SCCA Track Night at Pocono Raceway with the Z06 - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

Blackbirdws6 · 09-19-2017, 09:23 PM

My first road course track experience outside of a racing school is in the books. I had an absolute blast and can't wait to do another. The weather was a touch warm but nothing crazy and the car was an absolute beast. The only prep for the track was making sure I had a full tank of fuel and swapped the DOT3 with some crazy price Castrol SRF DOT4. I think it was a smart move since I have a feeling with how much heat I put into the brakes that I would have boiled the DOT3 early on.

The track night is a well set up event. I got there a few minutes before the first paced session where they show you the track. I selected the novice class since it was basically my first time. They allow passing but only in designated areas and require the driver in front to point you by. You get 1 paced session followed by 3, unpaced sessions which are about 20 minutes long. The course was a lot of fun but coming off the big straights was tricky since you really had to haul the car down from speed.

The first two unpaced sessions were a bit tricky as I basically dealt with traffic and guys not allowing me to pass. I was black flagged on the first session since I passed before the allowable zone. A guy in a Maserati Ghibli wouldn't let me by but finally did. I jumped the gun and rather than let off to cause an issue, I kept my foot in it.

Going down the one straight away, I went easy on the banked turn mainly because I wasn't quite sure if I could hit that at full throttle. I probably could have gone 115 through the turn or faster but this experience wasn't to set any records but to just have a damn good time. You will see in the vids that I was pretty conservative near the other cars. I didn't want to get too close or run up on them real heavy. I hit 142-144 on the one straight which wasn't too shabby. The heat coming off the brakes after each session was pretty crazy. I could smell the burning brakes on track too lol. The tires looked like they got scrubbed pretty good too. They never made noise, even at the limit but would just slip a touch.

I was the fastest in my group which included a couple other z06's. There was a Alfa 4C in our group which was a lot of fun to play with in the corners. I never got one full complete clean lap but that's OK. 60+ mins on track was just a great experience.

The Z has the performance data recorder but I also used a GoPro. I would have liked to mount it outside the car but they don't allow that since it can fall off. I forgot to set the finish line on the PDR so some laps times were shown. The vids below are of the same session, one obviously using the PDR and the other the GoPro. The GoPro seems to give more of the sensation of speed while the PDR looks like I am just crawling around. In some cases I was going slow due to traffic but you can see more of what's going on in the car from the G force meter.

The only bad part of the day was a guy in a new red miata put his car into the wall on nearly the last lap for the day. You can see it at the end of the video. The funny (it is now) story is after I parked the car to end the day, my Dad came over all out of breath. I ask why he was huffing and he said that he thought the car that wrecked was me. He was all the way down the straightaway and just saw a red car hit the wall. He gave me a hug and we went to see if the driver was OK (he was but not his car). Both airbags deployed and the front end was really smashed. I doubt he went for the track day insurance.....

I'm pretty smitten with the experience and just so damn impressed with how the car performed. It's crazy to think what it would do with a more performance oriented brake pad and real sticky tires.

PolarBear · 09-20-2017, 07:50 AM

I watched one of the videos this morning before work and it looks like you weren't even trying out there, lol. I guess it is the whole perspective thing. I can't wait to get to another event like this

wretched73 · 09-20-2017, 08:06 AM

Looks like a blast. How much did it cost to run the whole day?

My other buddy was there the day before for the drift event

Blackbirdws6 · 09-20-2017, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PolarBear

I watched one of the videos this morning before work and it looks like you weren't even trying out there, lol. I guess it is the whole perspective thing. I can't wait to get to another event like this

Yea it def is a perspective thing, especially with the PDR footage and tires that really don't make any noise (no squeal). The GoPro captures the speed a bit better. I wasn't going 10/10ths of course but the G meter is more telling of what's going on inside the car. Lap traffic was quite the damper on things but it couldn't be helped. On the 2nd session, I attempted to pull in to give myself a buffer but when coming back out, I hit more traffic lol.

Blackbirdws6 · 09-20-2017, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wretched73

Looks like a blast. How much did it cost to run the whole day?

My other buddy was there the day before for the drift event

$150 for 60 mins of un-paced driving plus the paced session. It was a great value IMO however my tires and brakes have seen better days...

wretched73 · 09-20-2017, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackbirdws6

$150 for 60 mins of un-paced driving plus the paced session. It was a great value IMO however my tires and brakes have seen better days...

That's way cheaper than whatever a 144 mph speeding ticket would be

If I ever get my camaro on the road I'd love to take it there

What tires and brakes come stock? Time for carbon fiber brakes?

PolarBear · 09-20-2017, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wretched73

That's way cheaper than whatever a 144 mph speeding ticket would be

BonzoHansen · 09-20-2017, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackbirdws6

$150 for 60 mins of un-paced driving plus the paced session. It was a great value IMO however my tires and brakes have seen better days...

whats the safety requirements?

Blackbirdws6 · 09-20-2017, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wretched73

That's way cheaper than whatever a 144 mph speeding ticket would be

If I ever get my camaro on the road I'd love to take it there

What tires and brakes come stock? Time for carbon fiber brakes?

Yes very true. Def do it at least once. You won't be sorry.

The stock Z tires are Michelin Pilot Super Sport Runflats. People seem to "hate" them but I find them to be an extremely capable tire. The Cup 2's come on the Z07 package with the carbon ceramic brakes and more aero. The carbons would have been good but I can't stomach the replacement cost at $2,500 per rotor. Many guys who track their Z and have the carbons swap out the rotors/pads for another ceramic brand simply due to the cheaper replacement cost. The rotors will last if mostly street driving but heavy track use will wear them out.

Blackbirdws6 · 09-20-2017, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

whats the safety requirements?

A helmet and long pants LOL.

sweetbmxrider · 09-20-2017, 08:45 AM

Dude that's so ****in beast, looked like a great day up there too.

Anti_Rice_Guy · 09-20-2017, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

whats the safety requirements?

Where are the rules? Do they allow verts and do they need a bar?

IROCZman15 · 09-20-2017, 01:07 PM

so awesome. great stuff Brian. that sounds like a blast!

I noticed the same thing when replaying my in/car on/car GoPro footage, it looks like I am just out there driving around and not "racing" it is totally a Perspective thing a you stated. It is hard to estimate speed and distances. Also, my gopro captures a TON of wind noise, even with the hard waterproof case on. anything anyone can recommend to eliminate this?

very cool event you did. !

Blackbirdws6 · 09-21-2017, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anti_Rice_Guy

Where are the rules? Do they allow verts and do they need a bar?

There is no tech that I saw so I think the rules are pretty lax. Guys with convertibles were running with the top down. Some had a roll bar while others didn't. I would probably check in with them before you look to sign up and pay the registration fee to make sure you won't have an issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IROCZman15

so awesome. great stuff Brian. that sounds like a blast!

I noticed the same thing when replaying my in/car on/car GoPro footage, it looks like I am just out there driving around and not "racing" it is totally a Perspective thing a you stated. It is hard to estimate speed and distances. Also, my gopro captures a TON of wind noise, even with the hard waterproof case on. anything anyone can recommend to eliminate this?

very cool event you did. !

Thanks man. It was a really great experience. Regarding the wind noise, I've seen they sell a stick on fuzzy thing to buffet wind noise on the GoPro cases. I haven't tried any of them out though.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...rds=gopro+wind