Track weekend

[midwest1275]

Recently went to a 2 day track weekend at a racetrack in central California. Finally got to see what this beast can do. This is of course after alot of time and $$$ getting this pain in the ass car sorted out. The event was 2 days of classroom instruction, ride along with advanced instructors in their personal cars, and lots of track time with an instructor riding shotgun in my car giving feedback. It was a great way to up my driving skills and the first real opportunity to see what this car do at its performance limits. I've done a few track days in the past with other cars, but nothing like this. The few canyon runs with the RS6 in the past year with friends weren't real opportunities to get to the limits of this car. Fun, but not a chance to really see what the limits were. The weather was perfect. Sunny, dry, and mid 70's. There were primarily Audi's, other High end German cars, and a few all out race cars.

Overall, I had a blast, no crashes, no damage to the car, no cel, and I got to wring every ounce of performance out of this car. Mission accomplished.

Issues:

*Of course, in the final laps of each round there were issues with high operating temperatures and power loss. Not horrible, but I guess that power was down 25% by the last lap. I never overheated but the temp gauge was WAY up and I could feel the nuclear reactor heat coming off of it.

*Braking. I've got all new Zimmerman cross drilled rotors with Hawk Yellow pads. Braking was impressive for the initial and mid laps of each session. Towards the last lap there was fade. Probably 25% loss of braking power at that point and I had to really slow down speeds coming into corners and down the straights. There were 2 other RS6's there and one guy said he wouldn't take it on the track as his rotors warped every time he tracked it due to insane heat levels generated by track braking. I didn't get any warping on the rotors after this weekend, just a noticeable reduction in pad thickness. I made sure to do a few extra laps to cool down after the session was over to get those rotors to cool and not warp by parking right away.

*Power. I surprised a few RS5's, RS4's, and M cars on the straights. They didn't expect this old car to keep up the way it did. But of course this was only for the initial and mid laps. Power started dropping after that. I've got a REVO tune so I wonder if it contributed to overheating, as I know they run a bit lean. It was nice to open it up on the straights and not worry about cops or cars pulling in front of me.

*The new Michelin Super Sports, Koni Yellows turned to mid stiffness, Hotchkiss sways (front and rear), and the stock RS6 springs did OK. The new tires were amazing, but the stock ride height was just too high for the track. For the street the Koni yellows and stock springs are great. They have softened up over time and are less harsh, plus I like having the stock ride height for potholes, debris, etc. The heaviness and higher center of gravity of this car was definitely a hindrance. I think with some low coil overs it would have made a huge difference and allowed me to corner much faster. Even when I hit my lines just right, the weight of the car pushed me out and had the tires squealing a bit.

I rode with my instructor in his track prepped 2015 M3 and I was blown away. He's been tracking for 30 years and that nicely modified M3 was just an animal. Next I rode with another instructor in his RACE ONLY M series Z3. Not a convertible, but the hatchback. We are talking full race set up, full cage, race slicks, etc. We were pulling so many G's cornering in that little tiny gutted rocket that I almost threw up. A complete 180 from a big 4 door family sedan to a small 2 seater. If I were to get more into track events it would definitely be in a small tossable 2 seater instead of a big 4 door boat like the RS6. Maybe a TT.

They have another event coming up similar to this in the spring/summer. I'm probably going to sign up. I'm just worried about burning up brakes, rotors, pads, tires so quick. I can see going through 4 new tires, pads, and probably front rotors with 2-3 of these events per year. $500 event fee plus all of those items could make for an expensive few weekends.