This Wednesday I am taking my G out to Willow Springs Raceway. It is a open track day. There are 5 total cars going in my group: Civic Si full suspension(FAST), WRX, Acura Cl-s, Golf, G sedan.
I have Teins, Injen CAI, No cats, Borla true dual exhaust. As far as tires im using the 350z track rims and tire combo. Falken st115's 18inch.
I will post pics up when we get back.

 

Have a great time. The track is very fast. Get your fastest line figured out, then push for the speed in steps or increments if you have not run the track before. The biggest speed gains are to be achieved in sustaining speed in turns 8 and 2. The most dangerous spots are turn 9 because it is a decreasing radius at high speed, and the exit of 2 as it tightens just a teensy bit so you can slide off on the left if you are the slightest bit inattentive to drifting off line. You can carry a lot more speed than you may first think through turn 1 at the end of the front straight. But again, take it carefully and work your way up to it.

Be sure to give us a write up of your adventure and impressions.

The morning temps can be well below 45 degrees. (It was 35 degrees at 8am last Thursday when I was at the track). High performance street tires lose a lot of their grip below 45 degrees, so be sure to warm up your tires well on that first lap before pushing any limits of adhesion on the high speed sweepers, or you could "skate" off the surface, especially on the first run session of the day.

 

hey thanks for the advice, cant wait, pics will be posted soon.

 

My pleasure.
Here is a short article on my first experience there, and part way down if you want (and have dsl) there is an in car video of taking laps.
http://www.g-owners.com/article_read.asp?id=42

 

what was your best lap time?
and did you leave your VDC on
what tires were you running?
thanks again--Court

 

Court, you're gonna have a great time. Turn 4 is a little hairy too. I believe they call it the OMEGA. It's a hard left, climb to a double apex. If you're interested in times, go to speedventures.net and checkout our times there. I don't remember the exact date, but I believe it was in June. I believe my best time (fully stock car and my FIRST track event EVER) was 1:50. This event got me hooked. I'm not sure how those 115's will do, but the 451 are really good for that (any) track. Good luck.

 

Court:
I was running laps at 1:47, using only fourth and fifth gear around the entire track. Why you may ask, would anybody do that? Especially their first time on the track?

Because the outside air temp was 106 degrees! So rather than push the car hard in that environment, especially with FI, I decided to work on line and braking points/turn in technique, and smooth out my technique as much as I possibly good while sticking to a lower rpm band for running the car in taller gears. This was helpful for learning how to carry speed into and through the turns, but it was a big disadvantage for optimal acceleration coming out of the turns. Probably lost several seconds per lap due to that, but that is ok. It is not a race, it is a learning experience, and one that you want to take advantage of every time you go out. There is tons and tons to learn and the operative part of the HPDE is those last two words of "driver education". As you can see from the video, it was still respectable speed and gobbled up all of the other cars, except for one, and that was the 300ZX twin turbo. But he was really working hard and cooked his tires trying to stay in front of me. When he pulled off the track, he had to toss the tires because they were melted to the cords and useless from just those two to four laps, and he was overheating on his engine too, while mine was still running right in the normal band (and that is with a sensitive coolant temp gauge, not the factory one on the dash). If it had been a race with say 25 laps, he would have been out of the game within a couple more laps either from the tires or his engine temp problem.

You should have absolutely ideal weather for your motor. Clean and cool air to gulp, and more power from it, as colder air is denser air and gives a nice charge. But....as we discussed above, the cold air can be an issue with your tires. Take it intelligently on your warm up lap, and probably your second lap you can step it up, but maybe not as much as you might otherwise, just to give the rubber ample time to reach better operating temps for the compound. I would leave the VDC on for the first bit, especially when you run those sweepers at 1,2,8 and DEFINITELY 9. Keep your fanny tuned in to feeling when the VDC might be kicking in, if at all. Then when you feel ok about it, click it off and really PAY ATTENTION in those turns to your proper apex points and how hard you come on your throttle, listen carefully to the tire singing out and what it is telling you. For 1 you really want to be far far over to the right, and the brake point is deep and the apex is late. With the banking in that turn you can carry a lot of speed, so it actually is pretty safe.

Turn 2 you go way left and deep, and stay a bit to center or left of center and dial in that line and hold it...you don't want a lot of herky jerky steering wheel inputs. Fast drivers are doing that turn at 100mph+ up to as much as 110-114mph. If this is your first time, try 80mph and work up in say 3 to 5mph increments. The warm up lap might only be 75 since you are just coming off the start grid, but do what is comfortable and safe.

Turn 8 is a real speed burner, over 100mph and for fast drivers over 120mph. Look at the map very CAREFULLY of that section. Note that it is a wide arc..then straightens out just a bit, so you can carry huge speed if you enter from wide left and hold the arc wide at first and then cut in ever so slightly, but if you goof you are really FUBAR. And the goof usually is in misjudging entry speed, corner entry turn in point, AND apex point on Turn 9 just after you have successfully rocketed the Turn 8 which is comparatively easy to do. The problem is that when you do nail Turn 8 perfectly and come zooming out of it with a chest full of exhiliration and satisfaction, you have all three of those challenges rushing up on you and you have to get them all balanced and perfect or you have an epiphany of HOLY SH&%$#. And if you do miss any of those three at the limits, there is almost no recovery chance, which is why it is such a talked about corner. The apex is so late that it is "tomorrow"...almost at the end of the curve itself because of the combination of speed, and the narrowing or diminishing radius aspect of it. Just really pay attention to those three elements and don't guess, KNOW what you are doing on each deliberately. Otherwise, just for heaven's sake don't pick that as the point to push your limits. Plenty of other spots to find out where the limits are, but not that one.

Don't let that put you off. The track is great fun and not all that technically complex. But it is fast, and it has points that are subtle. The Omega will just have you playing and messing with all types of combinations and that is great fun. I really look forward to your impressions and experience.

 

Here are some pics of my G at willow springs this past Wednesday.

 

And some more

 

May i ask why you put blue tap over the headlights?

 

That is painters masking tape, from OSH or another home improvement center that sells it in mass quantities. You put it on you lenses to protect them from "marbles", the bits of melted rubber coming off the cars in front of you and bounding up into the air. If you are hurtling down the track at 125mph and smack them, then can pit, scratch, gouge or even crack your plastic lens, so this adds a little bit of protection. They will also leave streaks of sticky black striping on your hood, windshield and roof after a fun day of tracking. good idea to take a spray bottle of bug and tar remover and some soft cloth to get it off at the end of the day.

 

Thast why! i thought it was so the Xenon would blind the guy in front of you or somthing lol