I just did my first track day with NASA-Southeast at Carolina Motorsports Park. I've got an 06 G35 Coupe 6MT.

I did not have high expectations for myself or my car and it was still a humbling experience. It is amazing how little road course driving has to do with any sort of street driving. So much of it is counterintuitive. The braking, steering, throttle timing just didn't make sense until the third session and then it all began to make sense. I still wasn't great at it but I knew what I needed to do.

The car is stock except EBC rotors and Yellowstuff pads and ATE amber brake fluid and I did not have any brake fade even though they were literally smoking after each session. The car had more power than I could use with my skill level. 100 miles an hour seems really fast when you're bearing down on a hairpin

I couldn't really assess handling very well at my level. Understeer was a bigger problem than oversteer but that was because I was braking too late and turning in too early. My instructor finally got me to understand how to use hard throttle at apex to rotate the car through the turn and that's as close as I got to oversteer.

I did notice that the car had too much body roll and accelerating out of a corner would cause the inside rear to lose traction and freak the VDC out. Don't ask me why I left it on. The viscous LSD is also a bit of a weak link. Other than that I'm very happy with the car.

I might try to cut down on body roll with beefier sway bars or maybe stiffen things up with tower struts but I'm not planning on doing much else to it.

If you guys haven't been to a road course track day event you should give it a try. There is nothing like getting smoked in the corners by a 20 year old Miata with a decent driver.

 

No shame, those Miatas are beasts on the track. There's a reason theyre the most raced ar in the world!

 

Sounds like a lot of fun, did you find you drive differently on the street when you push it just a little using your track experience? I think I would, def need to get out to one.

 

Not so far but its only been a couple of days. Right after I left the track I was pretty happy just putting along.

I think doing a track day helps teach you car control and the limits of your car, but the principles you learn as far as cornering don't apply so much to street driving.

I really think anyone who has a performance oriented (or capable) car (from Civics to Porsches) should go to a track day event at least once. The old saying is true, you'll get a bigger gain in performance by learning to drive than you will with anything you can bolt on.

I'm already putting dates on the calendar to go again and I intend to spend more on driver education than parts for the next year or two.

The one thing that will get expensive is tires. My Hankook Ventus Evo's only had a few thousand miles on them and they look like heck after only 8 sessions on the track and they are a pretty hard compound!

 

Congrats man! I look forward to my first track day event i have yet to schedule one but i want to do a little mods here and there to beef up the car to sustain the abuse. Ive noticed though through some agressive driving through twisties that my motorcycle backround really helps out alot with the fundamentals of cornering. Slow in, fast out, ease on that throttle through the turn to get the car to come around. I know 2 wheels are much different than 4 but a lot of the fundamentals can be applied to both. If you ever have some free time read a twist of the wrist 2 by keith code its a motorcycle book but hell i garuntee you it will make you a smoother driver. Remember smooth inputs into the car means quick times around the track.

 

That's it. Hard, hard, braking (right up to the point ABS kicks in). Down shift, up rev. Off the brakes before you start your turn in. Turn in much later than you initially feel like you should. Unwind the steering wheel more than you think you should and back on the throttle to 'steer' you through. Then you have to learn to do it smoothly.

The problem is that once you get on the track (if you have never done it, and yes, motorcycle experience would be a big advantage) all that stuff happens so fast and you forget everything you read because suddenly it doesn't make sense anymore. Its right, but it doesn't seem right at first. You just have to listen to the instructor and keep doing it over and over again. And no matter how many videos I watched, and I had the course memorized, the first few times I was lost and was not anticipating which turn was coming up next. Trying to react to a turn without knowing which one it is is simply useless. But within a few laps....okay 10 or 12... I was able to know where I was and which curve was coming up and what line I needed to take.

I botched it so many times early on the instructor had me leave it in 4th gear for a good many laps so I wouldn't focus of shifting and botch everything else. This made corner exit fairly slow but it worked and things finally came together. By the end of the weekend I was getting it all of the elements together and it felt great. I was still inconsistent and still didn't have that smoothness. Will work on that next time.

Anyway, I'm primarily sharing this experience not to bore everyone but to get people out there and give this a try. There are tracks almost everywhere. Carolina Motorsports Park is in the middle of NoWhere South Carolina but is only about an hour from my house.

http://www.carolinamotorsportspark.com/

Check with NASA in your region.

http://www.nasaproracing.com/

There are lots of 'Z' clubs (that include G35s) in most larger cities that do track events. You can go out with Porsche or Mustang clubs too. Also, a good many tracks have their own high performance driver education days as well.

Just do it.

 

Did you do any maintenance or thoroughly check your car before you went on the track? I really want to do a track day but am worried about something breaking on my nearing 100k 04 g. I ask because one time when I redlined my drive belt broke =(

 

That is awesome that you got to push your g in a safe area. One day i have to do this to know my g better

 

My car has almost 90k on it. I was also worried about breaking something since it is my daily driver too. Nothing broke. You are required to do or get a general inspection which I did myself. I also inspected belts etc. I changed the oil. I did not change the transmission or diff fluid but I will before I go out again.

The most important thing by far is brakes. In general, regular street brakes are going to wear out fast and probably overheat. If the brake fluid has not been changed in a while, it needs changing too and you need to change to a higher heat capacity fluid.

I used EBC Yellowstuff pads which can be driven on the street as well as track. Not perfect for either but sufficient for both. I had no problem with overheating brakes. I used ATE brake fluid which is a good track fluid and is fine for long term use as well.

The engine seemed perfectly happy. I rarely redlines it. There is no real need too. Peak torque is at 4800 and peak HP is at 6800. I was not skilled enough to get real agressive. Would top out at about 6000 or 6500 in third gear. Usually peak about 6000 in 4th at about 90-100 mph.

That may not sound fast but it feels fast when there are other cars around and corners coming up fast.

I bought track insurance for $100 that covers track related damage. I may or may not buy that next time.

 

I've heard that damage to your car while tracking it is not covered by your standard car insurance. So, $100 may be worth it if that is the case.

 

It used to be that auto insurers would not cover any type of competition. That included races or timed events. Most of them now say they will not cover any damage that occurs on any type of track. I've heard that some insurers do cover HPDE (high performance driver education) but again, most won't cover anything on a track.

There are rumors, and I think that is all they are, that insurers will drop you if you ask about a track event.

For now, the $100 makes me feel better and was worth it. They have discounts for additional events.

 

ive been to the track enough to know that i won't be taking my g35 anywhere near a road course. It just won't be as fun as a little light weight four cylinder. I loved taking the G20 to the track and could drive that **** right to the edge. It was very fast in the corners and handled about 10 times better then my G35 does.

 

You can buy track insurance for HPDE events for street cars, for instance, with these two groups:
Lockton Affinity, WSIB Insurance

It's not cheap, and probably not worth it for an older car.

Any street car is sufficient for your first few track days, since the limit is your skill, not your car. As you get faster, you will find that your brakes, tires, suspension, and power level are holding you back, probably in that order. I've done at least 50 track days (only 2 in the G) and my skill is still my limit in some places on tracks that I'm familiar with, while the car is almost never the limit on tracks that are new to me.

Here's some video of my poor old 2003 G35 sedan getting tortured at a track.

The track allows you to push the limit and make mistakes like this without killing the car.

You also get to have some real fun, like in this case, chasing down a Porsche 911 GT3RS, which is a 450HP track car with a tiny little 218HP car that's more nimble, but takes a lot of skill to drive.

 

If a G35 is what you have, that's what you should take. This is a G35 site. That's why I posted here, not to debate what might be a better track car. And you can't quantify fun. All I can say is that I had a ton of fun and feel certain other G owners will too.

There were tons of little 4 bangers of various sorts, from Lotuses to 25 year old Honda CRX's to Nissan Sentras to dozens of BMW 325i's. And a lot of them were super fast. But there were just as many Mustangs, Corvettes and Camaros, and I rode with the instructor in a beat-up C5 Corvette and I'll assure, it was fun and it was fast. There were several 350 Z's one of which came in second in a class with lots of Vettes, etc.

And here is another thing. Better drivers in Miatas could smoke me (a below average beginner) in the turns. But when they'd catch me in the turns I'd point them by in the straights and I'd have to coast for a long way so they could pass me in the straight. And I could catch one in the straight with ease. Now, that takes no talent on my part, but it is fun regardless.

Again, the point I'm trying to make is that if you have a G35 it handles well enough and has enough power to be a blast on the track. You might can outgrow it, but it can be made better if you want. Its been done at a very high level.

 

I think I paid $85 for $15,000 in coverage with a $2000 deductible with Lockton. Not cheap but for a noob the sense of security was worth it. This is still my daily driver.

There was an Elise at the track this weekend. What a car! There was also a GT-R.