[FancyDan]

Just completed my first ever track day at the Lightning track in New Jersey Motorsports Park and wanted to share my thoughts on the whole experience. I was fairly nervous heading into this event and I'm hoping this will help ease the tension for any other first timers.

First things first, the event was absolutely amazing and far exceeded all of my expectations. The entire experience was unbelievable, not just the on track action. I met many other enthusiasts with all kinds of exciting cars and everyone was extremely friendly and willing to offer their wisdom. Awesome bunch of people, similar to the 2 series forum

If you are having any hesitation towards taking the first track day, just go for it. The experience is far, far less daunting than I thought and so rewarding.

A little background on my "racing" experience. This was my first on track action with a road car. I have a decent amount of karting experience (~20-30 days) but nothing competitive, purely for fun. I did however do some highly competitive sim-racing (in rFactor) for a few years some time ago, but I really did not want that to boost the ego and tried to forget about it and start fresh. It's very different when you are actually feeling the g forces and the stakes are so very real.

The event itself was broken down into 4 20-minute on track sessions that were follow the leader style and strictly no passing allowed. There were 2 1-hour classroom sessions before the first and third sessions and plenty of time in between sessions to talk to instructors or other drivers. It was a very long day, tech inspection starting at 7am and going up until almost 6pm when the last session finished. Staying hydrated was key and I made sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day.

I was extremely nervous in the moments leading up to the first session, not really knowing what to expect. The pace was very, very slow in the first run, never exceeding 70 MPH. This was extremely helpful to learn the track and all of the flag stations. In this session I ran in Sport mode and transmission in auto so I could purely focus on the flag stations. For the following sessions I ran in Sport+ and manual mode. The pace got progressively faster throughout the day but at no point did I feel like I was close to the limits of the car. I was never close to WOT and felt like I could brake as early as I wanted to. Regardless of the pace, it was insanely fun and I just couldn't stop smiling under that helmet. They weren't lying when they said tracking was addicting. Now I can't stop thinking about the next track day!

And now about the car itself. She was nothing short of amazing on the track. You can feel the nimbleness and change of direction that comes with the shorter wheelbase. It could more than hang with everything else that was there. My car has the LSD and had loads of traction coming out of corners. There was no drama, and any tiny slides were super progressive and could be corrected with zero fuss. Overall, the F22 is a fantastic chassis in any flavor that you choose (let's hope the G22 is as well).

My main concerns regarding the car prior to the event were tires and brakes. You can find countless posts on this forum how the M240i has inadequate front camber and brakes for track duty. Although that might be true at a certain level of experience, I find that the car is well more than adequate for slower run groups even in stock form. HOWEVER, there are few things that need to be considered. The track configuration matters, especially how many long braking zones and long constant radius corners there are. The ambient temperature matters. We had perfect weather, sunny and around 50 degrees in the morning topping out to low 70s in the afternoon. Everything would be running a lot hotter if this was in the middle of the summer so I think I'll stick to tracking in the shoulder seasons. My car is with MPSS tires and I ran with square 38 PSI cold pressures which became around 43-44 hot. On this track configuration the front left tire is the one that takes the most beating, when up to temp it was about 124F and 6-7 degrees hotter than the rest. Thankfully, at the end of the day it had no signs of graining on the sidewall. I did meet a fellow 2 series owner with a 228i that was running 32 PSI cold (but on bridgestone summer tires) and his front left did show some signs of graining, but still not too bad. It was a little tempting to drop the pressures to see how much more grip I would find but the pace that we were doing didn't really necessitate that.

The brakes also held up great, with zero brake fade at any point throughout the day. The main way to protect the brakes is through proper technique. After talking with some of the other first timers I was a little surprised at how many people didn't know how to brake correctly. I was even more surprised that this wasn't addressed during the first classroom session! I saw that a lot of beginners tend to brake on track as you would on the road, starting with light brake pressure and gradually applying more and more as they get deeper into the braking zone. This is exactly what you DON'T want to do on track. You should be applying the most brake pressure at the start of the braking zone and gradually unwinding until you hit the apex. This and how much initial brake pressure you choose to start with will ultimately determine how well the brakes will hold up. At the heaviest braking zones I did not exceed 30% of the maximum pressure. Of course, since I'm very far from the braking threshold I had to brake quite a bit earlier. I asked the instructors what their braking points are for each session and I added a full marker board to my braking distance. Also, I used the engine braking to help slow down the car. You do want to be careful with this, especially with a manual. Downshifting too fast can wreck the transmission and/or lock the rear tires. This is less of an issue in the automatic as the car won't let you downshift if the revs will jump too high. I experienced zero rear instability on downshifts with the LSD.

All in all, an unforgettable experience and I can't thank this forum enough for all the advice that was given and helping me take the first step. Take anything you read here with a grain of salt as it is only my first day. Also, please correct me if I'm way off base anywhere.

On to the next one.

[dradernh]

Glad to hear you had such a great time, even in the somewhat constrained format imposed by lead-follow at modest speeds. I think you nailed the value of that format for a first-time track experience: learning a safe line around the track and exactly where all of the flag stations are.

I'm curious as to where you learned the difference between street-style braking and an effective braking technique for driving on the track? Street braking is a habit many novices spend a few events getting over, and few drivers ever learn how hard they should be braking at first application of the brake pedal before trailing-off/brake-steering as necessary for any given corner.

I'd like to suggest that if you continue with the hobby (and it certainly sounds like you will!), engine braking is something that you'll soon move beyond. Generally, once you're running at typical track speeds, even in a novice group, you're either on the gas, or you're on the brakes. When you're not pressing one of those pedals, you're "coasting" because that's what the corner calls for to keep the car on the line and appropriately balanced at the limit of grip before it's time to go back to gas. I think this will make itself evident once you're going faster.

Please keep us posted as you attend more events, and post some video if that's convenient for you to do.

[FancyDan]

Originally Posted by dradernh

I'm curious as to where you learned the difference between street-style braking and an effective braking technique for driving on the track? Street braking is a habit many novices spend a few events getting over, and few drivers ever learn how hard they should be braking at first application of the brake pedal before trailing-off/brake-steering as necessary for any given corner.

Some time ago I did some simracing in rFactor in what was the most competitive Formula One simracing league in the world. We raced without any assists, and I invested hundreds if not thousands of hours in this league to master driving an F1 car. I guess this experience helped me out on a real track a lot more than I thought it would. Also, I feel that most people probably learn to drive a car on the streets first, and then get into racing/tracking. What's interesting in my case is that I had been simracing for many years before I even obtained my drivers license. I remember having to fight a lot of racing habits I had formed when learning to drive on the streets.

Your comments on engine braking and coasting are interesting. Engine braking is critical in an F1 car to slow it down in time. I had to really focus on slowing down my shifts, though. Also, F1 cars are typically set up with a low coast setting on the differential, so there's a slight amount of off throttle oversteer. The idea is that this helps you have a strong initial turn in, but then you have to immediately transition to throttle once you finish braking to keep the car stable at mid corner and exit. The end result is that you are almost always applying either the brakes or throttle, even if that means you are just feathering the throttle through long, slow corners. Anyways, these might just be F1 specific characteristics. Hopefully, over time I'll learn how our cars are best driven.

I'll definitely keep doing this. Thinking of running another event at the same track at an intermediate level just to be at a familiar track while I keep working on the basics. Taking videos at the next event is a must! Any recording devices and mounts that you can recommend?

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by FancyDan

Some time ago I did some simracing in rFactor in what was the most competitive Formula One simracing league in the world. We raced without any assists, and I invested hundreds if not thousands of hours in this league to master driving an F1 car. I guess this experience helped me out on a real track a lot more than I thought it would. Also, I feel that most people probably learn to drive a car on the streets first, and then get into racing/tracking. What's interesting in my case is that I had been simracing for many years before I even obtained my drivers license. I remember having to fight a lot of racing habits I had formed when learning to drive on the streets.

Your comments on engine braking and coasting are interesting. Engine braking is critical in an F1 car to slow it down in time. I had to really focus on slowing down my shifts, though. Also, F1 cars are typically set up with a low coast setting on the differential, so there's a slight amount of off throttle oversteer. The idea is that this helps you have a strong initial turn in, but then you have to immediately transition to throttle once you finish braking to keep the car stable at mid corner and exit. The end result is that you are almost always applying either the brakes or throttle, even if that means you are just feathering the throttle through long, slow corners. Anyways, these might just be F1 specific characteristics. Hopefully, over time I'll learn how our cars are best driven.

I'll definitely keep doing this. Thinking of running another event at the same track at an intermediate level just to be at a familiar track while I keep working on the basics. Taking videos at the next event is a must! Any recording devices and mounts that you can recommend?

I had a student at Watkins Glen and it was his first event. I took him out in his car at a slow speed to show him the way around the track. When we went out in his session, he pretty much followed the line with only a couple of minor differences. In the blind corners, he was spot-on. Since that doesn't happen, I asked him how it was he was able to do it. You guessed it...sim racing had taught him the line. The fast line at that track is neither obvious nor one that was typically being taught at DE events, at least not at that time. That driver was very good and moved up through the run groups in pretty short order. It didn't hurt that he had an FR-S – so he didn't have to deal with excess power and weight and could instead focus on braking technique and maximizing his speed through the corners at a time when many drivers with his number of track days were still getting squared-away on where to place the car.

I think you'll quickly learn how our cars are best driven. Certainly feathering the throttle to keep the car on the line and at the limit of traction is something many corners call for on the way to the apex. Exiting Big Bend at Lime Rock Park is a classic example of how extreme feathering to stay on the line can get. Listen to what Bill Auberlen's doing with the throttle here between 2:22-2:28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56uANBa60LU. I've run that corner at the same speed in the same type of car and there is a lot of throttle movement going on to keep the car on the line. You'll only coast when a corner wants that from the car; and then only briefly, as your goal is to have the highest minimum speed in the corner that you, the car, and its tires can manage.

I bought a GoPro Hero 2 many years ago and used it until my last event in 2019. While I've created and posted some videos that can be seen in this subforum, most of my videos were shot when I was new to a track and I wanted to review where exactly I was placing the front tires. To that end, I mounted the camera up next to the interior rear view mirror and angled it to show everything from mid-hood forward. While the videos didn't show me the exact placement of the front tires, I could infer their positioning without any trouble. Somenone else with the same purpose might have mounted the camera in the center of the leading edge of the roof to give a better view of exactly where the tires were being placed.