Downshift protection

Hi James (@jamesmcga).  Welcome to the Registry and congratulations on getting your new SR3 out on the track!

If you give me the chassis number of your car I can look in my notes to see if your car originally came equipped with paddle shifting.  By 2013 just about all of the SR3's came from the factory equipped with the Life Racing paddle shift system that is integrated into the ECU so yours likely came this way.  If your car has the Life system it does have downshift protection.  However, don't push your luck and test it out on purpose.  🙂  

Regarding some tips for your fist day out on track there are a few things that are considerably different from driving your C8 on track.  This first thing is that the slick tires on the Radical will be challenging to get up to temperature on a cold day and until they are warmed up they will be VERY slippery, so be very careful.  Here are some tips that should help you on your first day:

1) Warm up the car according to the owners manual.  Basically you start the car and let it idle for about 15 minutes until it comes up to temperature.  Then shut if off and let the heat soak into the engine.  Then prior to going out on the track let the car get up to temperature again which will likely take another 10 minutes or so.  The warm up time can be reduced if you have oil heaters on the car.

2) These cars have very light flywheels so don't be surprised if (when) you stall the car starting to get it rolling.  It happens to everyone.  Just know it will likely happen and be ready to react and re-start it.

3) Once you are out on track you need to spend 2 or three laps getting the engine and tires up to temperature.  Keep a close eye on your oil pressure and don't let it get over 100 PSI.  If the pressure gets too high you can burst a radiator or hose.  After a lap or 2 the oil should be warm enough and you should be able to rev the car all the way up without getting to 100 psi.  To warm up the tires you can slowly raise your cornering speeds, or you can heavily brake in a straight line.  Braking works well to bring the tire temps up quickly but make sure no one is directly behind you because they wont be expecting you to brake on a warm up lap.  If you haven't run slicks before you will find that it takes more work to get them up to temperature then you expect.  On a cold day it is even harder to warm them up and they can feel like you are on ice until they are warm.  This isn't as much of an issue on warmer days.

4) Once the car is warmed up spend the first day getting to know the car without pushing it very hard.  It takes a little while to get used to these cars, but once you do you will never want to drive anything else on track.

5) As you are starting to push the car on track there are a few things that are very important to be aware of.  The first thing is that they do not have any electronic driving aids.  The cars are very sensitive to front/rear balance when cornering.  You can't just throw the car into the corner with all of the weight forward like you could with your Corvette.  You need to get the car settled with a neutral front to rear balance before turning.  When you get this right you will be amazed at how fast you can go through the corners... When you get it wrong the car will spin.  Spins in these cars are very common with drivers that are new to them and are learning to do balanced turns.  When you spin (and you likely will) it is essential to get both feet to the floor immediately!  Motorcycle based engines are not designed to operate backwards and if the rear tires rotate backwards for even a short period of time it will cause the starter to engage which causes it to overspeed and self destruct.  This will end your day and require you to get a new starter.  Don't let this scare you because most people are trained to immediately "Get two feet in when you spin" so most people get their feet to the floor in time and it isn't an issue.

6) The next thing to be aware of when driving on track is that the pedals are very close together and you need narrow driving shoes.  The gas and brake pedals are so close that it is very easy to think you are solidly on the brake pedal and not realize that you are pressing the gas and the brake at the same time.  If you are not aware that this is a very real possibility when it happens your brain will not have enough time to react before you are off track or into the car ahead of you when braking. What it feels like is that the car does not slow down like your are expecting and the normal reaction is to hit the brakes harder, but since your foot is actually on the brake and the gas it makes the problem worse and you will likely have an "off track excursion".  So, if you get into a situation where you are braking hard and the car is not slowing down as you expect... momentarily lift and move your foot to the left more to get it firmly on the brake pedal and press hard.

7) Take your time building up speed.  Don't try and brake the track record your fist day out.  After each session download the Aim data and make a color map of the G's you are pulling through each corner.  This is an extremely helpful method to recalibrate your brain for driving an aero car.  Also, before you go to the track make sure that the track is loaded into your Aim system or you won't be able to use the data that is being created.

8) When you are coming into the pit after your session you will likely see a "Low Oil Pressure" light flashing on the the dash.  It is alright and is not an issue.  The Aim dash is typically set to warn for low oil pressure when the oil is cool.  Since the oil thins out as it heats up, when you come into the pit and are idling, the system reads this as low pressure but it is normal and isn't harmful.

I hope this is helpful.  Enjoy your fist day out and take it slow for the first few days while you are learning the car and it will pay off in the long run.  🙂

@charleyhradicalsportscarregistry-com thank you very much for all the details. Yes I run slicks on my Corvette so I’m very familiar with getting those up to speed.  

I’ll keep an eye on oil pressure and again just trying to get a feel for the car before I put it up for the winter. Thanks again for all the information!

@charleyhradicalsportscarregistry-com The car number is 0726. I didn't see it on the registry.

Car ran great, I taped off half of the water and oil cooler inlets and still didn't get much above 70C on either.  Oil pressure was around 100-102 the entire day and luckily didn't burst anything :). Ambient temp was 50 degrees F...colder than I would normally run in, but had to do a shake down before I put it up for the winter.

The car doesn't have the AIM GPS transponder (only the red one (is this factory?). My speed also wasn't being displaced...showed 0 MPH...need to figure that one out; any suggestions?