Hello all,

Thank you for the purchase of your Function Factory Performance / Dangerous Enterprises track day. With your purchase, you did agree to party with us but before we can pop that champagne, we need to make sure you have the necessary items ready for your track day. This could be your VERY first track day or this could be your 80th, reading this blog will keep your checklist fresh for newbies and veterans. 

Visual Car Inspection 

My father served in the United States Airforce for 7 years. His job? Crew chief on B52’s. One of the most important things he taught me was “visual inspection”. Just like my father, I take a few seconds out of my day to always do a 360 visual inspection of my own vehicles.

• Check your tires
  • Wear pattern
  • PSI
  • Shake them, hows’s that wheel bearing?
  • Are they cracking?
  • Right compound for the track? We recommend at least a 240 wear tire and below
• Body panels
  • Anything loose?
  • Check your spoiler
  • Side skirts on?
  • Does your hood latch tightly?
  • Canards on tight?
• Leaks, you better fix that shit. 
• Windshield 
  • No cracks are allowed that pass over the driver’s line of sight

Fluid Leaks (why not have them)

Leaks are a zero-tolerance item. They are a massive hazard to yourself, your vehicle, and others. If your car leaks oil, water, brake fluid, or anything else, address it, and fix it immediately before your track day. Cars should never leak, make certain of that!

• They can stain your pit area, that’s not your property.
• FIRE HAZARD!
• Laying fluid on the track is dangerous for any and all participants. They could lose control due to slippery conditions.

Tires 

Do not take these rubber boys lightly. These are some of the most important items on your vehicle when out on a race track. Tires provide grip while accelerating, coasting, cornering, and most importantly, they provide grip under hard braking. Failing to have tires that are adequate for the race track will more than certainly ruining your partying abilities. Here are our notes about tires. 

• We recommend any 240 wear tire and below. These tires will provide good traction under acceleration, cornering, and braking conditions. Contact us asap for tires
• If you are not replacing your tires, make sure your current tires are in good condition
• Make sure to heat up your tires before going ten-tenths out there. Tires work best at their optimal temperature. 
• Check your PSI, cold PSI and hot PSI will change. Depending on your tire, research what your cold and hot PSI should be. 
• Make sure to heat cycle your tires. If you notice your turn-in ability is reducing with each lap, that means your tire’s ability to produce grip is starting to deteriorate. Do a cool-down lap or come into the pits. 

Braking System

We all know what brakes are, they stop your car. Don’t take this for granted. Stopping a 3000+ pound metal object from 130+ miles per hour is no easy task. With every heavy brake application, your brake pads and rotors will heat up. If you do not have a high-performance braking system, your brakes will not be able to dissipate the heat fast enough to prevent brake fade. Here are our notes on brakes

• Use racing brake pads. We use Hawk DTC-30’s on our Mustang. They meet the price point and have stopped our pony from 165 miles per hours multiple times. Swap your street pads back in when you go home. Contact us for brake pads.
• Are your rotors in spec? Rotors are cheap, don’t skip this
• Unless you own a supercar, do not use the stock brake fluid. It will boil especially if it is old. We recommend Motul RBF 660. We will have some on-site. 
• If you feel your brakes fading on track, come to the pits immediately. They have already overheated. 

Safety Gear

To keep this basic, you need an SA2020 helmet. Motorcycle helmets/dirt bike helmets are not allowed. We want to keep your brain in a safe bucket. Contact us if you are in need of a helmet. We recommend long pants, Arizona is very hot so shorts are passable this time around. Please keep in mind that 99% of other race tracks require jeans/pants. Here are our notes.

• SA2020 Helmet is required. Contact us if you need one.     
• You must have a working seat belt for the driver and passenger
• Shorts are allowed due to weather conditions
• We recommend driving gloves but not necessary
• We recommend racing shoes but not necessary

Keep a calm head 

If this is your first time on a race track, it can be extremely intimidating. I highly applaud you for taking this huge step in high performance driving education, seriously. Street and spirited driving is one thing, but proper racing line and respecting your vehicle on a race track is a completely different matter. Read our notes below about maintaining calm. 

• If you feel nervous, have someone ride with you or have a pace car. This is supposed to be fun, not have an anxiety attack 
• NEVER drive over your skill limit. We want your car in the same condition as it came in, as for the brake pads, that is a different story. 
• YOU HAVE NOTHING TO PROVE AT THIS EVENT. This event is to learn, experience, and get a feel for the race track while driving with others. If you want to prove something, then sign up for our GT500 Arrive & Drive. 

Proper Track Etiquette

Everything seems to be dangerous and negative but I can promise you it is not. All of this information is to keep YOU and OTHERS as safe as humanly possible. I have personally been around racing for over 13 years and have seen every stupid thing imaginable. We are better than that and that is why we are reading this. See our notes below. 

• It is not mandatory, but we recommend that you keep your windows down. 
• MAX SPEED IN THE PITS IS 15 MILES PER HOUR. Do not be that guy, please
• You can accelerate to a reasonable speed in the hot pits to the blend line
• DO NOT CROSS THE BLEND LINE. The blend line is there for a reason, to keep you from hitting a car already on the race track. Blend in AT SPEED. Check your cross-traffic when coming onto the race track. 
• DO NOT STRAY OFF THE RACING LINE WHEN A FASTER CAR IS PASSING YOU. If a faster car is approaching you, KEEP YOUR LINE. It is the job of the passing car to move OFFline and pass you. We are not encouraging passing or door diving. If you need to make a pass, please be respectful. Make the pass on a straightaway. If you want to pass in a corner, you better communicate with the other driver that you want to drive that style. 
• We are encouraging point to pass. If you see a car coming up on you at high speed, find a safe place to point them by. Do not move off the racing line. 
• Flag rules
  • Green means go
  • A yellow means CAUTION, slow down to a reasonable speed
  • A blue means there is a faster car behind you, let them pass. 
  • A black flag means you’re being an asshole, stop it.
  • A rolled-up black flag means, go immediately to the pits. 
  • A red flag means, STOP AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE IMMEDIATELY. There is danger. 
• Your hands or your passenger’s hands are never to leave the vehicle. Do not put your hand or arm on the outside of the door frame. This is a zero-tolerance rule here and at any race track. 
• Never get out of your vehicle during a hot track. The only reason to ever get out of a vehicle is because of a fire. 
• If you need to stop on the race track, look for a corner station and pull off safety into the dirt. Someone will come and get you.

Have fun 

So there you have it, those are the rules. Break them and we’ll sick the hounds on you. Seriously, these rules are meant to keep everyone safe and more importantly, we want everyone to have a party out there.