Hi Gord,

I'm brand new to the C63 family myself, so I can't give much in the way on advice in how to prepare the car. With that said, if this is your first track day [ever] though, then the focus should really be on you, not the vehicle. This isn't to say you don't need a good safety check (fluids, brake pads, tires, etc.), but beyond that the car is more than ready for the occasion. It's almost always the driver - not the vehicle - that gets you in trouble

What kind of event is it? HPDE I assume?

 

I've had good success with EBC Yellow Stuff as a track/drive to track pad. I do go through fronts very quickly. Actually, the OEM's are better than you might think on the track and they can get you through several track days. With your experience you probably know that high temp brake fluid is a good thing. I use Motul 600.

 

I just (finally) got my first day at the track with the C63! I went to the NJMP Thunderbolt track and just have to say how surprised I am at the agility of this thing... This thing had to have been one of the heaviest cars there, but it wiggled around the track pretty nicely. Of course, that's coming from someone with ZERO track experience lol and no frame of reference. But still, it felt a lot more agile than I imagined.

I'm lowered on H&R springs, and have Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 tires on (235/35/19 and 255/30/19). I'd rather do 18 inch tires, but circumstances as they were wouldn't allow. I also have the Eurocharged tune and ROW airboxes, but everything else is stock. Before track day, I had a brake flush done and put on EBC red pads fitted. I heard on these forums that it's best to just leave it in S-auto mode and not even mess with the paddle gears, so that's what I did for the most part and it seemed to work out. One significant note though, was that my track day was wet..very wet. It never stopped raining. So the wear on my tires and brakes was probably a fraction of what they normally would've been on a normal sunny summer day.

Anyway, it was fun..super fun.. Here are some of my feeble first timer attempts

 

My suggestion is if you like the track, buy a dedicated track car and leave the MB at home. Something cheap, Miata and like stated above 120hp with suspension and tires will lap a MB with a novice driver. Miata is cheap to fix and you don't have to get it fixed come Monday before you leave for work.






The track is fun and becomes expensive very fast and fixing the MB will be worse than a Honda or Miata.


just my 2 cents from experience.

 

Yea that's what I hear - all but one of the the instructors there voted for Miatas (the other instructor voted for a porsche). And yea, this track day was just one of those things I wanted to try once for the experience. I'm just surprised at how this 4000 lbs car handled it, albeit with an amateur behind the wheel and following single file behind a pace car at a slow pace.

Anyway, there's no way I'd be bringing the C back to the track. Luckily the rain spared me my brakes and tires..but I can imagine the costs and labor that would be involved in maintaining this thing for regular track days in hotter and dryer weather.

 

I am a terrible driver :-) but it's fun. My first day I was lapped by a old Mini Cooper twice. I thought there was 2 of them on the track. NOPE. It was definitely an eye opener that experience > HP. Once you get bit it becomes 2 sets of tires, 2 sets of brake pads. Harness bad (cage) 5 point harness, wing, corner balance. Then you get serious: truck, trailer, fire suppression system, fire suit..... on and on. HOPING nothing breaks!


I am glad you enjoyed it.

 

Haha that's hilarious - in other sessions, I saw Mini Coopers holding their own against Bimmers and Porsches. They'd fall back on the straights, but get right back up there in those tight corners...definitely fun to watch.

Guess you really went all out then..I'm jealous..hopefully that'll be me soon. So far I have a helmet and a phone number to AAA...lol

 

Nice. A huge recruiter from my school. What do you do for 'em, if you don't mind me asking?

 

It is not that black and white. The C63 is a great and fun HPDE car and a good car for the occasional track day. It makes it easy to keep up with the experienced crowd on track. Once you get hooked and do it more often than 3-4 times a year, or want to push it really hard, yes, get something dedicated and a trailer. Lower operating cost, and less worry to not have a car to get to work Monday.

 

I an Engineer in our diaper business. Which school is that?

 

I'm curious, what do you recommend for pressures? Just came back from a technical track lapping day. Like a boob I left my street pressure for first outing. Car came in after limp mode and 25min to 54psi front, 51 rear. Dropped the pressure to hot 38 all around and I preferred the higher ones. Car was squirrelly but could be setup for each corner pretty good. Lower pressure made for more squeal, front end push and body movement (felt like getting on to the sidewalls)

 

I found tire pressures difficult to manage on my C63 Coupe. I would start a session with 35-36 PSI all around during the day (semi-warm, after a previous session and maybe an hour waiting) and would end up with 50 PSI on the front left, 47 at the front right, and somewhat lower pressures in the rear, around 41-44. A pressure rise of 14 PSI is too much to really dial anything in. I never dared to start with less than 32 cold. Maybe I should have gone with 28 on the front left (clockwise circuit), but as said, with 30 x-section 19 inch tires (265/30/19 in front, 295/30/19 rear), I did not go that far. Maybe Nitrogen instead of air would be better, as it gives lower pressure increases.

Interestingly, when driving my new track car, a 3100lb Nissan 350Z with 6.2l Corvette engine, I only get 6-8 PSI pressure increase during a session with a starting pressure of 30 PSI.

 

You need a pyrometer to really dial tire pressures in. Way too many variables with ambient temp and weather, type of track, driving style, and tire compound/condition - you can't just say xxpsi and be done with it. I thought the PSS were heating up uniformly at around 39F/38R hot on a high-speed track like The Glen for me. You really need to pay close attention to exactly where you're rolling onto the tire shoulders, what your temps and pressures look like IMMEDIATELY after pulling off track, and then lastly how it actually feels while on track. It takes a lot of trial and error, and without the right tools and paying attention you're just throwing darts.

 

Yep, I used my pyrometer to determine what camber I needed. When I then changed to Michelin PSC2s I started getting funky readings though due to the different rubber compounds they use in the same tire. Over several sessions tire wear also gives a good indication of whether the setup is right. Uniform temperature between inside and outside means correct camber, uniform between middle and shoulders means correct pressure. However, if pressure changes as much as 14 PSI, you can only get it right during part of a session.

Both PSC2S and the Trofeo Rs were handling fine up to about 50PSI, and drop off sharply after that.

 

Agree B. Also, I was able to run my Dunlop Sport Maxx Race's at significantly higher pressures than the PSS's. Compound makes a big difference. I think I ended up at 44F/43R hot at VIR, and they were working great for me.

I'm surprised you were seeing 14psi difference from cold to hot though. What street tires were those? I was only seeing about 7psi difference with the PSS from cold to hot. About the same for the DSMR.

 

I've done a track day with Wobble, he knows his stuff.

I'll add from my local track rules:
Long jeans, closed toe shoes
No floor mats
Exposed battery terminals (I have to remove my cabin air filter for this)
SNELL helmet
Eye protection (from helmet or glasses)

Torque your wheels
Don't set the parking brake

 

That is what I saw at Watkins Glen early May on Pirelli Trofeo-Rs. I was driving pretty hard to catch you....

 

Hi Doug, I had not made the connection between your Avatar and it being you. We actually went to the track twice together -even though only one track day actually happened....


How is the CLK?

 

Ahh got it. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I know a few marketing folks that headed over there after graduation.

 

Yes, obviously!

 

Aree. It starts with 3-4 track days a year, then you move into bringing another set of R compound tire and brake pads. The next year is suspension work, harness bar and 5 point harness.

 

Hey guys - long-time lurker/reader.

I'm doing a track event at Daytona at the end of the month and have been slowly prepping for the event. I've sifted through this and as many other threads I can find, but can't seem to find a consistent answer:

Will the stock pads burn up and fade right away during say a 15-20 min session or just have a noticeable (but hopefully predictable) amount of fade towards the end of the session and show a lot of wear when I go home?

Some folks say they’re fine (and even used at the AMG Experience cars) yet others say they’re junk - there doesn’t seem to be a consistent ruling on the matter… I’ve taken this car to one event before at PBIR (fka MOROSO) last fall, but it rained the last 2 of 3 sessions and the track was somewhat damp for the first session, so I wasn't able to go consistently deep into the braking zones to see what the stock brakes could do. Then seemed fine then, maybe a couple times the pedal got a tad longer on a deep braking at the end of the straight, but not horribly. Just don’t know what to expect with warmer (dryer) weather and pushing the car harder, especially a fast course like Daytona…

Obviously I’ve been considering aftermarket pads, but I know from experience they’ll wear down the stock rotors much faster than the stock pads (since their harder), but more importantly, they’ll also heat up the rotors much more, which will lead to grooves, surface cracks, and warping if they get hot enough. The car only has 35k on the clock and my daily commute is like <1mi, so I’d prefer not to junk these expensive 2-piece rotors prematurely if I don’t have to, but I also realize that certain prices come with tracking cars so if that’s an inevitability, so be it: I’ll just bite the bullet and get a set of Zimmerman rotors + track pads and save these for the street.

But if the overwhelming majority recommends to just swap pads, which ones? I’ve read about Endless and Dexcel, but that’s crazy money for a set of pads. RB is also out of the question, tho I’m sure their stuff is good. I’ve seen a few folks have used EBC Yellow’s but what about Blue Stuff? Or is there another similarly-priced option that provides comparable (if not better) performance? For reference, I’ve been tracking my cars (and various others) for several years now and currently run intermediate in most clubs, so I’m not a *****, but I can also drive smoothly and not beat on the car too if needed (for instance: to save the brakes).

TIA!

 

I was in a similar spot as you last year. I got my car in January '18 and did a total of four track days over the season. Before the first day, I'd had fresh break fluid flush performed and had new front and rear OE pads and rotors installed. I never had any breaking problems at any track day. They performed. Bear in mind I'm a novice track guy, so not totally obliterating track records or anything, but still after five or so 20-minute sessions with a proper cool down lap, I could drive the 100-mile trip back home no issues.

As for swapping pads, there are endless threads on that. I've installed Endless pads and will try them out on the 26th to see how they compare. I can say on the street they don't have that nice cold bite feel the OEs do.
Otherwise do a search for Carbotech and G-Loc.

 

Thanks for the feedback Cyra. I don't have a concern with the act of swapping pads as I've always wrenched on my own cars, but just trying to determine if the stock pads are really that "bad" as many claim them to be and if I should absolutely swap to an aftermarket set... From all that I've read it appears the stock pads won't wear (or heat up) the stock rotors as much as aftermarket trackpads, and I may be willing to sacrifice a little on-track performance if that's the case, but just don't want to show up and be regretting it halfway through the 1st session.

I suppose I could just bring a backup set of pads to the track just in case, but I'd waste a session (or even two) bedding them in, which obviously detracts from the experience (and is probably next to impossible to do "right" anyway with other cars around). I'd rather do it beforehand if that's the general consensus, but which ones? Does anyone have experience/feedback with the following options?

EBC Blue Stuff or are Yellows better?
Hawk Blue 9012 or DTC-60?
Carbotech?
Raybestos?
StopTech?

Options seem somewhat limited for this car searching various tuners websites (Vivid, ECS, etc.), but I understand we share the same front caliper as the 2010 CTS-V, no? And does that include P30/P31 cars too?

Forgot to mention I already have 2 pints of RBF600 on the way along w/ a set of StopTech SS lines, so that should help too.

 

Hi there,

i have a 2009 P30 sedan with the 2-piece front rotors and have tried a few different pads. The RBF 600 is just fine for fluid. I have done prob 10 track days with the C63, but I probably had a total of 25-30 days on my 944 Turbo I had previously. I run in the advanced group at HPDE events and am not the fastest driver but am fairly aggressive with the brakes.

the stock pads are marginal for track duty. I ran them for one event, and they cracked and chunked from the heat. One pad has a crack right across the entire face of the pad, and they just generally didn't hold up that well. Plus, the performance was just ok. And this was on a set of street tires; if you are running a more track oriented tire with a tread wear if 200 or less, the stock pads are going to be even more marginal.

i then tried a set of the 'Track Day' pads from Powerstop. They don't make a pad for the C63, but if you use a pad from the CTS-V they fit perfectly. The only thing they don't have is the spot for the wear indicator to plug into but since you are changing the pads for each event, it doesn't really matter. These pads are very inexpensive and far superior to stock pads. I ran 5 events on these and they have very even wear with no cracking or chunking at all, even running on 200 tread wear tires. Much better fade resistance than stock pads, along with better bite and are very rotor friendly. Overall, for the price (around $140 through Summit I think), these are a great pad. I ran these with stock rear pads and they worked well. Honestly, if my buddy that has an M2 and I weren't in an escalating war of trying to beat each other, I'd prob still be using these pads. I braked hard enough to turn my calipers brown instead of silver and the pads were ok with it all.

I have recently switched to Ryabestos pads. I run ST-47s in the front and ST-43s in the rear; I paid about $600 for the set. These pads STOP! These are light years ahead of the stock pads and are definite big step up over the Powerstops as well. The initial bite of these are incredible, there is no fade and they seem to quite long-wearing. They are noisy (especially cold) and are very hard on the rotors when they are cold as well. I have an extra set of front rotors for these pads for sure, they are hard on the rotors until they heat up. But, they are perfectly acceptable to drive to/from the track apart from the noise and rotor wear. Overall I'm very impressed with these pads. My primary problem with these is my ABS module packs it in after about 5 laps, so I need to be careful not to lock these up once my ABS goes away because they have such good initial bite.

i hope this helps. If it was me just getting into this, I'd go with the Powerstop pads in the front, stock rear pads, and not worry about different rotors. This is an inexpensive way to do it, provides a big upgrade over stock front pads, and is probably enough for most people. The Raybestos route is another big step up over Powerstops, but we're starting to explode the cost curve and also much harder on the rotors.