New Online Magazine for Track Day Enthusiasts

AutoTrackDay

New Member
Greetings,

We just published a new, original article. Mike Skeen and Johan Schwartz are presenting a series of track-walk webinars called CircuitStudies. Skeen is a veteran of many professional race series including IMSA Weathertech and NASCAR Trucks. Scwhartz is the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge Champion and a BMW Performance Center instructor.

Skeen and Schwartz used Sebring's turn 17 to illustrate a typical CircuitStudies track walk:

“...you want to remember that this corner connects two lengthy straights and has a big bump in the center, so you want to compromise your mid-corner speed a bit in favor of high entry speed and a good exit....Focus on braking deep into the corner, minimize the coast on the way to the bridge, use the little dot on the bridge as a reference point for your placement as the car rotates, and try to pick up the throttle early at the exit."

Read more at:

http://trackdayzone.com/index.php/articles-general/how-to-s-main-menu/driving-technique

Thanks and enjoy!
www.trackdayzone.com
www.autotrackdaymonthly.com

p.s. You may notice that we changed our name. More on that to come.
 

AutoTrackDay

New Member
Reading The Car Through Your Hands And Feet

"If you ever find yourself pulsing on and off the brake pedal, work on making it one efficient motion: Make the first hit as hard as you can (without locking the tires) and smoothly taper off as you approach the turn-in."

"The goal in every corner is to get maximum exit speed by giving the car one nice throttle application as early as the car will take it"

Read more at:
http://trackdayzone.com/index.php/articles-general/how-to-s-main-menu/driving-technique
 

AutoTrackDay

New Member
2018 Camaro ZL1: The Most Track Capable Camaro Ever

The Camaro Z/28 was once described by Chevy as “the most track-capable Camaro ever.” Well, the new 2018 Camaro ZL1 has taken over that title. We directed our track day questions to Matt Scrase - Performance Variant Manager, Camaro.

"The owner’s manual supplement outlines what prep is needed for heavy track use. Specifically, suspension alignment and oil specs."

Read more:

http://trackdayzone.com/articles-general/featured-articles/trackcars-articles

http://trackdayzone.com/
 

AutoTrackDay

New Member
New Original Content

Responsible. Not Responsible: Marketing the Demon to Create Outlaw Image for Dodge Brand

“With Demon, our goal was to build a car that would tattoo the Dodge logo into the subconscious of the general market, beyond even our loyal enthusiasts” said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Cars – Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT, FCA North America. “To do so, we had to set records that have never been set before, do more than has ever been done before, go beyond even the legendary Hellcat. The result: an 840¬horsepower, 9¬second muscle car unlike anything that has ever come before it.”

The quote was from a press release issued by Dodge. If you read other car magazines, you may have noticed that Dodge is running ads with the title “Sorry. Not Sorry” and the tag line “Officially banned by the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association)” to promote the newly released Dodge Challenger Demon and, it seems, to create an outlaw image for the Dodge brand. The ads also include a letter from Glen Gray, NHRA Vice President for Technical Operations. Here it is:

To: FCA US LLC, regarding its Dodge brand
Date: November 30, 2016
This letter verifies that on Monday, November 21st, 2016 at Gainesville Raceway at Gainesville, Florida, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon ran the quarter mile in an elapsed time of 9.650 seconds at 140.09 miles per hour. Both the elapsed time and the speed on this run exceeded the limits on 2008 OEM (Original Equipment Model) model-year and newer production cars and therefore violate our rules. The car exceeded our limits of 9.99 seconds and 135 miles per hour. Therefore, before this car can be run again at an NHRA Member Track, it must be brought into compliance with the rules and regulations found in Section 4 of the NHRA Rulebook. If you have any questions concerning this letter or the rules in Section 4 of the NHRA Rulebook, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Glen Gray
NHRA
Vice President, Technical Operations

We spoke with two law enforcement officers who also happen to have founded organizations to discourage street racing by encouraging people to come out and race with their members at drag strips.

“I know it is a marketing draw,” says Sgt. Scott Graham of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Motorsports organization. “They are trying to be like the outlaws with these cars. Dodge is.”

We asked Brown and Graham to weigh in on safety issues and the Demon. "They start selling these cars - it’s going to be less than 30 minutes before there will be major incidents and some fatalities. An 840 horsepower street car - it just don’t make sense to me” said Lt. Tom Brown of Beat the Heat.

Read more:

http://trackdayzone.com/articles-general/featured-articles/keepingitinthetrackarticles
 

AutoTrackDay

New Member
"Tires that can be reliably driven to and from a track and used effectively on the track are generally grouped into three categories, with each category favoring a different balance of performance:”

Track Day Tires Explained
by
Steve Calder, Ultra High Performance (UHP) Tire Designer, Michelin North America

Read more:

http://trackdayzone.com/articles-general/features/trackcar-technology

Also get 15% off your next track day;
Hooked on Driving Southeast Region has events at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, June 17th and Roebling Road Raceway on Monday, June 19th!
And from now until June 17th - Pre-register for either of these events using Promo Code
Fathersday17
to get 15% off your registration fees!

https://www.hookedondriving.com/hooked-on-driving-region/Southeast-Region

Finally, please visit our online store for all of your track day needs. We have selected the products most relevant for HPDE participants and shipping is free:

http://trackdayzone.com/online-store/visit-store
 

AutoTrackDay

New Member
New original article:

Suspension Tuning with Mike Skeen, Jade Buford, Matt Romanowski, Dave Scott and Robert Metcalf

"Most of the focus for the setup with this type of car is in getting it comfortable and preserving the tire--this also happens to be where the tire is working best."

We posed a hypothetical question to our team of professional driving coaches:

You are asked to coach an experienced solo level track day driver (not necessarily a racer) with a new car. Let's say he or she has just purchased the 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE. The driver has no experience with suspension set up, but understands it in theory. How would you go about teaching this driver the basics of suspension set up over the course of a weekend HPDE event? Assume he is familiarized with the new car on track. Would the skills be specific to the particular track or would the knowledge be transferable to other tracks? If one weekend is not enough to accomplish this, how much training would be required for the driver to be able to do his/her own experimentation? Would data logging help? How would it be used? Assuming there is a track support person to take tire temps in the hot pits, would those be useful? How would tire temps be used?

Read what our experts had to say:

http://trackdayzone.com/articles-general/how-to-s-main-menu/driving-technique

Thanks coaches!
 

AutoTrackDay

New Member
The previous post had broken links. Let's try again. Sorry.

Two new original articles:

Why Smooth is Fast

"Jerky, violent driving means abrupt accelerations that transfer weight quickly. The tires don’t like that."

Read more:
http://trackdayzone.com/articles-general/features/trackcar-technology

And

2018 Mustang GT

“We are delighted to announce that the 2018 Mustang offers an available Performance Pack that will be among the first vehicles on the road to offer the Y-rated Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires."

Read more:
http://trackdayzone.com/articles-general/featured-articles/trackcars-articles
 
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