My track car is having some engine trouble, and given that I already paid for a track day, I wasn't going to let it go to waste, so I took my G35 sedan instead. I thought I'd share my impressions of tracking a four door family sedan

First and foremost, I was extremely impressed with how my six and a half year old car performed on the track. I went to a Ferrari event, so the vast majority of cars were fancy, and a few people had the odd non-Ferrari, like me. I was driving my car at probably 90% of what the chassis can handle, while lots of the Ferrari drivers were driving their cars to half their potential, so I passed a bunch of them, even lapped a 550 Marinello at least once per session. I don't claim the G35 is faster than a Ferrari, I just happen to drive a bit better than those guys. Oh, also, a GT-R blowing by you on the track full throttle is awesome.

The G35 sedan is actually pretty decent in the corners, it's fairly well balanced with a bit of understeer tendency, but a little bit of throttle fixes that right up. I never really push my car on the street, so this was my first time exploring the limit of my car's performance. The day was freaking hot (100-105 most of the day), so it took me a little while to sort out the tire pressure, but once I did, the car got grippier. I was also afraid that the heat might make something overheat, but the temp gauge was flat all day, no coolant overheating. I'd love to see oil temps and transmission temps, though. The transmission definitely got hot, the base of the shifter was super hot and the transmission tunnel was uncomfortable near my right leg.

Did you know that the G35 sedan has an accelerometer like some fancy cars? Yup, it does. When braking hard, the armrest in the back slams down, bounces, and gets stuck halfway up. When accelerating hard in some places, it flips back up all the way.

One last thing that impressed me was the traction control. Normally, on the street, it's very intrusive. On the track, it let me get away with a lot; I got the tail loose a couple of times by being stupid and lifting, but the traction control didn't kick in. It let me do some understeering, a little bit of oversteering without spoiling the fun, and I didn't even turn VDC off!

Now, for the not so awesome stuff.

The stock brakes really weren't built for the track (duh!). Two laps into each session, they got noticeably weaker, but the pedal was still firm. Towards the end of each session, the pedal was getting mushy, I was probably boiling the water that was present in my brake fluid. The car still stops, but you have to brake earlier, with more brake pressure. As the rotors got scalding hot, they warped and resulted in a very strong pedal vibration which went away as they cooled. The only cure for these problems is probably a bigger brake kit, fresh brake fluid, and maybe brake cooling ducts.

The seats suck, immensely. Thunderhill Raceway is 15 turns, 13 of them are left handers. Given that I spent about two hours total lapping the track, that means I spent at least 1.5h turning left, hard, near the limit of lateral traction. During these 1.5h, the stupid seat controls that normally don't bother me when driving were bruising my leg.

Heel-toe with the pedal placement is very difficult. The gas is too far from the brake, and when braking hard, the brake pedal sinks below the gas pedal, so it requires contortion. In a car meant for the track, like my Elise, the pedals are close together and the gas is at the same level as the brake when braking hard.

The sport suspension is way soft. It takes the car a second or two to settle on the suspension when changing direction, so you have to be mindful of that.

 

More pics.

 

Nice, looks like fun
Love the pic with the 430 in the background. Whenever I go to the track, the ppl with ferraris are so scared about scraping up their cars their the slowest ones on the track...

 

Nice, looks like fun
Love the pic with the 430 in the background. Whenever I go to the track, the ppl with ferraris are so scared about scraping up their cars their the slowest ones on the track...

 

yay double post! lol looks good man i love taking my g to 1/4 mile autocross, everything way to rep for the sedans!

 

man that looks like so much fun i would love to do that one day but at the same time i am afraid of messing up car to

 

I was afraid of that as well, until I realized that's pretty much up to you. The track days that I go to have very strict rules about passing and the organizations that run them put safety first. You know exactly how the other drivers are going to behave, so you just have to concentrate on your own driving and pay attention to the flaggers, who will tell you instantly if there's something to watch out for ahead. If you drive safely and don't push your car to the ragged edge of the limit, you can still go very fast and never get in a situation where you're out of control. Track choice matters as well. I go to Thunderhill because if I were to go off track, I just go into grass and the worst it could do would be to scuff up the bottom of my car or damage my tires.

It is a costly hobby though. Judging by the wear on my G35 after one track day, I'd say I used about 1/4 to 1/3 of my brake pads and rotors and probably took several thousand miles off my tires, but a beginner would be a lot easier on their car the first day out, so trying it just once would be cheaper

For example, take a look at these two tires, one of them took a lot more cornering forces than the other (and no, it wasn't under inflated).

 

I've been dieing to do a proper track day sometime, but I want to flush out all my fluids and swap in some pillar vane rotors and better pads first.

Any good tips for a novice?

 

I don't think that you'll be pushing your car hard enough on your very first track day to really require upgrades, but the things you mention would help a lot, especially fresh brake fluid that won't be contaminated with water. I'd save the oil change for after your track day, so you have fresh stuff after you've abused the hell out of it, just make sure you have enough oil and some life left in it before you go.

The biggest tips won't be about your car, but about driving. You need to be as smooth as you can to go fast. Lots of people turn in too early when they're learning, which makes turns scary, so don't turn in early . The track requires a lot of focus, which is more tiring than you think. Drink lots of liquids so you don't dehydrate and bring along a snack or two, or you'll get tired quickly and won't be able to focus.

 

Looks like you had a good time, I remember some good days flogging the sedan when it was still stock. If your going to do it again definitely get some EBC or Hawk track pads and some slotted rotors or some coil overs, sway bars and a bbk, heh. A few mods and it could keep up with the Elise. I was chasing a pretty well driven one around a few months ago.

https://g35driver.com/forums/autocro...tonwillow.html

 

Nah, I don't really want to track the G, I only did it out of necessity. I'm sure it could do quite well if modded enough, but the Elise is such a competent starting point that I'd rather mod that. In fact, it's out of commission because of a damaged supercharger . The Elise weighs like 1500lb less than the G and it's mid-engine, so it turns on a dime, it's difficult to mod a car to compete with that. Having driven both cars hard on the track, I think that you must have been a better driver than the Elise driver if you could keep up with him.

 

Great write-up… good to see that you agree the sedan is a little more capable than most ppl would think… obviously not a track car, but fun to throw it around on the track.

I think you had another thread a few days ago about taking your sedan instead of track car… I knew the Altima brakes would be your biggest problem – I had complete brake fade and wont track it on a road course again until I get bigger brakes (have the calipers, waiting for rotors).

Thanks for your review

 

Out of curiosity, which brakes did you buy, and will they fit in the standard wheels?

 

Akebono (OEM for G37 & 370 sport package)… front rotors are 14”, rears 13.8” front calipers 4 piston, rear 2 – they are a reasonably priced alternative… I have 19” Volk CE28N – I’m not sure if they will fit “standard” sedan wheels… there is a fitment template in this thread:
https://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-...-06-sedan.html

 

I notice your from Boston. What track would you be going to? I've looked and all Ive been to is Epping Speedway which is just a drag strip.