About to road race at pocono, couple questions

[jerseygirl]

Hi guys,
I'm about to do some road racing at Pocono International Raceway. The STi is new to me. What are the minimum requirements needed for road racing? Given the Brembos, do I need to upgrade to a more aggressive pad? I will most likely put in some Motul 600, and I'm holding off on the R compounds for this first event in the new car.

Thanks for any info.

[TRM]

nothing! if this is your 1st event with the car.

seriously, all sorts of people will tell you do this and that and basically make everyone rich in the process, and you the driver not really sure what your car is capable of never have driven it bone stock.

i've had two HPDE's in the STi this year and the only thing i plan is to install my COBB SS lines and hi-temp fluid. once the sotck pads are worn, maybe i'll upgrade to some Ferrodo's.

the STi is an incredibly capable car for the track off the lot.

my advice: drive it bone stock and then upgrade from there as necessary.

i would recommend you take a tire gauge with you. tire pressures for a road course need to be around 43 psi Front and 40 psi Rear once nice and hot.


wrx club

[jerseygirl]

Originally posted by TRM
nothing! if this is your 1st event with the car.

seriously, all sorts of people will tell you do this and that and basically make everyone rich in the process, and you the driver not really sure what your car is capable of never have driven it bone stock.

i've had two HPDE's in the STi this year and the only thing i plan is to install my COBB SS lines and hi-temp fluid. once the sotck pads are worn, maybe i'll upgrade to some Ferrodo's.

the STi is an incredibly capable car for the track off the lot.

my advice: drive it bone stock and then upgrade from there as necessary.

i would recommend you take a tire gauge with you. tire pressures for a road course need to be around 43 psi Front and 40 psi Rear once nice and hot.


wrx club

It is my first event with the STi, but I've raced my fiance's 800 hp supra previously; I just wanted to get a feel for how "race-ready" the STi is. I don't know how aggressive the pads are, and therefore how likely it is that I boil the brake fluid. I'll be stopping from about 120 mph on the short track, and closer to 140 mph on the long course in July.

[TRM]

well, then i rescind my previous statement

...you're obviously not a noob to HPDE's so maybe to ensure your day starts and ends well with speeds of 120/140 down to 30 for some of the corners, at a minimum get some high temp fluid.

...might as well do the SS lines from COBB or Goodrich while your at it.

i'm notoriously easy on my brakes...driving 6/10 most of the time so the stock stuff is fine for now.

what dates are you running? with PDA or NASA?


wrx club

[HoRo1]

If you are RACING get rid of those ****ty stock pads. Get some racing pads. I don't know what pads will fit but you MUST change to a racing pad. Also you must upgrade the fluid and if budget allows add stainless lines.

You MUST get a good alignment done and go for as much front negative camber as you can get. Your car will understeer heavily if you don't. It will understeer less if you do. Make sure that your tyres are up to the test - even if you don't have the desire or funds for R compounds at this point, at least make sure that the rubber you've got is in good shape and that you know what pressures to use.

Oh, don't forget to check all fluids, hoses etc just to be safe. You might want to try a 15/50 oil as well.


If you aren't racing, but merely doing a time trial or driving school then just do a "tech inspection" to make sure that belts, hoses etc are OK and you should be fine.

[jerseygirl]

Ok, thanks for the tips. TRM--will be doing PDA.

[turboICE]

Were you out there today??? Just got back from Pocono with PDA.

Anyway Adam (AZP and TeamIAC) went for a very long time on the STi totally stock (except maybe for flushing the brakes) and he is a NASA HPDE and PDA driving school instructor. So no I wouldn't say there is anything you have to do except print out PDA's tech form and get it completed. I would however strongly encourage you to flush the brakes.

For myself, all I did for my first STi track event was change the oil, flush the brakes and put on DS2500 brake pads. But Adam ran the OEM pads on tracks and auto-x till they were near gone.

Ed.

[ellisnc]

It all depends on how fast you are and how you use your brakes... there are people at HPDE that have been doing it for a while that don't use the brake enough to smoke light duty pads and stock rotors - even on a WRX.

This year I upgraded my car to the Stoptech kit and drove around on the street with the Axis pads in it. Not bad. But... for the track I ordered a set of Cobalt VR spec pads for it. Let me just tell you that the pads are unreal. They're very easy to modulate because when they heat up there's so much grip on the rotors you don't have to try to shove the pedal through the floor to make the car stop. I wouldn't run them on the street all the time but they were totally fine to and from the track. (www.cobaltfriction.com)

I think a lot of people try to go with an all-purpose pad and I've done that before. Works okay on the street and on the track to an extent. Pads aren't that expensive and the race pads last forever. Personally, I'll never use anything less than a full race pad on the track now that I've felt the capability. I don't know what your skill level is on the track, but if you brake hard enough in EVERY braking zone to keep heat in the pads try the VR spec if you can get them for your car, you really won't be disappointed.

I looked on the website and saw that they don't have a listing for the STi but that caliper is pretty common. Andie is the guy in charge there and really knows his stuff.

[ellisnc]

Originally posted by HoRo1


Oh, don't forget to check all fluids, hoses etc just to be safe. You might want to try a 15/50 oil as well.

I think I remember a thread around here that found during laboratory oil analysis using higher weight oils in the WRX engine at least increased bearing wear. They found more brass or copper in the oil using higher weight than just using 10 or 5-30.

[jerseygirl]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll probably only upgrade the pads and fluid. The car is barely broken in, and so I don't plan on going too hard. We didn't make Pocono on 5/8 (yesterday), since the Supra wasn't ready (backordered on some main bearings from Japan). Anyway....

Thanks again for all the tips.

[AZP Installs]

HPDE or Racing?

Racing you'll need a cage, Nomex suit, fixed-back seats, and a multitude of other things.

For HPDE you'll want to upgrade your fluid and feel out the car.

-mike