Tracking Your R8 for the First Time at an Audi Club event

[desperado]

Tracking Your R8 For the First Time at an Audi Club Event - Introduction

So you've been reading all the posts online about other owners taking their R8 to the track. You're intrigued by the idea of driving your own R8 on a real race track, but you have a lot of misgivings, too.

• Will taking my beautiful R8 to the track hurt it?
• Will tracking my R8 lower its resale value?
• What if the speeds are too fast? That would be frightening!
• What if I'm too slow? That would be embarassing!
• Will I be good enough? Maybe my skills just won't measure up?
• I may never do this again, will I have to invest in a lot of special equipment?
• I'm intrigued by all the special gear and don't mind buying some, but what should I get?

Well, you are not alone. Everyone of us had these same misgivings and more.

You may even have heard some negatives about track days: some car clubs aren't very welcoming to the inexperienced member, while other marque's track days are really intended as the lower rung of a ladder leading to club racing.

The good news is that your fears are unfounded. R8 owners are very fortunate. Not only do we own a wonderful car but ACNA, the Audi Club of North America, has developed a nifty culture which welcomes new members to the track in an atmosphere that not only understands your misgivings, but recognizes that it is not your intention to start a career in racing!

The ACNA program is based on the premise that Audis are great all-wheel drive automobiles with wonderful performance and are amazingly sure-footed, but the street does not provide a good, safe, or legal venue for you to "stretch its legs" and discover the car's potential and limits. ACNA track events are designed to blend a pleasant social environment with a non-threatening approach to learning safe performance driving. This is accomplished by a thoughtful program of classroom instruction, car control exercises in the parking lot (paddock), and on-track sessions with your own dedicated instructor in the car with you.

Maybe you've attended a local chapter's social event or local scenic drive, and now you are ready to try a track event. Perhaps you've attended the Audi Sportscar Experience in Sonoma and just wonder what it would be like to to have some additional instruction in your own car. Whatever the reason, you've decided to sign up for an Audi Club track weekend, and now all those questions seem more urgent than ever.

While my local ACNA chapter sends out pretty good information a week or two before the event, and sometimes even provides a nice set of first-timer's instructions, in my experience some of the information arrives a little too late for you to act on it, and there are some areas which just aren't addressed in enough detail.

This document was originally written for one of my friends on R8Talk to fill in the knowledge gaps I'd experienced between the time I signed up and my actual arrival at my first track event. At the urging of some of the members of R8Talk whom I've shared it with since, I've cleaned it up and am posting this in a thread all its own.

It is important to note that I am not an expert. I am not an Instructor. In fact, I pretty much suck compared to some of the hot shoes on this forum! What I am is just another student like you. I still have a lot to learn. This is reinforced every time I go to the track! I encourage others to post comments, additions, corrections, and other contributions to this thread so we can all continue to learn from each other.

This document is not a primer on track driving - there are already plenty of those and I'll point you to a few later on. Nor is it intended to be a syllabus for the ACNA Track Event - each club runs things slightly differently and with varying levels of organization and rigidity. This is simply an attempt to explain some of the things which confused me for my first event or two. Hopefully this writeup will help you have the best experience possible in your limited time at the race track.

Finally, even if you don't own an R8, even if you don't own an Audi, the Audi club will welcome you to their events. My son brings his Mitsubishi to our events and my wife her BMW. There is always a smattering of Porsches, Corvettes, BMWs, and the occasional Mini, Miata, or whatever. The only real requirement is enough maturity and humility to recognize that none of us know it all, respect for your fellow drivers on the track and in the paddock, a willingness to learn, and a friendly smile.

[desperado]

Tracking Your R8 for the First Time at an Audi Club event - Part I

Your Personal Gear:

Helmets: Helmets are required. If you are just going once I suggest you rent a helmet from your chapter. Check with them ahead of time to be sure they’ll have rental helmets available.

If you want to use motorcycle helmets you already own, or if you wish or need to buy a new helmet, there are some things you need to know that they don’t explain very well.

My observation is that drivers are pretty evenly split between using full-face (closed) and three-quarter (open) face helmets. Many instructors seem to choose the open helmet, as it is easier to communicate with their student inside the car. My chapter’s rental helmets are all open-face. For ACNA HPDE (High Performance Driving Education) events, it is typically up to your personal preference - you can use either style.

Properly-rated motorcycle helmets and more specialized auto sport helments are acceptable. ACNA (and most other track day organizers) require the helmet be Snell Foundation SA-rated or M-rated. Snell SA identifies an Auto Sports helmet. The differences from the ubiquitous Snell M (motorcycle) helmets is a fire resistant liner, strap and face shield, plus SA helmets must pass a roll-bar strike test. As of this writing (June 2010) the certification must be dated 2000 or newer (examples are Snell SA2000, or Snell M2005). The helmet must have a Snell label, typically located under the cloth liner inside the left side of the helmet, and the club will check this during check-in ("technical inspection").

For auto helmets Bell is the traditional leader, but now there are many other quality brands to choose from such as Simpson, Impact and G-Force, among others.

[If you think you may end up doing any “real” racing, note that a full-face SA-rated helmet is typically required. I did read one article suggesting that 3/4 helmets might actually be safer in cars with airbags, due to the force of the bag hitting the chin bar of the full face helmet. This is not accepted science, yet. Racing shoulder harnesses are proven to stretch over 16 inches in a collision, so that is one more reason why race drivers, whose cars typically don’t have airbags, wear full-face helmets.]

We used our own motorcycle helmets at first, but then they got too old to pass tech inspection (They are top quality helmets, so what a bummer!). My wife and I bought Impact’s Super Sport SS (full face) model (www.impactraceproducts.com), primarily because Impact has a factory store near our home where we could try them on for size. Ours are Snell SA2005 rated, so they are good for quite a few more years. You should only buy a Snell 2005 or 2010 helmet at this point in time, as the 2000s will be out of date soon. I recently bought a second helmet, an open face Arai GP-Jet/F, which although expensive is one of the nicest helmets I've owned!

Clothing: You must wear long pants and long sleeve shirts while on the track. They must be made of cotton or wool, or be fire-rated driving suits. Leather or ordinary synthetics are not permitted. Most everyone I know wears long-sleeve tee-shirts (or turtlenecks if it is cold) and blue jeans. Race suits are not really encouraged so as to avoid the perception of racing. This is a school for learning how to drive our street cars better, NOT a racing school!

Gloves: I really like wearing driving gloves. I feel they improve grip while permitting me to hold the wheel gently to preserve good “feel” for what the car is doing. Those specifically for auto sports are typically a gauntlet style and are fire resistant, but any good pair of driving gloves is a very worthwhile addition to your kit.

Shoes: Flat soled, closed toe shoes are required. No sandals, army boots, or high-heels! While any practical shoe is acceptable, most people you see at the track will be wearing sport driving shoes, mostly the popular Piloti brand. Oakley also makes dedicated driving shoes. (If you have an R-tronic then you don't need to heel-toe shift, so special driving shoes are certainly optional.)

Your Car's Gear:

Good News! Your R8 is pretty much track-ready as-is.

Brake Fluid: Brake fluid should be fresh. Preferably less than six months old, but certainly NEVER more than a year old. If you are having your fluid flushed, you should consider switching to one of the racing fluids which have much higher wet boiling points than typical dealer-supplied brake fluids. Commonly available fluids include ATE Blue or Gold, or Motul RBF600.

Brake Pads: The OEM brake pads are fine, but should have at least 50% of their original thickness remaining.

Brake Discs: Brake Discs should not be worn below minimum thickness, or have substantial stress cracking. Discs with cracks which connect two or more of the cross-drilled holes should be considered worn out.

Tires: Should have plenty of tread life remaining, at least 50% or more. Please do NOT upgrade your tires to competition tires - here's why: A street tire has a healthy margin between the tire's best grip and the sudden loss of traction, and they complain loudly (squeal) when you push them too hard. On the other hand, while competition tires (R-compound tires) are very grippy and therefore fast, they have a very narrow margin between their optimum grip and no grip at all. A racing tire, especially those with slick tread, is almost completely silent as they reach their limit of adhesion. In other words, there is very little feedback to the driver from the competition tire when the tire reaches its limit of grip. Since the whole point of your Audi Club track weekend is to learn the capabilities of your car and gradually approach (but not exceed!) its limits, doing anything to reduce the feedback you are getting from the car is counterproductive. This is why every Audi Club chapter I have attended prohibits novices and beginners from running R-compound tires. The stock PZeros, along with most of the other Max Performance Summer tires, are very capable tires - I'd guess they are as good as the racing tires of a couple decades ago. As a novice, you should be driving the car safely within its limits and the stock tires will serve you very well.

Even if you later find yourself going to the track regularly and want to buy a dedicated set of track wheels and tires, I would recommend that you fit them with another set of Maximum or Extreme Performance Summer street tires. Cup tires or R-compound tires should only be considered after you have fully exhausted your ability to go faster on street tires. Remember, when you do make a mistake (and we all make them), on competition tires that loss of control will be happening at a much higher speed!

More paint protection is always better, although as a novice you shouldn’t be following too close or taking any off-track excursions. Still, the car in front can throw stuff up at you. Blue masking tape is universally used at the track, although clear bra is much nicer. Along with the front and hood, I highly recommend covering at least the leading edges of the sideblades, the lower side skirts, and the front of the rear wheel flares as those are the areas which have picked up stone damage on my car.

Take a quart of oil with you (just in case the add-oil light comes on), a high quality tire gauge, windshield cleaner and paper towels, sunscreen and a hat for in the pits, a roll of 2" wide blue masking tape, and maybe a small bottle of waterless hand cleaner. That’s about it for the must-have stuff.

Chairs and awnings are nice, but mostly impossible to pack in the R8. Depending on your personality you might also want some basic detailing supplies for cleaning up the car after the long trip to the track, and again for the trip home after the track weekend. Here’s a longer checklist if you’re interested, although much of it doesn’t apply to an ACNA HPDE event, you, or your car. www.speedventures.com/events/trackchecklist.doc

In the fun-or-nice-to-have-but-certainly-not-essential category are:

• A CG Lock for your lap belt. http://www.cg-lock.com/track.html
• A "GoPro HERO" or "Contour" Motorsports Camera. These are nifty little SD-card video cameras you can fasten to your windshield or the outside of the car using the included mounts. They take stills in the paddock, too! Notes & Hints: Don't fasten the camera to the rear window. The roof is so low that the camera will auto-expose on the car's interior and the outside view will be very over-exposed. The SD cards you need may not be included, and some models come without batteries. Note too that loose or handheld cameras are NOT permitted in the car. Turn the camera off between sessions to save batteries and memory space; but don't forget to start it again before the next session! Stay away from video cameras which record on tape or hard drives, as the vibration in the car can affect the quality of the recordings.
• An intercom. (Note: I debated leaving this out since it’s your first time, but I decided to include it for future reference.) They make us run with the windows down and the R8 has quite a bit of buffeting in the cabin at high speed. It can be hard to get the subtleties of instruction across while shouting over the noise. Most but not all instructors bring an intercom. I really find it helps me, so I bought my own. I have the Chatterbox CB50 kit (throw it in the cup holder) with two SRHS “Student” headsets (tuck them inside your helmet). Hint: Make sure you remember to turn it off between sessions to keep from depleting the battery. [This is truly optional. For example, my son hates people talking to him while he drives. It breaks his concentration. He would never use an intercom!]

You can obtain much of this stuff from www.hrpworld.com. They sell all kinds of racing equipment online. There are many, many other great online sources (www.saferacer.com and www.ogracing.com come to mind), this is just one I’ve used successfully.

Your Documents: If the club hasn’t mailed or pointed you to these documents already, here are links to download them. (I assume these procedures are consistent from chapter to chapter, but you should verify how they want things done at your event):

Tech Inspection Sheet: You can save time during check-in by having your car pre-teched by your dealer's service department or by your independent mechanic. The inspection should be dated not more than 30 days prior to the event. Although it’s not typically required to "pre-tech", you could be in for serious disappointment if a disqualifying mechanical problem isn't discovered until you are already at the track.
http://www.audiclubgoldengate.org/Sh...tion_Sheet.pdf

Medical Form: Self explanatory. http://www.audiclubgoldengate.org/Sh...edicalform.pdf This document will be returned to you unopened after the event.

Your Insurance: You might want to check and make sure your insurance does not contain an exclusion for “driving on a surface primarily used for racing” or similar. If yours does (mine did not) auxiliary insurance is available. There is a link on www.MotorsportReg.com. ACNA is very careful to minimize the chances of triggering “racing” or “competition” exclusion clauses in insurance policies – they don’t teach “racing”, they don’t permit lap timing, they call it Safety Training and Driver’s Education, they are very conservative and strict about safe passing, etc.

[desperado]

Tracking Your R8 for the First Time at an Audi Club event - Part II

Your Brain: I’ve learned the hard way that some simple study before showing up will GREATLY enhance your on-track experience. I can't emphasize enough the difference some simple preparation will make in your enjoyment of your track event. Here are your homework assignments:

Start with these excellent magazine articles by David Ray, the founder of the Bay Area’s successful “Hooked on Driving” program. A number of the Golden Gate Chapter’s instructors also instruct for Hooked on Driving, as it is a very similar program to Audi Club. These articles give a general introduction to the concepts behind performance sport driving:

• “Getting on Track”: http://www.audiclubgoldengate.org/Sh...gle%20Page.pdf
• A fine article on safe performance driving starts on page 35 of “verspätet Apex”: http://issuu.com/audiclubgoldengate/...rspatetapex/35

Now, download the ACNA Grey Book (the student manual). This is a more specific and detailed handbook to the Audi Club track program, and will answer many of your questions. Your classroom instructor should go over all of this in great detail the first morning, so I’d just scan through it quickly at home to familiarize yourself with the general content. http://www.audiclubgoldengate.org/Sh...t_greybook.pdf You should, however, pay a little more attention to the concept of, and the terms for describing, "the line” in preparation for your next assignment, learning the track.

Now you are ready to learn the track. Doing so ahead of time is a HUGE advantage. Otherwise, you will spend the first day just trying to figure out what direction the next turn goes! I learned this the hard way at my first Audi Club event – it was extremely frustrating to be constantly lost on-track! It is also very helpful to know the names and/or numbers of the parts of the track so you can discuss your session coherently with your instructors and with other students in the pits and in the classroom. Besides learning your track's layout, I'd also like to suggest you get at least some idea of the ideal driving line through each corner. While the actual track is always different than you imagined from your studying, at least you’ll have some idea of what you should be trying to accomplish.

Here’s how I learn a new track: Start with Trackpedia: www.trackpedia.com. Use the map and links on the home page to find the track you will be attending. Study the track map and read the track description (scroll down on the track's page to find the links). I print these out for each track, and keep them in a binder with a separate tab for each track we go to. Watch some videos of others driving this track, while refering to the track map. There are a couple of links to videos near the bottom of the Trackpedia page, and you should be able to find many more on YouTube. Then, study the track description again. Repeat as necessary until you have gained some familiarity with the track. (Warning: Some of the user-posted videos on the internet only serve to demonstrate the driver's lousy line and technique!) Check out the track’s own website. Some have very useful information for driving their track. Others don't.

If you can find a video game racing simulation with your track on it, that is wonderful practice. My son has Laguna Seca on his X-Box in a game called “Forza Motorsport”. My wife and I “drove” Laguna Seca for a couple of weeks before we went there. It turned out to be extremely realistic. Even though this was only our second track event, our Audi Club instructors were very complimentary of our drivng right from the start, even on this very technical track. We both received comments such as, “Are you SURE you’ve NEVER driven here before?” and "Is this really only your second track event?"

Even though I have been to a particular track previously, I still repeat this track study routine for each visit. I usually learn some new things about the track each time I go through the process!

Both ACNA and some Porsche Club of America chapters have track descriptions on their websites. They can be very hard to find, though. The PCA ones are usually excellent. You can find some California track descriptions here: www.pca-ggr.org/node/106. Google your local PCA chapter and see if they have something similar for your nearby tracks.
Audi’s descriptions, while available for tracks throughout the country and AWD specific, are poorly formatted and can be out of date for some of the tracks. They are in Chapter 9 of the Instructors Manual, available in the Event Master Forms section of the ACNA website. You will need to log on with your membership info to visit this portion of the website. www.audiclubna.org

We are all pretty much "visual" learners. So while all this book learning is necessary, I believe riding in an experienced instructor's car at the track is equally and extremely important. See my discussion later.

At the Track

Your stuff: They make you take everything out of your car (floor mats, glove compartment contents, spare tire, tools, radar detector, etc). If you will not have a garage to use/share (you will know if you do) then they recommend a plastic box or a plastic sheet to put your stuff in (think “rain”). I use a large water-resistant nylon duffle bag as it is easier to pack in the R8. I also take all the stuff out of the bottom of the trunk (the entire foam insert with the pump, tools, etc lifts right out), and empty my pockets (wallet, keys, change, pocket knife, cell phone and camera go into a baggie inside the duffel). So, its a good idea to leave anything non-essential at the hotel.

Tow Hook: You will need to pull out the lower right front grill insert and screw in the tow loop from the tool kit. Use the lug wrench handle gently to make sure it’s snug so it won’t vibrate loose on the track. If you are willing to do so, clipping one "bar" of the plastic grill will allow you to slip the tow loop through the grill with it in place. Leaving the grill installed provides more protection for your air conditioning condenser (radiator) located behind this grill. The missing bar is invisible below the fin on the V8 (I'm not sure about the V10).

Tire Pressures: You will have enough other things to think about your first few times at the track. Fine-tuning tire pressures should be very low on your list of priorities. However, it is the Number One Asked Question, so I will spend a little time talking about it.

Many (most?) sedans at Audi Club events run about 5 psi higher pressures on the track to “stiffen up the tire’s sidewall”. In my opinion the R8's PZero low-profile max-performance summer tires already have stiff sidewalls and you should start at or below the factory-recommended cold tire pressures. These pressures are printed on the label on the B-pillar behind the driver's door. Once you start lapping fast on the track, hot pressures will typically rise about 4-7 psi above cold. (They only rise about 3-4 psi on the highway.) That means front hot pressures around 45 psi, which is too high. As you get faster and the day gets warm, let air out of the tires to keep hot pressures around 38-40 psi.

There are a dozen or so good articles about tire pressure at TireRack (dot) com. There is a good one titled Air Pressure for Competition Tires. There are also official charts of tire pressure increase vs top speed; however the increases start over 118 mph. I really doubt this is applicable for us. Since tracks are all about turning, even in the R8 speeds will only briefly exceed 100 mph. I only include this because the relatively small amount of increase that is recommended, even at pretty high speeds, is instructive.

Wheels: The club will almost certainly want to check your wheel bolt torque. To do so, you must remove the plastic decorative caps on the heads of the wheel bolts. There is a pair of plastic tweezers in the tool set for grasping them and pulling them off. You might want to have a ziploc bag handy to store them. (I do this at home, it's one less dirty thing to deal with at the track.) Also, I worry they might leave the security “key” on the last wheel they check, as it is hard to see it inside the deep wells on the rear wheels. I have painted my key bright orange so we don’t miss it someday. Hint: You can purchase four extra wheel bolts from your dealer's parts department and replace the security bolts. Then you won't have to deal with the locking key at the track.

Fuel: I like to use 100UL if it is available at the track. In addition to the higher octane allowing slightly better performance, I think the quality/consistency of the fuel is better. The car really seems to like it! (Make sure NOT to put in the leaded racing fuel they also sell as it will damage the catalytic converters.)

License Plate: Rumor is that insurance companies look at (or take) on-track photos and might refuse to pay a claim if you’ve tracked the car in the past. So, some people put masking tape over their license plate numbers. It seems pretty paranoid to me, so I don’t do it at ACNA events, although I have at other track events.

Lights: There should be a professional photographer at the event taking photographs, which you can purchase as keepsakes. If you can remember with all the other stuff going on, you might want to run with your headlights on. It makes for nicer photographs, especially if it is raining. And don’t tape over the turn signals, as Audi Club uses turn signals for passing (unlike all other track-day organizations). Clear bra applied to the headlights will protect the lenses from pitting or breakage.

Time: Wear a watch. They plan your entire day down to the minute. You’ll find that you won’t have much spare time at the track.

Rest, Food & Water: This is performance driving, and you can't "perform" well if you don't take care of yourself. Go to bed early. Eat a real breakfast. Avoid alcohol and caffienated beverages. The club typically provides drinking water and arranges lunch. Make an effort to stay hydrated. I bring gatorade and trail mix for a between meal snack, as I find that to stay sharp I need a little something besides water between meals. Hint: When you are tired, learning stops. If you want to skip a session, tell them. They’ll respect you for it. For example, sometimes the last session on Sunday is just too much at the end of a long weekend. You can choose to park your car and perhaps ask for an instructor ride instead. And if it's a long drive from the venue to home, consider keeping that hotel room for Sunday night so you avoid a late night drive when you are exhausted!

Passengers & Rides: Due to insurance limitations, only instructors can take passengers for a ride. And only in their car, not in a student’s. As the only exception, your instructor will drive your car at a sedate speed for the first lap or two of your first session. They do this to show you the line and to point out safety features of the track. I was quite concerned about allowing someone I'd never met before to drive my car. Don’t be. As an R8 owner especially, you will be assigned a very competent instructor.

When not in the classroom or on track you should ride with an instructor every chance you get (admittedly, tough on a novice’s full schedule). It’s one of the best learning tools at your disposal. Set up a ride with your own instructor as early as possible during the weekend. Also try to ride with other instructors. Hint: Except for the first morning, when class is mandatory, I’d definitely skip the “required” post-session debriefing if I knew I could get a ride with an instructor. Ask for forgiveness, not permission!

I'd also suggest you avoid riding with the biggest hotshot driver in the "baddest" car. While this is loads of fun and very exciting, it doesn't set the kind of example you need to see at this stage of your track education. The most instructive rides are in a well driven "momentum" car (this is code for a car with a low power-to-weight ratio - they have to keep their momentum up). An Audi TT or Mazda Miata come to mind. The incredible smoothness and good lines of these drivers typically set an excellent example for you to emulate. There is a big element of "monkey see, monkey do", and you want to be smooth and delicate with the car, not roaring around with the back end hanging out and the tires screaming!

Unlike you, if you bring a companion he or she will have spare time. Even if reluctant, make sure she gets at least one ride with an instructor. She will love it! Try to arrange this with your instructor when you first meet on Friday evening. A good time to suggest is the instructor's second Saturday morning session, when all the novices are still in class or doing car control exercises.

Non-student passengers (i.e., your companion) must be an ACNA member, sign the waiver(s), and typically get a wrist band. Ask about this at registration on Friday evening, as they probably won’t volunteer the information. A helmet will be required.

A great way for either of you to get rides is to stand by the track entrance five minutes before the start of an instructor session with your helmet in your hand. Let the course marshal and the arriving drivers know why you are there. Don’t be shy, ASK FOR RIDES!

Solo: Don’t expect to drive solo. It’s not you – it’s just that ACNA usually doesn't solo first-timers. Instead, appreciate that you are getting session after session of valuable instruction which would cost you hundreds of dollars at any other event.

Driving Style: They say that Slow is Fast. We are NOT racing, you are not being timed, and there are no prizes, ribbons, or trophys! Driving faster than your ability allows is frowned upon. It is also said that the slowest new drivers on Saturday morning can become among the quickest by Sunday afternoon. And the opposite is true as well, because when you are driving at or beyond your personal ability you have no spare capacity to learn the new techniques required on the track. So concentrate on learning what they have to teach, and don’t worry about your speed. Speed is not the correct goal; smoothness and driving a consistent "line" are the proper goals. Speed is just a secondary effect of smooth and precise car control. Slow is Fast.

Don’t expect to be able to drive as energetically as your instructors do. During rides in his car observe the line he takes (assuming he has an AWD Audi; Corvettes, Miatas, front-wheel drive cars, and most Porsches drive differently and may take different lines, sometimes quite different). Enjoy (but don’t try to emulate) their “hustle”. Watch your instructors eyes on one lap to see where he’s looking. Notice how little he actually does with his hands; the best are very quiet and smooth. Some of the most eye-opening and instructive rides I’ve taken are in a well-driven stock TT. Slow is Fast.

Vision: I've left one of the most important hints until Last. Where you are looking while driving is very, very important. We learn certain good habits on the road which handicap us on the track. On the street the environment is unpredictable. We focus fairly close to the car because the threats come from side streets, the cars around us, pedestrians, and the road surface itself, all of which are unpredictable and constantly changing. On the track there are no pedestrians, no cross traffic, no opposite direction traffic. The actions of the other cars are predictable. The track itself is the same lap after lap after lap, and there are trained corner workers to alert us if anything does change. So the threats we've trained ourself to protect against don't exist. We have to re-train ourselves to concentrate our attention MUCH further ahead. We use only our peripheral vision for feedback on the car's current situation, while our main focus is on planning our strategy for linking the next few turns. I didn't expect this to be a problem for me - I was convinced I look well ahead when I drive. Surprisingly though, this is one of the hardest things for me to do consistently well. Keeping your vision up and looking WELL ahead is one of the surest ways to improve your performance driving. When I begin to struggle, it’s always because I’ve stopped looking far enough ahead.

[desperado]

Tracking Your R8 for the First Time at an Audi Club event - Conclusion

Looking back over the advice above, most of the car prep and goodie advice in Part I is nice to know, but if you show up without any advance preparation you will still have a good time. Studying the track in advance is very, very helpful, but you can muddle along without it. I think the most useful advice I give is about Rest & Nutrition, Attitude, Vision, and Instructor Rides.

Here is a video link to get you a little bit excited – it’s not Audi Club, but does give a nice flavor of track days in general. Update: See post #14 in this thread for an excellent video by the North East Quattro Club chapter of ACNA.
[ame="www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhGT7JieDiM"]Speed Ventures - YouTube[/ame]

If you come home totally thrilled, jazzed, pumped, and stoked about your experience and wanting to learn more, there are books on performance driving you can study. One excellent place to start is the Speed Secrets series of books by Ross Bentley. Another good book is Going Faster! by the Skip Barber Racing School.

Finally, remember that I am no longer an expert on the first time at the track. But you WILL be, right after your first event!!!! So please post any suggestions you think your fellow R8 owners will benefit from. Regional differences, Insights on driving, Things to avoid - all comments and criticisms are welcome and appreciated.

Have fun at the track!
Desperado

[London Lad]

I have done a few track days of various sorts over the years and this is excellent info.
Thanks Desperado!

[swansailor]

THANKS Desperado; I am pleased that you are now sharing this with everyone.

I can tell you all that this advice made my first track event at Mont Tremblant so much less worrying (and I was pretty scared as I exited the pits for the first time) because I followed ALL of the advice and was so much better prepared as a result.

Having your own "chatter box" IS a good idea ...I mounted mine to my helmet and the instructors all appreciate not having to bring their own.

Another piece of great advice is to learn the track in advance. This also helped me a great deal and I now thoroughly study each new track before going there (videos and articles about the driving line).

I was a bit disappointed by the results from the GoPro camera so I replaced it with a small Samsung FlashCam camera with solid state memory mounted onto a holder which bolts to the headrest of the passenger seat.

I used a lot of blue masking tape at my first event but it looked awful so I had my car's Venture shield redone (full hood, all of the front bumper, headlights, door sills and bottoms of the doors, leading edge of the side blades and areas in front of and behind the rear wheels). I find that the numerous scuff marks made by flying rubber marbles come off with a little careful application of Wolfgang's Finishing Glaze. The car looks a lot better in the photos too (no blue tape).

[mlpor]

All good basic advice. As you move "up" the field and make more demands on your car, a couple of next step things to consider:

1. A more capable (i.e. higher temperature tolerant) set of brake pads, at least in the front. Pagid offers a nice solution with their "Yellow" endurance race pad. Some folks also like the "orange" pads and there are other manufactures out there as well.

2. A second set of wheels with a designated set of tires mounted up on them just for the track. These don't (and maybe even shouldn't, depending on one's level of experience be) "track" rubber (i.e. tires with UTQG ratings generally < 140 or lower.) I think it is nice, particularly if you live in an area prone to wet &/or cold weather etc., to keep your often quickly used up & relatively very thin treaded track tires separate from your hopefully much more fuller tread daily driver rubber. Some UTQG rubber comes with warnings NOT to run in near freezing, or even very cold temperatures.

Neither of the above are "required" by any means, just my 2 cent opinion having done a fair number of track days and other events in other cars, and a few in the R8.

It is a pretty easy, DIY job to swap out tires and brake pads for an event, and IMO offers both a lot of peace of mind; and an easier way to "budget" track costs ~ tire sets get expensive, and knowing where you are on your "track" set vs. a set one keeps for daily driving & the street helps keep all this in perspective. It's also a good way, if you do it through a dealer or other shop, to have the brake fluid levels checked, and the fluid flushed and changed. That brings up a possible 3rd item for the "simple" list, consider having the brake fluid at least checked and flushed if it hasn't been done in a while, and possibly changed to a "higher" temperature, track worthy variety. I say "possibly" since - I don't know what Audi is using as a stock brake fluid. The stock fluid may be perfectly adequate, as long as it's fresh and clean (i.e. free of any H2O contamination.)

I don't know how necessary #3 is, since I don't know what OEM fluid Audi's using in the R8. I do know the R8's is the first car I've seen using two different brake pad compound from the manufacturer - my stock OEM front pads were provided by Pagid, the rear compound came from Ferodo.

Now we get to wait and see if anyone comes up with any particular R8 track weaknesses, or if Audi's test & tune shakedown program have given us a worthy Porsche GT3 style run it as hard as you like bullit proof platform. Cheers, Mike

[mngolfer]

Bill,
Thank you again for your very instructive posting. It REALLY made a difference in my willingness to take my car to the track. There is only good advice for the beginner in this posting.

I upgraded my brake fluid, brake pads and purchased a second set of wheels. I did all of these to make my track experience safer, not faster.

Our local ACNA chapter will NOT allow the use of R compound tires without three track events and then only if you have been signed off by two instructors on the last day of the third event. Safety is the main objective of tracking our cars.

Being passed by P cars was difficult to swallow in a car with the performance of the R8. Being safe makes this easier to accept. More track experience will allow me to better utilize my car's potential. So what if someone has a faster car. Keep the red mist at bay. I am having the most fun tracking my car imaginable and I am still learning. It would be very nice to have someone like Mothertucker, ACNA instructor, BMW instructor, PCA instructor, lead us around a track so we could see the proper lines with an R8. I hope I am able to attend track events in the future with other R8's present driven by instructor level drivers.

[SFR8]

Great write-up Desperado!

[desperado]

These don't (and maybe even shouldn't, depending on one's level of experience be) "track" rubber (i.e. tires with UTQG ratings generally < 140 or lower.) Cheers, Mike

Our local ACNA chapter will NOT allow the use of R compound tires without three track events and then only if you have been signed off by two instructors on the last day of the third event.

That is an excellent point by both of you. I added a caution to the main article against buying upgraded tires and expecting to run them as a beginner. I also explained why running sticky track tires is a bad idea for even the experienced novice.

That brings up a possible 3rd item for the "simple" list, consider having the brake fluid at least checked and flushed if it hasn't been done in a while, and possibly changed to a "higher" temperature, track worthy variety. I say "possibly" since - I don't know what Audi is using as a stock brake fluid. The stock fluid may be perfectly adequate, as long as it's fresh and clean (i.e. free of any H2O contamination.)

Another excellent suggestion which I've incorporated into the main text. Thank you!