HPDE wear and tear

[JLMounce]

Just wondering how much wear and tear I can expect from running my car in HPDE?

Reason I ask mainly is because I don't have use of a trailer and even if I did the likelyhood of my 97 Tacoma being able to pull my car up and over monument hill doesn't look so good.

Does anybody drive their cars to the event then back home?

[bpanther]

I would say that 90% of HPDE participants drive their cars to the events. I think that once you get to TimeTrial level, you might see 80% that drive to the events. Once you are racing wheel to wheel, maybe 5% ;).

The first day in HPDE1 people probably see as much wear on their car as they do in a week of driving on the street. It depends *a lot* on how smooth you drive. The wear and tear increases as you get higher into the HPDE groups and start driving faster.

On that note, sometimes things happen. Maybe a slipped clutch or something worse. I have never seen a NASA member stranded at a track with no way to get their car home. I've seen people volunteer to make a 4-6 hour trip to trailer someone's car home for them. Don't worry - we've got your back. :D

[JLMounce]

Thanks for the information.

So I'm assuming then at this point it's probably better to replace my brake pads with OEM compound instead of upgrading to something like a Carbotech?

oh and notice the new NASA member number :)

[bpanther]

So I'm assuming then at this point it's probably better to replace my brake pads with OEM compound instead of upgrading to something like a Carbotech?
oh and notice the new NASA member number :)

Go ahead and upgrade pads and bleed your brakes while you're at it. The brakes may squeel a bit and dust while you're driving to/from the track - but the difference you'll see on the track will be worth it. I've seen people swap front pads at the track, that's an option as well.

Maybe some of our Mustang experts will chime in - Kevin, Don?

Notice the new "title" under your login? :)

[JLMounce]

Go ahead and upgrade pads and bleed your brakes while you're at it. The brakes may squeel a bit and dust while you're driving to/from the track - but the difference you'll see on the track will be worth it. I've seen people swap front pads at the track, that's an option as well.

Maybe some of our Mustang experts will chime in - Kevin, Don?

Notice the new "title" under your login? :)

Hmm this is already getting expensive and I haven't even gotten on track yet.

...better take out a second on my condo :rolleyes:

[MHISSTC]

I'll add my experiences here.

I trailered my car to my first HPDE, but I haven't trailered it to every event since then. It was a good excuse to buy a trailer that I use for other stuff anyway. I was also leery of breaking something and then trying to find a way to make the 2.5 hour trip back home along with trying to get the car fixed away from home and then getting the car back home again. I used a '91 Jeep Cherokee with 4.0L I-6 to tow the ~1500lb 20ft steel trailer with trailer brakes and runaway controller and 3600lb Cobra that first time, but have since upgraded to a '99 1/2ton Suburban with tow package. The Jeep did fine, but I didn't have any major hills to traverse and I feel better about it now towing with the Suburban. The piece of mind the trailer gave me was worth it. If the track was local to me, I may have thought differently.

I've found the stock setup on my '96 Cobra was as near ideal as I could get for HPDE. After a couple of events, I was able to find the edge of my cars performance envelope, and I enjoyed operating pretty near the edge of that envelope.

However, with my competitive nature, I felt like I needed to push the envelope a little further, so I added some R compound tires, which then needed some performance brake pads to take advantage of the added stickiness so I could carry more speed at the end of the straights and end up braking harder and deeper. With the added speed, g's and heat, I also added a harness bar and harnesses to hold me in place better and upgraded to the '99-up stock front brake lines. My rotor and pad wear went up significantly. Remember, tires, pads and rotors are considered normal wear items as are caliper rebuild kits and tie rod end boots (cooked rubber)! If you really push it, the heat will cook the grease out of the bearings in the front hubs. Wheels are also considered wear items if you push them long and hard enough to develop stress cracks.

That's where I stopped to reconsider where I was going with the upgrades. Once you start upgrading, it seems to snowball very quickly. One small upgrade can upset the vehicle balance and require other upgrades in areas you haven't even considered yet. I really didn't feel like beating on my low milage car anymore and began thinking about building a dedicated track car. Right about that time I just happened to toast my engine during an HPDE and was glad I had a trailer to get the car back home. DOH! That was expensive. My car spent the next year in the garage while I saved up to get it fixed. Trust me, running a rental 4 door Focus at an HPDE is O.K., but it just wasn't the same as my Cobra.

I still have the harnesses and harness bar in my Cobra, and I'll still do HPDE in my Cobra until I can get my CMC car built. But, I'll do it with street tires and stock type brake pads. Those are really the performance limiting elements in my car right now. I also don't want to break anything else. I have also learned the car pretty well and feel comforable operating at the 70-80% level in it, but still find it hard to hold myself back and end up nudging it up to about 90% when there's a ZR1 in front of me that's just begging to be reeled in. :)

[ker]

although generally not needed for hpde 1 and maybe 2. you might want put fresh oil in the engine and trans fluid (automatic or manual, which everyou have).

[JLMounce]

although generally not needed for hpde 1 and maybe 2. you might want put fresh oil in the engine and trans fluid (automatic or manual, which everyou have).

Yeah I've got a whole list of things I'm doing prior to takign the car on course.

Sub-Frame connectors
oil change
tranny fluid change
rear-end oil change
brake pads (rotors if necessary)

[bpanther]

As pointed out by a member, taking your car on a race track will not make it better. Things will wear out and there is always the possibility that you may crash it :( (sorry for the reality check). Of course this all applies to driving it on the street as well.

The point of a sports car is to enjoy it for what it was intended. Having it on a race track allows you to do just that and do it legally without the fear of hitting a family or school bus. To keep a car in pristine shape requires leaving it in a climate controlled garage, taking it places in a enclosed trailer and then having it sit on a mirrored floor in a convention center. What fun is that (biased opinion)??

[raybob9289]

To keep a car in pristine shape requires leaving it in a climate controlled garage, taking it places in a enclosed trailer and then having it sit on a mirrored floor in a convention center. What fun is that (biased opinion)??


God Dave, I could'nt have said that better.