Track Day 02 - C5 Corvette Second Track Day - Laguna Seca

As luck and fortune would have it, after the first track day at Streets of Willow Springs, there was another track day scheduled at Laguna Seca two weeks later. As most folks know, Laguna Seca is a nationally to likely internationally renowned track. With it being only a 4 hour drive from me it seemed reasonable to plan the nescessary uprgades to my Corvette from the first track day and then try for the track day at Laguna Seca.

With the seats and seat belts upgraded, I felt pretty safe to hit the track. While I had not had time yet to upgrade the brakes the ambient temperatures were going to be in the 70's instead off cresting at 106+. This gave me some reasonable headroom to get out on the track.

This track day was notably different from my first experience. The first track was hot, nearly empty, and I had tons of on track time with my car barely cooling off at all between sessions. This track day was cool and breezy, crowded, and I had to wait as long as two hours sometimes between sessions.

Some of the things this caused I was familiar with from sport bikes and were simple such as knowing your tires had cooled off and your brakes were cold for that first lap (in the absence of tire warmers).

Some of the more significant headaches though were that since I only had one prior track day experience in, I was stuck in the beginner group. So many of the beginners were oblivious. Lots of folk with a lot of car and not a lot of know how. This meant they'd have horrible lines, they'd not do point bys, and the most annoying habit was they'd go off the track and STILL NOT DO POINTBYS. Fortuantely for me those taking off track excursions got black flagged so it all worked out in the end for myself.

In the end though I got a lot of fun time out on the track. I was able to chase some talented people, pass some not so talented people, and only sporadically was I behind people with very little clue as to how to drive.

Next set of Upgrades After the Track Day

So I didn't walk away from this track day as concerned about upgrades as the previous track days. The car handled well enough, although I do think some upgrades to suspension are in short order. The power was plenty, although I was a bit perturbed at how some of the less talented drivers would absolutely blast away from me on the straights after I'd spent 10 turns on their bumper cursing horrible lines.

I believe next up would be the trap door oil baffle inserts from improved racing. The trap door oil baffle inserts won't add any performance, they simply will help maintain oil pressure in higher g-force turns ensuring the engine doesn't have oil starvation. Maintianing oil pressure will ensure engine longevity, which is absolutely what I'm after. This presumes I am lucky enough to have the two piece oil pan that would allow install. I've heard mixed things about what years of corvette have the actual two peice oil pans, so we'll find out just what I have.

The other upgrade I have queued up, is to set my Corvette up "Square" with the same size wheels and tires on all four corners. Currently I have 245 front tires, 275 rear. I would be able to run all 4 corners as 285s. This one I may hold off on completing for a bit though as I need to get the wheels powder coated to match the other wheels.

Suspension upgrades are in order as well but likely not before the next track day? Albiet the upgrades I'd like to make are budget and not extravegant yet. Simple C6Z06 shock and sway bar updates I think would keep me happy for quite a while... but would that be money better saved and instead later spent for an entire overhaul of the Corvette? We'll see about that.

Brakes are also in order. I've been documenting and capturing C5 brake upgrade options, and I'm mostly eyeing the Cadillac Brembo Caliper upgrade. We'll see about this upgrade as well though. I had no issues at Laguna Seca with the brakes, but I was also leaving a lot of braking on the table while I was out there.

Video from the track day