Haha.

Funny that you mention that Bull,

This was my 3rd and first "open" session of the day. 1st and 2nd sessions were lead follow with the group and instructors, no space. I was tempted to bump up to low intermediate since this was actually my 4th time at Laguna but after gridding in the fast lane on the 3rd session It felt like I had the whole track to myself so I stayed with the novice group through my 4th and final session.

I stayed in 3rd quite a bit during the 3rd session but started getting into 2nd gear during the 4th session. Unfortunately I lost a lot of my smoothness when I started pushing, there was also more traffic and point-by's cost me a few seconds on the front straight. Best time of the 4th session was a 2:01.

I'll cut up a few good laps from the 4th session and post them as well for some more feedback.

 

2/27/21 Laguna Seca notes. High temp of 65F.
1st and 2nd sessions lead/follow. 3rd and 4th were open sessions, posted a 1:59 PB during the 3rd session, overall happy to break sub 2:00.
Don't generally run the 5th session to keep wear and tear down.

Tires Firestone Indy500's 245/45/18 square and TE37's -

• Weighed in 5lbs & 8lbs less respectively each wheel front and rear for a total of -26lbs of rotational mass over the factory 18 sport wheels and factory tire sizes.
• The Indy500's are really good IMO, they communicated well and grip levels were more than adequate for a novice like me. Once tire pressures were dialed in I had no complaints. For how hard(not very much) I was pushing I barely got them greasy at the end of the 3rd and 4th sessions.
• Turn in was noticeably smoother
• Steering effort/weight went up which is a plus for me
• Front end grip increased soo much that the rear driven wheels would slide out first - I understand now why the Z guys all recommend a square set up with the biggest front bar you can get. You get the front end grip from the tires and the bigger bar evens out added oversteer by promoting understeer.
• Rear grip did get better once I dialed in the rear tire pressures but I'll be setting the front bar on full stiff for my next day out in two weeks at Thunderhill.

G-Loc R12/R10 & Castrol SRF -

• No issues at all getting down from high speeds
• Pedal felt confident all day long and easily modulated. Familiar feel to the Carbotech XP10's I used previously.
• Minor issue #1 - Had brake fluid seeping/weeping from the bleeders on all four calipers during the 3rd session. Bleeders were all tight when I checked them after cooling down. Looked to be coming the threads. Very odd.
• Have goldish calipers now
• Need to ceramic coat these wheels ASAP. Cleaning them wasn't too bad but more work than I anticipated. Troubles of tracking a car you want to keep clean.

Z1 34 Row Oil Cooler -

• Max oil temp noted on OBDFusion: 230F well below the 275-280F limp mode threshold.
• Minor issue #2 - Oil cooler line make a whining noise once the thermostatic plate opens and can heard distinctively at plate
• According to Z1 it is the fluid running though the new lines touching the frame/body causing resonance, recommend more insulation

Misc -

• Max coolant temp noted on OBDFusion: 210F.
• According to MotoIQ 240F = Start cool down lap, 260F = DANGER, 280F = She's blown.
• Minor Issue #3 - Fuel starvation/cut at 6k(I think) after turn 4(high speed right hander). Fuel level was right above 1/2 tank, got worse in 4th session.

 

Lol my bad...I deleted my post ab the sim because I didn't wanna hijack your thread.

Its home-made. I decided I wanted to try sim racing one day...so I went out and bought a PS4, GT sport, a logitech G29, and a bunch of steel tubing.

I measured an S2000 seating position, and cut/welded everything to match that. Its got a stock CRX Si seat and slider. The whole thing folds for portability.

I'll snap a pic later. Its not impressive looking. I built it in a day or two as proof of concept. Some day in the distant future, I'll buy a hydraulic tube bender and make a rad looking one.

I think for a G37, your choice of using only 3rd and 4th gear at that track makes total sense (except for the 1st and last corners, where 2nd makes way more sense).

The car's got torque to pull through. And using 2nd would likely upset the car by dragging the rear tyres too strongly.

 

Hugh, not sure if the forum is messing up, sometimes posts dont show up right away even though I get a notification, but please throw up your SIM set up lol I’ve been waiting to get one myself.

I replied to the thread but your post was gone lol

Edit: Ahh I see lol don’t worry about hi jacking, it’s just a open forum lol.

sweet, looking forward to the set up.

I think when you say turn 1 your actually referring to turn 2 the 180 double apex. But yea 2nd gear works better there for sure. Same with the last turn, turn 11. Really important to build up and carry as much speed as you can across the front straight and turn 1 turn under the bridge(high speed kink).

 

Yeah, must be a glitch in the Matrix or something. Posts are appearing then disappeared.

How much does a Laguna trackday cost?. I looked up Big Willow Springs pricing in SoCal because a San Diego friend of mine asked me if it was a good deal.

My eyes were watering at how cheap that s**t were. Like $180 a day or something. I'd never leave the track. I'd just live in a trailer next to it.

 

I deleted my original reply your deleted post once I saw it wasn’t there anymore

Average day at Laguna is about $225, early bird specials can be had as low at $175 though and late registration up to $300. Thunderhill, Big willow, and streets of willow are even cheaper IIRC. I haven’t made it down to any of the SoCal tracks yet.

If you ever decide to come out here do let me know and I’ll try and meet up for sure.

 

$150-225 track days year round.

brb...moving to CA. let u know when I get there lol

 

Lol seat time is very affordable here with Sonoma(Sears point, Infineon, or whatever you want to call it now) being the priciest at over $300.

For reference last Sunday’s Thunderhill west day I had to sell was $135 early bird. Saturday’s Laguna day was a waitlist bump at $225. Upcoming march 12th Thunderhill west day is regular price $175. And if I can catch a April 10th Thunderhill west day as an early bird it’ll be $135. So yeah absolutely a dream.

 

A few shots by Sharplite Media from last weekend:









Ugh that ride height though

 

Man, that's awesome. Good for you.

If you want me to change your SN to Towhook4x4, just let me know.

 

I’ll sleep on it.
Thanks! I’m trying to throughly enjoy my time with this car.

Speaking of which, remember how I’m spoiled by Honda’s and like to crap on the Gs shifting..well..




I haven’t worked the coolerworx unit into the budget yet so this will be my stop gap solution.

Zspeed short shifter assembly. According to Joe it is manufactured by a buddy club subsidiary. There’s basically no user feedback online that I could find so I’ll do a review on it after it goes in next week. Kinda kicking myself for not picking it during the holidays at $99 like projectpanda did but oh well.

I emailed Joe about the different shifter options yesterday morning, I placed the order around 10am and it arrived today. Freaking awesome. I’m heading up to Tahoe for the weekend so it’ll go in early next week.

 

A few changes before tomorrows Thunderhill West day with SpeedSF.

- Set the front bar to stiff
- Installed the Zspeed short shifter - Without pulling out the whole center console
- Tried to rig up a z1 motorsports shift **** finisher(type 2 IIRC) into the shift boot - Kinda meh but better than what it was before
- Got the wheels ceramic coated for easier cleaning post track days

 

Smart idea!

Have you ever driven around without the boots, where you can see pavement through the shifter? The amount of road noise is crazy. It's amazing what kind of horrible racket you get with an open floorboard.​​​

 

Thanks, yeah after cleaning the G-Loc dust off form my last day out I said nope not doing this again and told my detailer to coat them for me.

lol I did do that with the new shifter before buttoning everything back up, felt like I was in the Flintstones. A lot of racket down there for sure!

 

Man, I am so jealous about your garage setup. I know it's just a suburban garage... no lift or loft or anything crazy. But it's so damn clean and inviting. You even went so far as to put up a mirror panel and curtain dividers.

FWIW, enjoy it and appreciate it. I'd kill for a space like that to baby my cars.