Saturday at Putnam Park. (10/10ths Motorsports was the company putting it on).
It was a blast and I'm hooked.
2002 Camaro SS 6 speed.
During the 3rd session I was really feeling it for the first 10 minutes but heard a snap in a turn and went off track instantly...thought I broke a tie rod.
Truck came out to investigate/tow (wouldn't let my instructor out of car to check...course was clear because black flag).
I didn't have a broken tie rod but steering wheel was off 30* as I limped it back in. Upon investigation the a arm mount slid out to the extent of their adjustment violently (over an inch) and that's what happened.
Loose-ish fastener? Apparently. We moved it back and torqued it down but my day was done as I also discovered cracks in my brake rotor.
They are cross drilled (came with the car) and I know not to buy them for track days....but I figured they'd last for one novice track day...guess not.
I really cooked the brakes.
In other news I got to ride with my instructor in his rowdy track only zo6 for a session...it was pretty violent.
Ransom
PowerDork
4/14/19 9:22 p.m.
Congrats on having a good time and glad nothing worse came of your issues (especially spotting the rotors before that went really badly)!
Good to hear it wasn’t anything major and it didn’t cause an incident. Other than that it sounds like it was a fun day.
Glad to hear you had fun! I was considering attending this one, but it worked out better for me to autocross locally instead.
Vigo
UltimaDork
4/14/19 11:12 p.m.
Just so you know, sliding control arm bolts is super common on tracked cars. Sounds like a pretty successful day if you saved the car and got the racing bug.
Jay_W
Dork
4/15/19 12:34 a.m.
I was treated like a hero and got thank-you notes from the track crew when my 510 threw its oil pressure gauge line off the block on the entry to the main straight on a trackday at Pacific Raceways (happened to glance at the gauge and shut it down before turning the engine over). No. Wait. They didn't.
Ya done just fine.
ddavidv
PowerDork
4/15/19 7:08 a.m.
Brake rotors cracking on those cars is common. Ditch the cross drilled, buy the best blanks you can and plan on replacing them often. You can still use them with the small hairline cracks but they need to be ditched once you get an open crack all the way to the edge. Those cars are just too heavy for the brakes they were built with.
Congrats on getting out there and glad you had fun!! Getting a car "track-day-sorted" comes with the territory in a lot of cases, but hopefully you can get back out there again soon!
