Track day novice

I have a 2005 GT Wagon, automatic. I bought it new. It's always been pampered and has 130k miles on it, completely stock. For a Boomer fantasy day, I'm taking it to a track day at NJ Motorsports Park. My mechanic has inspected the car and it is more than up to the task. The day has a total of about 2 hours on the track with an instructor riding shotgun the whole time.

 

I'm proficient with a manual, having driven one since 1971, and have had stupid fast cars before. However, I'm taking the Subaru. In 15 years of ownership I have never played with the Sport mode on the transmission; I'm an adult driving on public roads. I tried it today and found it was a hoot and terrifying at the same time. It's a lot of fun to drop a gear or two before pulling out to pass and having the turbo already engaged, and to hold it in lower gears. I have to be careful to not mash the brake pedal thinking it's the clutch...

 

I don't like the push buttons on the wheel, as you can't tell which is which when you're cornering fast with the wheel a turn or more over, so the floor shifter seems to be the way to go. My questions: is there a rev-limiter built into these cars? Is it placing more strain on the transmission to have it in Sport mode? I've never liked engine-braking and don't intend to do so - I'd mostly just want to have the turbo engaged when exiting a corner, etc. Would I be better off leaving it in Auto and concentrating on weight transfer, etc?

 

I have about a month to practice with the sport mode before the track day.

 

Thanks.

Peter

In stock form, the car won't let you do something to it that's going to hurt it. If you try to downshift to the point where you'd be past redline, it won't allow the shift. Sport mode should have no noticeable degradation in life/longevity.

I believe the engine runs out of MAP for engine fueling about 7000rpm.

 

I believe a Tuner car raise that a little. I think mine is set for 7200rpm.

 

When you hit fuel cut off the car will fall on its face. Lift off the gas and it will reset and you'll be fine.

 

I have hit full cut off more then once.

 

 

Do you have a Cobb AP V3 for the car ? Stage 1 is how the car should have come from the factory.

OK, thanks. I will practice for a month.

Not sure if you’re aware but if you move the shifter to the left and leave it there it will be in “sport” mode which will afford you a more aggressive automatic shifting.

Just a few things that others haven't mentioned. You said sport, not sport sharp, so I'll assume you've been driving in intelligent.

 

The boost is limited in intelligent to something like 9psi vs the 13.5 or so of sport/sport#. That's probably part of why it feels so fun.

 

There is a rev limiter. As maxcapacity said, it'll fall on its face when you hit it. I've hit the Rev limiter with foot to the floor, no real worries there.

 

Also as maxcapacity said, a tune is important. A stage one tune doesn't push anything, it's not about power, it's basically to make sure your engine doesn't run lean and crack a piston ring. Something you're more at risk at under full boost, hooning around a track.

 

Last thing I'll say is flush the brake fluid. Have you ever done this? Put something good like motul in it. The legacy gt brakes are more than up to a track day but the pads and fluid are the weak point. For the minimal cost, I would heavily advise this.

 

 

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Curious why you don't want to use engine braking....it's part of getting around the track efficiently.

 

The idea is to get your downshifts in while braking for a corner. Those downshifts are in fact engine braking and it's used in conjunction with the vehicle's brakes to help slow the vehicle down.

 

With the correct gear selected on corner entrance, and in preparation for corner exit, the engine has done its job of helping to slow the vehicle down and it will already be spinning fast enough to have the power being made in order to exit the corner when you get back on the gas pedal.

 

In short, engine braking isn't a bad thing.

There's a good thread in the off topic motorsports area about getting ready for a track day. It can be rather hard on the vehicle in the sense that it'll bring out flaws you might not other wise have noticed. It's good that you've had it inspected, but if you have the money, I would flush the brake fluid, get a stage one tune ($450 open source and that includes cost of a tactrix cable), coolant flush, fresh oil, and maybe even rearward lower control arm bushings.

 

The bushings are just to help tighten suspension back up and give a more solid feel. Stock ones tend to start tearing at like 60k miles. But those would be way below anything else. I hope your track run goes well. I can't wait to get mine out there.

 

 

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Curious why you don't want to use engine braking....it's part of getting around the track efficiently.

 

The idea is to get your downshifts in while braking for a corner. Those downshifts are in fact engine braking and it's used in conjunction with the vehicle's brakes to help slow the vehicle down.

 

With the correct gear selected on corner entrance, and in preparation for corner exit, the engine has done its job of helping to slow the vehicle down and it will already be spinning fast enough to have the power being made in order to exit the corner when you get back on the gas pedal.

 

In short, engine braking isn't a bad thing.

 

 

 

I think people are always just afraid of transmission wear. But yes, my thousands of miles descending canyons agree with you. Transmission braking isn't gonna hurt anything.

 

 

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Nonamedude we don’t get that cool tech in the earlier auto LGTs. We only have flick the stick to the left for sport or manual.

Nonamedude we don’t get that cool tech in the earlier auto LGTs. We only have flick the stick to the left for sport or manual.

 

 

 

Oh well that's embarrassing. I just assumed they all had si. Oh well si is imo pretty useless unless you tune it to different tunes.

 

Does sport change boost then? Or is it mostly more aggressive shifting and throttle tip in?

 

 

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Nothing to be embarrassed about. Sport holds gear longer before shifts which is especially nice with low throttle input. Firmer shifts. What I like is not being in 5th by the time it should be shifting to 2nd.

Thanks for the replies. I should have been clear that I'm using Manual, not Sport mode. I'll practice with it for a month and it should be OK. It is difficult to not behave like a fan-boy hooligan, fuel consumption is of course way up, and I miss the clutch pedal...