry board markers so we can do segments on the white boards next time.

See you out there again.

 

what was the final size of the map you used? we'll try to make something similar in overall size.

 

Three feet high and five feet wide. But if we go to a three inch wide track surface, the map will probably have to get quite a bit bigger. That is ok if it helps the instruction, but we might be compelled to go 5X7 instead. Your guys will see once they download the base map from Cal Speedway and then know what to do.

 

which G was she driving? I assume in the white group as well, no?
pablo-

 

Dee Dee was in the immaculately shined black coupe, with the 777 in blue racer's tape on the sides and rear. Stillen sways and catback, not sure which CAI. Nice growl on WOT going down the front straight. Brakes held up very remarkably well. Dave O flushed her system and put in Motul 600 RBF and some metal matrix pads for her, and it certainly helped haul that car down off the Roval going into Turn 3 from 125-130mph to about 40mph. No brake fade or mushy pedal. I think as Dee Dee gets going deeper into the turns the rotor and fluid heat buildup will become more of a factor, but until then, no need to bother with a BBK. Perhaps stainless lines, but that is all for now. I doubt that any further braking mods are justified unless and until she is coming out very frequently and exceeding the current capability of the car, and there is still some good margin left in there, even though she is gettin around it smartly! Taking it through the Roval at 125 mph does help to cool those rotors, Dee Dee!

 

I suspected it was her black g. nice driving. couldnt get past on the roval...

I had significant spongy brake pedal after each session...may consider upgrades if I do more trackdays, which is a strong possibility.

Until then, I'll spend my days at buttonwillow...
(today)

 

Wow. Nice picture. I will never get on one of those!

Small mods to braking should make your car adequate for CS with the Roval unless you get into very serious thresh hold braking techniques.

Braided stainless brake lines, a good DOT-4 RBF, and some more aggressive brake pads should be very cost effective and help with the spongy mushy pedal. If you ever track the G hard, then you will not have any option but to go with a BBK. But for the occasional track day, and moderate driving style, this should be enough for most tracks. If you run only the infield....not enough straight runs to cool the rotors.

 

was there a photographer there sat/sunday? I emailed Aaron but havent heard back and no info on website that I could find.