Anyone here track a 350z or Infiniti G35? Any advice?

Stock tire pressures + 5 lbs and go from there.

The Brembo calipers will work fine, but it will be the lame stock pads that will give you trouble.

Find a well-trained instructor at the track, not some volunteer hack, and have them show you around. If they're good, you'll have the line figured out quickly and you can then work on your basic track skill set: vision, steering & braking technique, heel and toe, etc.

Good luck, have fun and be safe!

 

There are 2 weak points:

1- brakes
2- suspension

The factory fluid and pads suck. A good street/mild track pad is the Ferodo DS2500 or Hawk HP Plus (but they'll squeal more than the stockers). A good track-only pad is the Hawk Blue. On that note, I've got a used front/rear set of Hawk Blue and a new rear set of Ferodo DS2500 that I need to get rid of. PM me if you're interested. (Interesting note: the front pads will also fit the Ferrari 550 Maranello)

I don't know about the G35, but the 350z understeers horribly at the limit. I figure the G35 would be more balanced because of the longer wheelbase, but the factory suspension is tuned for understeer. Better you do slow-in, fast-out w/ the factory suspension.

Regarding tire pressure, I'd start out w/ 32fr/32rr cold. Your target is around 40fr/40rr hot.

Have fun!

Michael.

 

John, any chance Franco is bringing his new F430?

 

Oh well worth a shot.
I would love to know when he takes it to No Problem.
Have fun tomorrow

 

I saw the pictures that Richard posted, what a great looking car.
I cant wait to hear how the exhaust sounds.
I hear the stock exhaust sounds better than a TUBI.

 

80% of cars' understeer characteristics are a myth perpetuated by talentless 'automotive journalists'. In fact, I think according to most automotive journalists, all cars understeer. Perhaps I should start keeping stats.

Me: So the car pushed through the corner?

Automotive Journalist Who Thinks He's God's Gift To Driving: Yup, it pushed all the way through the corner...

Me: Did ya think about setting up the corner a little differently or pulling back on the gas pedal a little?

Automotive Journalist Who Thinks He's God's Gift To Driving: Uh, no...

Most cars understeer much less than what these nerds tell the public. No car is perfect, but it's the driver's job to adapt to the car and find the fastest way around the track with the car that he's given.

Understeer and oversteer are handling states that can be created, managed and remedied by an experienced driver. Don't buy into that 'understeer' BS.

The G35 is a great car for the track. Have a blast!

P.S. At the track, the higher tire pressures will give you more grip and reduce wear.

 

A larger Sparco pedal ($25-ish) will definitely help in heel/toe. I could heel/toe my Sentra SE-R and the M3, but never the 350z. Pedal spacing in the G35 may be closer.

A good poor man's measure of correct tire pressure is observing the sidewall after a session. If the edges of the tread aren't even worn, then your tire pressures are too high.

IIRC, the Ferodo DS2500 is around $150 for a front/rear set (Hawk HP Plus should be comparable). The Hawk Blues are around $230 for a front/rear set. The stockers are $55fr and $45rr, but I believe they're 1/2 - 2/3 as thick. The stock pads are manufactured by Ferodo, BTW.

Remember, when you boil brake fluid, the pedal will go to the floor and if you overheat the pads, then you'll get pad fade. If you're super hard on them, then you'll splotch your rotors and get brake judder (don't assume it's warped rotors cause the rotors are $500/ea from the dealer!!!). If you get splotches from uneven deposition on your rotors, then running a set of track pads on the street for a day or two should "sand" them down. Personally, the Hawk HP Plus on my M3 are adequate to clean the rotor face if I splotch them.

Swapping pads on the Brembos is easier than the single-piston calipers. It's as easy as:

1- get the car on jack stands
2- remove the wheels
3- pull out the clips in the cotter pins w/ needle nose pliers
4- pull out the cotter pins (spring clip will pop out)
5- pull out pad and compress piston back
6- put in new pad
7- re-install cotter pins and spring clip (this is the hardest part because of the spring clip is very hard)
8- re-install clips in cotter pins

One caliper in the 350z will take 1/3 the time it takes me to do one caliper on the M3. Like everything, first time will always take the longest. BE CARE TO NOT CHIP THE PAINT ON YOUR CALIPERS. If you do, then Honda has a gold color on certain year Civics touch up paint that matches the Brembos perfectly (I forget the paint code). Personally, I've used the 350z Lemans Sunset touch up paint and it's closer in color than the bare metal.

The Hawk Blues are L O U D. When I had the 350z, I can get all the dogs in my neighborhood howling.

Michael.

 

Send a pm to msage355. He owns a 350z racecar and runs a series.

 

I tracked my 350z when it was stock, when it had NISMO sway bars, and when it had NISMO springs/shocks. It was a night/day difference between stock and full NISMO suspension. The sway bars made the biggest difference.

This is how I explain it:

1- stock: you ask the car to rotate, it don't want to
2- sway bars: you ask the car to rotate and it obliges
3- sway bars + springs/shocks: the car asks you to rotate it

Anyway, while the improvement was phenomenal, I could induce understeer if I wanted to so I agree w/ what you say to a certain extent.

My experiences have been the opposite. It's a balancing act between dialing in more spring or more grip. You want them to be high enough for spring, yet low enough for grip. I've had good luck w/ 40fr/40rr hot. If you're not using the tread at the edges, then you're not using all of your tire.

Of course, in auto-x, I'd do 5psi over stock for maximum spring and minimum sidewall rollover.

Michael.

 

Any car will oversteer. For fun and excitement on ride-and-drives, we used to do 180s in FWD rental cars without using the e-brake. Interesting, huh? How does a pig of a FWD car oversteer? A car's attitude is solely dependant on the driver does with his eyes, hands and feet.

Again, a driver has to adapt to the car, as a car's handling changes within a session and from one session to the next. So, a driver needs to intuitively know how to remedy understeer and oversteer conditions, as well as how to induce them. But perhaps my experience is falling upon unready ears.

I don't autocross, so I don't know what 'spring' is. Please explain, I'm interested to learn.

P.S. Sway bars mask feedback. Cars should be set up with spring rates, alignment and tire pressures, but only fine tuned with sway bars.

 

John,

Damn. I know where you are going. After being one of the initial people to sign up with our dear friend who set this up ages ago, I had to cancel just 48 hours ago. Unfortunately training for work was moved to later in the week, thus cancelling out this track day.

I know it will be a blast, and I wish I could be there to help you out, but... unforunately I will be unable to make it.

Be safe, have fun and drink lots of water! I'll catch you out there next time.

 

Indeed, I would jump in the car, but insomnia is settling in, and I have a training class to attend between 9 and 5 tomorrow. While I should have my priorities straight - the company is paying for it, and it will be very beneficial in the future.

You should venture over to MSR in Sept. I'll be instructing at TDE event and a few more events between TWS and MSR later on in the year.

 

Sounds good. Have fun tomorrow and get some sleep! You'll need it.

 

Make sure you let us know when you'll be in FTW... We'll take you to Freds and you can buy us beers!

 

That's just a teeny bit arrogant, wouldn't you say? I know that Larry Webster of Car & Driver has actually done quite well in SCCA ITA. I can't speak for his region but I know that in my region talentless hacks don't do well in any of the IT classes no matter how much money they spend. In fact, plenty of the local IT hotshoes could do well nationally with enough funding. A few of the guys from Grassroots Motorsports do fairly well autocrossing nationally IIRC.

The magazines identify two things: steady state and transient. Just about every car built today does understeer to varying degrees in steady state cornering so that's what they report. Yes, you can make just about anything go sideways with enough coaxing and 90% of the time, Car & Driver (at least) identifies what happens under drop throttle and/or trail braking conditions so you have a clue. Often simple alignment or tire pressure changes can have a significant effect too but it's their job to report how the car responds as delivered from the manufacturer.

Care to share which magazine your referenced journalist writes for?

 

Again, I agree to a certain extent. The stock suspension in the 350z favors slow-in, fast-out. Add a [NISMO] suspension, and you can increase entry speed a notch. If you're just driving for fun, then yes the driver can tune himself to accomodate the characteristics of a car. But if you want faster laptimes, you will have to tune the car (and driver).

You can effectively tune spring rate with tire pressure. A 2psi increase won't make a difference in contact patch, but it will increase spring rate.

I agree.

Michael.