Gernby

iTrader: (1)

It sounds like you just got a crappy instructer. My best friend (of 25 years) is an HPDE instructer, and he would never have done what that guy did. I'm not an instructer, but I'm never frightened in the passenger seat of a car on the track. Tracks are WAY safer than the street.

KKelly

[quote]Seemed like he was much more interested in getting out of the car ASAP.[/qoute]

I have had only one bad experience with two kids from S.F. in a lowered Civic and some Nissan. Man, no matter what I said it was fast in, plow out. Absolutely not a clue about driving. I wish I could say they wanted to get better but it was more about being on a track and "speed shifting" on the front straight. I could do that too in a car that won't hit the rev limiter before you shift.

I took them out in my car but that didn't seem to help. He spun once with me in the car in T5 using the bypass. Over the hill, the car gets totally light and he turns and brakes. See yah.

Most of the time I instruct the novice level which is fine as the speeds are pretty low. I give the BMW instructors credit as they get in cars with intermediates which are the most dangerous. Fast and still not that experienced.

PMok

oh yeah, i have one more observation from my day at the track -- in stock form the IS350 is too quiet, I could barely hear the engine and exhaust noise through my helmet. I would like to have heard a little bit more of the car's sounds to help with shifting etc. Don't get me wrong, I think it is nice to be quiet and discreet for my everday driving but in a track environment you want to be able to hear the car more. I might have to get a louder exhaust but I don't want it to be obnoxious on the street either.

cspec

Awesome! Thanks for sharing

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

Yeah I feel the same. When I'm at the track with the helmet on it is hard to hear the engine. Just glad this car isn't manual otherwise I wouldn't be hitting the shift points very well. haha. So basically we have 4 options.

1. Tanabe, which I don't care for the exhaust tips. They look like trumpets
2. LMS, that I don't care for the mufflers or that the rear cats are deleted.
3. Custom exhaust
4. Wait and see what else comes out. (This is my pick)

Gernby

iTrader: (1)

5. Remove the rear muffler section for track days.

Can't you hear the engine with the windows down?

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

HAHA Yeah I forgot about option 5. haha As for windows down at the drag strip ..they just don't allow it. Not sure about on other types of tracks like the Thunderhill course.

PMok

at most road courses like Thunderhill, you are required to run with your front windows down. this is for safety reasons, in case you wreck and the safety crew needs to get to you.

with the windows down, you hear more wind than engine at speed. I guess that's one thing the car has in common with the new Audi R10 diesel-powered racecar.

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

Makes sense to me. I wonder why drag strips require windows up.

GSE25

Good to see some of you are taking it to the track. It's strange, but when I took my 250 to the track, I definitely could hear a pronounced noise coming from the engine ( and tires ) but I think it could be a bit louder as well. Looks like you had a lot of fun

Gernby

iTrader: (1)

I forgot about option 6) Remove the cold air snorkel from the air box. Removing it increases the sound a LOT, but would certainly cost a few ponies...