Track use

I have tracked all my cars and they are just fine. These cars were meant to be driven hard. Just have the car inspected and go have fun!

 

I think tracking a car thrashes it a bit. If you met with a seller face to face and asked plus looked around you'd probably be able to tell? Worn tires, type of tires, road rash, asking around about the seller, helmets lying around in the guy's garage etc.(you get the picture), would tell the story. It's not a deal killer but it does represent added wear and tear over a car that's been driven on occasion and well maintained.

PS - with P cars you can request a PPI printout history and see how many times and how long the car'***** the rev limiter etc. That'd pretty much give you the full picture of how hard the car's been driven if you can get the same for an F-car.

 

Might check for discoloration (browning) of the front calipers as a sign of track fun. Not likely to see that sort of heat on the street.

 

I'm afraid you got that wrong. For example when was the last time you changed your suspension bushings? I'll put up my "driver been on the track" over a lightly used garage queen any day. I bet my car is better maintained than 90% of owners out there because I use the car. When you want to extract all the performance a car has to offer you make sure it is "tight". That means excessive maintenance. Now if you beat it and put it away wet that's a totally different story. Do you have any idea what would happen if you took a typically maintained low mile ferrari garage queen out on the track? Most likely it would not last 15 minutes before it broke down.

 

If the dealer/private owner doesn't change the tires the wear would be noticeable. The brakes like mentioned. If you see any deep scores around the rotor is an indication of braking really hard. It is a hit of miss. Transmission, brakes, and engine mounts will see the most wear of a tracked car. However that is a heavily tracked car. A few times on the track will be hard to notice :/

 

First, I hope surfcity did not think I was beating up on him. Second if the chassis pickup points are ok and straight then everything else is a replaceable part and serious trackers are going to own the tightest cars. We don't care about tranny mounts we replace them before they wear out same with bushings etc.

 

Unclear at best. You could not look at any of my tires, at any point in their life, and determine if those tires had been on a track or not. Now, while all of the sets of tires on my F355 have been on the track, I have the suspension setup so they wear perfectly*, and to some extent, I drive a very smooth line; which moderates tire wear on the track.

(*) except at MSR Cresson where I flip them side to side half way through the day.

Also note: many who track their cars run the track laps on different wheels and tires than they use on the streets.

Thus, looking at the tires is pretty worthless in trying to determine if the car has been on the track or not.

------------------------------

Brake rotors are also problematic. In the 30 track weekends I get on a set of rotors, never did they ever develop a groove, and I got them hot enough to change then to a battleship grey from the typical more steel-like color.

------------------------------

With 62K total miles and 5K track miles, my transmission remains perfect; and I am still on the original clutch.

I did eat a pair of engine mounts however the transmission mounts remain in service.

------------------------------

The thing with track cars is that if you maintain them (and avoid off-road excursions and sudden unexpected decelerations) these F-cars remain reliable. The trick is to actually maintain them. Oil gets changed after every track weekend. Transmission oil gets changed after every 4-5 track weekends. Brake pads last 5 track weekend. Brake rotors 30 track days. I got 9K total miles and 5 track weekends on a set of tires. The nose gets resprayed every other year. And the leather gets Letherique'd every other track weekend (to accou nd for the windows down driving in 103dF heat.

I have eaten 3 hubs, 6 axel boots, 5 sets of tires, 2 majors, 3 rebuilds of the DMFW, and installed a spit catcher on the PS pump and on the transmission, and wore out the back hole where the alternator is attached to the engine.

The suspension has not needed realignment. And I should fix a couple of breaks/cracks in the undertray/diffusers.

Overall, the F355 has been considerably more reliable than my Vette under similar useage paterns.

 

Track use is great but it does require lots of extra maintenance. As long as you dont hit anything and keep up to date on maintenance it should be fine. Older cars will be a lot cheaper to maintain than the new computerized ones though

I tracked my 512TR for a few years & 1 of my mechanics said it was the sweetest driving TR he ever tried

 

Signs of track use::

- Car is offered with three sets of wheels

- Car is offered with trailer

- Headlights taped

- Logbook in glovebox

- Full cage intrudes into door, dash, roof

- Steering wheel can be removed easily

- Dash now says MOTEC

- Sparco seat replaces original driver seat, passenger seat missing

- Fire system has replaced passenger seat

- Cool suit cooler also installed

- A/c, radio, air bags missing, but "sold with car"

- Tow hook installed, tip painted red, arrow decal points at it

- No muffler

- Very important: permanent numbers and other decals all over car



Thoughts on track use:

- It's fun.

 

Not quite right. Garage Queens that are taken to Saturday coffee and the valet stand, get the bare minimum of care.

Guys that track their cars, tend to over maintain them, because they don't want to end up in the hedges.

"Helmets lying around the garage"? Are you kidding. In my garage, that would have gone with the Indycar, as well as the Ferrari. If some tire kicker came by my house and trembled because he saw a helmet, I'd throw him out. Come to think of it...... I have!