I did the driving school by Proformance Racing School at Pacific Raceways yesterday, and it was really fun! The bad news, of course, is that I'm now hooked on lapping, so I've got to think about appropriate modifications to my buggy to make it safer/better on the track, like better brakes (which also work on the road) etc.

I certainly recommend the school, both for defensive driving skills taught, and, especially, the opportunity to drive real fast, on a demanding track, with one-on-one instruction.

--Mark

 

See the other threads on this subject, but basically you can go lapping for a couple of years without running into the car's limits just by using track brake fluid and track brake pads.

If you start changing anything else, expect it to get expensive pretty quickly. When you mess about with one part of a system, you usually find that requires you to change some other part, which means a third change, etc.

 

I'm Jealous, sounds awesome. Hope to see you at the autocross this weekend.

 

It was awesome, sometimes literally. Going fast on a race track is quite different from going fast on a long, flat, straight country road. It is really demanding to learn how to take the curves correctly, and taking the right line makes a huge difference; it's pretty scary the first few laps. The nice thing is that it's not rocket science, and I was much better at the end than I had been at the start (meaning both much faster and much more comfortable).

We're planning on the autocross, as long as you promise that all snickers at our expense will be discreetly hidden

--Mark

 

Mike,

I now know where Covington is , having gassed up there three times yesterday; the buggy gets a bit worse mileage driving fast on a track than in my normal driving, for some reason

Thanks for this. I will upgrade the brakes in the near future, although I may go lapping before I can do that.

I don't intend to hop up the car, only change those things necessary to make it safer on the track, so if brakes and brake fluid are ll I really need, that's good news.

--Mark

 

Yup. I live about five minutes away from PR. More than close enough to hear every run when the NHRA comes to town.

 

yep I use to party there Covington is so small!

 

I'm pretty happy with the brake performance on my S on the track, especially compared to my miata! I went with stock pads/fluid, and my last two times on the track I wasn't wanting for more brakes even once. The car has pretty high limits as it is, and I think I'd have to be pushing pretty hard to reach the limits of it as it is, even on not wide enough street tires.
I say enjoy the car how it is, experiment with tire pressues, and concentrate on a nice smooth line. Speed and upgraded parts can come later, after the skills.

 

As you get faster, you'll run out of brakes. Swapping the pads and fluid are more than enough in the beginning. However if you go bonkers for this track stuff, I strongly recommend installing some cooling ducts for the fronts at minimum.

 

Any recommendations for tire pressure for an '04 with stock SE050 tires? I just followed the school's recommendation and bumped the pressure up by 5-10psi, but I don't know if that really applies to tires like ours.