FL5 Track-day at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - Personal Experience

[PointByPatrol]

what’s wrong with OEM lines?

They're rubber. Rubber expands under high pressure, which steals brake force from your caliper, and if used long term could rupture.

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[Bullitt44]

Hello all,

I'm busy today at work, but wanted to blog some things here for you FL5 owners out there....

1. This was my first track-day event ever. My car had 400 miles on it. Stock oil, pads, tires, etc. (Car gets better after 800 miles, I followed Honda's break in procedure. First thing you need to do before your next track day is CHANGE the brake fluid, Honda uses Dot 3 and it will not hold up for even a session when you get more comfortable)
2. Course was Mid-Ohio. (I have 25 years of driving/instructing and racing at Mid-O, my favorite!!)
3. This was a NASA HPDE-Intro course, although they said we would be following the same format in the two-day HPDE-1 event, just more of it. thumbsup
4. I bought this car as a second-car will all intensive purposes to drive it like I stole it <--- and yes, I did. I kept the RPMs between 4.5-6.5k the majority of the track (3.1 miles). Down the back straight where 911GT3's were hitting 150, I was easily hitting 100+, but since I don't drive that fast, I inherently felt the need to slow down...(The Type R for me is a fun daily that I will track every now and then, I have couple Porsche GT cars. I love the Type R, does everything well, and impresses at Mid-O!)
5. The brakes are AMAZING. We did an exercise where we slammed full ABS from 80-30mph and I felt like my eyeballs were leaving my head. (Again, change the brake fluid)
6. I thought this was a driver/passenger-instructor event, but it was a true lead follow. This wasn't 30 MPH around the track, this was 100+ down the back straight (Lead follow is great as long as the leaders is letting you learn, do an instructed event next time and try to find someone that has worthy experience and is willing to spend time with you, and not just trying to get a cheaper track day)
7. Make sure you download Honda LogR 2.0. You MUST set this up before hand and start the "data log" since this is for tracking... the auto-score is for street riding. The amount of data you get is MIND-BLOWING. Make sure you have your track selected too. Watch the Honda intro video on this. (Need to try this)
8. I was hitting around 0.8G on the turns... likely close to 0.9G on the up-hill turns. (Pull the pins and have a proper alignment done, this makes a huge difference. Also dialing in your tire pressures does wonders.)
9. The car's front diff PULLS you around corners and Honda did a great job on this. (Agree the mechanical diff works great!)
10. In no way could I keep up with my last-year's TT champion leader in her Miata... so DO NOT go with an EGO. (Egos are dangerous for sure!!!! The Type R can hang with fast cars when you get up to speed)
11. Even more so, the GR86's were either more experienced (which they later told me they were) or completely crazy and gave no craps about their life... they were ALL OVER my rear and I could hardly catch them. (Don't worry about the others, just make goals to improve every outing and be safe. The GR's don't stand a chance )
12. Heat soak is a REAL thing. The first mod I want is the intercooler and charge pipes. (intercooler never hurts, I have a PRL unit to install soon) If you're gonna track ALL THE TIME, get racing tires immediately. (The PS4s did great for me and my lap times were not weak, if you upgrade the tire do the same with the brakes)
13. The car suspension is VERY well setup. (just wait for that alignment)

I'll come back and add more here later.... gotta run to meeting.

I slapped a couple notes above, hope you don't mind!

Its fantastic you had a great track experience. I am newer guy to this forum, but not to Honda (Many Civics and S2000s including a Time Attack Car)! Looking forward to participating.

 

[Fresh]

…I'd highly recommend Motul RBF660 for the brake fluid…

I’m looking to get the Motul. Since I don’t have the manual on me, do you know the required volume/capacity to purchase?

 

[PointByPatrol]

I’m looking to get the Motul. Since I don’t have the manual on me, do you know the required volume/capacity to purchase?

Don't think you'll find a published capacity for that anywhere. I bought six bottles. You can probably get the job done with as few as four.

 

[Jester04]

I’m looking to get the Motul. Since I don’t have the manual on me, do you know the required volume/capacity to purchase?

I managed to change my fluid with only 2 bottles almost went through the second one. The third one is now just there as a spare.

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