Road Atlanta Track Day setup for si sedan

[garf117]

Hello! So I picked up a fc1 for daily/track use a few weeks ago. Below is a short list of what I'm going to be picking up to run at Atlanta Motorsports Park and Road Atlanta later this year/next.

Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and anyone who's run there before I would love your thoughts. I've been to AMP in a mazdaspeed 3 and RA in an ecoboost mustang, so I have a bit of experience under me.

A note. I won't be doing anything to the drivetrain (ktuner, exhaust, ect) to hopefully keep the powertrain warranty intact. And I feel like it has decent power for what it is anyways.

Tires will be Bridgestone Potenza S04 Pole Positions. I'd loved to do RE71's but I daily the thing too and doubt I'll need that level of tire for my skill as it is. Main question is whether I need a front camber kit and if so does anyone have suggestions for alignment settings? I typically shoot for -2 front -1 rear in fwd cars.

Cheers,

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[burglar]

Car is pretty good out of the box. I would empty that cart, including the Pole Position, and instead add a set of 17s with rubber you can dedicate to the track. Even something like a Hankook RS4 would be fine and improve your experience far beyond all the stuff in that cart, AND you get to save your street tires.

AFAIK there's not a track pad out there yet, I don't think the HPS would do enough better than the OEM pad to be worth it. If you can find a track pad, that's the one thing I would recommend beyond tires.

 

[garf117]

Car is pretty good out of the box. I would empty that cart, including the Pole Position, and instead add a set of 17s with rubber you can dedicate to the track. Even something like a Hankook RS4 would be fine and improve your experience far beyond all the stuff in that cart, AND you get to save your street tires.

AFAIK there's not a track pad out there yet, I don't think the HPS would do enough better than the OEM pad to be worth it. If you can find a track pad, that's the one thing I would recommend beyond tires.

I already have the Pole Positions lol car came with mismatched tires and I'm not having any of that noise. I've run hawk hps pads before, performance wasn't really anything over the oem, but I didn't burn through them like I did when I ran the stock pads on my mustang. I haven't found anything dedicated track pads for these calipers yet unfortunately.

Side note: my em1 civic has Hankook rs4's and I do love them! But after getting them hot I don't think I'll gain anything (experience wise) from having better tires at this point. Still learning grip mechanics and I'm not looking to set GTA times.

 

[TC_Columbus]

I just got back from my first track day in the Si sedan a few days ago, so I can share some experience. I've spent a bit of time on the track over the years, and typically drive with the Advanced groups. The least powerful car outside of the Si I've had for the track was 580, so I'm used to going fast.

My car has very similar mods to what you are talking about, but I also have front sway bars with SPC adjustable ball joints to get a little more camber. Even with that, I could only get -1.45 of camber in the front. Additionally, I use Porterfield R4-S brakes with Motul RBF600 fluid. And for power, I have a Ktuner with TSP Stage 1 tune and PRL intake.

For the street, the ride is incredible, and the F&R sway bars make a huge difference. There's simply too much body roll in the stock setup. The power increase (about 55hp to the wheels, and 76lb/ft) was a significant improvement as well. Brakes worked great.

Even with custom track setup on alignment, I found that I still had a bit of oversteer in some areas of the track (while other areas I found perfect). I need more camber in the front, and a few other adjustments. I won't be able to achieve this without Coilovers. If you are a fast driver, you'll probably wish that you also installed the front sway bar and added a way to get some camber.

As for the brakes, they are woefully inadequate for quicker drivers. I started to get a lot of fade about 7 laps into my first session, and when I came in, all four corners were smoking badly. They continued to fade all day after just a handful of laps, and continued to smoke a bit as well. Today I just ordered up all 4 replacement rotors because they were cooked. I won't go back to the track until I get a big brake kit.

As for performance, I personally would have found the stock power to be underwhelming. The extra ponies that I got with the tune made a big difference on the street, but on the track it still felt weak above 5k rpm. Granted, I'm used to very high horsepower cars at the track, but still.

Despite some of the shortcomings, I still had a fantastic time, and the car was a lot of fun. A few tweaks on the suspension, and upgrades on the brakes will make it a blast (although it still needs more top-end pull to it).

The track will quickly show areas of a car that simply weren't designed for the track! Hard track-time is brutal on cars of all price ranges, but with the more moderately priced ones, you quickly find those areas that need serious upgrades.

In the end, I was able to get within 6 seconds of my (previous) C7 Z06 with Z07 package lap times within just my 2nd session on the track, so I was pretty happy with that. With better (and bigger) brakes, along with Coilovers, I should be able to knock another 2-3 seconds off of that.

 

[racer]

I just got back from my first track day in the Si sedan a few days ago, so I can share some experience. I've spent a bit of time on the track over the years, and typically drive with the Advanced groups. The least powerful car outside of the Si I've had for the track was 580, so I'm used to going fast.

My car has very similar mods to what you are talking about, but I also have front sway bars with SPC adjustable ball joints to get a little more camber. Even with that, I could only get -1.45 of camber in the front. Additionally, I use Porterfield R4-S brakes with Motul RBF600 fluid. And for power, I have a Ktuner with TSP Stage 1 tune and PRL intake.

For the street, the ride is incredible, and the F&R sway bars make a huge difference. There's simply too much body roll in the stock setup. The power increase (about 55hp to the wheels, and 76lb/ft) was a significant improvement as well. Brakes worked great.

Even with custom track setup on alignment, I found that I still had a bit of oversteer in some areas of the track (while other areas I found perfect). I need more camber in the front, and a few other adjustments. I won't be able to achieve this without Coilovers. If you are a fast driver, you'll probably wish that you also installed the front sway bar and added a way to get some camber.

As for the brakes, they are woefully inadequate for quicker drivers. I started to get a lot of fade about 7 laps into my first session, and when I came in, all four corners were smoking badly. They continued to fade all day after just a handful of laps, and continued to smoke a bit as well. Today I just ordered up all 4 replacement rotors because they were cooked. I won't go back to the track until I get a big brake kit.

As for performance, I personally would have found the stock power to be underwhelming. The extra ponies that I got with the tune made a big difference on the street, but on the track it still felt weak above 5k rpm. Granted, I'm used to very high horsepower cars at the track, but still.

Despite some of the shortcomings, I still had a fantastic time, and the car was a lot of fun. A few tweaks on the suspension, and upgrades on the brakes will make it a blast (although it still needs more top-end pull to it).

The track will quickly show areas of a car that simply weren't designed for the track! Hard track-time is brutal on cars of all price ranges, but with the more moderately priced ones, you quickly find those areas that need serious upgrades.

In the end, I was able to get within 6 seconds of my (previous) C7 Z06 with Z07 package lap times within just my 2nd session on the track, so I was pretty happy with that. With better (and bigger) brakes, along with Coilovers, I should be able to knock another 2-3 seconds off of that.

Which Track did you just run? Mid-Ohio?

I was surprised by your comment about your C7Z06 only 6 seconds quicker than the Si.. Wondering if it was a tight, technical course vs a true hp course. 650hp vette with well set up suspension vs a 250hp Si with not enough suspension makes it seem like you don't really need the additional power of the Vette

Overall, nice feedback on the Si. Years ago I had similar brake issues on a WRX Wagon at Watkins Glen. Smoked the factory pads and rotors in just a weekend. Dealer didn't understand how I needed new pads so soon after purchase

 

[garf117]

I just got back from my first track day in the Si sedan a few days ago, so I can share some experience. I've spent a bit of time on the track over the years, and typically drive with the Advanced groups. The least powerful car outside of the Si I've had for the track was 580, so I'm used to going fast.

My car has very similar mods to what you are talking about, but I also have front sway bars with SPC adjustable ball joints to get a little more camber. Even with that, I could only get -1.45 of camber in the front. Additionally, I use Porterfield R4-S brakes with Motul RBF600 fluid. And for power, I have a Ktuner with TSP Stage 1 tune and PRL intake.

For the street, the ride is incredible, and the F&R sway bars make a huge difference. There's simply too much body roll in the stock setup. The power increase (about 55hp to the wheels, and 76lb/ft) was a significant improvement as well. Brakes worked great.

Even with custom track setup on alignment, I found that I still had a bit of oversteer in some areas of the track (while other areas I found perfect). I need more camber in the front, and a few other adjustments. I won't be able to achieve this without Coilovers. If you are a fast driver, you'll probably wish that you also installed the front sway bar and added a way to get some camber.

As for the brakes, they are woefully inadequate for quicker drivers. I started to get a lot of fade about 7 laps into my first session, and when I came in, all four corners were smoking badly. They continued to fade all day after just a handful of laps, and continued to smoke a bit as well. Today I just ordered up all 4 replacement rotors because they were cooked. I won't go back to the track until I get a big brake kit.

As for performance, I personally would have found the stock power to be underwhelming. The extra ponies that I got with the tune made a big difference on the street, but on the track it still felt weak above 5k rpm. Granted, I'm used to very high horsepower cars at the track, but still.

Despite some of the shortcomings, I still had a fantastic time, and the car was a lot of fun. A few tweaks on the suspension, and upgrades on the brakes will make it a blast (although it still needs more top-end pull to it).

The track will quickly show areas of a car that simply weren't designed for the track! Hard track-time is brutal on cars of all price ranges, but with the more moderately priced ones, you quickly find those areas that need serious upgrades.

In the end, I was able to get within 6 seconds of my (previous) C7 Z06 with Z07 package lap times within just my 2nd session on the track, so I was pretty happy with that. With better (and bigger) brakes, along with Coilovers, I should be able to knock another 2-3 seconds off of that.

Thank you so much for the info! I was wondering about a front sway bar. I've done autox in my em1 and the golden rule I always read was to keep the front as loose as possible and the rear as stiff as you can, but good to hear the lower body roll helped!

Big brakes are for sure in the future! And as much as I would love to pick up a ktuner and get more power I played that game with my ecoboost and got burned horribly, so I'm a big gun shy on tuning at the moment. adjustable ball joints is a great suggestion. I was banking on the lowering springs giving me enough neg camber in the front but I'm sure I'll want more. AMP and RA both benefit from a good bit of front camber so the more the merrier.

What track were you on? and not to disparage the civic at all but why the hell did you switch from a z06 to a fwd econo box?!?!?

 

[TC_Columbus]

Which Track did you just run? Mid-Ohio?

I was surprised by your comment about your C7Z06 only 6 seconds quicker than the Si.. Wondering if it was a tight, technical course vs a true hp course. 650hp vette with well set up suspension vs a 250hp Si with not enough suspension makes it seem like you don't really need the additional power of the Vette

Overall, nice feedback on the Si. Years ago I had similar brake issues on a WRX Wagon at Watkins Glen. Smoked the factory pads and rotors in just a weekend. Dealer didn't understand how I needed new pads so soon after purchase

Just Mid Ohio. There are some definite HP-friendly areas of the track, with a 30mph difference on the main straight between the Vette and the Si. In some of the tighter areas, you can just hammer through the sections at full throttle in the Si whereas you need to be very gentle on the throttle with 650hp and 650lbs of torque.

I was able to achieve 4 seconds faster around that same track in my 2017 911 Turbo S that is "only" 580 hp.

Thank you so much for the info! I was wondering about a front sway bar. I've done autox in my em1 and the golden rule I always read was to keep the front as loose as possible and the rear as stiff as you can, but good to hear the lower body roll helped!

Big brakes are for sure in the future! And as much as I would love to pick up a ktuner and get more power I played that game with my ecoboost and got burned horribly, so I'm a big gun shy on tuning at the moment. adjustable ball joints is a great suggestion. I was banking on the lowering springs giving me enough neg camber in the front but I'm sure I'll want more. AMP and RA both benefit from a good bit of front camber so the more the merrier.

What track were you on? and not to disparage the civic at all but why the hell did you switch from a z06 to a fwd econo box?!?!?

You'll pick up some static camber just from it being lower, but it's still not as much as you need to really go fast in this car. The SPC ball joints are a cheap way to get up to about -1 degree.

Mid Ohio is my local track. Since 2016 I've had a C7 Z06, BMW X5M (highly modified), 2017 911 Turbo S (0-60 in just 2.5 seconds), 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE (also highly modified), and a new 2019 AMG GLC63S Coupe (fastest SUV around the Nurburgring). I've always been a Honda fan, know a lot of people who engineer them at American Honda, and also just wanted to prove that you can go out and have a great time on the street and track without spending a boat load of money. And since the track beats the crap out of cars, you take less of a financial beating on a $24k track car than you do a $200k track car.

 

[das borgen]

Car is pretty good out of the box. I would empty that cart, including the Pole Position, and instead add a set of 17s with rubber you can dedicate to the track. Even something like a Hankook RS4 would be fine and improve your experience far beyond all the stuff in that cart, AND you get to save your street tires.

AFAIK there's not a track pad out there yet, I don't think the HPS would do enough better than the OEM pad to be worth it. If you can find a track pad, that's the one thing I would recommend beyond tires.

Don't listen to this guy about track pads not being available yet. On that note, any front pad that fits the 2012 Acura RDX and 2014 RLX fits the Civic Si. As far as I've seen, no aftermarket shop has been showing those as being the same shape pad as the Civic Si fronts. I've checked myself and I can in good faith that's the case

I use the EBC redstuff and it's great for autocross. For the track, I have no issues recommending the Yellowstuff. I run them as track pads on my E36 M3 and I know they are available also for the Si. They're part number DP41896R for the fronts. For $113 here http://performance.importrp.com/ebc...llowstuff-4000-series/dp41896r/i-1807153.aspx It's a track pad that they say is streetable. It sucks on the street and it's very dusty, but the dust is very easy to clean and doesn't bake on wheels as much as the Hawk HPS 5.0. That pad is terrible on the street and I don't see any way it is good on track.

Another user here noted they use Porterfield R4-S. I've used the R4-S on E36 M3, and i thought they were OK too, but it's more of a street pad. Their R4 is a better bet for a track pad.


I will echo just sticking with tires, brake pads and brake fluid. Forget the springs and the swaybars for now

 

[RacingManiac]

For pads there will always be pads available if you are willing to go G-LOC or Carbotech....

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