Track prep. Whats needed? Whats recommended?

[mikeness]

Particularly pertaining to the GTR, but this also applies to the GTS-T as-well.

There's the obvious fluid checks, fresh oil, good tires & proper pressure, make sure tc rods & suspension components are in good nic too.

Are any extra parts required, or recommended for the casual track day, nothing serious, just lapping.

How is does the stock GTR's cooling system hold up? I was looking at getting an oil cooler kit, but due to it's additional cost to a oil filter relocation kit, i'd rather not get one unless absolutely necessary.

How accurate are the stock oil pressure, oil temp, water temp gauges?
I know with previous Nissans the water temp only had 3 steps; cold. medium. overheating.
After-market oil pressure, oil temp, water temp gauges may be bought to sidestep possible inaccuracies of the stock gauge setup.

There's also baffled oil pans, oil catch cans, etc.

Any information or informative suggestions would be appreciated.

[klys]

well it depends on what type of lapping

I lap a few sessions when I go..
but it's onlly 20mins so the strain on everything insn't that great

if you plan on doing long sessions you'll really have to beef up your brakes and cooling..

the oil baffle is an interesting idea as it will help protect your car in high G cornering, so if the track where you plan on going doesn't have many high G corners then it's not 100% necessary (but it won't hurt)

I ran my car in 30deg+ weather 20 mins and it didn't overheat at all.. and I boost at ±1 bar (GTS-T) brake pads will probably be the 1st thing you'll want to upgrade

not that stock fades(in my case anyway) but there could be more stopping power...

and remember if you put better brake pads... rotor wear will increase as well as fluid temp and heat around the wheels

don't forget to do a cooling lap(s) after with minimal braking.

aslo inspect you lug nuts before each session to make sure (without over tightening)

there are other things like tire and everything .. but for starters these are my recommendation as well as what you said ^^

[tyndago]

Re: Track prep. Whats needed? Whats recommended?

Are any extra parts required, or recommended for the casual track day, nothing serious, just lapping.

How is does the stock GTR's cooling system hold up? I was looking at getting an oil cooler kit, but due to it's additional cost to a oil filter relocation kit, i'd rather not get one unless absolutely necessary.

There's also baffled oil pans, oil catch cans, etc.

Any information or informative suggestions would be appreciated.

If its casual, then you can run it stock. Just change the oil before and after. Check the rest of the fluids.

Watch the oil and water temps. Oil is water cooled in the stock car. Its not enough if you get more serious.

If you get more serious, then you NEED an oil cooler. There are plenty of other things you can do, but depends on how serious you want to get.

[Z-Tuned]

Seany-boy is right the oil temps will be an issue. I went with a 2-in-1 solution: aluminum Koyo rad and some water wetter. Keeps the coolant and oil temps in check. Plus if you are using a good synthetic it can handle the high temps. I run Redline 15W50 which remains fairly thick even at 200C (not that you want to go that high).

At a track day last Friday I ran the GT-R for about 6 laps of Dunnville circuit which is long. Took about 6 laps for the temps to climb on a hot day. Could have pushed it but I myself was tired haha.

But when you want to go further get an oil cooler.

Some advice, do your late braking heroics at the end of the straight on laps 2-4 any later than that and you will be in the sandbox.

[lucky_cefiro]

Seany-boy is right the oil temps will be an issue. I went with a 2-in-1 solution: aluminum Koyo rad and some water wetter. Keeps the coolant and oil temps in check. Plus if you are using a good synthetic it can handle the high temps. I run Redline 15W50 which remains fairly thick even at 200C (not that you want to go that high).

At a track day last Friday I ran the GT-R for about 6 laps of Dunnville circuit which is long. Took about 6 laps for the temps to climb on a hot day. Could have pushed it but I myself was tired haha.

But when you want to go further get an oil cooler.

Some advice, do your late braking heroics at the end of the straight on laps 2-4 any later than that and you will be in the sandbox.

i didnt know you were comming to the track...damn and i had to break down on the hwy.

A koyo rad is actually worse for cooling, aluminum retaines heat much longer than copper will, so if you get into any moderate-serious racing....run a v-mount system....you would see the benefits on dereks' s14 if he got it fixed properly, or a copper rad.

[CanadianGTR]

Doesn't the solder on copper rads like to corrode pretty quickly?

[tyndago]

A koyo rad is actually worse for cooling, aluminum retaines heat much longer than copper will, so if you get into any moderate-serious racing....run a v-mount system....you would see the benefits on dereks' s14 if he got it fixed properly, or a copper rad.

Copper is better than aluminum at disipating heat.

If the Aluminum radiator, and the copper radiator were the same size with the same volume, then the aluminum has less heat disipating potential.

The thing about the Koyo is its larger. It allows for a greater volume of water.

If copper were that much better,then race cars would have copper intercoolers, and oil coolers.

Aluminum is lighter , and silver is shiny.

[Z-Tuned]

So if a copper unit disipated heat better then it must heat up faster too.

I don't know of too many copper-based racing rads out there.

The Koyo works great...temps are pinned in the middle. It is the oil temp that is the problem. An external oil cooler would solve the GT-Rs design flaw there.

Any rad is only as good as the CFM of its fans and the pass through regardless of material.

[jugs]

Re: Track prep. Whats needed? Whats recommended?

Particularly pertaining to the GTR, but this also applies to the GTS-T as-well.

There's the obvious fluid checks, fresh oil, good tires & proper pressure, make sure tc rods & suspension components are in good nic too.

Are any extra parts required, or recommended for the casual track day, nothing serious, just lapping.

How is does the stock GTR's cooling system hold up? I was looking at getting an oil cooler kit, but due to it's additional cost to a oil filter relocation kit, i'd rather not get one unless absolutely necessary.

How accurate are the stock oil pressure, oil temp, water temp gauges?
I know with previous Nissans the water temp only had 3 steps; cold. medium. overheating.
After-market oil pressure, oil temp, water temp gauges may be bought to sidestep possible inaccuracies of the stock gauge setup.

There's also baffled oil pans, oil catch cans, etc.

Any information or informative suggestions would be appreciated.

If you are just doing some lapping you should have no issues with just some good fluids.

If you are just doing track days once or twice every month you shouldn't worry about temps at all, even in completely stock form.

Aftermarket gauges would be nice, as well as the improved oil pan baffles, but once again not necessary. An oil catch can would be recommended if you are boosting above 1 bar.

[SequenceGarage]

Ducting is the most important thing when it comes to racing. A properly ducted rad will support over 400hp mark my words.

Oil temperatures are usually not a big concern for lapping day cars as you usually aren't out on the track for more than 10laps at a time. Mobil 1 is good up until about 260deg F after that you want to coast and cool the car down.

Back to your original question miker:

Your GTR from the factory will have no problems with lapping. If it couldn't take it then the GT-R wouldn't be much of a beast!

When you start raising boost significantly and running for long periods of time without break 30+min of hard driving (catching slow cars on lapping and following them for half a lap doesnt count - the car cools itself in this period), then you should consider an oil cooler and upgrading the ducting to the radiator.

Other than that you're good to go!

Changing your oil before a lapping day and making sure it is filled all the way to the "H" is always a good idea. Oil starvation is the easiest way to kill an engine. That and a 3>2 mis-shift spinning the engine to 11,000rpm