Midnight02

iTrader: (8)

Looking into a track day at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It's a 2.5 mile course that uses the banked oval and then flows into a road course on the infield.

Curious to hear if you guys have any experience running on a banked oval. I've done the NASCAR experience at the same track, however there's a huge difference than a purpose-built race car that's setup to turn left versus a street car with a few suspension mods.

If you've been to AMS, or any of the other motor speedway / road course combos out there I would be curious to hear your thoughts of anything I should be mindful of.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Event info?

This will be a brake killer, heads up.

demang

iTrader: (3)

Ive done banking. If this is your first time on a track it will be somewhat scary. Most people are not used to keeping the foot down while still in a turn. Is this a first track experience for you other than the nascar experience you have done?

Midnight02

iTrader: (8)

Just Track It HPDE at Atlanta Motor Speedway. July 26th. Relatively new club and I haven't done one of their events yet, however this one sounds quite appealing.

As for the brakes, I presume that's because you spend a good bit of time at a high rate of speed on the banked oval and then have to brake hard for the flat road course?

Do you think a combo of DTC30 (front) and HP+ (rear) would suffice for the day or would it be worthwhile to go with something with a higher heat tolerance?

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Might want to find a way to get air to the brakes

Midnight02

iTrader: (8)

I have just enough track experience to be dangerous (solo - intermediate run groups), so I have a good feel for the car and enough respect for others on the track and my own car to take it easy on a new track.

I agree completely -- even in the few laps around the track for the NASCAR experience it was odd to just keep your foot in it for the turns. There wasn't a spot on the oval where the car wouldn't comfortably handle 150 mph.

It's difficult to recalibrate almost everything I've learned about the limits of the car on a relatively flat surface to reflect the different limits on a banked track. The obvious appeal is to be able to carry much more speed through the turns, however the scary part is knowing that we seek to push closer to whatever limit that is without actually pushing past it.

Midnight02

iTrader: (8)

Thanks -- I'll go do my homework on that and see what I can find. I recall seeing a few good threads over the years that should help bring me up to speed on the options.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Only two ways I know of.

Blaine Fabrication makes sheet metal ducts for the rotors

or

A company makes a 3 inch 45* pipe deal that bolts to the spindle that a hose hooks to, this will be the cheapest way.

Midnight02

iTrader: (8)

Just a little follow up:

Had an awesome day out at Atlanta Motor Speedway. JustTrackIt did a great job with delivering the full AMS experience: the NASCAR garages were open and available for use, air conditioned media center was open, and the "bus stop" was closed off so you get the experience of the full oval.

It was a sunny summer day in Atlanta (mid-90's temps). Had enough time on track to put a little over 200 miles on the car -- I always fill up before an event however this was the first time I've ever had to leave to go fill up with gas again.

Speeds on the oval were high. My top end speed on track was low 150's (speedo stops at 150 so I don't know exactly what it was) in the straight before turn 3. I finally built up the courage to keep it above 125 mph through turn 3 and turn 4. The car feels as though there's still plenty of grip to squeeze out more in that section, however it will take a lot more seat time to get comfortable slowly increasing speeds through there.

The infield road course setup was a fun change of pace. The infield surface was freshly paved and was pretty slick. A few cars learned this the hard way -- they left on trailers (what was left of them) and the rest of us spent the day driving off-line around the stuff they used to clean the track after the crashes.

The back straight on the road course had a pretty big bump in it where the car gets very unsettled. I hit that at 3/4 throttle one time just to see what I would get and the conclusion was wheelspin at 85 mph. You can stay to the right and the bump isn't nearly as bad, however it's still advisable to back out of the throttle a little going into it.

One more piece of advice if you run an oval + road course setup -- be careful on the transitions from the flat surface to the bank. The transition is abrupt, so I found it to be better to slowly work my way over and up. Soon as you get out of the low-speed left sweeper that enters the oval you'll be full throttle the rest of the way to turn 3, so you might as well spend the first few hundred feet accelerating without the resistance of climbing up high.

Car setup: Ran Nitto 555R II tires on C5 ZO6 Alcoas, Hawks DTC-60 front and HP+ rear with NAPA blanks (stock LS1 calipers). First time on track with a frame rail mounted power steering cooler -- didn't have any issues with fluid boiling. I don't have ducts, so it was fortunate they took the bus stop out of the course -- that removed one of the high speed braking zones and I didn't have any issue with heat in the brakes.