hey i just got back from my first track day at roebling road with the honda redline club, and it was a blast. Steve (xnoodlesx) and i were the only scubies there, the rest of the crowd was mostly preludes and s2ks. Roebling road was really safe, lots of grassy run off and only one wall. I got my STi up to 130 mph on the straight away, and steven's STi blew me out of the water with a top speed of 150 in the straight away. Steven also mounted a camera in his backseats and got footage of some nice spin outs. Hopefully he will post some footage. Oh i past brian too . edit: the schroth quick fit harness was awesome! i never onced braced my self in a turn. Infact i totally didn't think about having to brace myself until steven told me about getting thrown around in his car. I can't wait to try it out at a autox, it definately was a wise purchase! I just can't say enough about how great this harness is!
It was a great track day, aside from the issues that I had. On the first session, on about the 3rd lap, my oil filter came loose and dumped 5 liters of oil on the track (car holds 5.5L). This was the first time that I did NOT change my own oil, and had it changed by a reputable place. It seems that the usual guys didn't change my oil, and did not use an OEM filter on the car, and did not tighten the filter all of the way. I stopped immediately after realizing that my car was putting out tons of white smoke. We pulled over (Stephen was riding with me), and jumped out. The fire crew came out and put out a small engine fire caused by the oil hitting the exhaust manifold. They then towed the car back to the tech bay. I then hosed off the engine and car (fire powder stuff made a mess), and put a new filter on the car, and 5 quarts oil, and the car ran fine. I ran for another 3 - 20 minutes sessions after this happened. On the 3rd one, I really started pushing it, and through lots of hard cornering, and too much oil in the engine (I over-filled it as a precaution), I managed to get oil into the intake manifold through the PCV valve (this problem would have been eliminated through a catch can). My car was putting out lots of white smoke again, and everyone thought the worst had happened again, but my oil pressure light never came on. I just let the car sit for a bit, letting the fire crew inspect the car. Afterwards, and drove off the oil in the car, and it worked fine again. It took another few turns to stop putting out the white smoke. As for the oil issue, the company will be cleaning my engine bay, replacing the hood liner, cleaning up the oil on my car, and doing a full check-up of the car when they reopen on tuesday. Another highlight of the track day, was Stephen's crazy driving. He was really doing well, except for the occasional drive off of the track. I counted 9 times that he took turns too hot, and flew off the track. Fortunately, the track was very forgiving, with no obstacles in the way. I was in the car for two of the incidents. On the last lap of the day for him, he was going very fast on the main straight, and braked for turn 1. He ended up braking not quite enough, and started accelerating again. He was too hot for the turn, and ended up spinning around 270 degrees, and sliding off the track sideways. We slid for about 30ft sideways, and the car started to tilt up. The car was almost perpendicular to the ground and stopped fully. The passenger mirror was about 1' from the ground, and after both of us leaning to the left, the car plopped back down, and we drove off again, back on the course. It was quite interesting... I think he will be a great track driver, once he learns how to push it to 80-90% of the limit on the track. R-compound tires will also greatly increase the limits for the STi. Mere did well on the track, and really enjoyed the track day. I am jealous of her harness and her speed on the straights. She had an instructor ride with her, and learned the course quite well. She caught up to me and passed me on the track one session. I can’t wait for the next track day. The S2Katlanta club is going back to Roebling Road in November. -- Brian
im glad u guys had fun... glad stephen's car didn't go from almost perpendicular to full perpendicular or beyond hnoes:
Yeah, I got scolded at for taking the car past its limits, boohoo, what's the point if you can't drive the shiznit out of it. For every time I went off the track it was for taking a corner way too hot, i'm thinking losening the rear sway and r-compounds will let me take it even further. This was my first track day and was definately a great experience, next time I will slow it down a tad because cleaning sand out of every crevace in the car sux.
It was a lot of fun, and I am sure you learned a whole lot about it. I love being able to push my car in the controlled environment, where there is plenty of safe run off room. I can't wait to ride with your again, when you get R-compounds. -- Brian
Sounds like you guys had tons of fun!! I wanna go tracking my car in safe environment. Brian, let us know when you guys go again. (is it okay for me to participate s2k track day??)
I am sure there will be extra spots for the s2k track day, and I will post when there are. The only drawback is that it is on a Friday, and it would be best just before rush hour on thursday to get there at a decent time. -- Brian
hmm...my '02 manual says 4.8 quarts. However, I'd imagine an STi's oil capacity to be similar to the LGT's. Oh, and Brian drives a S2k Be safe out there guys!
I just checked out Roebling Road Raceway website. it's nearby Savannah!! That'll be pretty long driving to there. But still let me know about the next track day. So it's $125 per car for one whole day??? That's pretty good price.
If enough people are interested we could probably get Siegel to do an open track day at lil Tally, only downside is that it is not as fast of a track, My top speed on the back straight was around 100 MPH, I think Milo got to around 105. Still very fun, a bit closer, and price would be about the same. Very safe just like Roebling, lots of grassy run offs, only one wall.
My first track day was at CMP, and it really was a great track. With RR being my second track day, I was disappointed with the layout of the track. I heard that LT is a step down from RR. CMP: http://www.carolinamotorsportspark.com/tracklayout.htm My vote is for CMP, as it would well be worth the extra money (was $45 more than RR) -- Brian
Wow, CMP looks real fun. I just want a higher speed track, I would like to get up to speeds that I am afraid to hit on the road. I have gone over 100 on the road so LT is not all that exciting. It was still a great track to start off on, but again, I need a higher speed. I would love to do RA, but there are alot of chances to do some major damage.
I am afraid of RA.. as there there there are areas where you can seriously mess up your car if you aren't careful. CMP is quite open and there is a decent amount of runoff. I went off track once when I was there without any issues. -- Brian