I been tracking my 2015 Focus ST at Thunderhill for two years, always wondering why my lap times were stuck at 2:06. Last month a guy in a beat up Miata pulled up next to me and asked if I knew about the brake marker by the big oak tree. Turns out I was braking 40 feet too early at turn 3 every single time. I dropped to 2:01 the very next session. Anyone else have a moment where one simple tip from a stranger changed your whole driving?
I was at Summit Point last Saturday and this dude in a Miata was bragging he gets 4 weekends out of one set of pads. I'm running a Focus ST with EBC Yellows and they're cooked after 2 days easy. What pads are you guys running that actually survive more than a couple sessions without fading?
Went into turn 1 way too hot and almost ate the dirt, got my braking point dialed in after 3 laps and shaved 2 seconds off my previous best. Anyone else struggle with trail braking into that first corner?
I always figured you needed coilovers and sticky tires to break 1:50, but that time was on factory rubber. Is it driver skill making the bigger difference or are these new hot hatches just that good out of the box?
Last month at Thunderhill Raceway, I pulled up next to a dude in a modded Civic. He saw my stock pads and laughed. Said I was gonna cook them by lap 3. He was right. By lap 4 I had zero pedal feel. Had to baby it back to the pits. Anyone else get roasted for a budget setup and learn the hard way?
Put EBC Yellows on my Miata for a day at Streets of Willow and by lap 4 the rotors were warped. Guess those pads bite too hard for cheap blanks - anyone run a specific rotor combo that survives heat?
I checked my logbook after my last session and saw the last flush was stamped July 2020. Found a thread on a forum saying old fluid absorbs water and boils way easier on track, which explains why my pedal felt spongy after 3 laps. Has anyone else noticed a huge difference after a fresh flush, or am I overthinking this?
I was coming into turn 3 at around 85 mph and the pedal just sank. No warning, no fade first, just nothing. Managed to trail brake into the dirt and spun out in the gravel, no damage but my heart was pounding for ten minutes. Turns out one of my caliper pistons had seized and then blew the seal dumping all the fluid. I replaced all four calipers with rebuilt units from AutoZone for $45 each and flushed the system with Motul RBF 600. Has anyone else had a caliper fail suddenly like that or was mine just a freak thing?
Last week I was at the paddock at Lime Rock Park and overheard a group of guys comparing their GoPro mounts and data logging apps. Nobody was just talking about the driving. It got me thinking about 2009 when I started doing track days. Back then it was just a bunch of regular folks in their daily drivers. My old Corolla needed a fresh set of brake pads and that was it. You'd pack a cooler of sandwiches and just go. Three years ago I ran into a guy who spent $3,000 on a telemetry system for his 2003 Miata. I get that tech is cool but half the fun was just feeling the car through the seat. Has anyone else felt like the hobby got too gadgety?
I spent 6 months chasing bad braking feel at Thunderhill, swapping rotors and bleeding fluid like crazy. Turns out my $50 brake pads from Amazon just couldn't handle the heat past lap 4 no matter what I did. Last month I borrowed a friend's used set of Hawk HP+ pads from his Integra and instantly dropped 2 seconds off my lap time. Has anyone else burned through cheap pads way faster than they expected?
I saw everyone raving about these semi-metallic brake pads for track days, so I dropped $400 on a set for my 2013 Mustang GT. Installed them last weekend, took my car to the track at Summit Point on Saturday. By lap 5, they were already fading bad, pedal went to the floor in turn 3. My $80 stock pads from Autozone never did that on a hot day. I ended up swapping back to the old pads in the parking lot, wasted a full day and cash on something that made things worse. Anyone else fall for an overpriced mod that just didn't work on track?
Was torn between these two for my 97 Miata after I cooked my stock pads at CMP last month. Picked the Hawks because everyone online swore they had better bite when cold. They do stop hard, no argument there. But after just two track days and maybe 500 street miles my front rotors look chewed up with grooves. Buddy with the EBCs on his S2000 has way less wear. Anyone else deal with this or did I just get a bad batch?
Always thought spending $40 on some plastic dryer hose and zip ties was a joke compared to $400 dedicated kits, but after watching my front rotors stop glazing on hot days I'm wondering if the expensive stuff is mostly marketing hype or if there's a real difference I'm missing when it comes to heat management.
I've been running Falken RT660s for two years and thought they were fine for my local track days at Laguna Seca. My friend Jake showed up with a set of Yokohama A052s last month and I laughed, told him he was wasting $200 a tire for a stock Miata. He convinced me to do a back-to-back comparison on the skidpad after our afternoon session. First run on my RT660s I pulled 0.98g. Swapped to his A052s and hit 1.12g on the same corner. That's a 14 percent improvement just from rubber. I ordered a set that night and now I'm wondering what other mods I wrote off that actually work. Anyone else been humbled by a tire swap?
Dave from my local autocross club kept telling me to run those $60 Achilles tires because they're 'good enough.' I did 3 sessions at Buttonwillow and the inside edge was corded by lunch. That was $400 down the drain plus a scary spin into the dirt. Has anyone else had a friend give them bad tire advice that cost them real money?
Put those cheap slotted rotors on my Miata before a day at Laguna Seca and they cracked after 3 laps. Anyone else get burned by those budget brake kits from eBay?
Was prepping my Miata for a track day last Saturday and noticed a puddle under the front. Spent a full 2 hours checking hoses, pressure testing, even pulled the radiator. Turns out it was just the lower radiator hose clamp that I forgot to tighten after a flush last month. Whole thing took me 4 minutes to fix once I actually looked. Anyone else waste a whole afternoon on something this dumb?