track day coming up

Read your final instructions thoroughly

Remove anything from cockpit & boot that could move around

Check fuel oil water & brake fluid levels

Clean windscreen

Check tire pressures & wheel torque

If there is free instruction use it

Enjoy

 

Change your brake fluid.

Don't let up once you've entered a corner else the rear will definitely step out. Once you gain experience with it, you can use this to your advantage (steering with your right foot). Car is set up to understeer. Go into a curve fast, car does not turn enough and you realize you're running out of road. Let up on gas a little. Rear moves out but when car is aimed correctly, step on the gas to catch the rear and proceed through curve.

 

Ditto Lawrence Coppari: Have your Ferrari mechanic flush your brake system with fresh break fluid. Brake fluid absorbs water over time. When the fluid heats up the water boils and you have NO BRAKES!

Also, go out and buy a new Snell 2005 rated helmet that fits you, and ny-tie a 3 lb fire extinquisher to the front of your passenger seat.

Lastly, find out if an experienced driver will ride with you to teach you the "line". It will be much more enjoyable and safer, too.

 

First of all, if you've never ever been on the track before, you should NOT go out without an instructor with you, and preferably some class room instruction. Driving on the track is not at all like driving on the street. The dynamics of a car at speed on the track is very different that anything you've ever experienced on the street, and someone needs to show you how to do it right.

If you have an instructor, let him drive your car with you in the passenger's seat for at least a few laps, as he explains to you what he is doing and why. And when you get behind the wheel, don't worry about going fast. Concentrate on learning the racing line, steering smoothly, braking smoothly, and developing full track awareness. And try not to tense up too much. Relax, breath and keep your hands loose. Many rookies get the steering wheel in a death grip and waste a huge amount of energy squeezing the wheel. If you learn to drive smoothly and learn the racing line, speed with come with experience. If you just try to go out there and go fast (or try to go fast -- you won't be able to really go fast if you don't know what you are doing), you will end up hurting yourself and your car, and possibly other people.

If you have time before the event, go to a book store and pick up a book or two about driving on the track and start reading. You don't have to go through the whole book, just start with the basics of track safety and the basics of the driving line, apexing turns and understeer and oversteer. That will help to give you some idea what you and your car will be doing.

I agree about checking the car out. Change brake fluid, engine oil and tranny fluid. If your brake pads are not new, put in a new set. You eat brake pads on the track, especially when you are new since you will be over-braking a lot.

Other than that, have fun. And if the event you are going to does not offer instruction for newbies, be very, very careful. It is easier than you can imagine to get yourself into big trouble on the track if you don't know what you are doing. Ask someone who is experienced to take you out and explain things to you, otherwise you will get hurt.

 

If your track event doesn't require a thorough pre-inspection, you should have one done anyway. To see what should be looked at, check out the sheet at http://www.tradetutor.com/tgpr/tech.htm

Also, a good pre-track mental prep would be to read
http://www.fca-se.com/TrackReadMe.htm even though it is for a specific track.

You might also want to check out www.Trackpedia.com and they may have specific tips for driving the track you're going to... it may help you visualize the track better before you go out (and as has been mentioned before, if the event has instructors available, take advantage of their services -- hopefully they'll have a helmet-to-helmet communicator so you can actually HEAR each other).

 

They're not required for most events, but handy just in case. For your 328, plans for a simple mount can be found at www.TradeTutor.com/raceprep/