How to prepare for a track day

[DIY]

I was origonally looking for a thread to help me out with this and I couldn't find much, so I"m hoping the amount of feedback will fill in any other holes in what I'm writing/ give other suggestions

If I can suggest anything to anyone going to the track who is not a regular,

1) Fix your car! You don't want a single leak! And make sure its running ok...do an oil change, check trans and diff oil, spark plugs, air filter, bushings...all of them, just regular checkup. The last thing you want is drive 2 hours to a track and drive home with your car hella flush only on one side, and wondering if you'll get home.

2)change your brake fluid to DOT4, (whatever you do don't mix silicone fluid with the regular stuff cause it will turn into a puddy as I've read)

3) Get a decent set of brake pads(and if you have a few extra coins some vented front disks... Def get these before tires)which pads will be argued by all... Personally I love EBC's yellowstuff pad, I ran this pad in the winter and it worked as well as the stock ones and as soon as I heated it up at the track it was head kickin braking, felt like a completly different pad then what I drove there with.

4)Tires... I said all that stuff before tires because in my opinion if you can control your car with no grip and are able to improve your lap times you'll better understand what it's like on the edge of traction. Then with really good tires you should be able to get more out of them. Now they don't have to be some bald ass Pos tires, but before you go spend 900$ on a nice set of summers, try to learn how to use all the traction you have while keeping the car in the right direction.

5) I would say suspansion now, because until I can floor it around a corner and not spin I don't need more power(just a prefrence), but if you managed those 4 things you can pretty much go any route you want(like getting 2 K03's outta an S4 )... Past this point I'd say its all extra because with just good brakes you can havee a lot of fun, and antirollbars with a strut tower brace will be a bonus to keep the roll down and not be as expensive as a new suspension.

For safety a helmet will do, not everyone requires them, but on the full Mosport track I believe you do... But highly suggest getting a helmet

COOL TRICKS

Push your seat back along its rails and buckle yourself in, whip the belt tight so it locks and while holding it move your seat back to your driving position... The belt should be quite tight now so you don't have to hold yourself in your seat while driving, and the lock shouldn't come loose since its so tight... This is much easier with elecrtic seats.

After you run however many laps you can, do a cool down lap and blast the heater on full. Not only will the lap help cool your breaks but if your over heating the engine slightly the heater will help bring the engine temp down. if your really desparate AFTER you leave the track pop the hood while driving around slow ...

If you manage to bring some friends in a different car, you can do little things like take out the spare, rear seats are usually pretty easy to remove, the jack too, and bring an extra spare, and a air pump ...and dump it all into their car lol...

As you race your tires will heat up and you'll have to bleed some air to correct the pressure(bring a guage) and so your not running on flat tires when you go home bring that pump! Not so much a trick as, don't forget!

Hope this helps

And please help fill any info you have! I'm quite new to this, only been to 4 track days