Originally Posted by izanami

So I recently did my 2nd HPDE weekend at the motorsport ranch in Cresson and figured I would share some of my lessons learned. First of all, if you don't already, do track days. They are awesome. My car is a 93 R1. It makes low 300s at the wheels on stock twins, has Ohlins, stock sway bars, and all the reliability bits. Tires are Dunlop star spec II, 285 rear and 255 front.

Catch can is a must. I only had a vent to my primary turbo inlet. After my first event in March, I had oil EVERYWHERE. The intake tract was literally dripping after i pulled pipes off. In front of the BOV had oil sprayed all over, including seeping through the hood seem, and down the side of my headlights. I was convinced i had a turbo dying. I put in a vented catch can, and all is good. I haven't looked how much is in there, but there is nothing coming out the BOV anymore.

Brakes. Im using stock brakes with EBC red pads. They feel fine mostly, but they did start fade a bit as my speed piked up. What worries me though is that they look like they are actually crumbling, so I will probably replace them before next track event. Also, I don't think this track is very hard on brakes. Especially since there was water flowing over the track just before the 2 hardest braking areas. I hear Carbotechs are good pads for the track, so I will probably put a set on at the least. I think a BBK will be necessary if either I get much faster, or go to a more punishing track.

Cooling. I have a Blitz FMIC with a Koyo behind it and no AC condenser at the moment. Stock oil cooler with a lot of smashed fins (will straighten soon). It was high 80s during the day and super humid. Water temps got up to 106C on the PFC. slight lower indicated in the throttle body coolant line. 110C was the hottest I saw oil temps in the pan. My understanding is that isn't danger zone, but kind of tosty. I want to put my AC back in, but I don't know how much affect it will have on temps. I could work on the ducting around the radiator, but im not sure how much I have to gain. What would be the biggest boost to cooling capacity? bigger oil coolers, front bumper, vented hood, something else? I know a Vmount is a better option, but its a big change.

Tires. I set my cold pressures to 30 front and 28 rear. At the end of the run (minutes after) fronts were about 35, outside rear was about 34, and inside rear about 31. Should I be setting cold pressures for an even hot temp or what? if so, whats a good hot temp to shoot for?

In some places, the rear felt a little twitchy, especially in the high speed corners. I was considering disconnecting my rear sway bar for the next event. Does anyone have any experience with that? I know most people recommend a lower spring rate in the rear, but I don't want to make big changes yet without a little more track experience. I haven't done anything to measure travel, just going by seat of the pants feel.

Obligatory video is below...

Motorsport Ranch Cresson 1.7 CCW in RX7 - YouTube