FCA - Laguna Seca Track Requirement

My guess is that if the anti-freeze is to fall on the track for some sort of reason it would be very slippery and cause more of a hazard than water.

 

In fact, anti-freeze is slipperier than oil and harder to clean-up... and old Ferraris have a bad habit of blowing coolant out.

At my CS's 5K service, I had them drain the coolant and put in water and Redline Water Wetter. And I'll have the coolant put back in before winter.

No big deal... small concern in the mountains... I'll need to be careful of temperatures before stopping for long on a mountain pass! But in August, even mountain passes are very rarely that cold... even if there is still some snow piled up.

 

Anti-freeze is very, very, nasty stuff. I'm surprised that the car guys allow cars to run this on the track at all. The motorcycle guys may be crazy, but they are not that nutty.

Dale

 

I've been to several of the FCA (Pacific region) events at Laguna and never heard of this requirement, this must be new. I am not taking track days in August so I didn't check the tech-sheet but it is surprising since people are not racing, they are just lapping and having a good time.

The stuff now days is called coolant since it provides both cooling and anti-freezing. Brain -- is your temp running higher since you replaced the fluid? Did you put distilled or regular water?

 

use regualr water and redline water wetter. one 12oz bottle will treat an average ferrari cooling system no problem. You can run this vs water 100% of the time if you want or use antifreeze for the cold freezing weather protection. When was the last time you took your ferrari skiing? Get water wetter anywhere or try pegasus autoracing 8006886946

 

No, if anything its running a bit cooler.

 

Brian, did you say 5K service? Have you already put that many miles on your Cs?

 

As a motorcycle rider and I can assure you antifreeze on the road is one of my biggest fears. You hit that in a curve and you are already wrecked.

 

Sounds like a good idea but I am surprised that in 15 years of track days up and down the east coast, I never heard this mentioned as a FCA or track requirement.

 

I agree, Lou, I have never come across this requirement. This leads me to think that it may be a track requirement instead of an FCA requirement although I am not sure this is the case.

 

Just my suspicion - the FCA National track event at Laguna Seca is PACKED - in other words, it's full. Because there are so many members doing this, any coolant on the track would cause a lot of people to lose track time, so this is a precautionary measure to try to make sure that everyone gets sufficient track time. Also, because it's part of the National meet, there would likely be a lot of people for whom this would be a rare or even first track event, so the likelihood that there would be cars that aren't regularly tracked and more susceptible to blowing coolant (and beginners who might be more likely to wreck).

Again, just my guess.

For those of you who do live in the snowbelt, be sure to change back to anti-freeze/water mix, even if you don't take your Ferrari skiing, because it might just freeze while the car is parked in your (unheated) garage. Bummer to have a cracked radiator or block....

And don't run just water, as it doesn't have the anti-corrosion additives that Water Wetter provides.

vty,

--Dennis

 

are you concerned about the boiling point of water+water wetter being less than coolant?

i saw this blurb about water wetter:

BOILING POINT ELEVATION

Red Line Water Wetter does not significantly increase the boiling point of water; however, increasing pressure will raise the boiling point. The boiling point of water treated with Red Line using a 15 psi cap is 250°F compared to 265°F at 15 psi for 50% glycol. Increasing the pressure by 50% to 23 psi will increase the boiling point of water to 265°F. Because of the doubling of the ability of the radiator to transfer heat, boilover using Red Line treated water is not a problem as long as the engine is circulating coolant through the head and the fan is circulating air. Sudden shutdown after very hard driving may cause boilover.

 

Yep... 5550 miles in its first three months.

 

No, I am not concerned. Operating properly, the Ferrari will not let the coolant get to 230°F, let alone 250°F or 265°F. It might be a bit more susceptible to boilover if you skip adequate cooldown, but then I don't skip that. I haven't had any problems running it hard with just the minimal cooldown in Texas' 95°F plus heat. So, should be no issue at all in Monterey.

 

My thought exactly, Redline boasts higher efficiency in engine cooling over traditional "anti-freeze" as we know it.