So, after driving a WRX for 2 years, this will be my first time driving my 2003 G35 Coupe 6MT to the track. Everything is bone stock. Can anyone offer any tips?

Tire pressure front and rear for the stock pilots?
Things to remove to reduce weight?
VDC on/off?
Sunroof open/close?

This is my first powerful RWD and I have yet to experience the limits of the G. TIA!

 

You are going to love it. I assume you have some decent experience on tracks with your Subie, so obviously safety comes first and you know all that.

For weight and safety, everything comes out of the trunk. Tools, jack, spare tire, floor mats and subfloor support...EVERYTHING. For the cabin, all the floor mats out (don't want anything jamming under the brake or throttle) and empty the glove box and door pockets. If you have a radar detector, do not forget to take it off the windshield.

Keep the sunroof closed. Track rules will mandate you keep both windows down on the doors.

If you have not driven the G aggressively, I would leave the VDC on for at least the first session out just to get the feel of when the car is wanting to turn it on. It will slow you down and be irritating, but it will tell you some things you will want to know before you get on it hard.

The car understeers or "pushes" in the bone stock configuration, withthe front wheels losing grip first, so expect it. It mandates that when it starts to slide you lift throttle and not crank the wheel, regain grip iwth the front tires, then return to input with steering wheel and throttle. It slows you down, which is why they engineer it that way. You cannot really effectively monkey with it only with tire inflation, so I would not get cute there by softening the front and puffing up the rear. You can do it later with stiffer sway bars and different wheel stagger if it is important for you to change it to more neutral or oversteer type handling.

If you are running 45 aspect ratio 18's on stock Pilots, I would put an extra couple of cold psi in them to stiffen up the sidewalls a bit, or else the rollover will be a touch excessive. They will increase in psi when they get hot as well, and if it is too much you can always bleed air off between sessions on the inflation pressure. You may chew a bit more on the outside edge of the front tire if you don't do this.

The car is HEAVY compared to your Subie, and when it starts to drift it is going to really mean it, especially the rear end. Take it easy and work up your speeds with conservative selection of your braking points on the track. Without the front wheels pulling you it means you really have to concentrate on keeping the back planted and under control. You will find where that is an issue on the track when you run it with the VDC on and before you turn it off.

If you are experienced with driving powerful rear wheel cars, you can go to the VDC off later in the day. If you are not...you might want to not push it and just enjoy learning about the car braking and turning and its straight line acceleration. I would definitely not encourage trail braking and/or trying to induce drift or yaw with the throttle and brakes or you are going to have all kinds of burping and gulping and chatter, and even have the abs and vdc fighting you and each other simultaneously. Just work on the straight line braking technique so you have less chance of sliding the rear in the turn. It is much easier to drive the car without the VDC...but not until you have some respect for what it will and will not do...especially around walls, curbs, ditches and other cars.

That is about it. Slow in, fast out.
Have a great time, and a safe one!

 

Eagle1, can you comment on this: I understand that a VDC set to OFF could kick in, if the conditions are right, once you press on the brake or clutch pedal (see https://g35driver.com/forums/showthr...492&highlight=). That's fine in straight "brake in straight line, release brake, feather gas and turn" situations. What about when trail-braking?

Thanks in advance

 

That is interesting.
Certainly in straight line braking the only thing that I have been aware of under extreme braking is the advent of the abs, and I try to brake up to but not to the point of having the abs engage. Thus it has been very similar to threshold braking in a non abs equipped car in that regard, and I have not noticed any advent of vdc re-engaging itself once the "vdc off" button was pushed.

For trail braking, and inducing some throttle oversteer drift, I have not noticed it come on either. Last weekend at Cal Speedway I got the G pretty out of shape a couple of times, with some serious countersteer requirements and throttle stab, and no vdc then....which makes me scratch my head and wonder...if not then....WHEN would it engage? It is interesting theoretical reading, but so far it has not happened to me at all. So far "off" has meant "off". The gas has not been chopped the brakes have not done that variable dance, and basically all that spastic herky jerky that comes on at inopportune moments in the turn are gone away.

I will really keep an eye out for it next time and push it harder in a couple of spots to see if I can light up what you are referring to. But so far, has not happened.

 

Cool. From your experience, sounds like the electronics wouldn't take away from a track day. Thanks for your input.

 

I have had some experience with the VDC kicking on even though it was in the off position. At Evo school for autocross my front sway bar came disconnected. What was happening was extreme rear wheel lift which caused the VDC to kick on and go into "ice" mode. I.e. no power to the ground at all. I run 245/40-18's front and rear, (which did not cause a problem with the VDC or ABS that I can tell). Once the front sway bar was reattached at it's lowest adjustable setting (7% over stock) it went away.

Other than that I have had no problems what so ever. I run the toyo T1S's on track days and had no problems at Both Putnam Park and Mid Ohio Valley race way. ABS kicked in on one turn at Putnam, the sharp right hander before the bear trap, but it helped the car to actually oversteer slightly and make for a really fast, if not white knuckled turn.

I am going to Gingerman this weekend to an HDPE with NASA so I am no expert. But if something happens ill post it.

 

Someone I know really good went autocrossing and had the vdc turned off the entire time. Never kicked on. Purpose for the autocross was to keep the car sideways without completely losing control, the others just wanted fast times. Car is very controllable, only spun out once, got a little to carried away with getting sideways. I will try to get the in car cam video going...... I think me and my friend brought some personality to the autocross

 

I just did an HPDE on the rain last week...wow...I've learned a new respect for the throttle pedal. What a great learning experience on being smooth. For the first couple of sessions, I left VDC on with the goal of being smooth enough that VDC wouldn't kick in. Well, things got a little ugly a couple of times and VDC kicked in and saved my ***. I'm pretty impressed with how VDC got the car pointing the right direction at track speeds. If not for VDC, they would've been "both feet in" moments. For my final 2 sessions, after I had gotten more used to the weather conditions and learned a new respect for the throttle, I ran without VDC and was relatively drama free. Good times.

 

Bleed brakes and of course get a decent set of pads at a minimum...After a a year and a half of time trialing my front Brembos are now dark brown instead of the original beautiful gold..

 

VDC note. During my first and only track weekend at Buttonwillow I kept VDC on for all of the first day and about half of the second day. It is a great experience to leave it off once you get comfy with track driving. Having the back tires break loose around a turn is fun and recovering is even better! It is truly the only way to learn your car's limit and ultimately you will be a better driver. Also, my back brakes were fried after that weekend (fronts were fine). All I can think of is that the VDC applies back brakes when the tires slip (which is constantly if you're pushing it). Otherwise the front brakes should always wear faster than the backs.

 

I went through a set of rear pads at Mosport last weekend. I had VDC off the whole time. Do you have an '05? The '05 rear brakes are absolutely pathetic for a car this heavy.

 

Dang, I can't wait to try out the G @ Poconos or Limerock =)

 

For brake pads, if they were stock, then it is not surprising to see them disappear. Past a certain temperature the pads will melt like butter. The fact that the rears melted and not the fronts could be due to different pad material and/or that the brake geometry vs the braking force requested is greater than for the fronts.

I recommend using Hawk HPS on the street and HP+ at the track. Pad transfer material is compatible so no issues with using the same rotors.

Frank

 

I've taken my G around the Poconos track. I think you will find it a lot more fun on the track than the WRX. There were several WRXs when I went and they found me in their rear view mirror the entire time. And I suck! One thing I did notice is that the G gets unbalanced relatively quickly when you let off the throttle. On the high speed banked turns, I had to keep it floored all the way through to keep the car stable. If I would let off even a little, down to 75% WOT, I would feel the car coming loose and wanting to fly up into the wall on its own. Not in a scary sort of way, but just something that I needed to be aware of.

 

Great read...thanks for the info guys! I'll be taking my G to some an autox practice event this weekend for the 1st time ever in any car. Should be interesting!