My first track day: what I got right, what I got wrong, and what needs to change

On 29 August, I finally took my FR-S to Autodrom Jastrząb to compete in the Kaizen Cup, which is part of the VTEC Cup. My time wasn’t great. I finished last, with a lap time slower than I had hoped for, and came home with a fairly long list of things to improve — both in my driving and on the car.

Still, I’m happy with how the day went. I went there with one main purpose: to learn as much as I could about myself and the car. On that front, I got exactly what I came for. The stopwatch might not have given me much to celebrate, but the day gave me plenty to think about.

Getting the car to this point

I drive a 2013 Scion FR-S, which I bought last November. It was pretty beaten up, but there wasn’t too much rust, so I decided to go for it. Shortly afterwards, I committed to a full engine rebuild: a new short block, the valve spring recall work, new spark plugs and a timing chain, along with an inspection of the rest of the engine.

Once the break-in period was over, it was finally time to take it to the track. Apart from a GReddy air intake, the car was essentially stock, so this was also a chance to find out what it felt like in its current form before making any bigger changes.

The brake pads and tyres were already approaching replacement time. My plan was to get some more use out of them during this event before moving on to the next set. For this outing, I was running Pirelli Cinturato P7 tyres.

Finding some grip — and some confidence

The conditions were a mixture of wet and dry, so I spent the first two sessions learning how the car behaved and how to behave myself on the circuit. Around 500 hours in iRacing helped with that, although there was still plenty to get used to once I was actually sitting in my own car on a real track.

After the second session, and what felt like a complete lack of grip, I started looking at tyre pressures. They were far too high — a beginner’s mistake. After dropping them to around 2 bar, the grip improved dramatically. That was one of the first practical lessons of the day, and a change I could immediately feel from behind the wheel.

I also had a session with an instructor. Unfortunately, the conditions were still mixed, and I was still short on confidence. Looking back, I don’t think I made the most of that opportunity. I was so occupied with getting comfortable that I didn’t get as much out of his time as I could have.

Then, in the next session, something finally clicked.

I took 12 seconds off my lap time. I started to understand my braking better, gained some confidence and began pushing harder. For the first time that day, I was properly feeling the cornering forces and hearing the tyres squeal. When I came back in, the tyres were finally hot, too. It felt like I was beginning to use the car rather than just find my way around the circuit.

In the following session, I found another four seconds, and that was when I really started having fun.

Of course, being a beginner in a mostly standard car also meant sharing the circuit with people who were considerably quicker. Later in the session, I was letting faster cars through on every lap, which interrupted my rhythm and made it difficult to put together another clean attempt at improving my time. That was another part of the day to learn: managing traffic while trying to work on my own driving.

The onboard: my fifth session

The video below is the onboard from my fifth session, including my quickest lap of the day: 1:49.9.

There is still plenty to improve, but this is the session where the progress I had made over the day finally came together. Watching it back gives me something concrete to work with before the next outing: where I hesitate, how I approach the braking zones and where I’m still leaving room to build confidence.

One sequence before the finish stands out in particular. I didn’t have the confidence to keep the throttle fully open through it. That is one of the places I want to revisit in the footage and telemetry, because I remember the hesitation and now have a recording to help me understand it.

Some of the slower sections also need a little context: I was often letting quicker cars through. A low speed on the graph doesn’t always mean I was struggling with the corner — sometimes I was simply making space.

Recording the day

Throughout the event, I used RaceChrono to record lap times and vehicle data through an OBD-II adapter, log my heart rate and coordinate the GoPro recording. I’ll cover the setup in a separate article, including how I connected everything.

Having those recordings means I can go back through the sessions and compare what I remember feeling with what the car was actually doing. There was a lot happening at once, especially in the early sessions, so I’m glad I have more than just my memory and a final lap time to work with.

The temperature readings also put an oil cooler firmly on my list for the next outing. Engine heat was a concern, and with the automatic gearbox, transmission temperature was another thing to keep an eye on. There is more to preparing the car than making it go faster, and cooling is now one of my priorities.

What needs to change before the next track day

I came home with a much clearer idea of where I was holding myself back. Braking is a big one: I need to become more confident applying the brakes firmly and work on my braking points as I get more consistent. I also need to build enough trust in the car to push beyond the cautious pace I started the day with.

With the next outing just two weeks away, the immediate list for the car is:

• Replace the brake pads, discs, lines and fluid.
• Fit an oil cooler.

The list for me is less expensive, although probably harder to tick off:

• Practise firmer, more consistent braking and work on my braking points.
• Build confidence in the car’s grip and learn to use more of what is available.
• Make better use of any time with an instructor.
• Review the footage and telemetry to identify specific things to work on next time.

I finished last, and I would obviously have liked to be quicker. But over the course of the day, I found grip, found some confidence and eventually started enjoying myself properly. I now have a much better idea of what I need to work on — and another track day booked to put those lessons into practice.

You can also find me on Instagram as @Flappedear — here’s a post from my account. I’ll be sharing more of the car, the preparation and the next outings along the way.