New thread started for 2017 track rats - plans forupgrades and track time? Personal records to be broken?

My list is pretty long for this coming season...

Forgestar F14 18x10 all around
285/645/18 slicks
Girodisc 2-piece floating rotors front and rear!
- 14" fronts
- 11.8" rear

This setup drops about 60 (!!!) lbs rotational mass from my 2016 setup

Also...
Double adjustable Koni Yellows custom valved for rebound and compression as separate adjustable
Ground Control race springs
Ground control camber/caster plates

Steeda tuning
Intake (tbd which one)
Longtube headers (tbd which ones)

Front caliper rebuild
Rear caliper replacement
All
Fluids flushed
Rear diff cooling

Active aero - more to come on this one

Plus... I bought a 2006 Chevy Cobalt SS that's already setup as paetbtime track toy. It'll be stripped and hoosiered and will be the fully dedicated track car #2 for myself and friends to play around with!!

Probably more to come too. I'm going a bit nuts this year!

 

Wow, you're not kidding!

I think you'll find the custom Konis and CC plates to make the most difference. Also 60lbs of weight reduction will be HUGE!

This will be an exciting season for you!

My plans much more sparse.
1) Steeda intake/tune. Already purchased and some baseline data logging complete. Waiting for warmer temps to install
2) Radiator flush with new coolant and water wetter
3) New set of track rubber. Likely Brisgestone potenza RE71Rs in 285/35-19
4) Perhaps new front wheel bearings? We'll see on this one

I may get around to brake cooling at some point too, lol.

 

Oh, and I've been getting a bit annoyed with the Carbotech XP10s. They stop well, but vibrate or chatter a lot. Looking for other alternatives, and I might give Hawk Street/Race compound a try.

I found a good chart showing the performance of all their compounds here, and Street/Race look promising. It scares me a bit that at 1300F they seem to be done though. It's almost 300F better than HP Plus though, with more grip.

http://www.tirerack.com/images/pdf/p...und-Charts.pdf

 

Have you ever tried Raybestos ST47's? I love them - they wear fantastically, they are powerful and reasonably priced as well. They're all I run now. Another great option is Pagid - my friend Pete sells them and gives discounts to TMO folks.

 

Do the brake cooling! haha I'm amazed you still don't have it. Get the backing plates from blowfishracing and then just get the silicone ducting from Amazon and some inlets. I might make some CF inlets to replace the ones I have now, if I dabble with that project and it comes out well, I may offer up making a few sets for folks on the forums.

Very interested to see how you like your Steeda tune and intake. I want a bunch more power now with the aero... must be faster!!

 

I'm still on street tires, so I want to make sure the pads don't overpower the tire. Where do you get your pads from? I'd consider either Pagid or Raybestos, I just don't know where to find them.

Ha, I know. I think I've been compensating for it by using high fade temp pads till now. My main struggle is that I only do 3 track days per year. But perhaps this year

I'm stoked for the Steeda CAI and tune. I just found out that my premium tune can handle 91 or 93 octane, and 44hp gain should be noticeable to say the least. That more than a 10% jump!

I'll post up a review and perhaps some data logs once I get it all installed.

 

My plans for 2017 is pretty basic:


1. Install FR radiator (w/water wetter)
2. Flush brake fluid
2. buy oil cooler in the spring
3. Prepare for COTA trackday scheduled on 24 Feb 2017
4. Schedule Mosport 21 June 2017
5. Plan Watkins Glen (in the Spring or late summer)


I'm sure buying brake pads will creep its head in the door at sometime during the year

 

COTA huh? I'm jealous, that venue will be awesome!

Interest in the 2 day Audi Club Watkins Glen event in early June? I'm going to that one.

 

I am real new to track days, so my car is far more capable than I am at this point. No real upgrade plans, just maintenance items. I will change all fluids, check brake rotors/pads, and regrease/torque major suspension components. I am upgrading the sway bars with the Steeda competition front/rear bars due to the rear end-link bushings starting to make some noise. I have them sitting in the garage and may install this weekend since it should be in the 60's. Also, depending on how the rear rotors look I may consider upsizing using the GT 500 caliper mounting brackets.

 

Sounds like a plan! Please let us know how you like the front/rear sway combo, and what settings you settle on.

 

I was looking through motorsportreg for the Audi group. Do you have the website?

 

Neqclub.org

 

How often do you rebuild the front calipers? Are there any tell tale signs that they need an overhaul other than leaking and sticking?

 

This is the first rebuild I'm doing. The dust boots are completely gone, but otherwise they work fine. I have about 4500 track miles on them

 

What eats up the dust boots? Is it the heat on the track or just age? My car is a 2011 and it has only seen 4 track days. Next time I pull the front wheels I will check the dust boots.

 

It's the heat. They burn up. But with 2-piece rotors and the Ti pad backing plates I've been managing the heat, but the dust boots were already toast

 

Plan 1 done: installed FR radiator, added water wetter, and installed reische thermosat :-) Tight fit since it was twice as thick.

 

Nice work! How difficult was that to do in your garage?

 

Honestly not hard, the weather was warmer than I was expecting so i was just in a tshirt :-) I had the front tires up on ramps and waited for all the coolant to exit. This radiator is huge so getting in took some time (small movements) :-)

 

Wow, that seems like a pretty big job, but you had no issues with it.
This thing will make a difference for sure.

How do you make sure the air is out of the cooling system? Do you just fill it up and let it run?