preparing for track
 

I am in the market for what kind of wheels to run on the track. stock rims or 17 staggered or 18. I would like to start doing road racing and eventually sign up for HPD school. But first come first what wheel setup are FD guys running on the track?

there's a couple things to keep in mine. one is that you want to wheel to be the ideal size for the tire, this gives it the best handling characteristics, that are designed in the tire. second is that the larger the rim you use the more rotating inertia it has, this is evident in your braking zones, I hear guys saying they drop a second with a 16" rim over a 17" with the same tires. but if you want to run big brakes then obviously you have to up the size, and the big brakes should negate the increased inertia.

staggered fitment depends if you have the HP to need wider wheels.

I'm also being told that you can fit up to a 10" wide rim with factory offset and a 275 tire. without rubbing. look into what your class allows.

agreed with above but make sure you get a good tire too and something with a sidewall not these tires people are running that are super low profile you want a little bit of sidewall

I would start with stock wheels first. make sure you got first few events before start modding the car.

I normally tell people to start off with as little mods as possible to really learn the car and know why theyre upgrading and how that upgrade affected the car. With that said, I think starting off with 17" wheels would be a good place to start. Theres a bit less sidewall to deal with, compared to 16" tires, which makes the car feel more responsive. I personally like running square setups which means front and rear wheels are the same size & offsets and the tires are the same size. This lets you rotate your tires and get as much life out of them as possible. Tires are much cheaper in 17" sizes than they are for 18" tires. I run 265/35/18 all around on 18x9.5" wheels and am very happy with the way the car feels but I dont like the tire prices. I'm thinking of going back to 17" wheels to save money down the road.

Rishie, ARD T2 here on the forum, usually has good deals and tire/wheel packages for club members on quality wheels. Shoot him a PM and tell him what youre looking for.

17x9 with 245 or 255/40/17's are a great place to start. theres really no need for a buttload of tire unless you drive a monster, just run a tire thats actually good (Treadwear in the 140-200 range).

Agreed with everything Juan had to say (Also thanks for doing my bushings and motor mounts recently! Silver 93 from NorCal!)

I personally run 17x9's with 255's. Get the right offset too, especially if you are going for function.

However to be perfectly honest, I would recommend just tracking stock wheel/tire sizes. You are better off learning the tires and the car before spending too much on a track set. For instance, I run 17x9s' with 255's and my times are still often demolished by stock S2000s... Improve the driver, above all.

In terms of preparing the car for the track, I am sure you have it covered but the FD can benefit from a wide variety of reliability modifications. Seriously though, ultimately, you don't have to do too much to the car and if you treat it well, learn to drive strong, even in stock form with decent street tires, you'll be able to wreck face :egrin:

My advice would be to run the stock rims and something like the Toyo RA-1 in a 245/45/16. I did this when I first started racing my FD. Trust me, the FD is plenty fast on 245/45/16s with stock power levels! :nod:

To answer your last question, I run 285/30/18 Hoosier R6s on CCW classics 10.5x18 rims front and rear.

Guy

Start off with stock wheels then i would suggest running 17's after some more track time, also you should look into some quality coilovers and a corner balance as you progress and are more comfortable driving at higher speeds.

I agree with others - start with stock wheel and/or tyre combinations. It'll depend on how hard you get bitten by the track bug as to what you'll need later.

To answer your question - I bought two sets of 2nd hand JDM RS 17 inch wheels, they come staggered fitment. I use 4 of the 8 inch rims with a Dunlop D14 240/625 slick on them ... then use the 8.5 inch rims with a Dunlop D03G 255/55 DOT rated intermediate

Get some "extreme performance summer tires" for your stock wheels, change the oil, brake pads (to street/circuit pads) and brake fluid, transmission and def oil, torque anything that's loose and go for it.

Having a good seat and harness is worth a lot more than suspension mods.

Before you mod the suspension, you want to change the 20 year-old bushings. And then get some anti-sway bars at the very least.

Are stock T2 wheels too small to track? My car will be putting down around 300-350whp. I'd like to have wider wheels, but I picked up the rims for $20... :)

Are you putting them on an FC? The TII wheels are fine with good tires if you're just starting to track your car. You can't beat their price tag even with new tires. My FC's never had as much HP as yours but I had lots of fun with 16" wheels. I personally liked the feel of 17" wheels on my FC's but 16" wheels are a great starting point as long as you have good tires (especially with your HP).

Yeah it will be on an FC. Looks like my HP will be closer to 300 due to intercooler restrictions. I found someone locally on craigslist selling a set of Dunlop Direzza sports for $175 Seems like a good deal and the tires have a lot of meat left. They have to be better than when I tracked my FC (NA at the time) with 185/70/14 tires!! They were screaming a lot during the day :)

Direzza Star Spec is a better place to start at. Anything less than extreme performance summer is only good for drifting.

Turns out those are the tires I got...he had them listed as "direzza sport z1" since that is what the sidewall says. Looked up the tire on tirerack, and it was the star specs! Paid 175 for all four!

nice grab

My advice to anyone just staring out on track is always the same: "Just do upgraded pads and brake fluid that has a dry boil temp over 500F, and get out there."

Literally nothing else truly matters assuming the car is in good enough condition mechanically to pass a tech inspection. Learning to use all that a lower grip tire has to offer and learning the break away characteristics inside and out will pay dividends later down the road when you get into real race tires. Its the same concept behind spec miata drivers being so versatile; once you make the most out of nothing, you can get more than expected out of something more substantial.

At the other end of the spectrum, you've got the old corvette driver on his first time to the track in a C6-Z06 with 315 / 345 hoosier R6's front and rear who doesn't even know how to get his tires warm and is the slowest car on track outside of the straights.

A racing seat and racing harnesses should are easily as important as brake pads.

The time you lose from flopping around is easily bigger than the time you lose from having stocl pads.

You should not bother upgrading the suspension until you've at least got a 4-point harness.