HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR FIRST TRACKDAY
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TechTranscript
00:00So you've signed up for your first track day experience.
00:07Despite what you may hear, you don't need to drop a bunch of money in mods for your
00:11car or buy a fireproof racing suit.
00:14In fact, it's not as intimidating as you might think.
00:17But before you show up, there are a few things that you should do and a few things that you
00:21should bring.
00:22Now one of the most important things that you need to do before you take your car to
00:26the track is make sure that the brakes are working.
00:28So do a visual inspection.
00:30You don't have to take your tire off like this, but you can just kind of look through
00:33the tire and make sure there's no rust, no chipset of the rotor.
00:36If you can see the pads, make sure there's a decent amount of pad life left.
00:40Actually take your car out onto the road.
00:42Feel the brake pedal.
00:43Is it soft or squishy or spongy?
00:46If it is, maybe it's time for a brake fluid flush.
00:49If you hear any noise or there's a reduction in stopping power, it's probably time for
00:52some new brake pads.
00:54But don't take my word for it.
00:56When you go onto the track, I'm sure you'll find out going into the first corner.
00:59After you're done a brake inspection, it's probably a good idea to do a quick suspension
01:02inspection as well.
01:03It's difficult to see if there's anything visually wrong with it, but obvious stuff
01:06like a broken spring or a huge leak, you can see.
01:09Now drive down the road and make sure there's no thunks or knocks and make sure the car
01:13isn't pulling hard one way or the other.
01:15You don't want to have any alignment issues or anything that's going to surprise you when
01:18you're going really fast down the straightaways.
01:21Now it's a good idea to inflate your tire 5 to 10 PSI over what the manufacturer specifies.
01:27Not on the tire, what's written in your glove box or in the door or something like that.
01:31Because when you're driving really hard and you're cornering, you'll actually put a lot
01:34of lateral stress on the rubber.
01:36And what that does is it can actually fold the rubber over on the sidewall.
01:40You don't want that to happen because it will destroy the sidewall of your tire.
01:43A trick is some people put a little line of chalk here and you can see how much the rubber
01:47is actually folding over back and forth in high cornering speeds.
01:51It's a good idea to bring a portable air compressor with you to the track so that you
01:55can check the pressure and re-inflate or deflate the tires depending on where your pressure's
01:59at.
02:00There isn't anything special that you need to do to your engine before a track day.
02:04Just basic maintenance.
02:06Oil change, air filter change, make sure that the car isn't running rough and there's no
02:10obvious leaks from any of the systems.
02:12Once you're done prepping the car for the track, you have to prep yourself.
02:15Bring things like extra food and water, lots of sunscreen and an umbrella.
02:20You also should bring some basic tools, maybe a torque wrench, jack stands if you want to
02:24get fancy, socket set if you don't know how to use those things, don't bother.
02:28Bring some extra oil for your engine and a full tank of gas.
02:32When you get to the track, make sure you take all of those things out of the car because
02:34you don't want them sloshing around when you're going around the corners.
02:37As for safety gear, I wear a helmet at the track very often, but check with your local
02:41track or the school that you're going to be running with and see what their regulations
02:44are.
02:45If you can, don't forget to bring a camera or a GoPro because watching your laps afterwards
02:49and seeing how you progress throughout the day is a great way to build on your new skills
02:53and remember how much fun you had.
02:55But most importantly, be safe and get out there and drive.