Well, This is would be my first time on a race track and I am thinking about participating in the Tarzan Lap Battle, I only have 1 set of tires, I don't mind chewing them up but I am worried about getting home on the same set. MY fronts are Yokohama Parada Spec 2 with about 3000 miles on them, but the rears are Falkens FK451 with maybe 10-15000 on them.

My question is: am I going to be able to Drive my car 500 miles Back home after putting 20+ Super Hard Miles on My Tires?

This won't be all at once, only 1 lap at a time, then the tires can cool down a bit. please let me know. I am trying to source tires but my budget is keeping me from pulling the trigger. please help

IMO, if you're only going one lap at a time I think you'll be fine. It will also give you the chance to inspect them between laps and keep an eye on wear. Make sure your alignment and tire pressure is good and you shouldn't have a problem. I would however work on getting a set of dedicated track wheels/tires if you plan on making this any type of regular activity.

i have the wheels, but tires is another issue, I was bankin on that Yokohama tire Raffle in ATL, but taht civic guy had to win them.

I found an extra set of tires from a friend that I'm gonna bring down, and if i need to I can mount them before i go home, hopefully.

Well, having the backup is a good idea but I think you'll be fine. If you were running R-compound tires it may be questionable but with regular street tires on a lightweight car like a 240 you'll be fine. I ran an HPDE weekend with the BMW CCA in a porcine Cadillac CTS-V and the tires were ok. I ran a hell of a lot more than 20 miles and it was back to back laps 20 minutes at a time. CTS-V is also considerably heavier than an s13 which obviously would contribute to tire wear.

Having said all that, I wouldn't want to be 500 miles away from home and running on a race track without a set of backup tires.

MagikDragon wrote:Well, This is would be my first time on a race track and I am thinking about participating in the Tarzan Lap Battle, I only have 1 set of tires, I don't mind chewing them up but I am worried about getting home on the same set. MY fronts are Yokohama Parada Spec 2 with about 3000 miles on them, but the rears are Falkens FK451 with maybe 10-15000 on them.

My question is: am I going to be able to Drive my car 500 miles Back home after putting 20+ Super Hard Miles on My Tires?

This won't be all at once, only 1 lap at a time, then the tires can cool down a bit. please let me know. I am trying to source tires but my budget is keeping me from pulling the trigger. please help

Yes, you should absolutely be able to drive it home. VIR has an excellent surface, not destructive.That is unless you plan to drift like an idiot the entire lap, then you'll pretty much torch your tires.

I do HPDE's several times per year (2 times per year at VIR alone), which involve multiple 20-30 minute sessions full blast on the track,and I drive my car to/from every event on the same tires I use on the track. And its several hundred miles one way for me from VIR too. You're talking one lap sprints?? No problemo. Just a few tips.

1. Make sure you have a decent amount of tread before you go. doesn't need to be new, but you don't want to start with only 3/32nds tread, especially if you plan to push it hard

2. If you've plugged (instead of patched) your tires a few times, probably not the best thing to stress them at the track. Because if you have a failure, the plug is likely spot it'll happen.

3. Watch your tire pressures closely. 4. Check out your wear patterns on your tires after each run. Drivers side front tire tends to wear slightly harder than the other tires at VIR, but it's one lap should not be bad at all

5. VIR has curbing. Most are pretty smooth, but you need to watch riding the edges. Pro drivers obviously use them, but remember they don't pay for their tires. It's not a big deal to run on the curbs with street tires, especially if you're carrying a lot of speed, but if you make it a point to hit them on every turn of every lap, it will eventually chew up your shoulders. Again, one lap should do very little harm

5. Give the tires, your car, and your mind a chance to cool down before driving home. VIR can get your adrenaline pumping. It's an awesome track.

6. If you;re planning several runs, if your brake fluid is more than a year old, I'd recommend replacing it with fresh fluid before you go After a year, moisture creeps into brake fluid and it might boil on you after hard use. Again one lap jaunts should not be a problem.

7. After your runs, do not use your parking brake.

8. Have fun, and post pictures.

Bubba, thanks a bunch, I'm pretty confident in the tires, but I'm gonna bring a spare set anyway, my brakes are all brand new 300zx calipers and parking brake assy, with ATE Super Blue racing Fluid, installed in late May, I will also be using brake Deflectors, to hopefully get a little cooler brakes.

Now the thing that is getting me nervous is that I am not done installing my LSD, I'm hunting for some bolts that I don't have, oh well I just hope everything will work out. I'm not shooting for superfast times, I just want to see what a little suspension tweaking will do. Maybe next year I will go for Faster times, with a different engine. Thanks again man.

Bubba1 wrote:Yes, you should absolutely be able to drive it home. VIR has an excellent surface, not destructive.That is unless you plan to drift like an idiot the entire lap, then you'll pretty much torch your tires.

I do HPDE's several times per year (2 times per year at VIR alone), which involve multiple 20-30 minute sessions full blast on the track,and I drive my car to/from every event on the same tires I use on the track. And its several hundred miles one way for me from VIR too. You're talking one lap sprints?? No problemo. Just a few tips.

1. Make sure you have a decent amount of tread before you go. doesn't need to be new, but you don't want to start with only 3/32nds tread, especially if you plan to push it hard

2. If you've plugged (instead of patched) your tires a few times, probably not the best thing to stress them at the track. Because if you have a failure, the plug is likely spot it'll happen.

3. Watch your tire pressures closely. 4. Check out your wear patterns on your tires after each run. Drivers side front tire tends to wear slightly harder than the other tires at VIR, but it's one lap should not be bad at all

5. VIR has curbing. Most are pretty smooth, but you need to watch riding the edges. Pro drivers obviously use them, but remember they don't pay for their tires. It's not a big deal to run on the curbs with street tires, especially if you're carrying a lot of speed, but if you make it a point to hit them on every turn of every lap, it will eventually chew up your shoulders. Again, one lap should do very little harm

5. Give the tires, your car, and your mind a chance to cool down before driving home. VIR can get your adrenaline pumping. It's an awesome track.

6. If you;re planning several runs, if your brake fluid is more than a year old, I'd recommend replacing it with fresh fluid before you go After a year, moisture creeps into brake fluid and it might boil on you after hard use. Again one lap jaunts should not be a problem.

7. After your runs, do not use your parking brake.

8. Have fun, and post pictures.

Bubba, this is what I'm talking about. Have you thought any more about it? We need you man!!!

^ Agreed

Thanks for all the great advice guys

I hope I'm ready, I'm gonna try and get some video should be a good time.

Dude, you'll have a blast. Is this your first time on an actual race track?

its my first time doing anything besides goin fast on the street.

dont worry about the brake deflectors.....good pads is all you need, i havnt had to even think about brake cooling with my 300zx brakes and Carbotech XP-10 pads for road courses 20min at a time. unless you are using advanced auto pads, dont worry abotu it , the 300zx brakes are more than enough, especially for a first time at a track attack.

Well guys, My car did pretty well considering the rain. My fastest recorded time on the Patriot course was a 65.005. There was a time where i felt everything went smoother and i felt like i was going alot faster, and my time was not recorded. But all in all it was a good weekend, i came in 4th out of al nissans. I also got about 40 laps in.

Well here are some pics of the event.

wtf i never heard you had a run that didnt get scored

if it was faster you couldve actually gotten 3rd and had tarzan drive, since you missed it by less than a second

nismofly wrote:wtf i never heard you had a run that didnt get scored

if it was faster you couldve actually gotten 3rd and had tarzan drive, since you missed it by less than a second

Yeah well at one point the leaves were blowing all over the timing lasers and it was screwing up timing, so they went to a manual stop watch. and my last run of that session they didn't give me a time, so yeah I just shrugged it off. It would have been cool but oh well, next year.

good to hear you had fun, a rain event is always a great learning day.

as for the timing, try not to worry so much abotu timing, it will be distracting form the actual driving, concentrate on smoothness, shifting points, and good lines. If you work on all that, then the fast times will follow.

and if you went faster Tarzan drives your car? I mean im sure hes a great driver, but I for one will never put a stranger in my drivers seat, I am the only *** in that seat.

that was the point of the event, you get one of the top 3 times in one of six classes (by make) and he drives it and gives you suggestions

for your car he might just say "i like it"

thats what he said after he drove captainamy's boyfriends 450 whp evo...the one you can see behind sean in his sig pic

nismofly wrote:that was the point of the event, you get one of the top 3 times in one of six classes (by make) and he drives it and gives you suggestions

for your car he might just say "i like it"

thats what he said after he drove captainamy's boyfriends 450 whp evo...the one you can see behind sean in his sig pic

ha ha, i doubt he would say that about my car....as far as input from a good driver goes, i know what i need, and money to buy those things is first on the list of priorities . It does sound like something people without those opportunities would like ot get tho.

I was in your same run group i was running the blue wrx with the c-west kit...im going to be back out there next gt live as well

born2boost wrote:I was in your same run group i was running the blue wrx with the c-west kit...im going to be back out there next gt live as well

my group?

Mine, he ran in front of me in our sessions. cool to see you're gonna do it next year.